Don’t stay out late on The Weeknd

Leaning into horror vibes and throwing shouts to recent thrillers like Annihilation and Us, After Hours is a weird, bizarre short film starring The Weeknd as you’ve never seen him before. 

The Weeknd gets off the stage, nose bloodied, blood trickling down from his temple, dressed in red. The audience is laughing, but there’s nothing to laugh about. With this disconcerting image, The Weeknd takes off, through the streets of New York, in a strange universe that is violent, distant, and familiar. The twist happens when The Weeknd looks up, into a strange new dimension, and is dragged violently backward by an invisible force. The latest in his series of promos that started with  Blinding Lights and was continued in Heartless, After Hours is not another track, and it takes a much more sinister turn. 

The music is sharp, jutting, lo-fi, and skips like a bad vinyl. It’s not a Music Video, it’s a genuine short film, and it’s compelling from all angles. The editing is fast but gives the character room to breathe, and room to be scared, impossibly out of control, and awed. With fuzzy edges and surreal elements, director Anton Tammi has developed a beautifully strange and dangerous story that spans multiple videos.