We’ve reviewed several shorts from director Michael Coulombe and screenwriter Brantley J. Brown, most recently Love Me Not. Well, now we have one where Michael is writing for another director. The Lady is a six-minute short from Alexander Henderson. As you might guess from the run time it’s a creepy tale with a sting at the end.

Beth (Estefania Preciado) is woken up by her phone. It’s 3:21 AM and her doorbell cam has picked up some unusual activity. A very strange looking woman (Rosa Pérez) is at her front door. Using the cam’s app to ask if the woman needs help doesn’t get a response. When telling her she’ll call the cops gets the same lack of response she decides to investigate. Do I really have to tell you this is a bad idea?

Shot for a promotion run by Wyze, a maker of smart home products including security cameras, The Lady does a nice job of switching between security camera footage and more conventionally shot footage. It even makes the obligatory shot of the company’s product a logical one, not a gratuitous bit of product placement.

The Lady is well shot with a couple of good jump scares and some genuinely creepy footage. But there’s one big issue that I, and several YouTube commentators had. Why did she go to the door? There’s obviously something wrong out there. At best a woman with serious issues, at worst something supernatural. I’d think twice about it and I’m a fairly big guy. But horror films are full of people making bad choices so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Despite that though, The Lady is an effective short with a nice double payoff thanks to a post-credits scene. Alexander Henderson has completed a feature Sacren which I’m curious about. And hopefully, we’ll be seeing something new from Michael Coulombe in the near future as well.