The ghost of bad decisions haunts a drunk driver.
Hit + Run is a creepy horror short about a man (with an obvious alcohol problem) who gets haunted by the girl he killed while drunk driving.
Directors: Austin Faust, Mike Wolfe
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: James David West, Michael Leidel, Briana LaChelle Lantz, Emily K. Dennis, Thom Booton
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt12383904/
Mary Elnor is a young woman being accused of Witchcraft in Banfield, Massachusetts, in 1845. She is being hanged from a tree, and then lit on fire by an angry mob, who also bounds her spirit to the body of a doll before she takes her final breath.
Years later, we meet Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who is a journalist who has gotten his reputation thrown into the gutter after being caught faking cases just to get publicity. He’s on an assignment which leads him to Boston, where he is going to look into a case of a cow with so-called satanic markings on it (which proves to be a teenage prank). Before deciding to leave the place and look for other means of stories that can give him some much-needed income, he finds the tree where Mary was hanged, and also the doll which was once “hidden” (in the very visible and big hole of the tree trunk…). He crushes the doll, and of course, then freeing the evil spirit of Mary Elnor.
After it gets dark and Gerry has decided to leave the place and return home, he sees a young girl run across the road to the tree where he found the doll earlier, and hears her speaking before fainting right in front of the tree. He takes the girl to a church nearby, and learns that her name is Alice and that she is actually deaf and can’t speak. This peaks his interest as he knows he heard her speak just moments before, and decides to stay around town to follow this strange case a bit further. Soon, Alice brings publicity from both close and far as not only does she now speak, but she claims that she was cured by the Virgin Mary, and she also starts healing people. When Gerry finds out that the so-called Virgin Mary is not what Alice believes her to be, but is instead a sinister entity, he tries to reveal what is actually the truth for once.
The Unholy is directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos, and is also his directional debut. It is based on a novel from 1983 by James Herbert, called Shrine. In the leading role we find Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom most people probably know best as the villain “Negan” from The Walking Dead, but he also played the father of Supernatural-duo Sam & Dean. And oh boy, does this movie have a few cheesy Supernatural-vibes indeed!
The movie’s opening sequence leaves no mystery to be revealed, we already know that “Mary” isn’t the Virgin Mary, but the witch that was executed in 1845, Mary Elnor. Since we already know what’s going on, it’s hard to build any real suspense or sense of mystery, so the progress forward relies heavily on actor performances and character interactions. Fortunately, Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a solid job as the journalist who has fallen from grace and needs to turn his career around, only to find himself facing a dilemma: knowing that he’s now got a real, true case in his hands (not just another hoax), but also finding out that there’s something sinister going on, and that profiting from this case might not be the best moral decision. Thus, the lead character carries much of the movie. As for the villain, Mary Elnor herself, she does unfortunately not come off as the least bit scary. Often when she appears on screen, with her jerky movements and overly villainous treats, you almost feel like you should get your controller in hand and prepare yourself for a video-game boss battle. Like you’re watching some kind of cutscene before a fight. It does add another layer of cheese, however, and makes her appearances particularly entertaining.
And with all of that being said: The Unholy is not a scary movie, not even creepy. But if you can enjoy it as an easy-going popcorn flick with a little bit of B-grade cheese here and there (or like some kind of long Supernatural episode with Sam & Dean’s dad going on a solo-adventure), you’ll probably get some entertainment out of it.
Director: Evan Spiliotopoulos
Country & year: USA, 2021
Actors: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Cricket Brown, William Sadler, Katie Aselton, Cary Elwes, Diogo Morgado, Bates Wilder, Marina Mazepa, Christine Adams, Dustin Tucker, Gisela Chipe, Danny Corbo, Sonny Corbo
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt9419056/
A family struggles to cohabitate with a malevolent spirit that becomes violent whenever its presence is acknowledged.
Ignore It is a creepy horror short based on the viral NoSleep story “You’re Going to Notice a Woman in Your Home, You Must Ignore Her…”
Directors: Sam Evenson
Country & year: USA, 2021
Actors: Madison Rojas, Michael Perl, Madison Leyson, Crystal Hughes
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt11085736/
Joseph lives in the remote Canadian wilderness together with his wife Anne and their daughter Renee. They try to make a living from selling the fur of the animals they trap, which isn’t much but enough to make them go by. They feel threatened when a lone wolf starts eating the animals they’ve trapped, and Joseph decides to track down the wolf and get rid of what is threatening both their livelihood as well as their safety. When hunting down the wolf, however, Joseph comes across something far more dangerous and threatening…
Hunter Hunter is a slow burn thriller, which is offering quite an amount of atmosphere due to the cinematography and feeling of isolation in the remote wilderness setting. There are always those people who want to live away from the hustle and bustle of modern life, in remote areas and in total or near total isolation, Mountain Men-style. This kind of lifestyle is almost always very hard, where just making a living requires hard work (and some luck). The characters in this movie is no exception to this, but Joseph appears to be the most determined to never return to the comforts of modern life, while the wife (Anne) is thinking about their daughter whom she thinks should grow up under more… normal circumstances, going to school and meeting friends. With the wolf ruining much their livelihood as well, things have become harder than usual. But things won’t be as easy as just getting rid of the wolf, of course…
The film does suffer a bit from a slow start of what initially appears to be a simple man vs nature/beast story, but when you’re becoming aware of how much of a darker turn it takes, it manages to keep the tension on track. The acting feels believable and realistic, and while the characters themselves doesn’t really offer much personality or traits to make them memorable, their performances heightens the build-up of tension and foreboding.
Now, the movie’s ending is inevitably what has gotten most people’s attention, and yes…it really does pack a punch with its vicious brutality, and probably gives it the extra bite it needed. It’s not a movie for those who are not fond of slow-burners, but overall it’s a tense thriller which provides a few surprises and twists along the way.
WARNING: watch the trailer at your own risk, there’s a lot of spoilers…
Director: Shawn Linden
Country & year: Canada, 2020
Actors: Camille Sullivan, Summer H. Howell, Devon Sawa, Nick Stahl, Gabriel Daniels, Lauren Cochrane, Jade Michael, Erik Athavale, Karl Thordarson, Blake Taylor, Sarah Constible
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt2226162/
Andrea visits deceased painter Arganti’s house to investigate his cursed pantings of the crying kids, among them The Crying Boy.
The Crying Boy is an atmospheric horror short about haunted paintings (inspired by the famous “The Crying Boy” painting).
Directors: Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar, Stefano Mandalà
Country & year: Italy, 2019
Actors: Elena Cascino
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt12337710/
Dark Water focuses on the narrative of a deep-sea environment that unexpectedly manifests in the walls of a grieving women’s suburban dwelling; an impossible, flooded inner-architecture. It explores familial trauma through the darkly surreal tale of a woman who discovers an ocean within her house. The life forms that dwell in this space are both real and a manifestation of the resident’s internal psychological state, as she comes to terms with the death of her mother. Dark Water is underscored by both a sense of human loss and contemporary concerns around habitat loss within our oceans.
Dark Water is a strange and surreal little horror short!
Director: Erin Coates, Anna Nazzari
Country & year: Australia, 2019
Actors: Zachary Drieberg, Alexandra Nell
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt11492724/
A strange discovery leaves a woman haunted by her husband’s absence.
Pare isn’t exactly a jolly Christmas tale…instead, we get chills and suspense as a woman experiences strange events after finding a bloody jacket which might belong to her husband…
Director: Lauren Sick
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Dana Drori, Josh Ruben
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13658316/
An animatronic Santa head has a different kind of present to give.
Jolly is a simple, yet effective, horror short! It’s made by the “Midnight Video” team. Time to get into the perfect holiday mood…
Director: Todd Spence
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Todd Spence, Zak White
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13884852/
A father discovers his children are grieving their mother’s death in their own terrifying way, after having met a mysterious entity in the woods.
The Rickety Man is a dark horror tale with a nice amount of creepy atmosphere and great cinematography.
Director: Cameron Gallagher
Country & year: USA, 2021
Actors: Ava Torres, Russell Shealy, Wyatt Cary, Kurtis Martin, Allison GiamBruno
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13915690/
A hunter hidden up in his tree stand chances upon gunmen executing hostages. He jumps into action, using his rifle and limited ammo to save the victims.
Ten Shots is a suspenseful short horror film, told with no dialogue at all yet still able to keep up the tension.
Director: Gordon Shoemaker
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Raymond Sammak, Lindsay Mushett, Brian Rock, Adia Smith-Eriksson, Ben Folts, James Graham, Sarah Lange, Adam Dash Roberts, Steven Vaughn
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt11160794/
