Adult Swim's Most Unsettling Late-Night Short Film Is Sure to Make You Anxious

This House Has People In It stands as a 2015 entry in Adult Swim's ongoing series of Infomercials, which presents odd, often unsettling content ranging from fictitious medication ads to fictitious late-night talk shows.

Shown as security camera video from inside a typical house, this hair-raising short documents a family as they proceed through what appears to be a completely ordinary day.

The Household Dynamics

The parents Tom and Ann disagree about how to deal with their teenage daughter, who has stubbornly decided to lie face-down on the floor in what is presumably an rebellious act against her parents.

Meanwhile, her younger brother Jackson prepares for his forthcoming celebration, while his grandmother remains focused on a strange television program about modeling with clay instead of paying attention to the latest member to the family: her baby grandchild.

In the lower level, a handyman named Dennis works on the pipes under the kitchen.

Things Aren't Right

The initial clue that something is off comes early — captions on the video refers to each person in the house (and even Dennis the handyman) as "test cases," implying the family's security system is being surreptitiously monitored.

The next indication that something is amiss arises when Tom and Ann realize Madison is not simply on the floor. She's trapped in it.

Behind the Scenes

Directed by the filmmaker Alan Resnick (who also makes a cameo as the clay artist on the television), This House Contains People isn’t about sudden frights, it's rather about a steadily building sense of looming dread.

Though it's only around 12 minutes long, this creepy production is packed with a hard-to-describe sort of weirdness that stuck with me for days, and could prevent you to fall back asleep if you're unlucky enough to see it broadcast at the early hours.

However, that's fine — since you will be unable to sleep regardless, you could explore the extra hour of video Resnick released as part of an ARG he launched when This House Has People In It first aired.