Even in the worst of times, we all need to have something to be thankful for. Like that bounce house that was taken from your dead neighbors’ backyard.
In this post, we’ll be talking about the post-apocalyptic horror-comedy short, “Bounce House,” by Callie Bloem & Christopher Ewing. It is now streaming on Alter’s YouTube channel, and you can also watch it at the end of this article. It might inspire you to get your own script ready for the current Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.
The Plot
In the near future, over ninety percent of Earth’s population has died out, and civilization has collapsed. A young survivor named Polly lives alone in her backyard, until another young woman by the name of Thea comes across her shelter. They befriend each other and hatch a plan to travel to Vermont to join a commune of other survivors. But before that can happen, Thea is going to have to train Polly to survive in the outside world.
Eilise Patton and Jade Kaiser as Thea and Polly in “Bounce House”
Time to Bounce
“Bounce House” takes place in a world that has ended under circumstances that are unknown, even to the characters, until about halfway through. That sort of uncertainty makes the situation and characters seem more real.
The dialogue also give the characters life. These people have had enough time after the apocalypse to accept all the death, but not long enough to kill their concern about small things like whether or not internet will come back. So the scenes of them bonding, which are pretty often, they still engage in small-talk-adjacent conversations about things like social media or the recently deceased (in this universe) Post Malone. It is through these conversations where we find out more about who these characters are. Including the dark history of things that happened to Polly after the world actually ended. These also add a sense of humor, that shines through without overshining the drama of the more serious scenes, such as Polly discussing the deaths of her neighbors.
The characters are fleshed out and likable. They are both distinct personalities, who have reluctantly adapted to the new world. They are believable friends who listen to each other’s problems, and accept their differences, including Thea’s belief in a ridiculous conspiracy theory that actually might not be as ridiculous as it appears. Polly is the most fleshed out character, but Thea is also an interesting character, albeit not so much to get in the way of the comedy of certain things that happen to her at the end.
But besides all that, this short uses a very limited space, and is still able to convince the user that this really is the apocalypse. Just a small section of a vast new world that would be too expensive to show in its entirety. You don’t need to look like Mad Max or have swarms of zombies everywhere, just pick a normal location and film it to look like a deserted hellscape. Although, there are still some well-placed CGI creatures near in the middle.
What Makes It Killer
Bounce House is a fun horror-comedy about well-developed characters bonding in the post-apocalyptic world. If only we could all get a cool bounce house after the world ends.
Watch it below
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