Editorials
If You Watch One Episode of ‘Two Sentence Horror Stories’, Make It “Tutorial”
Two Sentence Horror Stories gets creative and puts its best foot forward in a makeup tutorial gone wrong that’s very much worth your time. For real.
Anthology horror series have never been more popular, but in an age where The Twilight Zone is back and kicking, there needs to be a higher standard set for episodic anthology horror. The CW’s announcement that they’d be getting into the anthology game could turn out to be incredibly fruitful for the young adult horror audience. That being said, there were some reservations in place over the news of Two Sentence Horror Stories, a series that almost seems counter-intuitive in nature since the whole point of the original viral sensation was to get in and out rapidly. It’d be one thing to turn these two-sentence stories into short films (which was originally what happened on CW Seed), but half-hour adaptations leave a lot of room for error.
In theory, some of these two-sentence writing prompts could inspire a great story with depth, but largely the results have been harmless, yet disposable fodder. However, last week’s episode, “Tutorial”, turned out to be a very satisfying endeavor that provides a sliver of hope for this series and what it could become. If there’s one episode of Two Sentence Horror Stories that you need to check out, it’s definitely this one.
Other installments of Two Sentence Horror Stories have played around with evergreen terrors like ghosts, evil children, and sinister brainwashing, but they’ve all been stories that play out through a standard narrative with a basic structure that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. The premise of turning a dozen odd words into an episode of television is enough of a feat. What immediately makes “Tutorial” such a standout episode is that it does go further and finds a clever device to center its story around. On paper, this plot is nothing special: Karine (Aleyse Shannon), a vlogger, conducts a makeup tutorial while an intruder sneaks into her house. What helps make “Tutorial” shine is that the entire episode is presented like a YouTube makeup tutorial video that’s comprised completely of stationary camera setups.
There have been an increasing number of horror films that have played around with the idea that the “computer is the camera.” Missing, Windows, and the Unfriended films have all found inventive takes on this concept, but “Tutorial” triumphs by how it goes one step beyond and filters the story through a makeup tutorial. Director Tayarisha Poe and writer C.S. McMullen, both relative newcomers to horror, turn this into an opportunity to get the most out of shot composition and framing. It’s a highly planned piece, in spite of how it’s designed to look so off the cuff.
Poe also fills the episode with the typical visual flair, filters, and patterns that pollute YouTube videos. Aesthetically, this is nothing new for the genre (2016’s Nerve does a ton with this, in spite of how it’s not exactly horror), but it helps complete the image and push its message as far as possible. At a certain point, the silly visual touches intermingle with grisly reality and form a seamless product that comments on the dangers of sensationalism and desensitizing audiences.
Due to the nature of the episode, “Tutorial” largely plays out as one big monologue to the audience as Karine addresses the camera. This can be super hard to sell and make compelling, but Aleyse Shannon really delivers here as the vlogger in peril. It’s such a gradual, believable transformation that Karine undergoes as she shifts from beauty queen to scream queen. Beyond Shannon’s performance, “Tutorial” is actually unnerving and feels creepy. The episode builds tension during the calm of the tutorial, and then lets loose when the intruder lurks in the shadows and evades Karine. It’s a lot of fun to watch this dark tutorial transpire in juxtaposition to the cute one that starts the episode. Perhaps best of all, there’s a very satisfying ending here that’s worth seeing for yourself.
“Tutorial” ultimately pushes a message about how the taste of fame is worth whatever the cost to some and that the lines have been so blurred in society that murderers are simultaneously celebrities. It’s hardly an original concept for horror, but it’s one that’s incredibly relevant at the moment and hammered in even harder through the innocuous nature of the video. This isn’t someone live-streaming a torture via Twitch, it’s a makeup tutorial on YouTube. Unfortunately, it’s easy to picture something like this actually happening and the audience being numb or oblivious to what’s actually going on. “Tutorial” impressively taps into that free-floating fear and moral bankruptcy that’s becoming tolerated. This powerful message and the creative way in which it’s brought to life makes “Tutorial” easily the most worthwhile and the only must-watch installment of Two Sentence Horror Stories so far.
Tayarisha Poe has one more installment, “Little Monsters,” set for this season, so we’ll see if the same magic can be conjured there or if “Tutorial” remains Two Sentence Horror Stories’ high point.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus took the literary world by storm back in 2023 with the release of his hit novel Whalefall. A terrifying yet intimate survival thriller with mythological undertones, the book was almost immediately bombarded with offers from movie studios wanting to adapt its claustrophobic imagery to the big screen.
Fast forward to June of 2026, and we finally got our first glimpse at Brian Duffield’s long-awaited adaptation of Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams as our unfortunate lead who gets swallowed alive by a sperm whale. While this two-and-a-half-minute teaser only covers the beginning of the story, it’s already been making waves online (and in-person at select 4DX promotional screenings) as one of the most stressful cinematic experiences of the year.
In fact, my own wife had to cover her eyes and exclaim, “You’re definitely not dragging me to watch this one” when we saw the whale’s jaws begin to close in on Abrams, with this incident alone already leaving me convinced that this will likely be one of the biggest genre hits of the year. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the teaser in order to break down interesting details and get a better idea of what’s in store for genre fans when the movie finally comes out this October.
Of course, as usual, don’t forget to comment below if you noticed something we didn’t!
Now, without further ado, here are five things we learned from the Whalefall trailer!
5. Austin Abrams Performed Many of His Own Stunts
Much like in his previous film, No One Will Save You, Duffield insisted that this visceral experience should be grounded by our main character’s believable reactions, regardless of the plot’s effects-heavy setup. That’s why the camera always makes sure to linger on Abrams through his diving mask, so we know that it’s really him going through this ordeal alongside the audience.
While plenty of CGI was used in order to bring this larger-than-life story to the big screen without killing our leading man, Abrams apparently insisted on performing many of his underwater stunts himself (several of which are visible in the trailer) – much to the chagrin of a worried Duffield and the flick’s stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins.
4. The Film Seamlessly Transitions Between the California Coast and Underwater Sets
Duffield obviously wasn’t about to drag his crew out to the middle of the ocean and shoot inside a real sperm whale, but it’s reassuring to see the filmmaker blend on-location footage with the underwater tank segments and the literal belly of the whale set.
There may be plenty of CGI stitching these elements together, but the trailer shows us that only the truly impossible shots are completely digital, meaning that the filmmakers didn’t take the easy way out when it came to adapting this unique story.
3. The Whale is Only Part of the Story
Book adaptations tend to leave out inner monologues and the occasional flashback in order to streamline the narrative (which is one reason why it’s so difficult to translate Stephen King novels to the big screen), but a claustrophobic parable like Kraus’ Whalefall would get a bit dull after a while if the whole thing was entirely set within the creature’s stomach.
That’s why it’s such a relief that the trailer hints at how Duffield will also be adapting many of the book’s introspective moments chronicling our protagonist’s harsh upbringing under his troubled father. Not only do these inclusions give the audience some much-appreciated breathing room, but they also give Josh Brolin a chance to shine as a truly complicated character.
2. The Movie is Keeping the Book’s Scientific Accuracy…
While Kraus’ novel was inspired by a viral video of kayakers nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, the writer ended up consulting with marine biologists about exactly what kind of situation might lead to a whale actually eating a human being alive.
The answer was surprisingly specific, as cetaceans are almost universally known to be friendly towards humans. However, even a gentle giant can make mistakes, and as we see in the trailer, Abrams’ unpleasant fate is more of an accident than anything else – with the massive sperm whale only trapping the poor diver in the first (and thankfully acid-free) chamber of its stomach due to a mix-up involving a giant squid.
Fortunately for the film’s special effects artists, they can now reference the first-ever footage of a real-life sperm whale chowing down on one such squid, as this freaky recording was released late last year.
1. …With a Catch!
Duffield may be doing his best to recreate the grounded (or is it submerged?) thrills of Kraus’ novel, but there are limits to what can be depicted onscreen while still guaranteeing an entertaining movie. That’s why it’s no surprise that Whalefall will take advantage of certain cinematic parlor tricks as the director tests the limits of both physics and biology so we can actually watch his movie.
For starters, the innards of the whale itself have been greatly exaggerated so there’s enough space to make out the action, and in the spirit of movies like Neil Marshall’s The Descent, there also seems to be plenty of non-diegetic lighting meant to show us what’s going on even if Abram’s character wouldn’t necessarily be able to see anything.
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