Each reflection is uniquely yours. As there is only one you, there is only one your reflection. But what if your reflection was so unique that it was able to take on a life of its own? And what if that new life didn’t like you? Wanted to out-perform you? Wanted to kill you? A ballerina finds out what happens when her reflection aims to be perfectly unique.
I’m always excited when happy accidents like a recommended video on YouTube happen to be exactly what I was looking for. The Ballerina (a horror short) came up on my screen and I was immediately intrigued. What could be so scary about a beautiful ballerina?, I asked myself. I figured it would boil down to a stalker or haunted dance studio, but what it turned out to be was better than I imagined.
The ballerina in question dances gracefully in an empty studio late at night. As she glides across the floor, so does her reflection; it copies her every move, as it should — until it falters. Thinking she saw something, the woman checks her reflection, and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, resumes her practice. Her reflection falters again, and the woman definitely sees it this time. Fear passes and turns into intrigue when the ballerina “battles” her reflection, trying to teach it how to correctly do a move. Everything is fine, until the reflection becomes angry at its obvious lack of skill. This does not bode well for the ill-fated ballerina.
Such a simple story about something we all secretly fear. I think I can say without a doubt that everyone has tried to catch their reflection slacking off. At the very least, they’ve stared into their own eyes and watched as their face morphed into an unrecognizable monster. This is that fear come to life. It’s scary enough to have a stranger or a monster threatening you, but to have your own reflection do it is even more terrifying. And it’s not just a doppelgänger, it’s literally you threatening yourself.
And it being your own reflection leads to more scary implications. Does everyone have a murderous twin? Is this a whole world behind the mirror? Am I the real me? Can you escape the terrors of the mirror if you leave the room, or does it follow you everywhere? What about other reflective surfaces? The possibilities are endless. That said, The Ballerina didn’t need more than one space to tell the story. Enough and more was done to capture fear in just over 8 minutes.
Technically, everything looked very well done. You could tell there was great care put into lighting, background, sound, and everything else really. I am impressed with the care of lighting in particular — watch the behind-the-scenes video mentioned below for more on that. Not every horror film, long or short, needs a ton of fancy tech or props or other gear. A little certainly goes a long way here.
Comparing shorts to movies is similar to comparing Vine (remember that app?!) to TikTok; whereas TikTok has pretty much no time limit to get the point across, you had to have a massive amount of talent to be entertaining in Vine’s 6 seconds. Shorts are capable of producing the same, if not more, spook factor than a feature-length film. The Ballerina is definitely one to watch, and one of my favorites that I wish I had seen earlier. This is the one time YouTube’s recommended section was totally on point!
Do you fear your own reflection? Tell us about it in the comments!
Want more? Watch The Making of The Ballerina here.
