Dirs. Sarah Wisner & Sean Temple

In The Thaw, millennial anxieties about having to move back with your parents travel all the way to the 19th century. Fragile Ruth comes back to her parents’ household at the brink of the fierce Vermont winter. She was banished by the man she was offered to, who claims she is barren. Nothing is new under the sun: the failure of a young adult to attach themselves to a financial unit separate from the one they were born into is damned to result in shame, and cause strain to the poor parents who thought they can enjoy retirement and some privacy at last. 

There are not enough provisions for three, and in an effort to save their daughter, Ruth’s parents decide to take the “sleeping tea” and go into hibernation. The dangerous fate which they accept upon themselves goes worse than expected. An early thaw (the contemporary terror of global warming too, is copied to the reality of humans two centuries back) causes the father to wake up prematurely. As soon as he rises, the man devours Ruth’s beloved sheep, her only possession. Covered in blood, he continues to seek more food. His hunger cannot be fulfilled, and his appetite soon becomes an all encompassing, terrifying desire which recognizes no taboo. Remembering that Ruth was already punished by her husband because she was not fulfilling her womanly duties as a child bearer, we now again see her as subject to gendered violence by her parent. The once gentle, loving man turns into a beast. In this narrative, a young woman’s refusal to provide food and sex gives birth to what we really call Horror. 

In beautiful black and white cinematography, Sarah Wisner & Sean Temple give stage to acting and art rarely seen in a short. Admittedly, there was a slight gap between actors casted for parents Toby Poser (Alma) and Jeffery Grover (Timothy), who let their maturity shine, and younger Emily Bennet (Ruth) who took it far at times, expressing unconvincing agony. But beauty always deserves forgiveness, and overall Bennet led this piece artfully. In The Thaw, one will find complexity and subtlety almost atypical for a horror movie. While being scary and uncanny, this isn’t a campy pull of red corn syrup and googly eyes. Careful writing and a well calculated soundtrack will lure you into a territory of layered fear, the kind that lingers past your bedtime. Lastly, and more importantly, this short contains a rare element of hope. Our heroine, the misfit, represents touching strength and courage. With only three actors on screen, a certain intimacy takes place between the work and the audience, which in turn allows a fresh view on what it really meant – or still means – to be a woman and want to survive outside the marriage structure.