With Welcome to Helltown, cowriters/codirectors Maxwell Frey and Dominic Reno have created an endearingly oddball portmanteau short film. The vibe is offbeat and the humor is quirky in this outing set in Helltown, Ohio, “Population . . . You!”. Toby Radloff — star of Killer Nerd (1991), Bride of Killer Nerd (1992), and Spirit Animal […]
Prolific filmmaker Patrick Rea, whose features include Nailbiter and Arbor Demon, is a master of the short horror film craft. His latest short, Fused, combines body and psychological horror with mystery, and is another winning effort for the director. Sarah (Sarah McGuire, House of Forbidden Secrets) visits her doctor (Jennifer Femiano, who also appeared in […]
Winner of MidWest WeirdFest’s Best Horror Short award, Zeshaan Younus’ Prefigured combines elements of both alien abduction and Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It weaves its spell slowly without a drop of blood or sensational special effects, nevertheless leaving viewers with a highly disquieting sense of eeriness. Scarlett Redmond (of the series My Haunted House and True […]
The United Kingdom has been home to eye-witness reports of alien big cats (ABCs) — large, wild felines not native to the region — since the 1700s. The United States is no stranger to such sightings, as shown in renowned author Linda S. Godfrey’s debut as a film director, Return to Wildcat Mountain: Wisconsin’s Black […]
Several recent horror anthology films comprise short films already completed and sometimes screened, with a new wraparound filmed to try and give them some sort of common theme. Other fright-fare portmanteau films are composed of new segments from different directors. Although many of these types of movies work, some feel disjointed because they lack a […]
Why do studios make sequels? The cynical among us, who have sat through too many sucky seconds in a series say it’s a cheap and easy way for the studios to cash in: if it sold once, it will sell again. Why else was Exorcist II: The Heretic made? Then there are those rare sequels […]
Australian dark comedy Dolls involves a man’s unhealthy obsession with his doll collection. It’s a fun short film that also features some heavier moments as it addresses possessiveness and other perilous relationship issues. A man (Cameron Hurry) and a woman (Caitlin Hill) are in the middle of a heavy makeout session when, after entering his […]
Aficionados of the ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) trend feel that they get a pleasant feeling, often a somewhat tickling or tingling sensation that runs from their scalps down the back of their necks, from listening to and watching videos on platforms such as YouTube in which people whisper or make noises such as chewing […]
For a movie set on a gorgeous tropical island where the host has guaranteed to make your greatest desire come true, Fantasy Island sure does start off in a dark way by showing us a young woman being chased through a jungle by armed thugs. She makes it to the safety of the main resort […]
The German film The Picture in the House (Das Bild im Haus) is director David Lapuch’s loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story of the same title. The dread sets in from the opening scene and never lets up, fittingly appropriate to the source material, adapted here by Lapuch and his screenplay cowriter Alexandra Rollett. […]
Hansel and Gretel is a classic fairy tale we all think we know. A brother and sister get lost in the woods. They get hungry. They find a house made of candy and eat their fill. Too late, they discover the house is the home of a witch who tries to cook them for her […]
Most seasoned fright-fare fans have usually seen their fair share of films about the dead haunting those who killed them, but director Stefan Georgiou’s U.K. supernatural horror short The Dead Ones adds a new spin on things. This unique approach and fine performances by its four cast members help make this short film a rousing […]
With most of the award season films already released and no real big money box office tent poles scheduled to come out until at least March, movie studios have always treated January and February as the dumping grounds for films they don’t have much confidence in. Maybe they’ve been sitting on a shelf gathering dust […]
Director Geoff Harmer’s U.K. horror comedy short Dead Air is a colorful, playful blast featuring evil creatures sensationally brought to cinematic life by puppetry and practical effects. Monster movie fans are sure to have a super time with this offering. Female punk band Monster Kitten and their manager are onboard a plane to the final […]
From the very opening credits, Underwater is an unnerving experience. Along with listing the cast and crew who made the movie, the credits are filled with news headlines and pull quotes that seem to be giving away all the juicy details of the movie you are about to see. You read about some evil corporation […]