Pocket
Written & Directed by Adante Watts
2023, USA
A young man desperately tries to escape from a seemingly endless parking structure while being pursued by a masked attacker in auteur Watts’ foray into the world of altered reality horror cinema.
As of this writing, Watts is currently at work on the horror short Reprieve.
Déjà Vu
Written & Directed by Olivier Labonte LeMoyne
2017, Canada
A woman tries to describe a disturbing nightmare to a friend, only to find she may be trapped within the dangerous dream.
This is a polished piece of altered reality cinema from auteur LeMoyne that packs a punch despite its restrained nature.
Balcony
Written & Directed by Chris Cronin
2015, UK
Oscar’s Bell director Cronin delivers a very short but highly memorable viewing experience with this slick, enigmatic award-winner.
After watching this one a few times, check out Ignacio F. Rodo’s Tuck Me In.
The World Over
Written & Directed by Heath C. Michaels
2018, USA
A young couple finds a mysterious key in their home followed by a hidden keyhole.
They use the key and discover an increasingly disturbing parallel world that’s not quite a mirror image of their own.
Great stuff from creator Michaels in his highly accomplished short film debut.
Explosions
Directed by Christopher Frey
Written by Christopher Frey
2012, Australia
Unhampered by dialogue, auteur Frey delivers a nightmarish but beautiful piece about the failure of gravity.
You’ll want to watch Explosions more than once.
Frey has made several other short films but Explosions is his most accomplished work to date.
Curve
Written & Directed by Tim Egan
2016, Australia
This is a visually striking, enigmatic piece of cinematic terror that fans of Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 debut feature Cube and Kristoffer Aaron Morgan’s great 2011 short No Way Out will adore.
While it might be tempting to classify Curve as the type of short film that comes off as the first scene of longer story, the short actually works best as the puzzling and self-contained piece of short-form horror that it is.
Sequence
Written & Directed by Carles Torrens
2013, USA
Chaos erupts as a man wakes to find everyone he comes into contact with has had a deeply disturbing dream about him the night before in this multiple award-winning short film.
Director Torrens also directed the horror shorts M is for Mom (2013) and Hide & Seek (2014) in addition to the ghost/haunted house horror feature Apartment 143 (aka Emergo, 2011).
His latest horror feature called Pet recently world premiered as part of the 2016 SXSW Festival’s Midnighters program to very positive reviews.
Tuck Me In
Directed by Ignacio F. Rodo
Written by Juan J. Ruiz
2014, Spain
Making a truly memorable ultra-short horror short film is no easy task but Rodo and Ruiz achieve that difficult goal with Tuck Me In.
If you like your short horror very short, watch this back-to-back with Jason Eisener’s excellent One Last Dive.
To My Mother and Father
Written & Directed by Can Evrenol
2010, UK
Turkish filmmaker Evrenol creates an unforgettable nightmare on film with To My Mother and Father.
Evernol is a director whose progress can be easily charted through his short films Screws, Sandik, My Grandmother and now To My Mother and Father as each one is a substantial improvement over the last.
Evrenol made an outstanding horror short called Baskin, which he made into a feature film of the same name that is currently in the midst of a very successful festival run.
No Way Out
Directed by Kristofer Aaron Morgan
Written by Kristofer Aaron Morgan & Eric Vespe
2011, USA
Morgan and Vespe previously collaborated on the action-oriented horror short film Blind (2004) and show leaps and bounds of growth with No Way Out, a nightmarish short that’s much better in every way than Blind.
Morgan and Vespe are currently working on their horror feature The Home.