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.
Ninjas
Directed by Dennison Ramalho
Written by Dennison Ramalho & Marco de Castro & Marcelo Velloso
2010, Brazil
Brazilian director of the critically acclaimed short film Love From Mother Only (2003) and co-screenwriter of the Coffin Joe film Embodiment of Evil (2008), Ramalho delivers a brutal and disturbing tale of guilt and corruption. Not for the squeamish, Ninjas is easily Ramalho’s most accomplished work to date.
Ramalho contributed a segment to The ABCs of Death 2 called “J is for Jesus”-a savage indictment of persecution in the name of religion.
The Hell Within–a Ramalho-helmed horror feature originally announced in late 2010-is currently in pre-production.
Deus Irae
Written & Directed by Pedro Cristiani
2010, Argentina
Deus Irae is the type of short film that comes off as the opening scene of a feature film. This classification happens to fit very well as director/screenwriter Cristiani intends to make a feature-length version of this ambitious, award-winning short.
Let’s hope he can make that happen because Deus Irae deserves to be a feature film.
While the concept for this particular supernatural short film cries out for a larger budget, Cristiani makes it work with the resources at hand despite leaving the audience a bit short-changed by the lack of a real ending.
Cristiani made another horror short film El Hombre De La Bosa (aka Man in a Bag) in 2010 that, despite being well-made, isn’t as memorable as his short debut Deus Irae.
Off Season
Written & Directed by Jonathan van Tulleken
2009, USA
Director/screenwriter van Tulleken delivers a highly atmospheric, suspenseful short film highlighted by the superb cinematography of Ming Kai Leung.
Van Tulleken has primarily focused on comedy since this great horror short but has had two feature films announced, including a feature version of Off Season.