Review: Horror Short HEARTLESS Makes The Apprentice Look Like Child’s Play

Loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe‘s The Tell-Tale Heart, writer-director Kevin Sluder’s directorial debut,  Heartless might only last 12 minutes but it packs enough visceral punch to make each of those minutes count. Stacy Snyder is involved in the business pitch from hell and she’s dealing with all sorts of workplace issues – from casual sexism to murder.

As a short horror-comedy, Sluder’s film features enough comedy and blood-letting to keep audiences entertained. Snyder is perfect as the wide-eyed exec who has murdered her boss before the pressure gets turned-up in the boardroom. The Apprentice has nothing on this.

The special effects are nice and bloody, while Steve Moore’s score and Mike Testin’s cinematography manage to keep the balance of horror and comedy in check.

This is an assured debut from Kevin Sludder and I’d be very interested to see what he can do with a feature film.

Heartless will screen at Mayhem Film Festival on Saturday 13 October 2018.