Finley is a 25-minute Horror Comedy Short Film directed by J. Zachary Thurman, who also co-wrote alongside Maddie Stroud. The film originally premiered at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival in August of 2019, before releasing on YouTube for the general public on April 1st, 2020, where it can be watched for free here
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When college students Alexandra, Chris, and Jennifer move in together, they explore the attic of their new place and come upon a wooden crate containing a ventriloquist dummy wrapped up in chains and a nametag that says "Finley". After playing with him for a bit, they put him back and carry on with their day, only for him to come to life and set out to go on a murder spree.
Well, he tries to, at least. His killing methods could use some work.
Tropes:
- Aerosol Flamethrower: During Jennifer's birthday party, Finley prepares a can of hairspray right as she's about to blow out the candles on her cake with the intention of doing this but ends up spraying himself in the face because the nozzle was facing the wrong direction. His second attempt towards one of the burglars is much more successful.
- Agony of the Feet: One of the burglars gets several nails in his feet (and hands) when he gets caught in Finley's rug trap.
- Aside Glance: Finley does this at the end when the housemates notice that their eggnog tastes off, implicitly because he poisoned it.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Burglar #1 cements his awfulness by threatening to shoot the cat just for being in the way.
- Black Dude Dies First: The Black burglar is the first one that Finley kills.
- Butt-Monkey: After three months of unsuccessful murder attempts, Finley gets relegated to this role by the housemates, who mock him while playing charades right in front of him, force him to smell the cat crap on the floor after he takes the fall for the cat, and send him back to the attic. However, after he saves their lives from the burglars, the housemates decide to Throw the Dog a Bone and welcome Finley as part of the family by getting him his own little sweater on Christmas morning. Though that doesn't stop him from tampering with their eggnog.
- Decon-Recon Switch: Of "killer doll" movies such as the Child's Play series. Upon being awakened by the owners of the house, Finley sets out to kill each of them, only to have all of his attempts fail either due to his small size or his lack of practice, with the three of them coming to see him as a nuisance at worst. However, after three months of unsuccessful attempts, he starts to learn from his mistakes and gets the chance to put his newfound knowledge in action when burglars invade the house.
- Electrified Bathtub: Finley tries doing this to Alexandra, only for it to not work because he didn't plug in the toaster first. He gets a chance to do it right on one of the home invaders after he sets the man's hand on fire and he goes over to the tub to extinguish it.
- Pet the Dog: Or rather, the cat, as that is the only member of the household that Finley doesn't try to kill. In fact, it's when one of the burglars threatens to shoot said cat that Finley is motivated to spring his plan into action.
- Single Tear: Finley sheds one after he gets sent back to the attic by the housemates.
- Slippery Skid: Finley trips one of the burglars by spilling out marbles on the floor, leading to him stumbling onto some nails that Finley had set as a trap.
