I'm not a fan of the joke, simply because I think it was a lot of wasted opportunity, but what you've created is pretty genuinely terrifying. The first so many knocks at the door were singularly intense and as the situation grows more desperate you did a remarkable job of establishing the isolation of the fisherman. It was perfectly sparse in set up, about exactly as much as it needed to be, and you played the dog with no wasted moments. Considering it ends up being a joke, I wonder if you overstretched some of the shots on purpose? Either way, good work.