Sashia Dumont and Paul Robinson’s The Resonance, a supernatural horror set in and styled like the 1970s, features a silent protagonist and the loud ministrations of the malicious spirit governing the events of the plot. Tasked with reviewing the files of a case that ended with the deaths of her colleague as well as his… Continue reading The Resonance: On Falling Prey, and Our Final Moments As We Do
Tag: Horror
Bzrk: A Sci-horror That Asks If Anger Can Be a Gift
Chandler Clarke’s Bzrk is a 17-minute sci-fi horror which asks, What can we do with our anger and our fear, which is always ostensibly in excess, always ostensibly incompatible with the ideal life of the ideal citizen? Its protagonist, a man whose scars are manifestations of his life ruled by his demons, but who must… Continue reading Bzrk: A Sci-horror That Asks If Anger Can Be a Gift
Mary: Two Kinds of Home Under Threat in this Home Invasion Horror
Alexander Chehrazi’s Mary, co-written with Max Markov,is a 19-minute horror whose twist is actually unexpected. The story of a first date gone wrong, the minimal cast of characters are set within the confines of a living room as truth and lies weave around each other to form a drama of morality. Briana (Lanisa Dawn) and… Continue reading Mary: Two Kinds of Home Under Threat in this Home Invasion Horror
Curiosity: Space and Time Lose Their Form in This Modern-day Horror
Michael Cooke’s 12-minute Curiosity is a compounded horror of our times, switching out found footage with streaming for a horrific display not distanced by time and barely even by space. A story set in and around the dark web, it features a man who falls prey not to his curiosity but to the morbid tastes… Continue reading Curiosity: Space and Time Lose Their Form in This Modern-day Horror
Hostess: Sickly Sweet Horror that Hits the Spot Just Right
Whitney St. Ours’s wordless Hostess invests itself heavily in vibes and leaves the plot up to its audience—and what excellent vibes these are. Following a young woman’s excursion to mitigate the stale ennui of being the combination of young and female and urban, this short horror knows how to immerse your senses in grotesquerie so… Continue reading Hostess: Sickly Sweet Horror that Hits the Spot Just Right
Closing Day: Sorrow, Unsettling Malevolence, and the Desecrated Home
Elijah Rodriguez’s Closing Day is a compact 4-minute horror that runs just long enough to (gratifyingly) unsettle its audience. In those brief minutes, it props up the memory of terror as a living force animating the dead. Like the Lady of the Lake in The Haunting of Bly Manor, the ghost (Laurel Brower) of Closing… Continue reading Closing Day: Sorrow, Unsettling Malevolence, and the Desecrated Home
LeTZ PLaY A gaME: A Funhouse of a Film
Kevin Cate’s LeTZ PLaY A gaME is a horror 101 class fit into a tight 4-minute runtime. Following a teenage girl at a fair as texts from an unknown number begin to terrorise her, the film is surprisingly well designed and edited into a gripping narrative, so that you are both worried for the protagonist… Continue reading LeTZ PLaY A gaME: A Funhouse of a Film
The First: Debut Work Mixing Atmospheric and Body Horror
Debut filmmaker Susan Ruth’s The First is a 15-minute sensuous horror where being turned on, or really feeling anything at all, feels dangerous. One senses the need to stay very still or risk earning the wrath of the mysterious woman at the heart of the story. The film is set in the 1920s. The old… Continue reading The First: Debut Work Mixing Atmospheric and Body Horror
She Follows: A Haunting For His Own Good
Gio Randazzo’s She Follows, written with Miranda Rausch, emphasises that it is based on “some real sh*t”. While the substance of that point may be endlessly debated, what is worth paying attention to is that the film aspires to the kind of grief-haunting relationship that has made Mike Flanagan such hot commodity. Played by Randazzo,… Continue reading She Follows: A Haunting For His Own Good
The PAntry: Haunted House and Paranormal Horror in Bite-Sized Short
Ervis Zika’s The PAntry is a seven-minute paranormal horror film that follows a dark chapter in a woman’s relationship with her home. Working with the most minimal setup—an actor, a mask, some lights, and one location—the film is noteworthy for its building tropes of dread with so little. Sina-Valeska Jung plays Emily, a woman alone… Continue reading The PAntry: Haunted House and Paranormal Horror in Bite-Sized Short