Setaceous
Written & Directed by Tel Benjamin
2017, Australia
A late-night car alarm turns out to be much more than an annoyance to the residents of a suburban neighborhood in this well-made piece of automotive terror from short form veteran Benjamin.
The filmmaker next made the futuristic short film The Obscure (2018).
Prey
Written & Directed by Bill Whirity
2019, USA
A first date quickly spirals into madness but, as is the case with many horror short films, all may not be as it seems.
Prey is slick, memorable work from Whirity, who also made the horror shorts Semblance (2014) and Below (2015).
Oscar’s Bell
Directed by Chris Cronin
Written by Chris Cronin & Sam Cronin
2018, UK
A camping trip takes a very dark turn in this award-winner from veteran short filmmaker Chris Cronin.
Delivering an excellent piece with almost no dialogue (cinema’s most overrated element), Cronin uses a slow-burn approach and superb sound work to create genuine suspense. Oscar’s Bell has a bit of a 1970s feel to it, and that is intended as a major compliment to this talented director.
Boniato
Directed by Eric Mainade & Andres Meza-Valdes & Diego Meza-Valdes
Written by Eric Mainade & Andres Meza-Valdes
2015, USA
A migrant field worker decides to seek a better life but is thrown into a living Hell as she is attacked by flesh-eating creatures in this slick and gory short.
Florida-based filmmakers Andres Meza-Valdes and Diego Meza-Valdes previously made the horror shorts The Room (2007), Halfway (2009), Play Dead (2011) and Haunt Ed (2012) but Boniato is by far their most effective and accomplished work to date.
Zygote
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp & Thomas Sweterlitsch & Terri Tatchell
2017, Canada
A bizarre and deadly creature hunts the two survivors that have eluded it in an Arctic mining station.
This very high production value short features a great monster and goes very well with Jeronimo Rocha’s Dedalo (2013) and Andre Leblanc’s The Storm (2013).
Blomkamp also directed the horror shorts Rakka (2017) and Firebase (2017) as part of his Oats Studio film production slate but Zygote is by far the best of the bunch.
Short films of any kind are rarely graced with the large budget that director Blomkamp had available for Zygote but, as the director of District 9, Elysium and Chappie, working with big budgets is what he does.
The Mayflower
Directed by Christopher Goodman
Written by Benjamin Farry
2017, England
An astronaut faces a terrifying situation in this grim slice of space horror.
Having previously made the horror short films Flesh Art (2011), Blight (2016) and Fool’s Errand (2016), highly accomplished visual effects artist Goodman delivers his most memorable short to date with The Mayflower.
It Began Without Warning
Directed by Jessica Cutright & Santiago C. Tapia
Written by Jessica Cutright & Santiago C. Tapia
2017, USA
A bloody showdown between a parent and a child takes on an even more sinister and horrifying dimension in It Began Without Warning-an apocalyptic piece that deserves feature-length treatment.
The Cutright/Tapia directing team cut their teeth on the dark horror short films Territorial (2011) and Pookie (2016).
Dedalo
Written & Directed by Jeronimo Rocha
2013, Portugal
Portuguese auteur Rocha delivers a piece of space horror that may seem a bit too indebted to Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic Alien on a first viewing but watching it a second time reveals there is certainly more going on in Dedalo than simple homage.
Rocha’s accomplished short has the feel of a scene that either opens a feature film or occurs very late in its story.
Incubator
Written & Directed by Jimmy Weber
2011, USA
Director/screenwriter Weber delivers a huge improvement over his previous horror short The Gatekeeper (2010) in this take on the well-known “kidney donor” urban legend.
Incubator can be seen as the type of short film that plays like the first scene of a feature film as in the case of Deus Irae or a self-contained piece that would make a great double feature paired with David Alcalde’s El Ciclo.
Weber went on to make the horror feature Eat in 2014.