Official Synopsis
Mia, a courageous 10-year-old girl who is locked in a shed, must survive inconceivable odds whilst trying to discover what happened to her family.
Review
Writer/director/editor Steven J. Mihaljevich’s Shed (Australia, 2025) is a taut horror thriller boasting a fantastic performance from young Mani Shanks as Mia, a little girl who is locked in the family shed by her little brother during a game. Unbeknownst to her, something awful befalls her family, and after a few days surviving by herself, a maniacal stranger (Jason Robert Lester) discovers her presence.
The film starts off as a survival horror in the confinement of the shed before turning into a cat-and-mouse chiller in a wider area. I don’t want to give away too much more than that, as Shed is rich with surprises.
Mia is a resourceful youngster who doesn’t give up easily, and her clever ideas for staying alive are more realistic than precocious “superkid”-style elements. Shanks captured Screamfest’s Best Actress award for good reason. She conveys emotion well in a role in which she doesn’t speak much, and gives a remarkable, demanding physical performance. She imbues Mia with true childhood innocence, helping viewers get firmly invested in her as a little girl in peril.
The majority of the screentime is either Mia alone or interacting with the stranger. Viewers are given enough of a backstory of the villain’s character and certainly enough exposure to his murderous nature to hope that his plans for Mia are thwarted. Lester plays the character well, and fear-fare fans are treated to a supporting role from Wolf Creek’s John Jarratt.
The pacing is top-notch, with Mihaljevich winning the fest’s Best Editing award for his work. Shed is a true nailbiter and comes strongly recommended by me.
You can view the trailer at https://vimeo.com/1102096787.
Shed screened as part of Screamfest, which took place from October 7–16, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
