Other Side Of The Box Explained- Life, Death, Water, And What Lies On The Other Side

Short films have to work harder than series and full-length features. They usually operate with limited budgets and barely have time to develop characters and stories you’ll remember. Some succeed because of the quick format. Films like Curve and Childer are impactful because of their succinct story mapping. We don’t need to know more than we do about either of these tales to be utterly shaken by them. Some truths and fears are universal. Caleb J. Phillips’s unnerving short Other Side Of The Box is one of those films that is freaky for undefinable reasons.

The short, which clocks in at a tight fifteen minutes, uses smart camera angles and an intriguing idea to create one of the weirdest and creepiest short films in a while. It’s a kooky movie that feels funny even though nothing is particularly comical about it. Other Side Of The Box drives toward a conclusion that is as inevitable as it is tense.

This fresh take on the Weeping Angels from Dr. Who brings a mysterious box to the home of Rachel and Ben. The woman’s ex-boyfriend randomly appears after she has moved on with her new boyfriend and, after being invited in, promptly asks Ben if they are alone. Wanting to spare his girlfriend any drama from dealing with the uncomfortable situation, he lies while she hides in the other room. Shawn then offers him a wrapped box and a handwritten note. Inside the box is nothing. Nothing but blank blackness. A void that things fall into but don’t come back out of until a dripping-wet middle-aged man with bulging eyes and a wordless mouth expels them.

The note instructs our protagonist, Ben(Nick Tag), always to keep his eyes on the box. It explains that Shawn(Josh Schell) is sorry but has to get rid of the box. It was Ben’s problem now unless he got rid of it, too, by having some unsuspecting victim open it. The note further explains that the “thing” inside can’t move as long as the box is watched. When a strange man emerges just barely from the box, Ben leaves Rachel(Teegan Rose) to watch over it while he tracks down Shawn to demand answers. Unfortunately, too late, he realizes the monster in the box only has eyes for the recipient and will trap everyone else, only to emerge from the Other Side Of The Box to help snare the next victim.

What is in the box?

At first, the box seems empty. Preternaturally empty even. As discovering as the inky blackness is, though, the staring wet man is worse. The thing in the box is shrewd and patient and uses what it sees and hears to manipulate its victims. The entity in the box can mimic anyone it hears and is a gifted liar. By repeating key lines, remaining still even when Ben is looking away and Rachel is watching, and possibly creating false narratives, it tricks Ben into thinking anyone can watch the box and keep the man at bay.

Shawn, however, tells Ben it is a liar and warns him not to return to the house because he knows it is already too late for Rachel. He only escaped the cursed box because he gave it to Ben. Shawn had to give the box away, and even though he didn’t necessarily want Ben dead, he was someone he disliked because he was now dating Rachel.

The ending of Other Side Of The Box

When Ben returns to the house, he finds the wet man entirely out of the box and closing in while his minions, silhouetted in shadows, bear down on him from the stairs. Most of the lights have been disabled in the house, and water is everywhere. He can’t look at both of them simultaneously, and as a result, each side inches closer as he toggles between them. Finally, with a trio of shadows seconds away and the dripping man stretched towards a light switch, Ben has no choice but to look at the trio and be plunged into darkness.

It is not shown what happens next, but presumably, he joins the ranks of those bested by the box and will now have to serve the dripping man for eternity. Our side of the box represents light and hope, while the other side of the box is death and despair. Curiously water symbolizes life and purity but is used here as a source of fear and possibly power for evil.

What’s with the water in Other Side Of The Box?

The bizarre man that climbs out of the box is dripping wet, and later when Ben returns to the house, he hears the shower running and sees water all over the floors. The entity evidently needs water to move quickly or is like a whale and must stay wet to maintain its powers. Usually, water symbolizes peace, life, and hope, but in this short, it is used to shock and scare. We never get an explanation for why the man needs or wants to be wet, which makes it even more frightening.

By mixing our fear of the dark and, thanks to the Hitchcockian masterpiece Psycho, fear of showers, Other Side Of The Box produces just the right mix of ambiguous weirdness and phobia. What we don’t see or understand is far scarier than what we do. Other Side Of The Box will definitely make you look twice at all those Amazon boxes that were just delivered. You can watch the full film below.