Dee (Camille Ladendorf), a young woman in her early twenties, decides to visit her grandmother (Daphne Dennis) for the first time in over a decade. and is shocked to discover that the long-widowed woman has a new boyfriend, Harold (RJ Pennington)… who happens to be much closer to Dee’s age. Believing Harold to be nothing more than a common grifter seeking to capitalize off of a lonely old woman and her wealth, Dee attempts (over the course of a dinner) to expose the man for what she believes him to be. What Dee uncovers is much more sinister than she could have ever imagined, exposing and playing upon fears she’s had since childhood.

This is the basic premise for Over the River and Through the Woods, the new short film from writer and director Graham Burrell. Regular readers of our site may recall that Burrell was also the force behind the 2024 short film, “Grampy“, which I raved about in a review posted on this site in June of last year. Much like “Grampy” before it, Over the River… was produced on a limited budget with a very small cast and crew (3 actors and 4 crew members, if I’m correct), and takes place entirely within the confines of maybe two or three rooms within a single home. As such, this approach places the focus squarely on the story and the performances found within.

Again, much like “Grampy“, Over the River and Through the Woods places its central character (in this instance, Dee) into what initially appears to be a highly awkward and generally uncomfortable situation, but not one that is overly unrelatable or seemingly unsafe.  Upon establishing its scenario, the film slowly increases the sense of unease and apprehension before suddenly throwing back the covers, revealing the true horrors taking place underneath. Granted, the revelations made near the film’s conclusion aren’t exactly all that surprising and are actually telegraphed quite early in the film, but the resolution still felt satisfyingly befitting.

Performances are pretty solid across the board. Pennington, who portrayed the “charismatic, yet somewhat aloof” antagonist in “Grampy” returns in a somewhat similar role as this film’s antagonist, Harold. Those who enjoyed his performance in the former film will be pleased to see that he’s given the opportunity to express a bit more range in this role, albeit not by any profound measure. His character here feels just as amusingly smug. Ladendorf is suitably angry and distrustful as “Dee”, the young woman suspicious of this man’s attentions to her aging grandmother. Meanwhile, Dennis gives a fun, yet still fairly believable performance as the older woman just happy to find love again and resentful of the ravages of aging.

Overall, I found Over the River and Through the Woods to be another exceptionally strong and highly entertaining film from Burrell, and yet another promising early sign in the burgeoning career in this talented young filmmaker. Thanks to a somewhat more fleshed out plot, a somewhat less somber tone, and the ever-present black humor running throughout, I may have enjoyed Over the River… a little more than “Grampy“. Granted, “Grampy” was a more personal film for Burrell, so that film’s tone was intentionally different, albeit not drastically.

As Over the River and Through the Woods only recently completed post-production, it has just begun to be submitted for selection at various film festivals. As such, there are currently no scheduled screenings for me to inform you of, nor will I be sharing a link to actually watch the film at this time. Sorry! However, I have happily agreed to not only update this review with festival dates once they become available, but to also include a link to the film once it becomes available for screening online. I will post those updates on the Horror And Sons socials as well, so be sure to keep an eye out there too! I guess this also means that I was able to watch the film before the vast majority of the horror community, so that’s pretty damned cool!

In the meanwhile, you can keep up with Graham and his various projects at www.grahamburrellfilm.com/films, where you’ll probably find festival screening updates sooner than I’d be able to provide. (I should also point out that you may also stumble across a couple spoilers for the film, so beware.) I can divulge that Burrell is currently in the early stages of development on what will be their first feature-length film. Although it is far too early to give any details on that project (not that I have any), I can honestly say that I eagerly await seeing what Burrell does with the project and look forward to reviewing it on this site once it becomes available.