“Plastic Bodies,” a new short film by Melissa Whitman, tells the story of Lucy (ably played by Kaitlyn Jenkins), an average-sized young woman, who works in a fashionable thrift store downtown.

Even though she is in no way fat, Lucy still has a strong urge to “just lose 5 more pounds,” so she is taking some not-so-regulated diet pills to help her get thin. The pills have a weird side effect, though: they make you hallucinate. And since Lucy works in a store with lots of mannequins, well…

Or maybe she isn’t hallucinating at all. Maybe something very strange and frightening is happening within the walls of the store. Or maybe the entire story is a daydream of a mannequin in the window, fantasizing to herself while watching the world go by.

The whole thing plays out like a Twilight Zone episode, and kinda-sorta-vaguely reminded me of the episode “The After Hours,” (which also involves a woman and mannequins but has a totally different plot). This short is much more concerned about body image, and is a much closer cousin to the very gory “XXL” segment of the movie The ABCs of Death, which was a bit more effective in its dissection (heh) of the subject.

Keep an eye out for this well-made short, and, in the meantime, check out the trailer below!