After Dark Films has a clever schtick going with its annual After Dark Horrorfest - a film festival for indie horror features.  Winners from this festival acquire distribution within the “8 Films to Die For” package.  The Broken is such a film.

Writer/director Sean Ellis does a great job of using silence and ambient sound to create the eerie mood of the film.  The film weighs in at a perfect 80+ minutes, which is just right for the often difficult-to-watch modern shape of horror as a genre.

In the end, though, its story seems to exist for the sake of itself.  There are many unanswered questions, and one too many evil stares past the camera, making the film feel like one long manipulation.  The makers’ only aim seems to be to make your hair stand on end.  In that he succeeds, but is that enough?