ARIA | Omeleto Horror

A couple installs a 'smart' security system.
ARIA is used with permission from Christopher Poole. Learn more at cdpoole.com.
A young couple, Tom and Jenny, are installing a new smart home security system in their tastefully upscale home. The Aria system promises an army of cameras to watch out for intruders, all accessible and controllable via app and voice assistant. But like much other modern smart home technology, Aria has its quirks.
Jenny learns to live alongside Aria, but Tom soon finds himself unnerved by it. The lights go on and off unexpectedly; he gets constant notifications that something's at the door in the middle of the night. Soon strange sounds in the dark take on an ominous portent, and each of Aria's transgressions feels increasingly aggressive, building up to a confrontation between man and machine.
Written and directed by Christopher Poole, this chilling sci-fi horror short's starting point is the installation of a smart home security system in the house shared by a millennial couple. Represented in a cheeky commercial cameo by WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS star Natasia Demetriou, the Aria system promises a comprehensive surveillance system that detects any threat in or out of the home. Instead, it brings on a psychological descent into madness and dread that Tom cannot escape.
The film's considered style and form evoke a disjointed reality constantly interpolated by technology, where the shots alternate between Tom's "real life" with its representation via surveillance footage. The setting of its contemporary home -- both stylish and yet austerely chilly in its modernity -- is reflected in the jagged rhythms of its editing and the almost Cubist-like angles of its visual composition. We never quite settle in the film, with its pacing and rhythms keeping us off-kilter and always on our toes. It all mirrors Tom's unsettled feelings about Aria, which doesn't quite work the way promised.
As the intrusions and mishaps with Aria increase, Tom begins to experience his home as a site of threat and danger. Even the most ordinary sound -- the sound of a blender, the creaking of a floor -- feels like an assault or an insinuation. Actor Daniel Lawrence Taylor captures both Tom's increasing frustration and paranoia, though there are also moments of levity found in the gaffes of Aria that anyone who has screamed in frustration at Alexa or Siri will relate to. But overall, Tom's relationship with the new presence in his home becomes something more ominous and foreboding, eventually escalating into confrontation.
The conclusion of ARIA does not explain or "make sense," but in its surrealism and horror, it's genuinely startling and oddly wondrous, much in a way that a dream sequence in a David Lynch film would be. With its themes of domestic space run amok with fear and anxiety, the short also possesses shades of Roman Polanski's Repulsion. But ARIA is truly a contemporary film, resonant with themes about technology, privacy and paranoia and handled with considerable visual panache. Using horror as a way to explore our deepest cultural anxieties, it's no less than an INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS for the uber-connected age, where there's no escaping the tether of constant, neverending and "always on" connectivity, even in our most private of spaces.

[@chaoticenvy8388]

I'm sorry but this ended up being WAY funnier than scary

[@sorinn7894]

Who said it would be scary Edit: my bad it’s the horror channel

[@marzd5215]

I literally howled 😂

[@dlariby]

Wait a few years, maybe you’ll change your mind

[@NEOW123]

Yeaaaa.... Started off with potential with good acting and then just took a weird turn lol

[@gemstar7286]

A silly turn more like lol

[@Msmary98-98]

Well forget about that security system I was going to have installed 😂😂😂

[@Biker_Gaming]

yep, never gonna have one in my entire life now

[@adamjay2ndward]

straight up!

[@chrisjones5949]

I watch a lot of short horror on KZbin, and many of them just don't land all that well. This one, though - this one freaked me out. It's mildly unsettling almost from the start, with the sudden shrieking alarm, the setup video that feels slightly off, and the slogan "we watch / you relax," which becomes much more ominous if you omit the pause. I also caught that "human-curated surveillance" phrase that I think Tom may have missed... And of course, taking a turn into the deeply weird is always a risk. Some people will find it too strange to be scary, but I found it struck the right level of surreal to be very frightening. And the jump scare got me, largely because it wasn't telegraphed (as they so often are).

[@Bichonben1963]

Was enjoying it at the start but then went too weird and not scary , shame as the acting was good 😢

[@taracollins5597]

This was interesting! Human-curated security....literally. So the humans were cyborgs? Modified humans? I really liked the scene where his house 'lit up' with all the security he had 'paid for'.

[@susieturk1]

That was horrifying, and everything about it was good! Had my full attention!

[@dlariby]

This must be a pricy security system. So many employees to be paid.

[@victorialove65]

I liked it at first but it didn't follow through with the great ending, even with Nadia from What we do in the shadows.

[@anwarvanommeren8407]

Yeah, once you install a security system it sometimes has the opposite effect where it makes you more paranoid. It's ironic that they (supposedly) sell you peace of mind but the system itself is so intrusive that you can't let it go. It's always throwing notifications etc. It also doesn't help that this particular one is security, doorbell, Alexa and general smart home systems. So it's very very intergrated in these people's lives.

[@rickyibarra]

En efecto, el mejor sistema de seguridad es tener todas las puertas y ventanas cerradas con reja de acero y tener armas y munición en casa.

[@zombiasnow15]

I have been proactively telling people NOT to get any where near those devices. It is a quaint form of brain washing 😟

[@thomasauslander3757]

Canadian wireless security systems.. Having a couple of Canadian geese would be safer..

[@philschuler9674]

That was a good and scary short. Thanks for posting.

[@outsidetheboxwithlala5602]

I'm sorry, but this movie is hilarious. This should've put dark comedy because I sure they had a good laugh.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@rickysanchez8709]

I love the house :-d

[@adamjay2ndward]

right???, i nee the floor plan ASAP!!

[@foxargen]

Oh thank god it wasn't scary. I would've been terrified if it was actually a monster outside.

[@PocoLoco21]

My Alexa is disconnected 😅😂

[@FedSher]

Looks like the union went on strike 😐😆

[@samir_bapu]

We indian have best security system and that's our neighbor old aged aunties

[@clarsach29]

reminded me a bit of the TV series "Humans", really enjoyed this and the jump scare got me!

[@VDH1953]

This is the worst Omeleto... ever.

[@VDH1953]

At least that I've seen.

[@SF-fb6lv]

So much for naming my new company Aria....

[@bibolehabib]

Another weird Black Mirror episode !

[@zongleberries]

the entire male genders nightmare is that one speaker

[@ICONICPARIS]

This was weird AF

[@LadyMoonsparrow]

This was very cool! Unexpected, suspenseful and terrific acting. Super creepy!

[@chynnacruz6727]

Aria buy curtains also how are they not disturbed by the broom? Its only us that live here and we are both inside. Why did it seem like the broom was positioned to cover the peephole? They arent worried enough for me lol

[@kevinmkraft]

I didn't get this at all beyond the whole "we-shouldn't-implicitly-trust-technology" idea. The disabled people with glowing mouths...?

[@jasminehouston-burns1691]

The film lost me when he didn't try to look AT the door and wasn't terribly surprised when they turned out to be people. The wheelchair was funny though.

[@stipicakrakar4919]

Is this a joke or what what is the point

[@gemstar7286]

lol

[@magnetdesignandadver]

This is SO WEIRD! Love it. Love the house too - beautiful, apart from Aria

[@cobbetlprogrammer1344]

I like the Humor. Cheers.

[@FodorPupil]

Welcome to our present world. It is a great short, and it is also true.

[@lizhiggins4805]

What i dont get is how come he only been seeing things not her too or is paranoid with it she doesn't notice anything

[@Brucebod]

Was the mouse cursor (right side of screen) at 6:44, part of the plot? I liked it, tho. Well acted and an original idea. Clever.

[@adamjay2ndward]

saw that too!!

[@luca6819]

I thought it was done on purpose for some reason, like someone was watching, and given the ending i believe it was like an hint

[@Brucebod]

Oh! That's interesting.@@luca6819

[@lizhiggins4805]

Don't get end how was aria in human form and on the machine

[@TanyaWins007]

Pov: Your apple devices aren't safe as well.

[@rudypea]

Christopher Poole??? Did moot write this?!

[@sallyoquinn]

Well executed concept!

[@Aohhdjdl]

Lousy

[@conniehanses]

Holy....ahhh

[@oldishandwoke-ish1181]

For a "couple", they don't communicate much.

[@MrTwenty20video]

Liked it a lot. ✔

[@strictlyaesthetic9202]

Ring doorbell 2.0

[@lovebug9696]

what

[@jewelhaines8842]

Great video!!❤

[@xtrangeVideos]

Wow. ❤

[@jobisselle2861]

Awesome! ❤

[@phantasiesforever3985]

well done!

[@joywilliams5861]

I was hoping for a slightly different ending but those jump scares did get me for a second 🫣