Afternoon Delight: Before ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, Director Jon Watts Made This Sublimely Strange Student Film

What better way to prepare for the fast-approaching weekend than by indulging in the some of the Internet’s most well-done web content? Take advantage of your lunch break and treat yourself to Afternoon Delight, Decider’s carefully curated picks of the best short-form content available on the world wide web. This week we’re spotlighting The Invisible Dog, a short film made by Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts during his NYU days.

That’s right. Before he was helming indie gem Cop Car with Kevin Bacon front and center or giving us Marvel gold, Watts was busting his butt at NYU and making some seriously good short-form content. The 2005 film in question, The Invisible Dog, was Watts’ senior thesis film and wound up earning him the grand prize at the NYU Film Festival that year. If you’re expecting something in the same tone of Homecoming, I would readjust your expectations, but the film does demonstrate Watts’ talent for depicting suburbia and a unique sense of humor. The Invisible Dog comes from Watts’ days with Waverly Films, a collective (named after the NYU-student frequented Waverly Diner) that made a name for filmmakers like Watts, Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank, Paper Towns), and frequent collaborator/fellow Homecoming & Cop Car screenwriter Christopher Ford.

Starring Christopher Lazzaro and Annie Moll as parents Bob and Julie and the eerily talented young Colton Parsons as their son Henry, The Invisible Dog starts out as a fairly pleasant little flick; the paperboy just can’t seem to throw the news in a convenient place on his morning route, the whole family is getting ready for their day, and Henry really, really wants a dog. Unfortunately, his mom has an allergy, which ruins any hopes he has for a furry friend. Bob, however, gets a bright idea after feeling guilty for denying his boy a pet, and he brings home an “invisible dog” (an empty cage) for Henry. While Henry is initially skeptical, he soon embraces the dog, naming him “Wags” and engaging in all the typical boy-and-his-dog activities he can think of (he even gets his mom to buy dog food).

The family seems to have the best of both worlds – happy kid, nonexistent dog, and conscience-cleared parents. All goes swimmingly until the fake dog suddenly seems to become very real; Julie’s allergies act up, Bob’s shoes get chewed, and a neighbor even complains about a dog getting into their garbage. What happens next – and the shockingly sinister turn the film undergoes – is totally priceless and a testament to Watts’ talent as a filmmaker. We won’t spoil it here – watch the short above to indulge in this delightfully demented short. (There’s also a brief bonus cameo from Watts’ then-classmate, Katherine Waterston, whose career has obviously blown up to serious proportions).

Check out Waverly Films’ YouTube page for more quality #vintage content (including collabs with Reggie Watts!), follow Watts on Twitter to keep track of his booming career, and just for kicks, check out a 2004-era Watts coping with the worst computer ever (with a foreshadowing Spider-Man poster on his wall).

Spider-Man: Homecoming is now in theaters everywhere.