Cargo
Directed by Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke
Screenplay by Yolanda Ramke
2013, Australia
At this point in cinematic history, it’s very difficult to make something special in the zombie subgenre.
Ben Howling (great name for a horror director) and Yolanda Ramke do just that with Cargo as the directing duo puts the focus on the devastating personal losses that follow in the wake of a plague of the undead.
Play House
Written & Directed by Brandon LaGanke
2012, USA
Ever wondered which short film you should watch to get yourself in the mood for a screening of Joseph Ruben’s 1987 classic The Stepfather?
You found your answer here in LaGanke’s disturbing horror short Play House.
Douglas Buck is correctly considered the godfather of what might be called “domestic horror” in the short film world with his creations Cutting Moments, Home and Prologue.
LaGanke creates another classic in the subgenre with this film. Play House is a tremendous improvement over LaGanke’s black comedy short film debut Bunny Boy and shows directing talent that begs to be applied to a horror feature.
Other
Directed by Daniel DelPurgatorio
Screenplay by Anthony R. Williams, Daniel DelPurgatorio & Rob Foster
2012, USA
Accomplished animator, effects artist and designer DelPurgatorio creates this dark tale of a visionary doctor’s attempt to cure his own terminal illness with unexpectedly grim results.
Perhaps best known as the co-director of the animated short Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, Delpurgatorio directs Other in the style of the early David Cronenberg films Stereo and Crimes of the Future but with more memorable results.
DelPurgatorio directed another science fiction-oriented horror short called Body(s) in 2015.
Spoiler
Written & Directed by Daniel Thron
2011, USA
Incorporating a high-tech police procedural element, Spoiler’s unique take on a zombie apocalypse has been very accurately described as “Michael Mann meets George Romero” by both viewers and Thron himself.
An accomplished visual effects artist who made a crime short film called Code 77 in 2015, let’s hope Thron returns soon to the world of horror filmmaking.
https://vimeo.com/31978327
Leyenda
Directed by Pau Teixidor
Screenplay by Pau Teixidor, Miguel Angel Blanca & David Gonzalez
2011, Spain
Reality collides violently with fantasy in Teixidor’s debut short film Leyenda, which continues Spain’s strong track record of horror short films that includes Nacho Cerda’s Aftermath and Genesis, David Alcalde’s Happy Birthday to You and Victor Garcia’s El Ciclo and T is for Tiles.
Teixidor and his screenwriting partners create a perfect level of ambiguity that will have most viewers scrambling to re-watch Leyenda. Teixidor made the horror feature Purgatorio in 2014.
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.
T Is For Tiles
Written & Directed by Victor Garcia
2011, Spain
After years of toiling on feature film sequels and a Syfy Channel movie in the wake of his critically acclaimed short film El Ciclo, Garcia wrote and directed this excellent short film for the ABCs of Death competition that was created to find an entry for the “T” section of the film.
Lee Hardcastle’s claymation short T is for Tiolet won the competition and was included in the film but Garcia’s short is vastly superior to Hardcastle’s well-animated but ultimately juvenile piece.
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.
Burn
Written & Directed by Jerry Pyle
2011, USA
Director/screenwriter Pyle makes a very strong debut that channels the brutal essence of author Jack Ketchum’s best short story work.
Pyle wisely cast the criminally underrated and underutilized actor Tim Abell in the film.
Mostly known for the late 1990s TV series Soldier of Fortune, Inc. and a lengthy resume of direct-to-DVD films, it’s a true mystery why the talented Abell did not show up in a major recurring role on Sons of Anarchy, Justified or any number of other more high-profile projects.
Pyle also directed the psychopath horror short Service and the darkly comic short Trust.