Clustifer – Short Film Review

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It isn’t often you can describe a film as painful to watch without it being an insult. However Karim Araman has directed a film that is truly difficult to watch – for all the right reasons. From the opening shot, ‘Clustifer’ is tense and mysterious. The dark, shadowy lighting compliments the personification of a cluster headache – portrayed by Rawad Kansoun. In personifying the headache, the audience are forced to engage with the protagonist’s pain on an interpersonal level. It creates the unique effect of both humanising and dehumanising the debilitating condition.

The choice to use an extra-diegetic narration over the top of some of the action is effective because it adds another layer of understanding for the audience. This does nothing to settle us, however, as a sickening discomfort is woven into every thread of the film. Nadim Khouri, as Karim, does an excellent job of commanding these threads in his portrayal of a man suffering at the hands of Clustifer. Combining this performance with the eerie music and cold colour grading – ‘Clustifer’ becomes reflective of the scariest kind of horror movie: one based on reality.

The gruesome twists and turns leave the audience writhing in a sense of suffocation. As Karim loses his grip on reality, we are presented with a final scene that only reinvents pain in a more visceral and isolating way.

Karim Araman’s artistic interpretation of one of the most painful conditions known to man will leave you cold. Thankfully, the ‘Clustifer website features some behind the scenes footage and pictures that break the spell of terror https://www.clustifermovie.com/behind-the-scenes