SockMonster is a short horror film written and directed by Wesley Alley (#15SecondScare) that is about to start a festival run. After seeing what Alley brought to the table in just 4 minutes, I fully expect the film to get some attention. Even with a short runtime, SockMonster is intense and stays with you.
A disheveled and anxious Anne (Briana Evigan: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) sits in front of a washer and dryer in a poorly lit garage, chain smoking, drinking whiskey, and looking at photographs of her daughter (AnaSofia Bianchi). She’s also nervously watching the dryer and has illusions of her daughter begging for help. The gun next to her tells us that she’s ready for a fight.
I wasn’t quite sure what the build up was going to lead to exactly. In other words, what would this “sock monster” come to be? It could go in a pretty cheesy direction, however it ended up being anything but. The creature, played by Derek Mears (Friday the 13th 2009, RWBY), was terrifying and the showdown was brutal.
It was really on Briana Evigan to carry the majority of the film, telling us just enough about who she is, what she’s attempting to do, and why she’s doing it. We had to care about Anne in a very short time for the intensity to build, and within the first minute, I was not only emotionally invested, but my mind raced to think of what was coming next. Evigan did a fantastic job making me feel those feels quickly.
These days, it seems rare to say that a horror film is original. However, creature feature films such as SockMonster and the recently released A Quiet Place should give us hope that original writing isn’t dead, and it can be well-executed. If you get a chance to see the film at an upcoming festival, do yourself a favor and check it out.
