Every day through October, the Department of Tangents brings you the Daily Horror Film Fest – one short horror film for every day of the month. It might be terrifying, it might be funny. It could be an homage classic monsters or something entirely new. Check back every morning for a new scare as we celebrate horror shorts!

Today’s DHFF entry is “Wild Roses,” written, directed, and shot (or as he calls it in the credits, “soderbghed”) by dQniel Kaufman. If you’re claustrophobic, you may want to sit this one out. All of the action takes place in a small drain pipe, in which our protagonist, Laura Brown, is stuck with a bunch of creepy dolls and her cell phone.

Here’s what we know from Laura’s text communication with her father. She is a child psychologist and he is a detective. They are working together and have developed strict search parameters for whatever it is they are looking for. Laura wandered beyond the search radius on a hunch and gotten herself stuck in this pipe or drainage system following a brick tunnel in a burned-out foundation. She passed a fence with wild roses stacked against it, which apparently is a sign she’s dealing with vampires. Dad assures her there is no such thing, but it’s getting harder and harder to believe.

The exact mission of this father and daughter team is unclear. What would a detective and child psychologist be searching for? And why the anxiety over leaving the defined search area? Questions to ponder while you are waiting for Laura to find her way out or be rescued. The father/daughter relationship is also nicely drawn in just a few text exchanges. You get a feel for their love and even their senses of humor over the course of just a few minutes. And kudos to whoever designed the set – it must not be easy to shoot a woman in a drain pipe convincingly and still get a variety of angles.