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 here.
Shed screened as part of Screamfest, which took place from October 7–16, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
