An atmospheric but ominous start draws you into the beginning of The Whisper 2: Natural Connection, a horror short released in October of 2024 by Bulgarian director Miroslav Petkov. Petkov and his co-writer Teddy Nikolova, offer up what seems to be a parallel story to their previous film, Whisper, where we are now following main character Maggie, played by Simona Rose, as she attempts to locate her friend Sophie.
Maggie is seemingly unconcerned with Sophie going to the park that a number of people have been disappearing from, despite having just watched a news report on a recent case, and rather than invite her distraught friend over for some demon-free girl time decides it is better if she wanders out to join her in the park. Maggie loses time and much more than that as she is drawn to a strange place in pursuit of her friend.
This 13 minute horror short has been getting some festival attention and even though I found most of the acting extremely wooden and a bit distracting, I can see why overall. This film manages to combine its elements well to hold attention via its tension, mood and quick take on the well-known occult trope of the mysterious symbols drawing people to their doom.
It still felt a bit like the start of idea synthesis rather than a wholly realized vision and I personally believe it might have been stronger without the last shot, although that may be my CGI prejudice talking. On the whole, I give The Whisper 2: Natural Connection 3 mysterious scribbled journal pages out of 5 and believe that everyone involved will only get stronger from here as they continue to hone their crafts.
Seek this one out on the Enigma Movie Productions YouTube channel for your own horror consumption and see what you think for yourselves.
