Short Takes: “Crypto” Capitalizes on Modern Fears

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“Crypto” is a horror short film that will remind viewers of the wild ride that the crypto market is and the high price of modern technology.

One of the greatest thrills of watching a horror movie is the experience of seeing characters quickly bounce back from mortal danger to relative safety. These films usually have a lot of tension, suspense, and build-up. All of this helps to create an emotional bond with viewers which also enhances the viewing experience.

This tension is exacerbated when the film reflects real-world dangers and pervasive fears, making it easy for the viewer to relate to the situation the characters find themselves in and fully experience the fear of a proxy character.

Many of the most successful horror films capitalize on the unique fears and cultural trends of the time.

For example, Rob Savage’s timely locking cooler, Host, has become one of the most discussed and successful horror films of 2020 by embracing the rise of the largely non-existent Zoom culture until March 2020 and skillfully reflecting the scary new world of midlife, social isolation and a once-in-a-century pandemic that was now part of the fabric of our lives.

Meanwhile, films like Spree and The Toll addressed modern fears associated with the rise in popularity of carpooling and its new, almost ubiquitous role in society. And a wave of films have addressed the terrifying dark side of our modern social media obsession, including Tragedy Girls, Assassination Nation, Unfriended, #Horror, and The Den.

The recent short film Crypto follows this trend by playing on the experience of trading and investing in cryptocurrencies, which will now be familiar to many people around the world.

Before watching this movie, it’s important to note how important cryptocurrencies have become over the past year or so. We have seen increasing adoption and acceptance of cryptocurrencies across various sectors and industries since the start of 2020.

The likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum are much more prevalent today and can be used on a number of online platforms, which is far from the situation just a year ago. One of the industries that has fully embraced it is the online gambling industry. Bitcoin live dealer games have become increasingly mainstream, which has completely transformed the industry, with increased traffic and revenue.

There are several pros and cons to this, but overall it has been a positive development for the industry, showing the influence crypto can have on other industries, including the world of cinema.

There are a few crypto-centric movies out there already, but most of them are documentaries that seek to explain crypto and the general trend. But we haven’t seen much of any entertainment product that integrates crypto into the main plot. So, Crypto is an interesting project in that it uses one of the key aspects of the industry to create the basic framework of the story.

Cryptocurrencies have seen an incredible rally over the past 18 months, but this rally has also been punctuated by extreme volatility. Even now, Bitcoin is down almost 30% from its all-time high, a level it hit just a few months ago, showing just how wild these swings are. So, it is easy to imagine the experience of those who put money into the crypto market.

This is exactly the emotion that Alex Mann, the writer / director of this short film, wanted to explore in Crypto, a low-budget horror comedy.

The film is a little over 60 seconds long, but it packs a lot of emotion and suspense in a very short period of time.

It starts with a young crypto trader sitting in front of his computer and following the price of Bitcoin. The price starts to skyrocket, sparking some crazy celebrations from the trader as he talks about how he’s going to buy Lambos, baby. Almost immediately, the price collapsed, causing a feeling of hopelessness and rage, before rising again.

The Effective Short is a parody of the volatility of the crypto market, with investments losing and gaining huge amounts of value within a matter of hours.

As the trader goes crazy trying to keep up with price fluctuations, he seems to be hallucinating when the price line comes out of the screen and starts interacting with him. He thinks it is Satoshi, the mythical and little-known founder of Bitcoin. The shopkeeper thinks this line is cute, almost like a pet. He touches it he notices that it is hot.

The line then lengthens and tries to make contact with the trader, who is getting ready. But the line aggressively stabs him in the forehead and kills the trader, before going haywire all over the screen and rushing towards the viewer.

While done in a light and fun way, this short film clearly harnesses what so many outstanding horror films have done before: fear of new technology. It’s a silly but also scary look at the volatility of crypto investments and how that volatility and unpredictability can have a very real impact on people’s emotional and mental well-being.

Cypto is an example of a simple concept executed creatively to pack a punch in minutes. What’s most fascinating about it is how unique the subject matter is for a horror movie and whether or not that will mark the start of a growing trend in the genre. Only time will tell, but it’s possible that Crypto is at the forefront of a new wave of modern technological horror.

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