When two-day laborers are picked up for work, they quickly realize that their new employer may be hiding a deadly secret.

In Ayuda (2019), two-day laborers are picked up by a mysterious man (Thomas K. Belgrey) to bury a box in the middle of the woods. Leo (Caleb Vasquez), one of the day laborers, is curious about the contents of the box and decides to open it. While Tomas (David LaMorte) distracts the person who hired them, Leo finds a teenage girl (Laura Ruperez) with her hands tied and tape on her mouth inside the wooden box and, as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, in this case, curiosity is the girl and the cat was Leo. Tomas and the man witness the end bloodbath and take a run for their lives. But, will they be faster than the vampire?

At the beginning of Ayuda, everything seemed to indicate that it would be a predictable story where a stranger decides to hide the bodies of his victims but everything would go wrong when the day laborers realized what they were burying. However, everything took an unexpected turn after Leo’s character releases the girl.

It’s strange to find a film that replicates its title. Ayuda, which stands for “help” in Spanish, is a title present from beginning to end. From the moment the man asks the day laborers for help until the girl has mercy on one of the victims in return for a favor. And, even if the film has a Spanish title and 99% of the dialogue is spoken in the language, I must admit that the accents are horrible; might be on purpose to hide the flaws in their acting. For anyone that fluently speaks the language and decides to watch the short film, be warned that you’ll be needing the adjacent subtitles.

Ayuda brings a mix of familiar elements that produce a fresh and different result. Although vampires seem to be a tired subject, this time they have returned from death with a new purpose.

Ayuda
RATING: NR
Runtime: 13 Mins.
Directed By:
Written By:

About the Author

Brandon Henry was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of the border of San Diego. His birthplace is the main reason nothing really scares him (kidding… it’s a very safe place). His love for horror films came when his parents accidentally took him to watch Scream, at the age of 6, thinking that it was a safe-choice because it starred “that girl from Friends”. At 12, he experienced the first of many paranormal events in his life. While he waits to be possessed by the spirit of a satanic mechanic, he works as a Safety Engineer and enjoys going to the theater, watching movies and falling asleep while reading a book. Follow him on Instagram @brndnhnry and on Twitter @brandon_henry.