Tag: Horror

Brian K. Rosenthal’s POV, seventeen minutes long, is a pastiche of slasher flicks, its indulgence in tropes the evidence of love for the genre. In it are references to a host of staples like The Purge, Scream, and Halloween, not to mention one of its main characters—a towering figure constructed out of Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody,… Continue reading POV: Slasher Flick with A Bit of Everything

Joseph McDonagh’s 13-minute That Night is a horror film that thrives on dread. Its preoccupation with dread itself frees it from providing a neatly packaged source. Instead, it develops an atmosphere of anticipation. Rosie (Rianne Britten) and Theo (Ben Dalton) are about to have a daughter. There should be little reason for there to be… Continue reading That Night: An Expectant House and Its Chilling Emptiness

Michael Natoli’s Pumpkinstein is a 21-minute horror spanning decades, nay, centuries, as it follows a witch with a bloody past and a desire for better. When a college-going young man crosses paths with her, the results are bloody, but not quite fatal.  The film opens with the aforementioned boy, Ruben (James Capelli), drinking with his… Continue reading Pumpkinstein: Sinners and Monsters, Doomed to Exist Without Dignity

Miguel del Campo’s A Lovely Death is a 7-minute gothic horror that imbues the Grim Reaper with the same kind of tenderness as Edward Scissorhands. A chamber film with a cast of three, the Grim Reaper’s power has limited but notable demonstration. With the same kind of macabre power as Midas, whatever the Reaper touches… Continue reading A Lovely Death: A Dark Fairy Tale Romance, A Painless End

Daniel Sandoval’s Icecap Seven is a 32-minute mystery produced on a shoestring budget that follows three characters through entwined, non-linear narrative threads. Kevin, Benji and Laura, three characters who are in motion throughout the film, face dilemmas whose sources are only partially offered to the audience.  Laura (Chelsea Kerford) is Benji’s girlfriend. Kevin (Sandoval) is… Continue reading Icecap Seven: A Half-Hour Mystery Blended with Horror

Michael Rognlie and E.E. Tallent’s The Need is a horror short about a withdrawn young man who feels universally unwanted. Others pay the price for it. Written by Kennith Darling, the 15-minute film showcases his inner workings just when he is once again on the brink of behaviour that he may not like but compulsively… Continue reading The Need: Inside a Mind that Collects Its Demons

JP Bradham’s Consumed deploys horror and tumultuous film language to showcase the frenzied mental scape of a character caught in the throes of grief and shopping. It is simultaneously committed to silence as denial in incidents both old and fresh, which eventually becomes a well of fear in its own right. As the film closes,… Continue reading Consumed: Serving Consumerism Plated on a Foundation of Grief