Cassandra awakens to a nightmare as her pleas to be seen and heard by her sister Clara are taken as supernatural occurrences.

It is said that dead men tell no tales, but some others believe in theories that put this idea aside for a new world where the dead can communicate with us through the form of the ghosts, or at least they’re trying to say something. There are other theories where it is mentioned that the soul never dies. But what if the person is not dead either?

Occurrence at Mills Creek (2019) tells the short story of the sisters Cassandra (Alexa Mechling) and Clara (Ava Psoras). Some time ago they suffered the loss of their mother, and later, Clara lost her sister in an accident on a floating dock. During the open-casket viewing, where no one seems to have been invited to other than her father, Clara is seeing the ghost of her mother during a set of paranormal interventions that are making Clara a little paranoid and lost on reality.

Although Occurrence at Mills Creek was edited as a short film, it was actually made with the purpose of becoming a feature film. At the end of the final credits the viewer is asked if they want to see more. But it doesn’t matter what the viewer responds because they also announce that the feature will be released in 2020 anyway. This, presumably, is only the first act. What motivated Clara to commit the heinous acts that unfold during the short? It will probably be explained during the movie, or it will probably be ignored and the short film will be extended to justify a movie with vacant motives and stale acting.

The story is not bad for a short film but it is too poor to be a feature film. It is something that has been seen repeatedly (spoiler alert ahead) sisters fighting and one killing the other. It could probably be seen differently if the performances had not been so soft and monotonous. It only has six speaking roles, and only one stands out from the rest, and is not even a main character.

Occurrence at Mills Creek, even with all that snow that Clara stands in, will not give you chills to last hours. It might make you consider giving the feature film a try when it comes out, but it won’t make you run back to it as soon as possible.