The price of suburban “goodness” when survival is on the line.

By Michele Schultz

The East Coast genre festival, Brooklyn Horror, celebrates its tenth anniversary with the most edge-of-your-seat selection from filmmaking duo Chris Paicely and Miles August of Chicago-based production Swym Good Films, which asks a universal question, ‘what does it cost to be good?’ in a horror short, ‘The Girl in the Street’. 

Starring Shawn Roundtree Jr. (Emperor of Ocean Park), Whitney Blair Masters, D’Andra Laneé, and Chris Anthony; and a cameo appearance by ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ final girl Heather Langenkamp. 

The short follows Malachi (Roundtree Jr.) leaves his sick younger sister (Laneé) behind to move to a remote small town after receiving a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity. Upon arrival, he has a peculiar encounter with the moving truck driver (Anthony) that causes him to question his morality. 

The pacing of the short establishes Malachi as an adult moving to a new state with only unpacking his boxed-up possessions inside his new house when a bloody and scarred woman in an eccentric mask appears on the dirt road outside the house, screeching. The way ‘The Girl in the Street’ sets up the suspense towards the second, near the third and final act is that Malachi faces a moral quandary, whether to help the woman or stay safely inside his home. 

We, the audience, are Malachi in a situation where we ask ourselves whether being “good” is enough when survival is on the line, given that the rest of the world is in the toilet economically and in societal terms.

‘The Girl in the Street’ invites us into the ideal of suburban “goodness” and the “loyalty” down to the moral decay of it all that is masked by small-town smiles. 

Bringing the best of domestic and international genre cinema to New York City since 2016, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is a premier East Coast genre festival that embodies the eclectic spirit of its namesake.
Brooklyn Horror not only provides the nightmare fuel that audiences expect but also prides itself on challenging those expectations, spotlighting films that push the boundaries of what is normally deemed horror.
Taking place in venues throughout the borough every October, BHFF compliments its ambitious features and shorts programming with exciting and unique live events, crafting a must-attend festival experience for industry members and film fans alike.
Running from October 17-24, 2024 with screenings at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg and Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park.