Short Film Review: Family Game Night (2018)

Family Game Night is a short horror film written by Ali Chappell, and Jon Kohan, and directed by Nicholas Ferwerda. It’s about a family that has a stranger over for the family game night, which is a time where the family “…takes time out of their busy lives to take part in the magical time.”

The film clocks in at just under 12 minutes, and is very well-shot, acted, and has an interesting twist that takes a family game night to a new level. The family themselves seem normal enough at first, but they hold a dark secret that is revealed to the stranger at dinner time.
The feel of this film is very lighthearted, and the family acts like nothing is out of the ordinary the entire time they are interacting with the guest. They also make sure to maintain their family values the entire time and compose themselves somewhat like you would imagine a family in the ’50s to act. There are some comedic elements mixed in that are well-written, and fit in with the rest of the vibe of the film.

Overall, Family Game Night is a charmingly horrific short film that captures a fly-on-the-wall perspective of traditional family values and horror in the same evening of one seemingly-innocent family. We definitely recommend this to all horror fans out there. The cast and crew did an excellent job making a quality short film, and think this would be an awesome idea for a feature film as well.
Family Game Night will be shown at the Toronto Indie Film fest soon, and make sure to look for it at other upcoming film fests near you!