Horror Shorts I Enjoy

I am relatively new to regularly watching Horror Shorts which I know is a bit surprising for a genre fan and one who has been on the internet for a long time. I think they are an interesting way to to participate in the genre, and they work really well as proof concept movies sometimes. I also like digging into director’s older pieces – although despite my being an Ari Aster fan never expect me to recommend his, the subject matter is too much for me – and see where they started and how they have developed. I wouldn’t say I am as big of a fan of horror shorts as other people, but I do find them interesting and enjoy watching them sometimes. With that I am going to recommend a few that I really enjoy. I won’t be giving a lot of detail about them, they are shorts it’s hard not to spoil shorts… But here are a few I recommend that are easily found on YouTube.

It Knocks Back- Animatic

This is actually still a proof of concept piece so if you watch it be warned that the animation is not done, it’s basically storyboards. However, even with it being unfinished it’s incredible, and I am very much looking forward to hopefully one day seeing the finished product. It is about a couple ice fishing and well… something is out there with them.

Play Me- Alter

This is actually the second horror short I watched by this director, the first being about a very creepy box you are supposed to keep your eyes on. I liked Play Me a bit more, and felt it was more solidly developed. As brief as I can be, a woman wakes in a car with someone in the backseat and a voice recorder telling her what she has to do. It’s intense and well done. I would like to see what the director could do with a full length feature. Maybe some day?

Pleasant Inn- David Romero

Another animated film for the list. Pleasant Inn follows a woman who see someone on the side of the road. For a moment she stops but then gets a bad feeling and so keeps driving until she finds a hotel, Pleasant Inn, to stay at. What she saw on the road is following though. Really cool, well animated, creepy. Not the only one I have seen by Romero, but it was the one I liked the best for this list.

Fishwife- Alter

Nice bit of folk horror. We start with our main character cleaning her menstrual rags in a lake and then we see how isolated and lonely her life is. Only something took notice of her without her realizing. This movie really captures the feeling of isolation as well as feature length movies have and comes with a few turns in the story. Well done.

The Last Seance- Alter

This movie follows two sisters, one of whom can see and communicate with the dead. The other sister promises to care for and protect her because of her powers. However, while doing a séance for a family, the gifted sister is confronted by a demon and begins to doubt what they are actually doing. It’s not the best on this list but well done, and I quite liked the ending.

Dinner for Few- Magnetfilm, by Nassos Vakalis

This is not actually a horror short, rather a political one, however given the nature I think it fits. It is an animated movie that is not so subtly talking about greed and ultimately the need for people to come together to fight (cough) back. It is not overly graphic, but I will warn you now if you are easily upset by certain imagery and animal death there is more than a little of that happening here. Still, it’s rather good and depressingly relevant.

So there are a few horror shorts that I rather enjoy that you can find online and give them a go yourself. And while I recommend them all Dinner for Few is probably the one that needs to be most watched. I have several others I could recommend if you, the readers, would like a Part Two. Also let me know any horror shorts you are a fan of.