Tick
Written & Directed by Ashlea Wessel
2018, Canada
Set in a bleak near-future, a young woman with biological characteristics that make her a feared outsider tries to avoid capture by government agents.
Auteur Wessel, who previously made the horror short Ink (2016), delivers a fresh take on a familiar horror antagonist that demands to be watched more than once.
Tick also cries out for feature-length treatment.
Hang Up!
Written & Directed by Richard Powell
2018, Canada
While at work, a husband accidentally overhears an intensely disturbing phone conversation involving his wife of many years.
Hang Up! is the latest outstanding short-form work from auteur Powell, starring his favorite lead actor Robert Nolan.
Powell is the director of a number of unique, acclaimed horror short films under his Fatal Pictures banner with producing partner Zach Green including Consumption (2008), Worm (2010), Familiar (2012) and Heir (2015).
The Good Samaritan
Directed by Darrin Suzuki
Written by Jay Clarke
2017, Canada
Horrific events unfold on a stretch of country road in this excellent short.
Screenwriter Clarke is a veteran horror short filmmaker, having directed Orange (2012), Lively (2013) and The Monitor (2014). Director Suzuki is Clarke’s frequent collaborator.
The Good Samaritan is the creative duo’s finest 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 Last Halloween
Directed by Marc Roussel
Written by Marc Roussel & Mark Thibodeau
2013, Canada
A group of costumed children go door to door in a ruined neighborhood carrying bags of candy and some dark secrets in The Last Halloween.
This excellent apocalyptic short film that had a very successful festival run shows both the external and internal devastation caused by the end of the world.
Filmmaker Roussel had previously made the award-winning 2010 horror short Remote but The Last Halloween is a more accomplished and effective piece of work that also happens to feature the welcome presence of Canadian character actor Julian Richings.
In the massive and ever-growing world of horror shorts, a film has to be unique to stand out and The Last Halloween is definitively unique.
One Last Dive
Written & Directed by Jason Eisener
2013, Canada
Best known as the maker of the feature film Hobo with a Shotgun based on his highly entertaining fake trailer of the same name, Eisener also directed the well-known horror-comedy short Treevenge and a kids-oriented horror-comedy short called Want to Believe.
The director also contributed the “Y is for Youngbuck” segment to The ABCs of Death (2012) and the “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” segment to V/H/S 2 (2013).
Brief and extremely creepy, One Last Dive is Eisener’s best work to date.
M is for Messiah
Directed by Nicholas Humphries
Screenplay by Bob Woolsey
2013, Canada
Fans of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man and Ben Wheatley’s Kill List will be especially attracted to veteran shorts director Humphries’ brief, enigmatic and captivating look at the end of the world made for the ABCs of Death 2 contest.
Humphries also directed the award-winning horror short The Little Mermaid, which despite being very popular in the horror shorts world, fails to have the same impact as M is for Messiah.
The director went on to make the feature films Death Do Us Part (2014) and Charlotte’s Song (2015).
El Matador
Directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero
Written by Shane McKenzie
2013, Canada
This ABCs of Death 2 contest entry (previously known as M is for Matador) is perhaps best described as a brief glimpse into a confined world of total madness.
Guerrero previously made the lesser horror short Dead Crossing and went on to make the horror short El Gigante and the segment “Dias De Los Muertos (aka Day of the Dead)” for the 2014 horror anthology Mexico Barbaro.