A double feature brimming with atmospheric terror, The Nurse and Whisper, both released in 2017 by filmmaker Julian Terry (with each running exactly two minutes), revel in the unknown that lies just beyond our vision and understanding. . .
The Nurse finds poor little Emily (Aria Walters) – a young girl, alone in a hospital late one night (waiting for her mother to return). With some sort of eye issue, bandages cover her main sense. . . vision gone, her hearing amplifies, picking up what appears to be the sound of a nurse’s cart being pushed into her room – yet, when she calls out for whoever is there, eerily, no answer comes.
Whisper finds an unnamed twenty-something (Michelle Khare) in deep sleep – it is clearly the middle of the night. Like many in this twenty-first century, her smart speaker rests by her side. . . waiting for interaction while she sleeps. Floating from some unknown place, a sinister voice (which can barely be heard) travels through the dark. . . awakening the piece of technology, which, in turn, causes the young woman to stir. At first thinking it is nothing, the speaker soon starts picking up words that may just mean that she is not alone.
Understanding that the unseen can be just as scary as horrors seen in plain sight, Terry gives viewers the best of both worlds. . . building a tense, spine tingling atmosphere (for nearly the entire runtime) which is then followed by an impressive payoff (in both cases). In The Nurse, Terry teases us a touch more, for the silhouette of a nurse (though not in modern attire) can be seen on and off throughout – appearing and disappearing seemingly at will, while Whisper builds to a crescendo through exquisite sound design. . . an unknown voice balefully teasing her when she’s supposed to be home alone. Though the stories are different, both feature what truly counts, a visual poetry in lighting, sound, and acting. From flickering power within the hospital to the light coming alive atop the smart speaker, each film opens with a warning sign of things to come. Developed like a supremely entertaining opening to a show like Supernatural, everything is intricately plotted. . . the moody setting (in the first, a hospital that is ominously quiet; the second, a bedroom with open door to hall and closet just dark enough to hide whatever may be lurking there), the minacious evil foe, the challenge for a future hero. . . yet, it does not conclude with that, its taut, tense, one hundred and twenty second ride a perfect teaser – leaving you wanting more (one can only hope that Terry may get a chance to develop these into something further).
Proof that great things can come in small packages, both The Nurse and Whisper pack quite the spectral punch. Chilling in every which way, they fully achieve their goal, causing a shiver down the spine and those little goosebumps to prickle up on your skin. So, do not listen to your health care professional (whether they whisper or yell), brave these two scary shorts. . . they will give further reason as to why you don’t want to spend any extra time in the hospital. . . or have that artificial intelligence called Alexa resting next to you in your home.