During a seemingly ordinary walk, a young girl discovers a hidden journal that unleashes a number of strange events. This is Teddy Nikolova’s short horror film, The Whisper.
The Whisper is the directorial debut of female Bulgarian filmmaker Teddy Nikolova, who studied Film Production at Salford University in the UK. A 7-minute short film with horror elements, The Whisper was filmed in Nikolova’s native Bulgaria over two days. Having no real knowledge beforehand, this led me to research a little bit into Bulgarian horror cinema. A relatively young genre, Bulgarian horror is rapidly gaining recognition because it has a distinct flavour steeped in the country’s myths and legends. So far, films like 2021’s “January” have explored dread and oppressive atmospheres, while others like “Roseville” mix horror with mystery. You’ll also find horror comedies like “Adio, Rio” and more recent films depicting fantasy horror with “Snowcrawler.” All of which have been made in Bulgaria’s fledgling film industry.
Opening on a young girl walking down a lonely and treelined woodland path, The Whisper begins mysteriously. Our protagonist, Sophie, finds a strange symbol on a tree trunk and a notebook that tells her to run. These early scenes are punctuated by a few broken twig jump scares and echoey voices reading the words that Sophie is. Are these voices in her head or are they something more supernatural?
The secluded nature of the location, with Sophie engulfed in a dense and foreboding forest, gives us a perfect base from which to create a memorable folk horror tale. However, The Whisper decides to go in another direction, leading us to an abandoned building to try and create the feeling of classic haunted house horror.
Nikolova certainly has a director’s eye for shots and is able to give us some great images. Thanks to some lovely long shots, she manages to convey the isolation and loneliness of Sophie’s mysterious journey, with the Bulgarian landscape evident with each step. As we approach the abandoned warehouse, we see it for a split second in all of its full bombed-out splendor. But my favourite image comes when Sophie stands in front of a window frame and holds her arm, Nikolova here giving us a direct reference to John Wayne and John Ford’s famous shot at the end of The Searchers.
Unfortunately, The Whisper doesn’t quite live up to its ominous promise once inside the warehouse, with the film losing some of its impact. However, it does give us one final twist that would probably have worked better as a jump scare. In the end, The Whisper leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions, some confusion, and a sense of what might have been.
Although not a total success as a horror film, The Whisper does give us something technically beautiful to look at, although it isn’t overtly scary. A well-crafted short film the visuals showcase Nikolova’s directorial potential, and I’m sure with more resources and time, Nikolova could contribute significantly to the growing wave of current Bulgarian horror, which has only just begun to leave audiences on the edge of their seats.
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