I first saw this commercial either as an interstitial at Fantastic Fest or during Butt-Numb-A-Thon; Mike Dougherty, director of the wonderful Trick ‘r Treat, brought it back to my attention today on his Twitter feed.
This commercial isn’t just funny because it’s so creepy, it’s actually a great example for the filmmakers in the audience how you can make an ordinary object terrifying with just some editing and sound design. I mean, this is a commercial that features a toy and some girls laughing and it is so creepy it may give the younger ones out there legit nightmares, and that’s all done with the magic of the camera and the simple soundtrack, and without gore, FX or jump scares. Sometimes you can take filmmaking object lessons from the unlikeliest of places.