Remain calm: Collider has debuted Remain Calm, a 13-minute horror short led by Nick Swardson, Pauly Shore, and Doug Jones. The film turns a simple night-shift setup into a survival problem built around stress, fear, and anxiety.
Pauly Shore and Nick Swardson play Matt and Erwin, gas station clerks who are told by a government agent, played by Doug Jones, about a creature that devours anyone who shows even the slightest hint of stress. In a short running time, that setup has to do the work of a full premise, a threat, and a confrontation.
Jake Lewis and Pauly Shore
Jake Lewis wrote and directed Remain Calm after previously directing Shore in The Court Jester. Shore said he had a fantastic time working on Remain Calm and was excited to work with Lewis again after they had so much fun together on The Court Jester.
He also said he was equally excited to work alongside Swardson, calling him one of his favorite comedy brothers. That matters because the film depends on two performers who can sell pressure without losing the comic timing that the setup needs.
13 minutes with Gorgazma
The 13-minute runtime shapes the story in a practical way: there is no room for a slow build or side plot, so the film has to establish the clerks, the warning, and the creature almost immediately. Lewis said the idea of reacting to truly horrifying situations with aggressive positivity was really funny to him, and he called Remain Calm a metaphor for society at large.
Kevin Keppy plays Mr. Frett, and the character was created with practical effects from Gorgazma. For viewers, that means the creature is being presented through physical effects rather than a long-form, effects-heavy expansion that a feature would allow.
Shore, Swardson, and the threat
The film is built around the command to remain calm, but the premise pushes the characters into exactly the kind of situation that can trigger panic. Matt and Erwin are supposed to keep their composure while facing a monster designed to punish stress itself, which gives the short its central friction.
Lewis has not said whether Remain Calm will be expanded into a feature. For now, the release works as a compact Halloween-season horror title: a fast setup, a specific rule, and a creature that makes every nervous reaction part of the danger.
