A 10-minute nightmare where the WiFi password might be your last words.
A mysterious boy bursts into an internet café, claiming he is being chased by a murderous foe. The owner does not share his urgency, nor does he seem overly keen on helping the boy, in fact his only advice is to sit at a computer, to 'take machine number 5'. With no alternative, the boy is forced to take a seat and hope that whatever he is running from won't find him in this place with no other exit than the door he came through. But as his fear and paranoia begin to take hold and alter the environment around him, the boy must decide who to trust before it's too late.
Direction
McMullen weaponizes 10 minutes like a pressure cooker.
Acting
Shrapnel's café owner: unsettling chill that curdles.
Production
That internet café is hell's waiting room, brilliantly lit.
Director
Sam McMullen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
John and Lex Shrapnel are real-life father and son, adding layers to their on-screen antagonism.
The film premiered at Fantastic Fest and became a viral short precisely because it weaponizes mundane spaces—internet cafés once felt anonymous safe zones, now they're digital confessionals.
GB
