Writer/director Joy Wilkinson's The Everlasting Club is a horror short having its world premiere at this week's Indy Shorts, an Academy Award-qualifying film fest here in my home town of Indy serving up a hybrid of in-theatre and virtual screening experiences this year including a debut at Indy's newest hotshot theater down at the Bottleworks District called Living Room Theatre. 

It's a fantastic facility, folks. 

The Everlasting Club is a creeper for sure. This U.K. short centers around a diverse group of female students at an elite college who gather on the site of a powerful men's club from centuries ago determined to re-start their grand traditions of power, status, and more. Inspired to change the world, these young women enthusiastically commit to a lifelong pledge and prepare for a dinner with very unexpected guests of honor. 

Stylishly constructed with compelling lensing by Kate Reid and immersive original music from Max Perryment, The Everlasting Club is perhaps a tad familiar but nevertheless quite engaging and more than a little bone-chilling. The film's ensemble cast is uniformly strong with a particularly memorable turn by Emma McDonald as the group's ringleader of sorts. 

The Everlasting Club is screening in competition at Indy Shorts as part of the Horror 1: Splatter block of films and is up for the $1,000 Heartland Horror Award. Indy Shorts is a film fest out of the Heartland Film stable and, yes, even the Heartland Horror shorts manage to be both life-changing, impactful cinema while amping up the chills, thrills, and ultra-horrific vibes. 

For more information on Indy Shorts, visit the Indy Shorts website.  This year's fest runs from July 20-25, 2021 and includes 202 shorts out of over 3,300 submissions. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic