A razor-sharp look at the gap between trying to make ends meet and providing quality personal care for aged relatives as well as a chilling supernatural story, Mary, from codirectors Jo Rou and Dan Riordan, is an equally thought-provoking and spine-tingling psychological horror short. A year to the day that his mother Mary passed away, […]
In their documentary short The Man from Boggy Creek, cowriters/codirectors Paul Glover and Scott McKinnon pay tribute to maverick independent filmmaker Charles B. Pierce, whose movies The Legend of Boggy Creek and The Town That Dreaded Sundown are favorites of many a fright-fare fan. The Legend of Boggy Creek was a huge influence on such […]
Margot K. Juby, British author of the 2018 book The Martyrdom of Gilles de Rais, has spent much of her life fascinated with de Rais, the controversial French historical figure who was once made a Marshal of France for his valor in the war against the English but later tried and executed for crimes ranging […]
For much of recorded history, and especially since the earlier 20th century, people have reported unexplainable phenomena in the skies. From strangely behaving lights to cigar-shaped objects to classic flying discs, many have wondered about the origins of these entities. Are they from alien worlds? Are they military aircraft? Or something else altogether? In the […]
We’ve all had those days, sometimes even weeks, when straightening up our living spaces just doesn’t rate high on the old to-do list, until something happens that makes it absolutely necessary. Jackie (Savannah Zito), the protagonist of writer/director Jessica Salgado’s creature feature short It Came from the Kitchen!, is having an especially hard time with […]
When reviewing a Joe Badon film, words such as “ersatz,” “systematically,” and “avuncular” will never work. Nor will attempting diatribes or didacticism. His films are like surreal gossamer coated with Dadaist treacle. His newest work is the short film The Blood of the Dinosaurs, a prologue to his upcoming feature film The Wheel of Heaven, […]
What’s a young girl to do when she has a mother that isn’t big on communication and interaction, a teen sister who worships H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional Old Gods, her father has recently passed away — and she begins seeing a strange, frightening creature outside her window? Writer/director O.B. De Alessi explores these questions and others […]
It must be getting increasingly difficult to make effective “monsters under the bed” and “monsters in the closet” horror shorts, with so many variations on the theme in both short-film and feature-length outings. Writer/director/editor Joseph Covello shows that it is still possible, however, in his Canadian short film He Comes at Night. Covello does this […]
Writer/director Michiel Blanchart’s Belgian/French short film You’re Dead Hélène (T’es morte Hélène; 2021) is a remarkable genre-blending effort that takes viewers on a ride through three different storytelling genres and a wide range of emotions. Hélène (Lucile Vignolles) is in a complicated relationship with Maxime (Théophile Roux). She is having a hard time letting go […]
A young fighter pilot’s encounter with an unidentified craft sets him on a life-altering quest in Colossus (2021), an outstanding science fiction/cosmic horror short from writer/director James Roe. The short film opens with an unnamed man (John Neisler) armed with a rifle protecting himself in his home from something outside — something that sounds large […]
Writer/director Philipp Yuryev’s Russian short Tale of the Deaf is one of the most visually extraordinary films of this year. Shot in sumptuous black-and-white by director of photography Mikhail Kasaya, this gothic chiller is a diabolical delight. A deaf man (Russian rapper Husky) tries to entertain a tavern full of paupers with shadow play but […]
Director Matt Wisniewski’s puppet horror short Toy Terminator is his follow-up to the 2019 short film Pappy’s World, and somehow it is even more irreverent and mind-boggling than its predecessor. Pappy the puppet was a maniacal Christmas present in that earlier short, and here he makes a return as the best friend of a human […]
Director Daniel Rands’ U.K. horror short Peaking relies heavily on sound design to get its eerie atmosphere across. It does so quite impressively, resulting in a 7-minute shocker fraught with tension. After Sound Recordist Sandy (Louisa Harris) overhears one of her colleagues making a sexist remark about her, she stays behind in the house where […]
Writer/director Parker Finn’s terrific short film Laura Hasn’t Slept combines the concept from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (along with other horror properties) of avoiding sleep so as not to confront a horrific entity with the theme of mental illness. The result is a stirring effort led by an incredible performance from Caitlin […]
I strongly recommend watching U.K. horror short Hungry Joe on an empty stomach. Codirectors/cowriters Samuel Dawe and Paul Holbrook pull no punches in their 23-minute meeting of body horror and family drama, a tale of a child’s insatiable appetite and the trouble it brings to his family. As the short film begins, Craig (Joe Sims) […]