Boundaries Collapse in an Intimate House of Horror

Read Time:5 Minute, 21 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Open Wide
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Genre: Short, Horror
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 10m
Director(s): Sam Fox
Writer(s): Sam Fox, Lara Repko
Cast: Lara Repko, Ethan Daniel Corbett, Ashley Smith, Madonna Young-Magee, Wolf Homme
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 Fantastic Fest

RAVING REVIEW: OPEN WIDE is a ten-minute short that proves sometimes the scariest setups aren’t about haunted houses or supernatural monsters, but about what can happen when human desire collides with dysfunction. Directed by Sam Fox, who co-wrote and produced alongside Lara Repko, the film turns a seemingly playful night into a nightmare that gnaws at both faith and intimacy. It’s uncomfortable and intentionally disorienting, utilizing a limited canvas to create something with impact that extends well beyond its brief runtime.

The story centers on Phoebe (Repko), a devout Catholic who’s wrestling with her faith while dipping her toes into new experiences. Her match with Vera (Ashley Smith) and Ron (Ethan Daniel Corbett), a couple she finds on a dating app, feels like the spark of something daring. What begins as a curious night of drinks and flirtation soon warps into an ordeal. When their young son, Timmy (Wolf Homme), interrupts, the energy in the room shifts from mischievous to menacing. Add in Grandma (Madonna Young-Magee), and the space becomes a stage where intimacy, faith, and obligation become horrifyingly entangled.

The performances are critical in selling such an outrageous premise. Repko embodies Phoebe with a vulnerability that makes her curiosity both relatable and nerve-wracking. She’s the audience’s anchor, the one asking silently if crossing boundaries in the name of growth can go too far. Smith and Corbett play Vera and Ron with an unnerving charm that teeters between playful and predatory. Their chemistry sells the idea of a couple who know how to lure someone in, only to push that trust into deeply uncomfortable places. Homme’s Timmy, meanwhile, provides the sharpest jolt of terror — his innocence turned into leverage, forcing the audience to question just how twisted this household truly is. And Madonna Young-Magee, as Grandma, adds an unpredictable edge rooted in Fox’s own childhood nightmares, blurring personal trauma with the film’s fictional horror.

Fox and Repko’s script is deliberately lean, giving just enough setup before undercutting the audience’s expectations. The efficiency of the storytelling means there’s little room to hide; every choice lands with weight. The runtime forces a pace that feels relentless, making each turn more jarring.

Fox relies on atmosphere rather than spectacle. With limited funds, the team relies on lighting, sound, and editing to create a sense of tension and drama. Cinematographer Jack McDonald constructs a house that appears ordinary at first, then increasingly uncanny as shadows deepen and the walls seem to close in on it. Composer Sami Jano and sound designer Christopher Woll layer the soundscape with unease — creaks, and shifts that suggest something is wrong even before the script confirms it.

Thematically, the short digs into issues of repression and rebellion. Phoebe’s Catholic background sets up a clash between her religious identity and her budding curiosity. The threesome becomes less about sexual liberation and more about how dangerous it can be to step into someone else’s dysfunction unprepared. Fox threads in her personal connection — using memories of her eccentric grandmother as inspiration — to ground the absurdity in something raw. That combination of trauma and exaggerated horror is what makes the film feel both surreal and uncomfortably real.

At the same time, OPEN WIDE knows it’s absurd. Like Fox’s earlier works, such as FCK’N NUTS, there’s a streak of dark comedy running beneath the horror. The film plays with the ridiculousness of the situation even as it unsettles the room. The dissonance is precisely the point — horror and humor feeding each other in ways that keep the viewer off-balance.

If there’s a limitation here, it’s that ten minutes doesn’t give every idea room to breathe fully. The film gestures toward larger themes — faith, family dysfunction, the dangers of boundary-pushing — but only has time to graze them. That brevity is both a strength, ensuring that nothing drags on, and a weakness, leaving the audience with more questions than answers.

Still, the short succeeds at its main goal: it shocks, unsettles, and lingers. In a festival environment, where audiences crave something punchy and memorable, OPEN WIDE fits the bill. It feels like a calling card for Fox’s distinctive blend of surreal horror-comedy, one that thrives on making viewers laugh and squirm simultaneously.

In the end, OPEN WIDE is a short that packs a punch harder than its runtime suggests. It’s not designed to comfort, but to leave the audience rattled, questioning, and maybe a little amused at how far it’s willing to go. For a film made in a single day on a micro-budget, it proves Fox knows how to turn personal nightmares into collective entertainment. Whether you laugh nervously or cringe in discomfort, it’s hard to deny that this short gets under the skin.

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