“Make The Call” – Can a Friendship Survive a Secret? – Horror Short Review

Hesitant conversations and worried glances between two estranged friends in a suburban backyard. One of them wants to reconnect. One of them wants to protect their idyllic life. “Make the Call” is a tense horror short film directed by Chelsea Gonzalez and written by Sal Neslusan, featuring Camille Chen, now available to watch on Alter’s YouTube channel.

Don’t keep this a secret. Tell your friends and family when you submit your own script to the next Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.

The Plot

Caro invites Annie to her home presumably to make amends for certain things said and done in the past. As Caro gets her young daughter, Kaya, settled next door at the in-laws’, she asks Annie to enter her home through the backyard instead of through the front door.

There’s a reason for that.

Caro greets Annie and sets up testing strips and a vial on a table. She gives Annie the choice of “hair or nails?” Annie chooses nails. Caro clips a sample and immerses it in a vial with red liquid. This is the first sign that an infectious disease outbreak has occurred and is still ongoing.

Once the test confirms Annie is in good health, the awkward conversation begins in earnest. Throughout their anxious chat, flashbacks of tension and fear between a pregnant Caro and Annie are sliced into the frame.

As the conversation continues, Caro says Annie is one of the few friends she’s seen in the ensuing years since the outbreak. Annie is caught off guard when Caro states the moms in the community keep a tight circle. Caro has clearly created a new friend group more aligned with these cautious times.

This lays the groundwork for the viewer to wonder…

What happened to Annie and Caro’s friendship?

What disease is running rampant in the world?

What is Caro hiding from Annie that it would take her years to reach out again?

The flashbacks depict a chaotic and perilous time in their lives. The snippets are imbued with frenzy and fear. But it is clear that the threat may still be alive and well in the present day.

And it involves Caro’s husband.

What Lies Underneath

Set in a near future, “Make the Call” on its surface is about a plague with symptoms that manifest as deadly aggression, and the community is urged to contact authorities if someone has succumbed to the disease. On a closer look, the film has allegorical undertones of domestic violence through the use of this ‘disease’, its unpredictable nature, and the secretiveness that spurs those around the infected to suffer in silence. After all, ‘making the call’ could result in the authorities neutralizing the sick. Permanently.

Caro blames herself for her husband, Bryan’s, wild outbursts, insisting he is not infected with the disease. “He was sick, obviously. Just not the way you thought…” was Caro’s response to Annie’s probing questions about why Caro didn’t make the call back then and why she has bruises on her body now. Caro rationalizes her loyalty because she claims Bryan isn’t always violent.

From there, things will escalate, leaving the viewer breathless.

What Makes It Killer

Director Chelsea Gonzalez makes the most of the suburban setting in “Make the Call”. The home, and by extension the neighborhood, is framed as normal and tranquil. It is a jarring contrast to the violence and danger that Caro has experienced (and will continue to experience) under her own roof. In some ways, that might be the point. Gonzalez allows that ordinariness to drench the screen and keep the viewer unsettled.

Writer Sal Neslusan masterfully layers the film with subtext paired with commentary on dysfunctional relationships conceptualized through a sinister contagion. Neslusan also does double duty as one of the two leads, Caro. Her screen presence is restrained and complex yet incredibly approachable. Camille Chen as Annie is a bright spot in this horrifying tale. Chen deftly balances the nuance of a concerned friend with a helpless bystander and anchors the film as the viewer’s surrogate.

“Make the Call” is a tale of two friends confronting a frightening experience, but only one of them is willing to see the real danger.

Watch it below.