Other Side of the Box is a Horror short film directed by Caleb Philips. Initially released in September 2018, it was later posted online by curated short film YouTube channels.

Two lovers, Ben and Rachel, are suddenly visited by their friend Shawn, who gifts them a box. Ben accepts the box, only to realize later on that it contains a mysterious entity.

You can watch the film here or alternatively from here. A related interview with the director can also be watched here.

Other Side of the Box contains examples of:

• All There in the Script: As written out in the YouTube video descriptions that credit the actors, the entity is unnamed and is simply credited as the "Man in the Box".
• Ambiguously Human:
  • The Man in the Box looks like a human, except it isn't a normal human being; it's an entity that crawled out of a small box, can imitate other people's voices, and apparently Can't Move While Being Watched. The box's previous owner, Shawn, calls the entity "it", while Ben, out of annoyance, calls the entity a "thing".
  • Near the end, there are four other human-like entities who corner Ben via the staircase. They similarly have a Can't Move While Being Watched gimmick as the man in the box, but the film ends without revealing what they are. Did they emerge from the box, too? Were they the previous victims of the man in the box?
• Batman Gambit: To lure Ben away from Rachel, the man in the box mimics Shawn's voice and tells Rachel in a non-repeated line that Ben shouldn't leave the house, which makes them think that Shawn had the answers to dealing with it and that it would be best that Ben should be the one who goes and get him.
• Big "NO!": On the phone, Shawn angrily yells "No" several times at Ben when he realizes the latter left Rachel alone to watch the man in the box.
• Blatant Lies: Ben tells Shawn that Rachel is in her parents' house, even though it's made clear earlier that she's currently with Ben, and because Rachel herself doesn't want to see Shawn. This becomes crucial later when Shawn calls Ben out for lying about it before he left the box at the latter's home.
• Can't Move While Being Watched: This is the main conceit of the horror short film, where the protagonist has a box dropped on his house that has a mysterious man emerge from it. The entity shows itself to be actually intelligent, using Voice Changeling abilities to manipulate others and deactivating light sources so that it can move freely. Near the end of the film, the four other entities who corner Ben at the staircase have a similar gimmick.
• Captain Obvious: When Shawn leaves, Rachel is curious about the box Ben is holding. Ben simply says it's "a box", and Rachel isn't amused at his answer. Granted, the question is about what's inside the box, but Ben can't answer with anything else until the two of them investigate it further.
  Rachel: What's that?
  Ben: A box.
  Rachel: (scoffs) Well, no shit.
• Chekhov's Gun: The gift card. Shawn insists that Ben open the box before reading the card. We only learn why later on, especially when Rachel does read it. Specifically, it tells how to prevent the man in the box from moving.
  Shawn: Nah, open the box first. The card will make sense after.
• Compartment Shot: A POV shot from inside the pitch-black box is shown after Ben drops the pencil in it.
• Deadly Closing Credits: When Ben realizes he's cornered by the entities, unable to stop all of them from moving, the short film ends just as he turns around to look at the figure slowly approaching him from the staircase.
• Driving Question: "Why" did Shawn leave the box? Ben himself says he wants to find out (which is why he leaves the house later), but the answer is never revealed.
• Foreshadowing: When Ben and Rachel are preparing for a meal earlier in the film, he tells her to "watch the sauce". She would end up in a similar situation of watching the man in the box when Ben leaves the house.
• The Ghost: Ben's mom apparently told Shawn where Ben lives, but she isn't shown in the film.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The story happens around Christmas, as best evidenced by the music and decorations in Ben and Rachel's home. In some channels that uploaded it (such as ALTER), the video's synopsis in its YouTube description also mentions a "Winter night".
• It Can Think: The man in the box is a mysterious entity that is very capable of manipulation, as it mimics Rachel's voice to lure Ben downstairs and lulls them into a false sense of security by moving slowly at first.
• Invincible Villain: The man in the box cannot be harmed conventionally, since Rachel stabbing it off-screen seemed to do nothing more than make it bleed some water. Word of God also states in an interview that destroying or burning the box or attempting to either shoot or blind the entity wouldn't work either.
• Lampshade Hanging: As they become more curious about the box, Ben and Rachel point out the oddities they're experiencing; from the weird "whoosh" noises coming out of the box, to the entity moving only when nobody’s looking.
• Meaningful Background Event: Near the end of the film, Ben faces the entity (or at least one of them) in a dim room of the basement. However, the camera is positioned in a way that doesn't directly show what Ben is looking at. Instead, the entity is shown through a mirror's reflection in the background.
• Noodle Incident: Shawn tries to apologize for a past event implied to have something to do with Ben and Rachel's relationship, but Ben dodges the subject by saying it's all now "water under the bridge".
• Offscreen Teleportation: Outside the box, the entity can move quickly while no one's looking, as demonstrated via a Meaningful Background Event near the end when Ben corners the entity inside a dim room. At that moment, Ben gets distracted by a strange sound and look away for just a split-second (with the camera following suit). When the camera and Ben look back, the entity had already moved away from its previous spot.
• Pocket Dimension: The box itself. Opening it unveils a pitch-black void where the box's supposed corners can't be seen, light isn't reflected, and dropped objects don't seem to make sound. A human-like entity can also crawl out of it.
• Practical Effects: As explained by Director Caleb Phillips in an interview video, the short film was completely made with practical effects and some color grading; the inside of the box was painted, the box itself doesn't have a bottom side, and they cut a hole on the table (where the box is placed) so that the man in the box's actor (Tyler Pochop) would simply stick his head out.
• Red Herring: When Ben and Rachel witness the man in the box's ability to echo what others just said, the entity somehow mimics Shawn's voice, saying that Ben shouldn't leave the house. Ben assumes Shawn gave instructions to the entity, but Shawn himself says he never told anything, and he wasn't even aware that the entity could speak.
• Reverse Psychology: When the man in the box spoke its first non-repeated line, it was to tell Rachel not to let Ben leave the house so he could keep an eye on it to prevent it from moving. It works exactly as planned since Ben is the one who can prevent it from moving by looking at it, and he left the house while having Rachel watch it.
• Rewatch Bonus: After knowing the twist of how the entity actually moves, a rewatch can help you spot some earlier lines that also serve as Foreshadowing, explaining why Shawn is suspiciously nervous at first and why Shawn asked if Ben was alone in the house before he left the box.
• Riddle for the Ages: It's unknown just how Shawn came into possession of the box in the first place before pawning it off to Ben.
• Rule of Symbolism: There's a lot of water present in the film, from the outdoors, the man in the box appearing wet, to the climax where Ben returns only to find his tap water running, the knife covered in water, him encountering the entity in what looks like a bathroom, and the four other entities seemingly naked yet dripping with water. According to an interview video with Director Caleb Phillips, this heavy usage of water is intentional; it's symbolized as a reflection of the characters' environment, and it represents some kind of discomfort.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ben freaks out and urges Rachel to leave with him when the man in the box mimicks both of their voices. However, Rachel reminds him of the entity's Can't Move While Being Watched trait, presenting the dilemma that one of them has to stay and watch.
  Ben: We're getting outta here.
• Suddenly Shouting: On the phone, Shawn repeatedly shouts after he realizes Ben lied to him about being alone in the house. He then yells Ben for leaving Rachel alone with the box when it was meant only for him.
• This Is Gonna Suck: One of Ben's last facial expressions near the end of the film shows him visibly resigning himself to his impending doom, knowing that he could only look in one direction and therefore unable to stop all the entities from moving.
• Uncertain Doom: After Ben comes back to the house when Shawn tells him that the entity can't move unless "you" are watching it, it's unclear what sort of fate befalls Rachel.
• Voice Changeling: The man in the box can mimic other people's voices regardless of gender.
• Willfully Weak: As the man in the box demonstrates the ability to teleport while outside of the box if no one is looking, it's implied that it could've easily come out and attack Ben and Rachel in any of the moments that they look away and so quickly to the point they can't react, but chooses not to.
• Wham Line: Shawn berates Ben for taking his eyes off the box, implying either that this whole situation was Shawn's attempt to get back at Ben for taking Rachel or that Ben specifically has to be the one watching the box because it was given to him, such that Rachel was in danger the moment he left.
  Shawn: No, no, NO! You... You have to keep your eyes on it-
  Ben: I know, Rachel's watching it-
  Shawn: No, Ben, You! You goddamit, I gave it to you! You have to keep your fucking eyes on it!
• Wham Shot: There are specific shots that reveal otherworldly traits surrounding the box and the man inside it:
  • Rachel somehow asks Ben the same question twice, but a close-up shows Rachel isn't currently speaking, but the man in the box was mimicking what she just said. The man in the box then quickly mimics Ben as well, causing him to freak out.
  • When Ben returns home, there are several other entities suddenly approaching him from the stairs, indicating the horror isn't limited to just the man in the box.