Finding Horror In Short Film 'LOST' (2020) from Tananarive Due

Sometimes I come across shorts (or even features) I want to recommend but am reluctant to write about because they’re best experienced entering in “cold.” Some people care about spoilers and some don’t, but I like to be surprised by the twists and turns of a story well-told, even if—maybe especially if—it’s a very short story. For the purpose of recommending such things, here is Sight Unseen—a semi-regular umbrella under which I may recommend things I feel are best experienced without any forewarning or hints of what’s to come.

Today I’m recommending a nine-minute short called LOST, made by Tananarive Due. Professor Due is a novelist (including My Soul To Keep), screenwriter and the current Cosby Chair in the Humanities at Spelman College. In addition to her many books, essays, talks, and scripts, she was also the Executive Producer of, and speaking participant in, Shudder’s documentary HORROR NOIRE.

(Side-note: HORROR NOIRE is 100% mandatory viewing and even more relevant as we hurtle toward Jordan Peele and Nia DeCosta’s return to the most iconic PoC character in Horror history.)

Professor Due shot LOST on her iPhone for a few hours a day at a local hiking trail (Glendora Park represent!), upon which she tells me she “got lost every day,” even when she tried to use ribbons to mark her path. (Which frankly sounds like some BLAIR WITCH-style shenanigans to me)

Unrelated to the short itself, Due is particularly proud of the production logo. “The production company logo is my son jumping into a pile of ice in slow motion about five years ago,” Due says. “I thought it was a cool image and sound!”

Watch the nine minute short film below and afterwards go to Due’s blog to read more about how it came to be. Until then…turn out the lights, read no further, and behold…Tananarive Due’s LOST: