Night Lights
Written & Directed by Andrew Fultz & Jenna Day
2025, USA
A couple drives deep into the desert in this very well-made, slow-burn journey into madness.
Auteurs Fultz and Day also star in the film, both delivering excellent acting performances.
Added to this compelling mix is great cinematography by Dennis Noack.
Girls
Directed by Julien Hosmalin
Written by Julien Hosmalin & Olivier Torres
2024, France
In this very well-made exercise in rural terror, a young couple suffers a mechanical breakdown while on a road-trip and are thrust into a life-or-death situation.
Girls is highlighted by good acting and excellent cinematography.
China Lake
Directed by Robert Harmon
Written by Robert Harmon & Beth Tate
1983, USA
Charles Napier stars as Donnelly-a twisted motorcycle cop who dispenses his own brand of justice in the desert.
Made by Harmon as an industry calling card, this accomplished short led to his hiring as the director of the rural terror classic The Hitcher (1986).
China Lake’s story was later developed into the successful TV movie The China Lake Murders (1990), starring Tom Skerritt with Michael Parks taking the Donnelly role.
Ella
Directed by Dan Gitsham
Written by Dan Gitsham & James Driver
2011, England
A desperate father armed with a shotgun takes center stage in this great, twisted take on the Little Red Riding Hood story.
Ella benefits from a very good lead performance by veteran actor Anthony Head.
Director Gitsham went on to make the horror shorts And the Baby Screamed (2018), Bill (2019) and The Thing That Ate the Birds (2021).
Locksmiths
Written & Directed by James Kwon Lee
2015, USA
Two thieves posing as the titular repairmen make a grisly discovery on their latest job in this highly accomplished horror short film.
For further exploration of grim shorts centered around being in the wrong house at the wrong time, check out Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto’s Dara, Jonathan van Tulleken’s Off Season, Jerry Pyle’s Service and Doug Cook & Eric Covello’s P.O.W..
James Kwon Lee also made the horror short Ashes (2016).
P.O.W.
Directed by Doug Cook & Eric Covello
Written by Doug Cook & Mark Prosia
2015, Canada
With town residents occupied by an event honoring military veterans, two thieves break into a home in search of some easy loot.
Once inside, their plan goes sideways and the robbers are thrown into a grim and very dangerous situation.
This one makes a great double-feature with Jonathan van Tulleken’s Off Season.
The filmmaking duo of Cook & Covello has been quiet since P.O.W.. Let’s hope they have more cinematic work in the pipeline.
Killing Small Animals
Directed by Marcus Svanberg
Written by Marcus Svanberg & Matilde Skold
2020, Sweden
A woman living in a secluded home with a husband she seems barely connected to develops a gruesome habit.
This short film’s title may not be the most imaginative but don’t let that throw you off.
Killing Small Animals is an intensely disturbing piece of work that is presented with extremely little dialogue.
Special marks go to cinematographer Johan Palm for delivering tremendous atmosphere over a brief running time.
Watch this one as a double-feature with Matthew Garrett’s Beating Hearts.
Service
Written & Directed by Jerry Pyle
2014, USA
Auteur Pyle-maker of the horror short classic Burn (2011) and the enjoyable piece of black comedy mayhem Trust (2015)-delivers this violent story of a young woman with an off-the-beaten-path job who experiences a really, really bad day at work.
We want more short horror from the talented Pyle.
A Quiet Moment
Directed by Martin Bruyere & Steve Villeneuve
Written by Tatjana Mahdi
2016, Canada
A woman enjoys a peaceful evening at home. The baby monitor is on. What could go wrong?
This is a slick, slow-burn piece with excellent cinematography and sound work. As the classification I chose for this short makes clear, I consider A Quiet Moment to be a psychopath horror film.
But it could be something else as the film displays the kind of creepy ambiguity that only short form horror can really pull off.
This one pairs nicely with Christian Cueva & Ricardo Farias’ Voces.
Number 15
Written & Directed by Daelan Wood
2017, Canada
After discovering a hidden camera in her apartment, a young woman gets a life-changing knock on her door.
This early work by veteran short filmmaker Wood is a great example of the type of horror short film that can be enjoyed and appreciated on its own but also plays like the first scene of a feature film that I’m sure would be much more intense and a lot less goofy than Jason Lei Howden’s Guns Akimbo (2019).
Wood also made the horror shorts Hello Quinn (2017), Timebox (2017) and Rearview (2018).
Number 15 is not Wood’s slickest work but it is still highly memorable. This one makes a good pairing with Victor Garcia’s T is for Tiles.