Writer/director/editor Don Swaynos’s Don’t Ever Change received a great deal of buzz on its film festival run this year, and for good reason. This deeply dark comedy features a superb job by its cast, and offers some unexpected twists, as well. Karen (Cyndi Williams of You Are Your Body/You Are Not Your Body [2014] and Holy […]
Filmmaker Kyle Martellacci tackled body horror and science fiction in his 2016 outing Candy Skin; now he’s back with another genre-hybrid short. I Make Corpses is a dark-hearted combination of a pre-slasher grindhouse movie and a zombie apocalypse tale, a sort of The Last Serial Killer on Earth by way of George S. Romero and […]
Talented actor Nicholas Vince, who played The Chatterer Cenobite in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Kinski in Barker’s Nightbreed, makes his horror short writing and directorial debut with The Night Whispered. This short will remind viewers of classic supernatural tales, perhaps ones that they read or viewed in their younger years or even today. Check […]
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DND Creations, a two-man team consisting of Dante Aubain and Danny Summonte, has crafted a short film rife with tension and dread. Mannequin (2017) tells the tale of a young man (Summonte) who receives a box from his uncle that contains the top part of a mannequin. He doesn’t think much of it until he […]
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Unsuspecting first-time viewers may be puzzled at first as they begin to watch writer/director Robin Comisar’s Great Choice short film, with thoughts such as “So it’s a Red Lobster commercial from the 1990s? So what?” Then, slowly and subtly at first and then building to a startling climax, the short weaves its looping spell, as […]
Thanks to horror films and urban legends, tales of babysitting terror are always in vogue. Boxleitner brothers Lee and Sam offer up a truly disturbing take on this fear fare subgenre with their award-winning short film Die! Sitter! Die! Rupert. The short opens with a bit of drama that allows viewers to get to know […]
Filmmaker Alex DiVincenzo’s Halloween-themed horror/dark-comedy short Root of All Evil is impressive, but even moreso when considering that it was made in less than two days and had to adhere to a strict set of rules. This is because the short was created as part of the Providence (Rhode Island) 48 Hour Film Project, in […]
Prolific filmmaker Patrick Rea puts modern American society under a The Twilight Zone-style microscope in his latest short film, Justice Served. This examination of murky morality opens post-viewing questions for discussion while delivering an entertaining horror story. Nathan (Davis DeRock) is on trial for suspicion of deliberately pushing a little girl into the oncoming path […]
A young girl finds herself caught between her religious beliefs and a very Earthly evil in writer/director Stellan Kendrick’s horror short Goodnight, Gracie (2017). Though less than four minutes long, the film creates a looming sense of dread and packs quite a wallop in a stunningly presented effort. Elementary school-aged Gracie (Caige Coulter) is resting […]
Admonition, director Alexander Mattingly’s eighth and latest short film, is an eerie work that hangs heavy with dread throughout. Low-key lighting and effective use of shadows — as well as portraying something just beyond those shadows — helps mount a macabre atmosphere, and having one of the lead characters being deaf adds a sense of […]
Approximately five minutes’ worth of the bloodiest, creepiest horror you’re bound to see this year await you in the short film It Began Without Warning. This real-time shocker opens with what looks to be the murder of a wife by her husband with their child in danger, and then takes viewers in a whole other […]
When, in classic slasher movie fashion, a maniac runs rampant through a sorority house bludgeoning its residents to death, viewers might think that things couldn’t get worse for the protagonists. They would be wrong, though, in the case of director David Jeffery’s incredible short film Girl #2. The short opens with Jenn (Katy Yoder) coming […]
Joseph Perry reviews the short film Pronoia from Marevan Pictures and writer/director Nick Efteriades. The short features Stelio Savante as Jeff, Hannah Jane McMurray as Camille, and Lou Mastantuono (AKA Lou Mast) as a policeman, in an enigmatic neo-noir mystery thriller with science fiction elements. Jeff and Camille meet on a stormy night in a […]
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In her latest horror short For a Good Time, Call . . ., director Izzy Lee tackles the topic of posting Internet sex tapes without the willing consent of both victims. The victim in this case makes a wish that results in a terrifying situation for the perpetrator and a nifty slice of scare fare […]
Writer/director Amelia Moses tackles body horror, social anxiety, and the potential aftermaths of unsafe sex straight-on in her unnerving, disturbing short film Undress Me. Although these themes may have been explored in both feature-length and short films before, Moses makes her mark with a chilling character study featuring truly disturbing special effects, and offers food […]