From Omeleto.
A man spies on his neighbors.
PEEPHOLE is used with permission from Brendan Butler. Learn more at https://instagram.com/butlerproductioncompany.
Stetson is just moving into a new apartment. A recovering alcoholic who is rebuilding his life, he’s looking for a fresh start with the help of a new home and the support of his mentor and sponsor. But sobriety is tough, and the solitude isn’t helping.
As he settles in, he meets his new neighbors, a group of mysterious and attractive women who are intriguing but not exactly welcoming. When Stetson discovers a hole in the wall between his apartment and those of his neighbors, he can’t resist the temptation to spy on them. That temptation becomes a compulsion for Stetson — though he soon discovers something strange underneath their mysterious allure.
Directed and written by Brendan Butler, this intriguing horror short explores both the transfixing appeal of voyeurism and the nature of addiction, intertwining its themes in a tale that’s strangely hypnotic and chilling to watch. Both Stetson and the audience know that spying on his beautiful neighbors is wrong on many levels. Yet as he discovers their eccentric lifestyle and occult leanings, he feels compelled to learn more. The line between compelling and compulsion forms the crux of the story, as Stetson pushes the limits of how far he can take his new activity.
In many ways, the storytelling is stripped down, with sparse dialogue, few locations and jarring shorts and pacing in parts. After quickly establishing Stetson’s state of mind at the start, the sparseness emphasizes Stetson’s isolation and aloneness, and he and the viewer grab onto the few narrative details, which are all tantalizing strange and evocative, particularly when it comes to the group of female neighbors. They’re introduced as an alluring but weird mystery, and much of the initial narrative momentum involves Stetson’s efforts to delve into what’s beneath the women’s bewitching surface.
As Stetson spies on them, he discovers the surreal occult rites they perform in the privacy of their home. As he learns more, he also becomes "addicted" to the thrill of voyeurism, spending considerable time and effort at the peephole adjoining their apartments. The women’s rituals also become more performative, as if cannily aware of an audience and catering to it. As Spencer, actor Sam Cass conveys the struggle of someone in recovery, as well as the fall into a spiral of a new compulsion. He can’t help but watch his neighbors. But as he’s drawn in by their insouciance and oddness, their mystery deepens — and they also unfurl an unsettling power, which they unleash on an unsuspecting Stetson.
Hypnotic and chilling, PEEPHOLE ends on a quick but definitive gesture of retributive violence, revealing itself as a moral fable as much as a study on sobriety and compulsion. Stetson falls into an understandable temptation, but his addictive nature turns a momentary impulse into a trap. He pushes the line of how far he can go with his new obsession — and pays the price for hitting the limit.
