A father and daughter find a chained up old chest hidden in the woods. They bring it home with plans to sell its contents, but quickly discover that what’s inside was locked up for a reason.
The Trunk is a creepy supernatural horror short with a little bit of proper gore. By the same director that also made “The Silent Lay Steady“.
Director: Travis Laidlaw Writer: Travis Laidlaw Country & year: Canada, 2022 Actors: Ashleigh Morrison, Craig Monk, Anne Shepherd IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt21151200/
The middle-aged alcoholic Runar believe he has scored the perfect date. Things take a strange turn when he realizes he’s impregnated with her alien eggs.
Baby Boom is a fun and silly sci-fi horror short! He should definitely have worn some protection..
Director: Thomas Lunde Writer: Espen Aukan, Thomas Lunde, Martin Ødegaarden Country & year: Norway, 2022 Actors: Oddrun Valestrand, Egil Birkeland, Jesper Malm, Espen Petrus Andersen Lervaag, Tina Schei, Anja Maria Svenkerud, Henrik Horge, Anne Cecilie Ukkelberg IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt12451802/
An international research group is searching natural resources from the Arctic Ocean. They pick up a strange underwater sound from far north, and start to follow it to the uncharted waters. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Sound from the Deep is a nice Lovecraftian horror short!
Director: Joonas Allonen, Antti Laakso Writer: Joonas Allonen, Antti Laakso, H.P. Lovecraft Country & year: Finland, 2017 Actors: Eero Ojala, Lasse Fagerström, Anastasia Trizna, Mikael Andersson, Fabian Silén, Kristofer Gummerus, Gabriela Rodriguez-Aflecht IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt7213856/
The End of the Squirrel is an irreverent indie apocalypse film about two siblings stranded in an antique shop waiting for the impending zombie horde to break in and end their lives. A surrealist sequence provides a visual reflection on their time in the barn, scored by an original song played on a weathered piano uncovered among the mountains of ancient treasures.
The End of the Squirrel is an emotional zombie horror short about two people awaiting their deaths as a horde of zombies are about to break into their little shelter.
Director: Michael Christensen Writer: Michael Christensen Country & year: USA, 2022 Actors: Katherine Olson, Jeremy Appel IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt19356128/
Overweight teen Sara lives in the shadow of a clique of cool girls holidaying in her village. Not even her childhood friend Claudia defends her when she’s bullied at the local pool in front of an unknown man. Finally, her clothes are stolen and she must get home wearing only her bikini. Her long walk home will mark the rest of her life.
Piggy aka Cerdita is a horror short where you actually root for a serial killer. The director Carlota Pereda also made a full-length movie based on this short, which was released in 2022.
Director: Carlota Pereda Writer: Carlota Pereda Country & year: Spain, 2018 Actors: Laura Galán, Elisabet Casanovas, Paco Hidalgo, Mireia Vilapuig, Sara Barroso, Jorge Elorza, Alejandro Chaparro, Pascual Laborda IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt8286974/
After a zombie attack, the sole surviving police officer of the rescue team recalls his painful memories during an interrogation. But the truth becomes more elusive as more conflicting evidence comes to light.
The Door is a fun Chinese horror short about a zombie outbreak and police officers struggling to make the right choices..
A shy teenager (Andrew) is peer pressured by his older brother (Mike) into playing a game that is said to summon the ghost of the town legend, ‘The Lady Beneath’. To disprove his brother and impress a girl at school he reluctantly agrees. The rules of the game are simple, as long as Andrew holds his breath, he is safe from The Lady Beneath. But how long can Andrew hold his breath?
Catch Your Breath is a creepy little horror short by Matt Sears, who also made Charlie Boy.
Director: Matt Sears Writer: Matt Sears Country & year: USA, 2022 Actors: Samson Oliver, Toby Oliver IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt22854234/
Winnie the Pooh is a light-hearted horror short about Christopher Robin and his mother, his hungry teddy bear, and a bottle of honey..
Director: Alex Magaña Writer: Jed Brian, Alex Magaña Country & year: USA, 2023 Actors: Ranen Navat, Brent Perrott Ashley Elsa White IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt27096379/
Annie buys a seemingly innocuous chair at the thrift store, but soon comes to regret it when she realizes something else came home with her.
In the Dark is a creepy horror short about a murder, a cursed chair, and the woman who buys it and unwittingly brings more than the chair into her home..
Director: Spencer Keller Writer: Spencer Keller Country & year: USA, 2023 Actors: Adara Toop, Jackie Maya, Bill Read Jr., Elizabeth Rhoades IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt26853126/
Laura and her father arrives at a secluded cottage which they are going to repair, as the owner wants to put the house out for sale. Having planned to spend the night inside the house, with its unstable and unsafe upper level and windows that are nailed shut, they soon experience that things do (of course) go wrong. A radio starts playing a sinister melody, and after Laura turns it off, her father goes upstairs to check on an other noise. Laura hears a commotion from upstairs, and shortly afterwards she finds her father’s murdered body downstairs. In a state of grief and fear, she tries to escape from the house but someone has locked all the doors. As she moves around in the dark house, trying to find an exit, more sinister things happen around her…
The Silent House (La Casa Muda) is a Uruguayan horror movie directed by Gustavo Hernández and made with a tiny budget of $6,000. The film is made to look like it was filmed in real time, in one continuous 88 minute take, but the real story is that it was actually shot over four days. Despite not being filmed in one take, the length of the takes are still rather impressive though. The film is based on what is supposed to be real events that took place in 1944 in a village in Uruguay, where two brutally tortured men’s bodies, missing their tongues, were found in an old farmhouse. In that regard, one could consider The Silent House as a typical gimmick-film, with the supposedly “single-take” filming as well as the supposedly “true story” (which there is no actual information about to be found anywhere online, it seems). As for the single-take gimmick, there’s been numerous other films going for the same thing while having in fact been edited to appear that way. Most notably, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope from 1948. Movies that rely heavily on gimmicks are often off to a troublesome start, though, and not surprisingly the movie’s reception was quite varied.
The Silent House is mostly leaning heavily on atmosphere, where inside the house the only light comes from two halogen lamps and some candles. The darkness in the house makes the viewer look for clues as to what might be hiding there, as the protagonist keeps cautiously sneaking around. It’s mostly a psychological thriller, with bits of haunted-house clichés like a haunting melody playing, a “don’t go upstairs” caution, and spooky imagery. Despite there not being much of a plot, it still manages to create a very tense atmosphere but the problem is still the pacing, which makes the film a little dull at times and some scenes dragging on for a little bit too long.
Overall, The Silent House is an atmospheric and different little horror film, albeit a little dull at times and offering a twist in the end which does feel a little confusing and ends up leaving more questions than answers.
There was also an english-language remake made in 2011, called Silent House.
Director: Gustavo Hernández Writers: Oscar Estévez, Gustavo Hernández, Gustavo Rojo
Original title: La casa muda Country & year: Uruguay, 2010 Actors: Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, Gustavo Alonso, María Salazar IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt1646973/
