Bohemian Industries’ short film Kiss the Devil in the Dark is an eye-popping visual feast that blends a dark Faustian fantasy with shades of classic Hammer Film Productions and Eurohorror vibes. Fans of practical creature effects will find plenty to enjoy here, as well, with the legendary Doug Jones on hand in dual roles. The […]
Blind dates are perfect fodder for horror films, and the short Foxwood takes that notion to highly entertaining levels. Claire (Kalen Marie George) and Nick (cowriter/codirector Ian Hock) meet in person at a bar after some online introductions. After Claire reluctantly accepts a drink after Nick insists, they take a for-hire van to her rather […]
What a wonderful year 2018 was for cinematic scare fare! Fans of all manner of horror films had plenty in which to delight, and several horror-adjacent titles added to the fun and frights. Narrowing down my favorite film to 10 was no easy task, but following is my valiant attempt. 10. (tie) THE NIGHT SITTER, […]
Nothing can get in the way of two sisters who have dreams of becoming Johnny Depp’s personal chefs — not even a crime of passion — in the hilarious, glop-ridden horror comedy short Lunch Ladies. This colorful, energetic romp is a fun blast of feel-good horror comedy. Seretta (Donna Pieroni) and LouAnne (Mary Manofsky) are […]
With Dementia Part II, co-writers and co-directors Mike Testin and Matt Mercer have crafted a horror film with darkly comic moments, filled with imagery and situations that will make even seasoned scare fare veterans squeamish. Most viewers will likely be constantly alternating between grinning and grimacing. The facts that the often comic film is a […]
Sometimes working on overcoming an obsession can lead to possibilities beyond a person’s imagination. In the case of Parker (Charlotte Lindsay Marron), the young teenaged protagonist of the Canadian short film Lay Them Straight, those possibilities can even lead to a terrifying new path. Parker is diagnosed with arithmomania, a disorder in which people feel […]
Folklore-based horror meets babysitter-in-peril fright fare in the Canadian short film The Whistler. Writer/director Jennifer Nicole Stang offers up an intriguing spin on Pied Piper tales, introducing a creepy villain who deserves a full-length expansion of his story. Lindsey (Karis Cameron) is charged by her parents with a sudden evening of babysitting her younger sister […]
A dark journey into the mind of a man increasingly obsessed with the desire to be eaten by either animals or monsters, the Belgian horror short Maw (Muil) is a fascinating, unsettling psychological shocker that aims for an artistic approach rather than focusing on the lurid. Matthieu Sys stars as Richard, a lonely elderly-care assistant […]
Rich in atmosphere and a treasure to watch, the short horror film Belladonna is a marvelous effort. From its terrific performances to its mesmerizing cinematography, this latest effort from director/cinematographer/editor Brett Mullen (Bombshell Bloodbath [2014], Fantasma [2017]) is an absolute gem. Opportunistic, smarmy Sam Franco (Sterling Hurst) sees a beautiful blind woman at a social […]
Prolific Canadian horror filmmaker Kyle Martellacci (Canada Day; Candy Skin; I Make Corpses) delivers another stunning shocker with his latest effort, The Scarlet Vultures. An initially enigmatic piece that slowly reveals its dark secrets, the short has been garnering many award nominations during its current early film festival run. Evelyn (Anne-Carolyne Binette) is being interviewed by […]
Prolific horror movie critic, screenwriter, and fiction writer Dan Wilder makes his directorial debut with the short shocker Mercury Screams, a trippy tale of mysterious creatures and miscarriages. The short initially presents itself as footage that was thought lost, from an episode of a 1984 television series exploring paranormal stories titled Within the Gaze […]
The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival’s third edition, which runs October 11th–18th with screenings and events across Brooklyn, New York, will be its largest ever, with loads of amazing world, North American, U.S., and East Coast premieres of both feature-length and short films. Gruesome Magazine’s Grue-Crew members have many of these offerings on their must-see lists. […]
With her debut as a writer/director, Mai Nakanishi tackles contemporary social issues in Japan and South Korea by way of a tragic supernatural tale in the short film Hana. A coproduction of those two aforementioned countries — set and shot in Busan, South Korea — Hana offers a take on how a single working mother […]
Popcorn Frights Film Festival, billed as the Southeast United States’ largest genre movie fest, held its fourth annual outing in south Florida from August 10–16. Festival co-directors Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman curated an incredible selection of offerings that made it easy to see why this festival set a new attendance record for a […]
South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), Asia’s largest genre film fest, once again served up more than 200 films from around the globe this summer. Between July 12 and 22, the fest offered horror, science fiction, dark comedy, fantasy, thriller, and other movies. This article looks at three of the offerings, along with […]