Writer/director Mia Kate Russell explores the potential terrors of inaction in her Australian short film Maggie May, which offers up some of the most disturbing horrific images in recent memory, both onscreen and offscreen. Something is dreadfully wrong with Maggie (Lulu McClatchy of the 2012 features Crawlspace and 6 Plots), and though her relatives and […]
Canadian director Kyle Martellacci is a prolific director of terrific horror shorts that tackle myriad subgenres and nail each one. He turns in what I feel is some of his finest work in his latest effort from Red Razor Pictures, supernatural shocker She Must Vanish. Martellaci wrote, directed, edited, shot, and produced She Must Vanish, […]
If you are in the mood for a tongue-in-cheek horror comedy in the fangs-in-neck vein, chock full of corn and camp but also with a respectful approach to classic vampire films and lore, look no further than director Stephen Wolfe’s short film Dracula’s Coffin. From the lighting and special effects to David E. Mitchell’s score […]
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world for university student Quincy (Bailey Ingersoll), whose day starts off with a dissection lesson from an overenthusiastic professor (David A. McElroy) in her anatomy class, finds her lost in thought about her recently deceased father (Jim Dougherty), and concludes with a surreal trip to the dentist (Chad Newman) […]
FilmQuest, one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “30 Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World in 2019,” has announced a stellar lineup of more than 190 features and shorts highlighting some of the finest genre film selections in the industry. The Provo, Utah-based fest has quickly grown to become one of the nation’s leading purveyors of genre […]
Fears and anxieties about isolation and loneliness haunt twentysomething Lucy (Maika Monroe of It Follows and Villains, in another fine performance) during a long night in writer/director Kate Trefry’s psychological horror short How to Be Alone. What scares us most is often what we concoct in our minds, and Trefry combines that idea with absolutely […]
If you are in the mood for a brain-bending dose of existential angst and nihilist musing — and if you are not, what’s holding you back? — you need look no further than prolific filmmaker Izzy Lee’s The Obliteration of the Chickens. It is unlike any of Lee’s other works, tackling the senselessness of it […]
The Dutch short film The Burden (Het Juk) proves that the classic set-ups of a creepy backstory and a flashlight beam slowly moving around a dark attic are still effective horror cinema elements. Writer/director Nico van den Brink’s 15-minute chiller offers up a superb terror tale that keeps viewers guessing. Ciska (Hanna van Vliet) is […]
Director Ian Hunt Duffy, working from a screenplay by Darach McGarrigle, examines the mysterious, dark relationship between a father and his young son during a rite-of-passage boat excursion in the Irish horror short Low Tide. The result is an eerie, enigmatic effort that offers both visceral sequences as well as a sense of dread. Dad […]
With Residual, French writer/director Damien Kazan has crafted a taut 14-minute chiller that combines a classic slasher film chase sequence with a bit of the supernatural. The result is a nifty short chock full of striking images and nail-biting moments. Sam Cavalier stars as Jay, a young woman preparing for an evening out on Halloween […]
Co-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz deliver one of horror’s hardest gut punches of the year with The Lodge, a chilling tale of a suicide cult survivor and her attempt to bond with the children of her boyfriend. Some viewers considered Fiala’s and Franz’s Goodnight Mommy to be cold and distant, but their latest effort […]
Following its jam-packed first wave announcement last week, Popcorn Frights, the Southeast United States’ largest gathering of genre films and fans, announces its jaw-dropping second wave of programming for the 2019 edition of this fright fare film festival. The fest runs from August 8–16 at the historic Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In its fifth […]
A lone office worker finds himself dealing with mysterious machines in the U.K. horror short The Third Hand. Prolific actor Tom Bonington, who fright fare fans may recognize from such films as The ABCs of Death 2 (2014) and A Haunting at the Rectory (2015), plays the worker, who watches snowy television and buys a […]
Popcorn Frights, the Southeast United States’ largest gathering of genre films and fans, continues its tradition of showcasing outstanding cinema from around the world. The festival has proudly announced the first wave of programming for its fifth annual celebration of the latest and greatest in fright fare, thrillers and chillers, and other genre movies. The […]
My favorite style of horror film is that which deals with an eerie, unsettling atmosphere bordering on — or diving headlong into — the surreal, with the filmmakers never fully or easily explaining what is unfolding. Water Horse, a brilliant short film from co-directors Sean Temple and Sarah Wisner, delivers just such an unsettling experience […]