Large Fierce Mammal

Throughout the world there are tales of places and artifacts afflicted with unfortunate residual influences left over from their previous denizens or owners. Whether this other kind of “human remains” come to be seen as a curse or a haunting is predicated on whether it is believed to be the cause of physical harm (curse), or simply an effect running the continuum of annoyance from a sense of disquiet to extended sleep deprivation (haunting).

We are all familiar with allegations of cursed Egyptian tombs, spread to keep superstitious grave robbers at bay, and it’s interesting how easily those tales made their way into the ever so scientific minds of the Victorian Era. Much more on that another day.

Another school of thought holds that certain types of antiques require special treatment to strip away any residual otherworldly interest, or unwholesomeness, they may have accumulated whether through having been much loved in another person’s life, or having been used, even simply present, at a particularly horrible time in that of another. Even today there are businesses that specialize in such cleaning services, and of such cleansing, an entire genre of dark entertainment has sprung, cinematic and otherwise.

Tonight’s Dark Sentiment dips a toe into this pool, but at the dirty end where no cleansing exists. The Jigsaw is an award winning short film by Sibling Films starring Pedro Monteiro and Darragh O’Malley.

Writer/directors Basil Al-Safar and Rashad Al-Safar describe the project thus:

The Jigsaw Short Film was inspired by an old ghost story that sent a chill through our spines when we just small boys. No one truly knows where the original story comes from but we knew that this story was well deserved of the big screen. After weeks of writing and honing the idea, we had adapted the story and came up with a screenplay that we felt did justice to the spirit of that story that we knew and loved. We are proud to share that story through the magic of motion picture and hope that it gives the audience the same thrilling feeling that we enjoyed so many years ago.

Now sit back and enjoy.