This feels a little like a kid-friendly introduction to scary movies or perhaps frights for those who prefer their horror experiences more minorly spooky than anything else.

Greg (Aaron G. Hale) and (Giselle Marie) Laney are hanging out in their home one dark and kind of stormy night, wandering around Facebook and preparing dinner, when there’s a knock at the door. A hooded kid (Zac David Taylor) stands in their doorway and repeatedly asks to come inside until Laney & Greg give up and invite him in. One hangs out with the kid while the other gets to making some hot chocolate, but before long they’ll wish they never answered the door in the first place…

After some quick establishing setup, Laney & Greg get right to behaving like geniuses who’ve apparently never seen a scary movie in their lives and/or simply lack all situational awareness as well as the ability to read a room. If the kid were younger I’d understand their behavior a little more, but as I’ve both been a teen/pre-teen and known several I can tell you they’re often untrustworthy liars–especially when they’re acting as strangely as the kid in this! 

Anyway, once they see the kid’s true colors Sclera Absentia advances beyond foreboding creepiness and embraces outright frights for a handful of minutes but even then the results are more middling than memorable. Going back to what I said earlier, if you know a kid who’s maybe on the fence about scary movies or being scared in general then maybe test the waters with this brief, not overwhelming scary movie sample.

5 out of 10 Spooky Kids to Avoid

Also, if you’re into giving shorts of varying lengths a shot go ahead and click the “short films” tag below to tour some others. There are definitely worse ways to spend a few minutes at a time!