One of the main draws about foreign horror films is that they often introduce viewers to new or unfamiliar mythologies, or unusual takes on familiar stories. This is certainly the case with the South African film 8, and viewers looking for something out of the ordinary in the supernatural vein should be quite pleased with […]
The first film from Newfoundland selected in the history of Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival, New Woman is a remarkable gothic horror short. It is absolutely drenched in atmosphere. The gorgeous exterior shots and wonderfully detailed interior shots belie the film’s modest budget, and the horror is of the classic, slow-reveal kind. In […]
Caper movie meets horror story in the Canadian short film The Remnant when a group of con artists try to pull one over on an elderly lady. Director Navin Ramaswaran serves up a thrilling supernatural tale that is an absolute blast to watch unfold. Sheila Hargrave (Jill Frappier) lives alone in a large, well-appointed home. […]
Horror-on-Sea celebrates its eighth year in 2020 as it returns to Southend once again, with its biggest blood-soaked line up of independent films yet. One of the U.K.’s biggest independent film festivals, Horror-on-Sea was originally formed to promote independent horror films, giving an opportunity to fright-fare features and shorts that are not normally played on […]
Director Zoe Dobson’s U.K. horror short The Cunning Man is an eerie folk horror outing. Though animal cadavers are part of the story, which may potentially disturb some viewers, they are ultimaely used for a positive reason and toward charming effect. Afran Harries (Simon Armstrong) collects dead animals in the Welsh countryside. A knackerman (Ali […]
Right in time for Halloween, writer/director/editor Heidi Lee Douglas’ Australian gothic thriller short Little Lamb has just been launched via Omeleto, the home of award winning shorts. You can watch it here! I reviewed Little Lamb for Gruesome Magazine‘s Super Scary Shorts Saturday during the film’s festival run, giving it the highest possible rating of five […]
Blood in the Snow (BITS) film festival, the biggest celebration of Canadian horror, is back with a fresh slate of northern chills! BITS 2019 takes placefrom November 21 to 26 at the Royal Cinema in Toronto. With six nights of the best horror fare in the nation — including feature films, shorts, webseries, and the […]
Director Freddy Chávez Olmos’ new Canadian fear-fare short film Duérmete Niño makes its online debut this week, just in time for Halloween. I have had the pleasure to watch it in advance, and can recommend it as a bizarre, beautifully shot chiller with skin-crawling moments. Read more from the official press release following, watch the […]
If you subscribe to the notion that full moons can affect human behavior, just wait until you see what happens when the titular phenomenon occurs in eerie Canadian short film Red Moon (2019). The film, which won the Best Short award at this month’s H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, stretches beyond what are usually considered common […]
The Mexican horror short 9:40 plays like a classic episode of The Twilight Zone with a climax on steroids. The story may feel a bit familiar, and many genre film fans might well guess where it is headed, but writer/director Jorge Morrell and his cast and crew make the ride an intriguing one, nevertheless. Kristyan […]
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, […]
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 […]