In bleak grayscale punctuated by horrific red, a woman is haunted by the ghost of her deceased father. As she looks out the window, his body lies on the ground. She speaks to miserable family members on the phone, yet his body lays there just feet away. And then it moves.
Pursued by the malevolent spectre of her father’s dead body, a guilt-ridden woman must escape his funeral before The Body exacts its terrifying revenge.
Seven Horses Films
I can only imagine the pain this woman must have been in with the death of someone she was tasked with taking care of. The Body is Watching Me is the terrifying reality of what it must be like to live with such great guilt, having sneakily played a hand in her father’s death. Poppy Green hears whispering voices surround her. Her sister treats her with disdain. And the body in question is relentless in its pursuit to not only scare her, but bring her down with it. As it shows up on street corners and in hallways on her way to the church, it creepily jolts and tosses its limbs, inching its way closer and closer.
But even the church where the funeral is being held is no safe haven. The Body is Watching Me never fails to make you feel the same deadly stare as she feels. With every inch moved closer, Poppy falls deeper into her own mind — no one else can see the horrors that await her. With no color other than red, The Body is Watching Me is free to tell its tale through flashbacks of the fateful event. All the while, crackles of bone and suffocating last breaths emanate through the screen, sending chills down your spine. A spirit is haunting both Poppy and the viewer!
I can’t help but dwell on how beautiful this movie is. The Body is Watching me feels serious and heavy in black and white scenes, but angry and malevolent in the red flashbacks. It ties in to the situation perfectly, where a movie-like horror is happening in the middle of a serious event. Closeup shots bring us even further into the actors’ psyche where we cannot escape what is happening on screen. With a tension that is ever-growing, The Body is Watching Me tells us that this will all hit a climax eventually, but we must watch while it happens all-too-slowly.
Death is complicated, and I’m not quite sure who all is feeling what. There is guilt, anger, resentment, anguish, relief… it’s a turbulent mixture that forms a lump in your lungs, squeezing so hard you may scream. And that’s where The Body is Watching Me excels, letting you feel all of these emotions and letting it out as fear. At 16 minutes, this short gives us a lifetime of grief and more to process it.
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