Making its World Premiere at the Dances With Films film festival at the famous Chinese Theater June 2023!

In a tidy 10-ish minutes, THE OSSAN, a short thriller by director Venita Ozols-Graham tells a fantastic story reminiscent of classic Tales from the Crypt episodes.

A new widow faced with taking care of her dead husband’s out of control teen children, is left with nowhere to turn when her housekeeper suggests hiring an ossan (played by Keisuke Hoashi), an older Japanese man that would come to their home to council her stepchildren and try to get them to behave. In classic morality tale style, the ossan is more than just a wizened man. In the end, the woman’s problem is solved, just not through conventional means.

There’s nothing really to criticize about THE OSSAN. It’s a tight narrative that’s well-acted and shot. The audio is fine, and the score works for the subject (again, it really feels exactly like watching a Tales from the Crypt episode. The only thing missing were the bumpers of the Crypt Keeper throwing out puns). The special effects don’t detract from the narrative and are well executed.

The two actors who play the stepchildren, Dean Hermansen and Pappy Faulkner go hard at Brigitte Graham, the actress playing their stepmother (and also one of the film’s writers). If the film were longer, you could easily see those kids plotting some serious foul play against her, and you almost want to see it play out that way because of how well the rest of the film runs.

Venita Ozols-Graham takes an original idea and makes the execution look both flawless, and at the same time easy.