Mystery at the door

Psycho-thrillers always have a great fanbase worldwide, be it in literature, theatre or films. For those movie buffs who get a kick out of mind-twisting suspense themes, there are a lot of short films to choose from. Adding to the long list of gripping thrillers is Vinay Krishnan’s 18-minute short film Men at My Door that hit video streaming platforms a week ago. Amassing a total of 50,000 views on YouTube alone, this psychological thriller short film has Sudev Nair, Aishwarya Menon and Disney James in the lead. Vinay says this short film is like an audition for himself.

“I am an ad film maker and always want to direct a feature film. Though I have experience in working with a team of creative people and directing ad films for a leading advertisement company in South India, I was not sure about how I would do it well in the film industry. So I wanted to sort of ‘test’ myself by directing a short film,” recalls the director, who, with his friend and script writer Prinish Prabhakaran, discussed a theme – a dark, engaging psycho thriller with a twist in the tale.

“It had to be nonlinear. So we took time and rewrote it several times. Prinish brought me the final script and I felt it was time for the project to start,” he says.   

The short film starts with a sensual scene where Frank Sinatra’s As time goes by plays in the background. The classic song plays a part in setting the mood like it did in the classic movie Casablanca. The short film gradually turns to a more intriguing one when a stranger walks in to the house. What sets off is a series of unpredictable story of a serial killer on the loose. According to Vinay, the nonlinear narration was the key to would give the thriller more appeal.

“I am a great fan of nonlinear films and dark, complex and intriguing movies, thanks to Christopher Nolan. The nonlinear narration actually made a few viewers confused, but on a second viewing, they got the idea. But I was not worried as such complex narratives are not common; most of the feedbacks are positive and it shows, our tastes and acceptance level have changed hugely over the time.”

He had a great team to work with for this project — DOP Georgy Joseph, editor Kiran Das and music composer Mujeeb.

Currently, Vinay is working on a script he plans to direct in the near future along with Prijish.