Short Film: Ayuda

This eleven-minute short film was directed by Patrick Mason and released in 2018 and is a neat little film. Ayuda is Spanish for help.

A car drives along a road surround by forest. In the hatchback is a crate and Tomas (David LaMorte) and Leo (Caleb Vasquez), a pair of day labourers. They are suspicious of the driver (Thomas K. Belgrey, Fright House & its recut Vampires (1986)) and Leo tests that he cannot understand their Spanish.

They pull onto a service road and drive into the trees. When they stop the driver picks up a pistol but we also see he has an injured arm. Leo is listening at the crate when the driver opens the hatchback. The two labourers carry the heavy crate (Leo convinced there is a body in it) whilst the driver carries a pair of shovels. When they get deeper into the woods he sets the labourers to digging a hole, clearly to bury the crate.

Tomas and Leo

The two labourers debate in Spanish what is happening, a theory that the driver aims to kill them comes out. Leo eventually takes a break as Tomas continues to dig. There is movement in the crate and he looks to open it but Tomas stops him. He will distract their employer and Leo can open the crate but then reseal it once he sees there isn’t a person in it. Leo heads to the man and gets him to return to the car with him.

sharp teeth

Leo prizes the lid and finds a woman (Laura Ruperez) inside, blood on her blouse and her mouth taped shut. Leo reaches in and gingerly removes the tape, whilst assuring her that he will help her. However, as soon as her mouth is uncovered her face changes and a row of sharp teeth are revealed. To find out what happens to the three you’ll have to watch the short but there is always a temptation with films such as this to wonder did they intend the girl to be viewed as a vampire – the stakes we later see in the car suggest yes (though the short is too short to explore why one had not been used on her).

Thomas K. Belgrey as the driver

There is mileage in this story – I could see a very neat feature that starts with the short and, within a non-linear structure, captures both what led to the short and what follows. But, whilst there is further story to be had here, for now we just have the short and it is a fine one.

The imdb page is here.