There are a lot of conversations going on about police officers right now, and they’re long overdue. I’m split on the issue. On one hand, there is a shit ton of sexism and racial profiling, and that needs to stop. On the other hand, there are some good men and women out there that want to keep the rest of us safe from those who would otherwise harm us.  When you think about the scary shit the good ones go through… it’s enough to make you wonder how healthy that level of terror can be for a person. So, bearing that in mind, here’s Isaac Rodriguez’s short horror film The Cop Cam.

Click here for The Cop Cam.

I can’t stress enough how scary this is once you let it into your head that this is something a cop does: go into a creepy-ass place with your gun drawn and a radio for backup. You know what? There are times when my garage creeps me out and I don’t want to go in there at night (because really, I’m a giant baby with an overactive imagination). So to get that drawn-out tension of seeing something out of the corner of your eye and having to follow it out of the whole “it’s my job” thing, it’s a pretty terrifying moment. As an audience, we know that something bad is going to jump out at this guy, and on some level, he knows it too.

Technically, I like that this one goes for the angle of first person shooter over the gore shock factor. Points to Rodriguez for that. He created a mood that knew when to stay tense, and he had enough sense to only keep it going for about two minutes. We didn’t have time to get antsy. Well done.

So stay out of run-down buildings, and happy Saturday.