When a single father hears his daughter come home late, he begins to question if the voice he’s hearing is really hers – or something else.
Another Horror Short Sunday is here, and this time we’re taking a look at Who’s There. A creepy horror short playing with our fears or someone (or something) mimicking our loved ones..
Director: Ryan Doris
Writer: Todd Spence, Zak White
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Lizzy Kircher, Garland Scott, Kallie Tabor
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt31262966/
A man named Paul (Nicolas Cage) is scavenging a storehouse for supplies while fleeing from something. We then see what appears to be an apocalyptic event with explosions and sirens and full pandemonium. Paul seeks refuge, and we see he’s cradling two infants, telling them that “everything will be okay“. Yeah, sure it will…
Fifteen years later, most of the population has been wiped out and civilization is just a faraway memory. For Paul’s twin sons, Joseph and Thomas, the world from before is nothing but a story from a time they have no memory of whatsoever. Maybe that’s for the best, though. They now live in a derelict farmhouse, but trying to get by in this apocalyptic world would’ve been a lot easier if it wasn’t for the monsters roaming the night. As soon as the sun sets, they must take shelter inside their home to avoid them. Thomas is often late as he’s spending a lot of time in the nearby farm of the Rose family, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as it’s the only place where there’s a girl around his age. One day, Joseph reveals that he’s been working on restoring an off-road utility buggy, and Paul teaches him how to drive it. Paul then sends both sons out to salvage some stuff, but on their way Thomas leaves his brother to head over to the Rose farm. As expected, things then don’t go well and both Paul and his sons end up getting a too close encounter to the creatures that come at night.
Arcadian is a post apocalyptic horror film from 2024, directed by Benjamin Brewer and written by Michael Nilon. Is stars Nicolas Cage as Paul, the father, but just a heads up: this is not one of those “cage-rage“ movies, and he’s not the lead either despite that most movie posters make it seem like he’s got a far more significant role than the actually has. This is a movie where the two sons have the major roles, as we follow their struggles in a world where there’s hardly any survivors, and the nights have been seized by monsters who seem hell-bent on destroying the few remaining pieces of humanity. Good thing those monsters fear the light, and can only walk around in the dark.
The highlight in the movie is actually the monsters. While this is by no means any scary movie, the first introduction to these creatures includes a scene that is actually creepy as hell. I’ve never seen a scene with an arm offer such a solid dose of nightmare fuel! The rest of their designs are almost disorienting at first, making you wonder what the fuck you’re actually looking at. They also have some pretty weird mannerism, like excessive teeth chattering. They’re chaotic, nonsensical, and slightly goofy, and all of that combined gives the movie the necessary personal flair. This is exactly what this movie needed, because otherwise there isn’t really much to offer. The story is very minimal, and there’s not much character depth either. The monsters are by far the most entertaining thing here, and their freakish depiction is what makes it work.
Overall, Arcadian is a nice little post apocalyptic movie with some really cool monsters. Nothing spectacular, but fine popcorn-entertainment.
Director: Benjamin Brewer
Writer: Mike Nilon
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall, Samantha Coughlan, Joe Dixon, Joel Gillman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22939186/
Ada is a young woman who lives in an isolated backwoods community. Aside from selling their homemade moonshine in the nearest town, this community worships a pit that is said to have healing powers. The catch? The pit demands a sacrifice every now and then, because all good things requires a certain price to pay. One of the community members, a man named Dwight, gets visions of the next sacrifice and creates “jug faces“ from clay. The face on the latest jug must then be sacrificed to the entity that lives in the pit. Ada, visiting Dwight one day, notices his latest creation. Guess whose face is portrayed on it? Yup, it’s hers, of course. Terrified, she decides to hide the jug away. What then happens is a chain reaction of horrible events: she is arranged to marry a boy named Bodey, but Ada is already pregnant with her beloved brother’s child (yes, really). This is something she must try to keep a secret, but the worries don’t stop there. Ada is having a vision where she witnesses the death of Bodey’s sister, killed by the angered entity who didn’t get the sacrifice it wanted. Ada tries everything she can to escape both the community and the entity’s wrath, only to cause even more death.
Jug Face is a supernatural folk horror film from 2013, written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle. The jug faces in the movie was made by potter and sculptor Jason Mahlke, who designed them specifically for the film. And they certainly work in the movie’s favor, as they look like something that could be sold at an estate sale and later winding up in The Warren Occult Museum.
Many folk horror movies often deal with protagonists coming to visit certain isolated villages or communities, while this one tells a story solely from inside the community itself. They have lived for a long time with certain traditions, with the pit giving them protection from disease and also offering healing properties. What’s an occasional human sacrifice every now and then, right? And in order to make everything feel more justified, they let the entity pick the chosen one. And of course, like in the majority of all communities: you can’t really escape it.
Jug Face is definitely not a movie for the more casual horror audience. This backwoods folk horror movie delves into themes like incest, graphic depictions of having the period, and a miscarriage just to put the nasty cherry on top. There’s some gore during the killings, but not anything over the top, and most of it looks like leftovers from the local butchery (perhaps it even was, who knows). There’s still an unsettling atmosphere throughout, mixed with Ada’s isolation and lack of any easy escape route.
Jug Face is a pretty solid entry into the more bizarre hillbilly folk horror genre. A small-scale hicksploitation film that offers an interesting premise, and plays it along surprisingly straight-forward. Well worth a watch if you want something a little folkish, strange, and a little bit disgusting.
Writer and director: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Country & year: USA, 2013
Actors: Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Kaitlin Cullum, Larry Fessenden, Katie Groshong, Scott Hodges, Daniel Manche, Alex Maizus, Chip Ramsey, Jennifer Spriggs
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2620736/
With a mysterious string growing from her eye and questionable advice from a hotline service, Veronica is led on a strange quest for answers.
Horror Short Sunday once again, and this time we’re taking a look at Eyestring. A weird horror short about a woman who finds a string growing from her eye (fun fact: “eyestring” is a now obsolete term originating from the late 16th century. It was believed that these eye attachments would break when someone died, or went blind).
Director: Javier Devitt
Writer: Alena Chinault, Javier Devitt
Country & year: USA, 2023
Actors: Jeannie Bolet, Alena Chinault, Erin Grant, Jon McCormick
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt22837532/
And no, just to put the big fat joke aside: this is not a biopic of Amber Heard. Har-har.
But what’s this supposed to be then..? Well, it’s a movie that was made. And released. And it’s exactly what the title tells you: a big goofy-looking monster turd who goes on a shitting/murder spree until it steps on a bee. Pure quality cinema from start to finish where the poster and title should speak for itself. The only thing missing here is the Troma Entertainment logo proudly slammed on the poster, just to put the icing on the turd cake. And maybe that was the hopes and dreams of the amateur writers/directors duo Dan West and Rick Popko, who the hell knows. They teamed up again in 2008 with the zombie flick Retardead (yep, you read that right) that went nowhere, other than being flushed straight to the sewer section on Tubi years later, including Monsturd. A big two in the loo, as they say in Britain.
It’s bedtime for a little girl, simply called Munchkin. It’s a thunderstorm outside and she’s scared. She wants her dad to tell her a bedtime story. But he’s tired of telling bedtime stories, and now he wants her to tell a bedtime story, for a change. That should be interesting. Ok, but it’s really SCARY, she says. And she’s not kidding. OoOoOohh…
Once upon a time, in a place called Butte County in California, there was this serial killer, Jack Schmidt, who managed to escape from a maximum security prison. He hides in the sewers (filmed in some caves that look nothing like sewers) where some toxic waste has just been dumped. After getting chased by a local cop and a federal Marshall, he gets shot and falls into a tank with the freshly exposed toxic waste that transforms him into a decent skeleton Halloween decoration after his skin falls off. Jack Schmidt is dead, or so they thought. Because you won’t believe in your wildest imagination what happens next. Listen to this: The serial killer has been mutated into a monster of human feces! Say hello to Monsturd. The poop is loose and no one in Butte County is safe as he comes out of peoples’ toilets to make sure they have a shittier day than usual. And who are you gonna call to get this mess cleaned up? Turdbusters? Oh well… If this Turdman was smart enough, he’d just skidmark himself to San Fransisco where he’d blend perfectly in.
This stinky, little passion project of a motion picture took over two years to shoot (yes, really), the biggest number two you can squeeze out, with a whopping budget of 3000 dollars. And I bet that every cent was put on screen. Most of the actors were coworkers from Rick Popko and Dan West’s dayjob, and rumors on the trustworthy internet say that some of them were blackmailed to be in the film. You couldn’t blackmail me to be in this movie, because who in the right mind wouldn’t want to be a part of a film called Monsturd?? Sign me up! I don’t see much point in picking apart a film like this that was made of pure shits n’ giggles (no pun intended). I’d just get a splitting headache if I did. By just looking at the poster and the trailer you know what you’re gonna get, nothing more, nothing less. The humor is as juvenile as it can get, with cringe jokes that’ll give you more brainfart than diarrhea, whatever you may prefer, and maybe more suitable for kids around the age of eight to twelve.
That being said, Monsturd is the perfect film to kill some time with on the smartphone as you’re having a nice dump and just, oh shit, noticed that you have to wait for someone to hand you over a new pack of toilet paper!
Writer and directors: Rick Popko, Dan West
Country & year: USA, 2003
Actors: Paul Weiner, Beth West, Dan Burr, Dan West, Rick Popko, Dan Ellis, Timm Carney, Hannah Stangel
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364527/
Tinja is a 12 year old girl who lives in what appears to be the “perfect“ family. Her mother is an influencer, making videos so she can display their wonderful family to the world. Look, how happy we are! We’re the picture perfect family where every day is a delight! Pfft, yeah, right. Underneath the glossy facade hides a family dynamic that’s more toxic than a snake’s venom. The influencer-mom is obsessed with the image of her family, putting a ton of pressure on Tinja because she wants her to succeed in her gymnastics practices. The stepford-husband dad acts like he’s lost his pair, and in between it all is also Tinja’s younger brother who appears to be desperate for his mother’s love and attention, often failing to reach her since all she focuses her energy on is making cringeworthy instagram videos and making Tinja succeed. Oh, and the handyman Tero whom she’s having an affair with. Perfect family indeed.
One day, a crow flies into the family house and causes quite a stir and breaking things. Tinja wants to take it outside, but her mother snaps the bird’s neck after capturing it and instructs Tinja to expose of it in the trash. Later, Tinja walks in the woods and finds that the dying crow has somehow gotten away from the trash can and towards its nest in the woods. There’s no way to save it, so she euthanises it with a stone and takes the orphaned egg back home with her. From it, something hatches which will change Tinja and her family’s lives forever.
Hatching (original title: Pahanhautoja, which translates to “Evil Graves“ or “Graves of Evil“) is a bizarre psychological Finnish horror film directed by Hanna Bergholm, and written by Ilja Rautsi. The movie is pretty much a metaphor film, and this isn’t a spoiler as it becomes obvious early on. The egg, which keeps growing in Tinja’s room, represents her growing repressed emotions which later hatches into a bird-like creature she calls “Alli“. The creature in the film was portrayed by an animatronic puppet created by Gustav Hoegen and his team. There are several stages of the creature’s form, so later on it is played by different performers, with special effects make-up by Conor O’Sullivan. And the creature actually looks pretty good! It’s having a certain uncanny yet cute form from the start, but it gradually transforms into something more gross.
What drives the movie up some notches is also the performances by the actors, especially the child actor who plays Tinja, Siiri Solalinna (who hasn’t played in any other film than this one). The underlying tension between the characters, especially between Tinja and her mother, makes everything a lot more convincing. The family dynamics, despite being obviously toxic, isn’t one of those “screaming, slamming doors, breaking things, punching and kicking each other“ type of violent home which many seem to believe is the only harmful environment children can grow up in. This is a family who appears to be perfect on so many levels, but is too broken to provide their children the necessary care and healthy upbringing. Tinja is at the brink of total collapse due to her mother’s obsessions, her father is a spineless enabler, and her younger brother is caught in the crossfire and well on the way to develop his own behavioral issues. The believable characters makes the metaphors kick harder, and the monster, of course, ends up as the most sympathetic character.
Overall, Hatching is a strange little Finnish gem which tackles the theme of toxic families and being under too much pressure in order to live up to the expectations of your own parents. The creature feature and body horror elements work both as metaphors but also by adding a certain fairytale-like element to the story. Like one of those dark, twisted fables. Definitely worth a watch if you like something a little bizarre! But, just a heads up: Tinja feeds Alli the same way that mother birds do, and yeah…ew, it gets gross sometimes.
Director: Hanna Bergholm
Writers: Hanna Bergholm, Ilja Rautsi
Original title: Pahanhautoja
Country & year: Finland/Sweden/Norway/Belgium, 2022
Actors: Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen, Reino Nordin, Oiva Ollila, Ida Määttänen, Saija Lentonen, Stella Leppikorpi, Hertta Nieminen, Aada Punakivi, Hertta Karén, Jonna Aaltonen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12519030/
Elena, a young woman, moves into a haunted apartment where she finds a cryptic warning note that says: “If you hear breathing, don’t turn around.” As she encounters eerie shadows, mysterious sounds, and a sinister presence lurking in the darkness, her fear builds to a terrifying climax.
It is now Horror Short Sunday again, and this time we’re taking a look at Don’t Turn Around. A creepy little horror short about a woman moving into a new apartment, finding a note on the floor…
Director: Leon Neal
Writer: Leon Neal
Country & year: UK, 2025
Actors: Ava Walker, Ella Walker
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt35993689/
Iris is a young woman who is going to an isolated lakehouse together with the love of her life: her boyfriend Josh. She fondly recalls how they met for the first time at a grocery store, where eyes met and hearts locked in an instant connection. Sounds a little overly romantically idealized? Well…it is. Despite Iris being head over heels for Josh, we quickly notice that something in their relationship is kinda off. When they meet up with Josh’s friends Kat, the couple Eli and Patrick, and Kat’s boyfriend Sergey who owns the lakehouse, things quickly go wrong, with Iris being the center of it all. And it’s at this point we find out that Iris is, in fact, not a human: she’s a companion robot, made exclusively to fulfill the needs of lonely people (and, probably most often, scumbags who wants to treat someone badly while easily getting away with it). And the best part? These robots aren’t even aware that they are robots, programmed to be fully loyal and committed to the person they “love“ without question, no matter how badly they are treated. Every narcissist’s dream, for sure. Josh had plans for Iris, of course, but those plans are botched once she becomes aware of her situation.
Companion is a science fiction thriller written and directed by Drew Hancock. It grossed $36.7 million against a budget of $10 million, and has received fairly positive reviews. The core themes of the movie is control, autonomy, and of course the dangers of technology if it gets in the wrong hands. Underneath is also a very obvious metaphor for a toxic relationship consisting of manipulation and control. Iris, being a robot, is quite physically controlled by an app in Josh’s possession, but once she becomes aware of this she manages to gain a certain control over her own self.
It’s no secret that technology can be both good and bad, depending on how people use it. Unfortunately, when new technology is created, we often see how many people are at the forefront to use it mainly by the means of exploiting others (just look at generative AI as a prime example of this). The concept of “companion robots“ in this film opens up for so many ways for bad people to use them for various purposes. All of this comes in stark contrast to how Iris is, ironically, the most “human“ character in the movie. The majority of the other people are complete assholes with little or no qualms regarding other people’s lives and well-being as long as they can gain something from it. Once Iris finds out that she is, in fact, not a human, she is also thrown into a full existential horror where free will at first seems to be completely out of her grasp, but she still tries to fight for it. Metaphorically, one could easily consider this scenario as someone realizing how toxic their relationship is, and tries to break out from it.
Companion is a fun movie about how human aggression and violence can easily become an ethical issue when given control over something that emulates human emotions, yet have no control over their lives and have no rights like that of real humans. While this is far from the first time similar concepts have been explored in movies or other media, it still felt like a fresh take, especially in these days when a situation like this seems considerably less far-fetched than it was just a few years ago.
Writer and director: Drew Hancock
Country & year: USA, 2025
Actors: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend, Jaboukie Young-White, Matt McCarthy, Marc Menchaca, Woody Fu, Ashley Lambert
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26584495/
In this demented/twisted/fucked-up serial killer flick that your mum and dad don’t want you to see, we meet, yeah you guessed it – Peter Pan. And he’s a, yeah, you guessed it – a serial killer. And yep, you guessed it again – he murders children, sometimes in broad daylight. And not one by one, but in drones. The few lives he spares gets trapped in his dungeon basement. Oh my… calling the whambulance is no use here. So there’s no big shocker to say that this isn’t the Peter Pan that we know from our classic childhood fairy tales, but rather a homicidal maniac who lives out his sick fetish role-playing fantasies.
Pan is also a hardcore junkie who lives comfy enough in an abandoned manor somewhere in the idyllic British countryside of Ashdown with his one and only Tinker Bell, an unpleasant sight by itself who looks more like the sister of Longlegs. Instead of heroin, we have pixie dust. It’s the same shit though, so don’t get fooled, kids. Stay outta drugs and have some Kava instead.
But at the end of the day, Peter Pan actually means all well. Because he doesn’t kill children just for the hell of it, but in order to send their souls to Neverland to save them from the evil world that we live in. Your typical road to hell that is paved with good intentions, to put it that way. Neverland is, after all, a place where you can be a little boy for the rest of your existence. And since dead people don’t age…well, you get the idea. Sweet dreams.
The film starts with a quick, flashback story of Pan (Martin Portlock) where he works as a mime artist at a circus. After performing in front of a group of kids, he stalks one of the kids home, which by a wild coincidence is named James Hook. After sneaking into his bedroom through a trapdoor, where we also have a quick Pennywise reference (because why not), the kid’s mother spots him and hell breaks loose. After a brutal fight in the kitchen that goes from bruises to chopped-off toes by a meat cleaver, a disfigured face and a scalped head, Pan takes Hook with him before we jump fifteen years later.
Then we meet the upper-class family, the Darlings, just another wild name coincidence, where the older sister Wendy (Megan Placito) is driving her youngest brother Michael (Peter DeSouza, the possessed kid from Pope’s Exorcist) to school. Michael is depressed, and since it’s his birthday and all, Wendy tries her best to make his day a little easier by also intending to pick him up after school. Aaw, how thoughtful. Too bad that she gets distracted on the phone by her boyfriend when Michael leaves the school on a bike, which leads to him being captured by our psycho killer Peter Pan The Grabber. While Michael is trapped in his manor where he’s forced to play games like hide-and-seek, a guilt-stricken Wendy sets out to find her brother.
Terrifier meets The Black Phone says hello to Castle Freak, written and directed by Scott Chambers, a living non-stop Duracell Bunny who made only eleven movies in 2021 alone, according to his IMDb. Geez, I’m having a stroke just thinking about it. Can’t say I’ve seen any of them though, except from Exorcist Vengeance (2022) only because of Robert Bronzi, the famous Charles Bronson clone. While his previous films have an average rating between 2.8 and 3.6, it’s fair to assume that he has had a major skill upgrade at some point. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is a more polished and overall professional-made movie than you’d expect, all from the camerawork, production design, sound, pacing, acting, and, of course, the effects, which are all practical, as far as I could see. To be completely honest, this looks more like it could be in the same universe as Damien Leone’s Terrifier than the Poohniverse. And that’s probably the best compliment I can give.
The most remarkable here is Martin Portlock as Peter Pan – a brilliant and charismatic actor who just came as a lightning strike from the blue sky when he went viral in the UK after his appearance as a witch on Britain’s Got Talent. Here, he’s a mix of Heath Ledger’s Joker, Freddy Krueger and Radu the vampire with a dark and a seductive British voice that would even make Hugh Grant blush. He’s as ruthless and mean-spirited as he’s intimidating. I also liked the angle with the Tinker Bell character, played by Kit Green. Her and Peter’s relationship is a pure psychological warzone, if the circumstances weren’t hell already. Her story of how she ended up in this pit of misery would be an interesting spinoff by itself. And if you want the blood and gore, you’ll get it. The third act goes especially full throttle in the splatter & gore department, with a cute final girl and all, which you can guess who.
So yeah, all in all, a gritty, gory, tension-filled and morbidly entertaining ride you’ll never experience at Disneyland, even after dark. Solid stuff. I hope we see Martin Portlock in more horror films, while it’ll be interesting to see what Scott Chambers does next. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is available on streaming on Amazon Prime, or (for us Norwegians) on Viaplay.
Writer and director: Scott Chambers
Country & year: UK/USA, 2025
Actors: Megan Placito, Martin Portlock, Kit Green, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Teresa Banham, Olumide Olorunfemi, Campbell Wallace, Nicholas Woodeson, Hardy Yusuf, Harry Whitfield
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21955520/
Detective Frank Brandt is in it up to his neck. First he loses his partner in a nightmare bust gone wrong, and now he has to explain to Internal Affairs otherworldly events that occurred and how Joseph Crist died – and why they all might be next. This tale explores what we choose to see versus what the reality actually is.
Horror Short Sunday again, and this time we’re taking a look at Processing. A creepy horror short where a detective has to explain the insanely weird way he just lost his partner..
Director: Renetta G. Amador
Writer: Clifford W. Smith
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Austin Talynn Carpenter, Hana Mae Lee, Rhett Lindsey, Josh Lopez, James Michael Tyler
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt11481394/
