The recently released short from director Shant Hamassian, Night of the Slasher has already been receiving some positive buzz, becoming Oscar-qualified due to it’s 40 award wins at film festivals around the world and being featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere. The short features a fairly unique premise that allows the viewer to piece together just what is going on slowly as the story unravels. Opening to an extended butt shot of our silent protagonist played by Lily Berlina, and then panning up to reveal a nasty looking neck wound, we are left to ponder just what her intentions are as she invites in an unwitting guest and starts to check off her list of horror movie sins (which include the aforementioned half-naked dancing and getting drunk).

What follows is an intense and well-choreographed homage to classic slasher movies, with a clever homage to John Carpenter’s “Halloween”. The ending teases the potential for a follow-up, so we’ll be interested to see if next Halloween season brings us another installment of this charming tribute to the genre. 80s slasher fans looking for a fresh twist on those familiar tropes definitely aren’t going to want to miss this one. Check out the short for yourself below and for more information and reviews, please visit their website at nightoftheslasher.com.