The Return

The death of a parent can be a profound event in anyone’s life, often forcing individuals to confront unresolved emotions, memories, and past traumas. In the story of a brilliant college student returning to his family home following the death of his father, this simple act of returning home becomes an emotional and terrifying journey into the past, revealing that the horrors from childhood are far from gone.

The protagonist, a young man with a promising future, is thrown into a whirlwind of emotions as he returns to the house where he grew up. Initially, it seems like a necessary step—a return to the place of his roots to settle affairs after the passing of his father. Yet, as he steps inside the home, memories long buried begin to resurface, bringing with them feelings of unease and dread. The house, which once felt like a sanctuary of comfort and security, is now a vessel of fear, filled with echoes of a time long past.

The protagonist’s return is not just physical. It is a journey through the layers of his own memories, which are now laced with a sense of dark mystery. He begins to realize that the horrors he believed were behind him, those troubling experiences of his youth, are far from finished. The once familiar corners of the house now seem foreign and sinister. Strange occurrences, unexplained noises, and unsettling visions make him question his grip on reality. Was his childhood really as happy as he once thought, or were there darker forces at play that he never fully understood?

As he delves deeper into his family’s past, the protagonist uncovers a tangled web of secrets. His father, who was once a figure of authority and protection, had been hiding his own troubled past, one that the student now realizes was linked to the very nightmares he experienced as a child. These revelations force the protagonist to confront the terrifying possibility that the horrors from his past were not just figments of his imagination, but part of a deeper, more insidious legacy.

What was once a place of comfort and familiarity becomes a battleground of the mind. As the protagonist navigates through the labyrinth of his own psyche, he is faced with the painful truth that the trauma he endured as a child never truly left him. His return to the house is not just a physical homecoming, but a confrontation with the shadows of the past, forcing him to reconcile with the fear and anxiety that have shaped him.

This tale explores themes of memory, trauma, and the inescapable nature of the past. It delves into the psychological struggle of a person trying to move forward while being haunted by what they thought they had left behind. The family home, which should have been a place of closure and healing, instead becomes a prison of unresolved emotions and terrifying memories.

In the end, the story reveals a chilling truth: some horrors, no matter how deeply buried, refuse to stay dead. They resurface when least expected, forcing those who confront them to either face them head-on or be consumed by them. The protagonist’s return to his family home is not only a physical journey but also an emotional and psychological one—one that will forever alter his understanding of his past, his family, and himself.

Director: BJ Verot

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction

Cast: Callie Lane, Echo Porisky, Erik Athavale, Gwendolyn Collins, Jaydee-Lynn McDougall, Keaton Fish, Kristen Sawatzky, Maclean Fish, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Richard Harmon, Sara Thompson, Zoe Fish