The Frolic is a 2007 short horror film directed by Jacob Cooney with a script by Thomas Ligotti and Brandon Trenz. It is adapted from Ligotti’s 1982 short story of the same name. Michael Reilly Burke, Maury Sterling, and Jennifer Aspen star.
Prison child psychologist Dr. David Munck (Burke) is driven to leave his job by his most recent patient, a convicted serial child killer known only as “John Doe” (Sterling). Doe sidesteps most questions about his past, claiming to be from no place that Munck could understand. He will only say that he takes his victims to another place where he “frolics” with them.
At home, Dr. Munck’s wife Leslie (Aspen) tends to their daughter Colleen (Kailey Nicole), who seems to have picked up a little boyfriend at school…
Can be seen for free on YouTube here
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Tropes seen in the short:
- Cardboard Prison: It wouldn’t be for criminals who are only human, but that’s not the case here.
- Downer Ending: The Muncks rush upstairs to see their daughter missing from her bed, implied to be John Doe’s most recent victim.
- Empathy Doll Shot: The deer with its stuffing pulled out.
- Humanoid Abomination: John Doe looks human but claims to be something else. Certainly seems like he’s right at the end.
- Kubrick Stare: Whenever Doe looks up from his drawing he seems to be giving one of these.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Doe’s drawings.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: As John Doe, Maury Sterling slips between a Southern accent and a haughty pseudo-British one. It actually works in terms of making the point that Doe’s human persona is hastily put together.
- Setting Update: The short story was published before cell phones and laptops were generally available on the market, but the film reflects their being ubiquitous.
