Make a wish
A horror short film about the beauty of being young and wanted, turned rotten by the one thing nobody says out loud.
01 — Logline
Two girls and a guy have been best friends since they were kids. When two of them start dating, the odd one out waits until the candles are lit, closes her eyes, and wishes to tear them apart.
She gets it.
A slow-burn horror short about jealousy, girlhood, and the ugly wanting that lives under every soft-lit selfie. Euphoria meets The Neon Demon, scored by the buzz of a bathroom fluorescent.
Mood reel
Comps
Dark, glittering, sexy, and quietly menacing. A birthday party lit like a crime scene.
01 — Palette & menace
The Neon Demon
Refn, 2016 · Beauty as violence, lit in bruise and gold.
02 — Intimacy & glitter
Euphoria
HBO · Faces lit like a party. Shot like a wake.
Dark
Glittering
Sexy
Quietly menacing
Frosting light. Sugar-warm. The lie you fall for.
Under-eye. Under-skin. The thing that doesn't fade by Monday.
Fluorescent hum. Tile sweat. Where the wish actually lives.
the one who's lovedthe birthday girl
The one who's loved, and the one we ride with as the night turns. Warm, easygoing, a little conflict-avoidant. She's dating Danny and doesn't fully clock how much that's cost her friendship with Jade until it's too late.
the odd one outthe birthday girl
The one who isn't loved, and the engine of the whole film. It's her birthday and she's the odd one out, aching, possessive, watching the two people she grew up sharing everything with pair off without her.
the threatthe boyfriend
The boyfriend, and the one the horror comes for. Loving, a little cocky, genuinely devoted to Kierra and dismissive of Jade in a way that helps light the fuse. His arc is a hard turn: warm and human early, then hollowed out and weaponized, he becomes the threat.
Two friends who grew up sharing everything, and two matching necklaces neither of them planned. Then Danny kicks the door open with a cake and one candle. It's Jade's birthday, and she's the only one at the table who isn't in love.
They leave her alone with the cake. She cuts a slice, the knife catches her thumb, and she licks the blood off the blade. Then she closes her eyes and wishes the two of them apart. The candle goes out on its own.
A park at dusk. Danny reaches behind Kierra to fasten the necklace at her throat, and doesn't stop. The birds cut out. When she wrenches free he's still standing there, empty, aimed at nothing. Then he comes for her.
A near-empty night bus, chain marks on her neck, forty dead seats and a stranger who slams into the one beside her. The necklace is waiting on the cushion. She understands where she has to go.
Jade's door stands open an inch. Water runs out from under the bathroom. The tub is full and all three of them are in it, clothed, and Jade is singing the song from when they were six. By the time Kierra joins in, three voices have become one.
Director's Note
"I wanted it to feel like the prettiest party you were ever not invited to. Faces lit like a party. Shot like a wake."
Look & feel
Runtime
10 min
Format
Digital, treated to 16mm
Ratio
1.66 : 1
Language
English
Locations
1 apartment · 1 bathroom · 1 last train
Cast
3 leads
Shoot
1 night
Status
In production
Make a wish with us
Producer
hello@obsidiantv.com