Mysophobia

Filmed and released in April 2020, Mysophobia captures the hypersensitivity towards germs and infections that characterized the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by American filmmaker Jakob Ross, this low-stakes 7-minute short film stars Ross himself alongside actor Calvin Thibault. The title refers to the clinical term for an extreme, irrational fear of germs, dirt, or contamination, a condition that became frighteningly relevant as the pandemic spread globally. The film presents a surreal depiction of pandemic paranoia through its two unnamed masked characters as they gather for a dinner (they will be credited by the color of their clothing: Dark Shirt and Light Shirt):

Dark Shirt: “It’s been a few weeks. Go sit down.”

Dark Shirt: “Nasty weather.”

Light Shirt: “Yes.”

Dark Shirt: “Food’s cooking good.”

Light Shirt: “What’s the food?”

Dark Shirt: “Pork belly.”

Light Shirt: “What’s there?”

Dark Shirt: “That’s where I keep my rations, running low.”

Light Shirt: “Have you washed your hands?” (1:47–3:19)

Their bizarre kitchen conversation quickly evolves into a disturbing display of compulsive behaviors and irrational fears. The last line mirrors real-world public health interrogations and society’s sudden obsession with hygiene protocols. When Light Shirt hesitates and admits he hasn’t sanitized, Dark Shirt’s immediate vomit and screech reflect his visceral disgust at contamination. After washing his hands, Light Shirt returns to find Dark Shirt mysteriously replaced by a duck-masked doppelgänger, their conversation restarting with eerie familiarity as the pork belly continues sizzling unattended. The story ends with a heightened suspense, as Light Shirt descends into the basement, only to find himself trapped by Dark Shirt—metaphorical of how lockdown imprisons people in their own homes and anxieties.

Stylistically, Mysophobia rejects conventional narrative coherence, instead employing eccentric dialogue, illogical sequences, and claustrophobic camera framing. The discordant retro music and Blue Shirt’s mechanical voice heighten the film’s dark, ominous atmosphere. Despite its homemade production, the short embodies surrealist cinema—a form of cinema that often rejects psychological realism, but features frequent use of dreamlike imagery and irrational narrative to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality. Creative and experimental, Mysophobia functions as a visceral reflection of a collective psyche during COVID-19, where fears of contamination and enforced isolation distorted ordinary interactions into something surreal and unsettling. Beyond literal confinement, the psychological imprisonment caused by inflated fears of the virus also fractures the human psyche. The film resonates with how deeply the pandemic altered human behavior, leaving behind a legacy of pandemic paranoia that, for many, never fully faded.