“Trippy Trip” Short Film REVIEW: Engrossing and technically impressive.

What we have here is a film that starts off, without wasting much time. What starts off as a normal beginning to any horror film slowly builds into something more commendable and fresh. We start off with a woman, Annie, all alone in her house.  She goes through a series of odd, unimaginable experiences where an unknown figure seems to be taking her pictures and sending her the photographs of that very moment. But she is alone. At first, she seems mentally disturbed. Perhaps it is just her state of mind, or maybe there is more to it. There are certain questions that keep you hooked as you wait patiently for the answers to unfold.

We then have another fairly usual aspect of most horror flicks: A trip. This time however, instead of a group of friends, we have a couple. Annie and her boyfriend Kunal. As they embark on what Annie tries to convince herself as a “new beginning”, her hallucinations continue. Or are they even hallucinations? We start feeling as if she is having premonitions of what is going to happen. So maybe not just hallucinations. There are many possibilities, and this is what makes the film even more interesting. It isn’t very clear, yet it isn’t too vague either. It maintains an interesting balance, from the beginning, up until the climax. Yes, however, at the end we do wish for a certain level of clarity which seems to be lacking. 

One can say that the film gets repetitive at times, however for such a film repetitions are somewhat required. Since this is a short film, we remain at present, so there is no backstory and in-depth character development. This is fine, because such films are all about the moment, never about an elaborate story with a greater time frame. Thankfully, the actors also succeed at keeping us involved in the film with their natural performances. The leads, Annie gill and Naveen Pandita, have done their job well.

The technical aspects of the film are what stands out the most! The camera movements and lighting (cinematography) by Sainath Ravi is splendid and creates the eerie, spooky, and twisted feeling required for such a film. The sound design creates the right ambience. The editing could have been crisper. Overall, technically the film is impressive. The direction by Sanket Verma is noteworthy.

“Trippy Trip” is a truly trippy and psychological experience that doesn’t really spoon feed or give you all the answers. This works in favor of the film and overall, the film keeps you curious up until the end. We are kept engrossed.

Rating: 3 stars