The best horror is the one that surprises. The threat that sneaks beneath the radar and gnaws at you with your guard down, consuming you while you still try to grasp what happened, all while screaming in despair. In a world where practically all surprises have already been presented, reheated, disguised, and reformulated with colorful varnishes, what remains to be mined is left to the sagacity of a few outstanding creators. Those in fine tune with themselves and with what surrounds or haunts them. Although I have only seen one of his works so far, I suspect that Pol Diggler might truly be one of those people. I watched his short film SINCOPAT, and I can say, there's something different about this guy. Starting with the script, which Diggler shares with Ramón Lázaro. It's original, delightfully brilliant, and skillfully sadistic and fun. It tells the almost rise and dizzying fall of Ona, an ambitious and intelligent entrepreneur, who becomes a victim of a defect in her device, which promises to revolutionize the way people listen to music. Ona was taking a tranquil bath in her bathtub, counting down the hours to the launch of her Narval, and listening to music through it, when this music, which goes straight from the device on her wrist to her brain, glitches, playing a tiny part of what she was hearing in an eternal and uncontrollable loop, impossible to stop or turn off. It's like being forced to listen to a scratched record infinitely. There are no monsters, plagues, aliens, or psychotic clowns. It's the exploration of something simple, from an angle never attempted, turning a silly inconvenience into the most efficient torture you'll see in a short film. All without a drop of blood or common horror tropes. And from there, you witness Ona's ordeal, excellently shaped with the talent of actress Núria Florensa, who takes us from empathy with her suffering to humor with her subtle comic touch. The soundtrack is excellent, and this is not just a merit of the compositions exclusive to the film, but of the director's great sense of balance, knowing how to create the right filling to give rhythm to the film. The editing is quite efficient, as well as the cinematography and other aspects. When watching SINCOPAT, besides having memorable moments in your head, you will most likely be curious about what a feature film directed by Diggler will be like. And from all indications, if it has a script as creative as SINCOPAT, it's almost certain to be something worth noticing.