Some families have secrets that are so dark, they’re hidden deep behind figurative walls, hoping to never be uncovered. In writer/director Angelita Mendoza’s short film The Blue Drum, a grieving woman’s visit to her childhood home unearths disturbing secrets buried long ago.

Leticia (Crystal Hernandez) is mourning the loss of her father when she returns home after his funeral and begins reminiscing about her childhood, and in particular, the lifelong absence of her mother.  When strange occurrences begin to happen inside the home, they lead her down a devastating path of discovery.

The Blue Drum is a well acted and neatly shot production that examines grief, loss, and trauma, and the lasting effects of all three that can come back to haunt us when we least expect it. Hernandez perfectly executes the complexity of grieving, and the highs and lows that go along with the process. Her paranoia in the more horror-laden moments are genuine and understandable, and help bring a level of sympathy for her character.

Short films are always difficult to execute in terms of telling an overall story in a very condensed amount of time. With a runtime just over 14 minutes, The Blue Drum eats up a lot of those precious moments with scenes that tend to feel too weighty and heavy handed for the time that is given to the audience. The payoff is indeed satisfying and unexpected, but the bulk of the film is spent on scenes that don’t lend enough to the horror aspect to make this as intriguing of a watch as it could be. 

If given an extra few minutes to focus more on the horror factor that is already there, or to replace some of the slower moments with another jump scare or two, The Blue Drum could be a really fleshed out spooky tale. The final seconds do deliver in terms of impact, though, which packs enough of a punch to make up for the dragging middle section.