Review of Clishamville

The 26-year olds behind Clishamville have a very simple premise: make very short, scary mini-movies, and win yourself an audience. The main page welcomes its viewers to the fictional town of Clishamville, “Home of the Odd and Unusual.” The first season of Boo!, their scary movie/science fiction series, contains a dozen 5-minute films, all produced in 2005, with a second season that began in September 2006. Another season is also in the works, which will contain only videos submitted by viewers.   

The premise behind the one to four-minute Boo! films is that you put an innocent and unsuspecting person (a night guard, the new guy in the office, a sleeping woman) in a spooky situation, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as the person slowly becomes aware th

at something is up, then make everyone jump as a creature of some sort makes its way into the scene. They keep the films simple at one attack each, sometimes silly, and always ending with a cliffhanger. while Cell Phone may have you giggling because of its premise (a co-worker’s cell phone bites off the newbie’s ear), it is certainly well-produced, and The Fridge may keep you from ever searching for a midnight snack again. Besides Boo! episodes, also catch a longer film called the MNN (Monster News Network) Special Report, in which anchors and field correspondents report on suspicious happenings in the town of Ithaca, presumably where the films are shot. Also check out the library for some similarly themed scary stories in text. 

For a good laugh, check out some of the Season One episodes that end with a cheesy 80’s song, like Warrant’s Heaven.   But for something sufficiently bone-tingling, watch the guard in Night Patrol (AKA NP1) seek out suspicious sounds in a parking garage.