Saturday Frights: Beast Of Prey (Short Film)

Friends, when the sun has set for the day and the Haunted Drive-In springs to life – screening the double feature for the evening that the Projectionist has put together, this is the time that I find myself with a little quiet time on my hands. Or in the case of earlier this evening, I was afforded the opportunity to watch a short film that a fan of the Saturday Frights podcast was kind enough to send me entitled Beast of Prey. It’s not even four minutes long but I found it to be a wickedly delightful tale – leaving the Viewer wanting more, far more. Written as well as Directed and produced by Danny Donahue, we are thrust into a moment of extreme peril for a young Woman named Annie – who is played by Ashley Campbell. The setting all takes place in a bathroom of a cabin during a snowstorm… with something on the other side of the bathroom door desperately wanting inside.

I have long been a fan of short stories, I believe that much of that has to do with Stephen King – thanks to Skeleton Crew and Graveyard Shift. Although thinking about it as I type this, my love of The Twilight Zone and Amicus anthology films like The Monster Club might have a little something to do with it as well.

In recent years it appears as if there has been an upswing in the amount of horror-themed short films, some of them acting as a kind of calling card to Hollywood. Case in point Lights Out from 2016 – which was based off the short film three years earlier – both directed by David F. Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation, Shazam!).

I bring that up because after watching Beast of Prey, wouldn’t you want to see the story fleshed out more? Having said that I feel that every part of this short film was very well done, not just the acting and direction but the editing and sound design. To say nothing of the creature design of course – the monster was played by Ryan Godoy, who also did the sound mixing. In particular I love how the character of Annie is ready to go down swinging – while I will admit I’m not sure what a pair of scissors might do against that nightmarish creature at least she refuses to “… go gentle into that good night.”, right?