CORPORATE MONSTER – Sci-Fi Horror Short

A dangerously unstable man starts to see monsters all around us.

 

Corporate Monster is a tense Sci-Fi horror short where an unstable man starts seeing certain people turn into monsters. Are they the result of the new medication he’s started taking… or is the new medication giving him the ability to see what those people really are?

 

CORPORATE MONSTER - Sci-Fi horror Short

 

Director: Ruairi Robinson
Country & year: Ireland, USA, 2019
Actors: Jenna Coleman, Birkett Turton, Gary Murphy, Patrick Joseph Byrnes, Kris Edlund, Megan Woods Kegan, Alphonso Cox, Jimmy Doom
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10378788/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robot Monster (1953)

Robot MonsterWe are in a distant future where the world’s population has been completely annihilated by Ro-man’s Death-Ray. Ro-man who? He’s an evil alien in a gorilla suit, face covered with a diving helmet with two antennas attached to it. But there are eight survivors left, a family which Ro-man is able to communicate with through a … bubble machine. And he wants their location so Ro-man can finish his mission. Or else …

 

And no, this is not an Ed Wood movie, by the way, which it easily could have been. Phil Tucker was a young, fresh independent film-maker in his mid-twenties who was about to make his second film, with a script from Wyott Ordung and distributed by Astor Pictures. Robot Monster was shot in only four (yes, 4), quick days outside of Hollywood, with the entrance of the famous Bronson Canyon as the main location and a shameless use of stock footage from several other sci-fi movies as effects. Tucker hired a friend to play Ro-Man who also made his own gorilla suit, while he was dubbed with a deep, baritone voice (not by James Earl Jones). And The result , of its short runtime of 62 minutes, is an ultra-cheap, lazy and utterly ridiculous turkey of a campy schlock-fest, in which none other than Phil Tucker took seriously.

 

Despite the film getting panned and mocked, just as it deserved, it actually managed to make money and gross a million at the box-office, more than 62 times its original budget of $16,000. I bet Ed Wood must have been jealous. But this wasn’t any win for Phil Tucker, however, as Astor Pictures refused to pay him. The combination of being totally fucked over by the distributor and Tucker being mocked by critics due to Robot Monster, and not being able to make his breakthrough into Hollywood, he tried to end his life by blowing his brains out. But in pure Phil Tucker fashion, he missed, and continued to work in the movie industry with low-budget films until his death in 1985.

 

The star of this film is Ro-Man himself with his cheesy gorilla-suit, diving-helmet and his absurd bubble-machine. He also has some really great quote-worthy lines such as: “What are you doing alone, girl-child?”, “You sound like a hu-man, not a Ro-Man“, “The hu-man-woman is the bringer of hu-man life, there must be an end to your race“, “Now I will kill you“… And that deep and serious, misplaced tone of Ro-Man just amplifies the goofyness up to eleven. It’s something straight out from Spaceballs, really. And you’re able to see the actor’s face behind that helmet. The only redeeming quality here, is the pompous soundtrack by Elmer Bernestein, who later scored films such as The Ten Commandments, Airplane!, Ghostbusters, Heavy Metal and numerous others. Robot Monster was originally planned to be filmed in 3-D, which is pretty hard to believe. But now you can at least enjoy it in its full glory and intriguing 2-D.

 

Robot Monster

 

Director: Phil Tucker
Country & year: USA, 1953
Actors: George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle, John Mylong, Gregory Moffett, Pamela Paulson, George Barrows
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046248/

 

 

Tom Ghoul

 

 

 

 

PEOPLING – Weird Horror Short

When George accidentally births a doppelgänger, he finds competition for his mother’s affection.

 

Peopling is a pretty weird and bizarre horror short about George, an adult who lives like a child with his crazy mother. When jerking off, his sperm cells will grow into doppelgängers, so he effectively kills them with bleach.. until one of his sperm cells manages to escape.

 

PEOPLING - Weird Horror Short

 

Director: Lucas Amann
Country & year: USA, 2019
Actors: Josh Fadem, Kimmy Robertson
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10008800/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gretel & Hansel (2020)

Gretel & Hansel  Gretel is a young girl who struggles to make ends meet and take care of her little brother in the process. In a job interview she is asked by her prospective employer if her maidenhood is still intact, causing her to not accept the much needed job. When they’re both cast out from home by their own mother, forcing them to fend for themselves, their insane mother tells them to “dig yourselves some pretty little graves, and dig one for your mother too“. Things look rather grim for the two siblings, indeed. As they travel in a desperate search for food, work and shelter through the countryside, they end up in front of a strange house in the forest that emits the most wonderful smells of delicious food. An old woman lives inside, and lets them stay and recover from their fatigue. After days of staying there while eating all the delicious food and treats they want, they start to uncover things that proves that this seemingly wonderful place might be a danger to them both.

 

Hansel and Gretel is one of the most popular fairytales by the Brothers Grimm. It tells the story about a brother and a sister, abandoned by their parents in a forest, and falling into the hands of a cannibalistic witch who lives in a house made of gingerbread. This movie, while based on the fairytale, tells it in quite a different way however. First of all, Gretel (Sophia Lillis) is several years older than Hansel (Sam Leakey), and is obviously the movie’s protagonist from the start. The witch’s house is not made of gingerbread, but with its ominous-looking architecture it looks entirely out of place just as much as any gingerbread-house would. And, of course, the witch is just as cannibalistic as in the original fairytale, but her motives are more complex.

 

Director Oz Perkins aka Osgood Perkins, is known for making slow, visual and atmospheric horror movies, like I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Gretel & Hansel is no exception to that rule, but in many ways I think this is his best effort so far. Like in his other movies, there’s a female-centric tale that requires a certain amount of patience, where atmosphere plays a bigger factor than narrative. With this movie essentially showing Gretel’s side of the story (which is why the names where swapped in the title), it turns into what can be considered a dark coming-of-age fairytale.

 

Gretel & Hansel is artsy and bit slow, and definitely not for everyone. As far as horror goes, however, I would say it’s more about atmosphere than actual scares and chills. However, the cinematography in this film is excellent, weird, eerie and gorgeous. Also props for the creepy synth score that just fits so damn well into this little witch’s cauldron of various ingredients.

 

Gretel & Hansel

 

Writer and director: Oz Perkins
Country & year: USA, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, 2020
Actors: Sophia Lillis, Samuel Leakey, Alice Krige, Jessica De Gouw, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Donncha Crowley, Jonathan Gunning, Charles Babalola, Giulia Doherty, Jonathan Delaney Tynan, Darlene Garr, Melody Carrillo, Nessa Last
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt9086228/

 

 

Vanja Ghoul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 VERSOS – Horror Short Film

A girl reaches a psychic looking for help after a ghost besieges her home.

 

3 Versos aka 3 Verses is a visually strong horror short about three girls seeking help from a psychic, where in the end they all get more than they bargained for…

 

THE CROSSING - Horror Short

 

Director: Antonio Yee
Country & year: Mexico, 2016
Actors: Laura Mariscal, Edvan Galván, Daniela López, Dayhana García, Cirilo Cortez, Sergio Trasviña, Amanda Avilez, Herbey Rayas, Eduardo Murillo, Esthefania Montiel, Viridiana Barraza, Brenda Karina, Christopher Lepe, Anais Patiño
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7375314/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zombi Holocaust (1980)

Zombi HolocaustWe’re at a hospital in New York at night, where someone is stealing body-parts from the cadavers. One of the doctors is able to catch the body-snatcher as he is about to eat one of the cadaver’s heart, but then quickly commits suicide by jumping out of a window. Well, case closed, then? Well, no, he doesn’t die right away, and says his last word “Kitoh ordered it”, and we soon learn that he was a part of a cannibalistic cult from an obscure island in Asia, also named Kitoh.

 

A trip to this island gets arranged with Lori, a journalist, and some other dude in order to meet a doctor named Dr. Obrero, while they get to the source of the cannibal cult. As soon as they enter the island, one of the bearers goes missing, and after a quick search for him the next morning they find him mutilated, and soon surrounded by a horde of cannibals and a doctor with some really shady practices. And yes, there’s also some zombies wandering around.

 

As you already know by reading the title, Cannibal Holocaust comes to mind. I assume that Zombi Holocaust was an attempt to do some sort of a crossover with the wave of Italian cannibal films that came and went in the late 70’s and early 80’s with the rise of zombie films after Lucio Fulci’s success with Zombi 2. Most of the film is pretty tedious and sloppy with dry dialogues, boring characters, cheesy undressing-scenes with porn music, plot holes and nothing much that keeps the pacing or interest up.

 

The title is also a head-scratcher since the zombies are far in the backseat and appears in only a scene or two. The film was released under several titles and most known as Doctor Butcher M.D. in the states, which is probably more fitting, I guess. However, the most entertaining moments are when the cannibals show up and provides some really grotesque death scenes. The last act is the best part where we finally get some interesting scenes with Dr. Obrero/Butcher, and a pointless ritual-scene with some blurry nudity. So yeah, Zombi Holocaust isn’t much as a whole, unless you’re only in for the goryness.

 

Zombi Holocaust

 

Director: Marino Girolami
Country & year: Italy, 1980
Actors: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Sherry Buchanan, Peter O’Neal, Donald O’Brien, Dakar, Walter Patriarca
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0079788/

 

Tom Ghoul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CROSSING – Horror Short

A newly hired housekeeper discovers the tenants of the home have an evil secret.

 

The Crossing is a fun horror short with some pretty cool monster/creature scenes!

 

THE CROSSING - Horror Short

 

Director: Kheireddine El-Helou
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Anna Kaskeeva, Sarah Navratil, Christof Ryjin Pearson, Juliette James, Gianna Misa, Jolene Andersen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9072474/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

Manos: The Hands of FateIn the summer of 1966 in El Paso, Texas, something really magical happened: Manos: The Hands of Fate was made. A movie so hilariously, mind-boggling bad that hardly any words from this universe would make it justice. But I’ll try. Harold P. Warren was a middle-aged man who worked as a fertilizer salesman for a living, but had a certain passion for film and was also a member of the local theatre. But while the passion was there, the talent was not. Yeah, we’re talking about an Ed Wood here. Anyway, one day he had a coffee with a screenwriter where he claimed that it wasn’t so hard to make a horror film, and made a bet with the screenwriter that he could make en entire film on his own. After the bet was official, Mr. Warren had no time to waste and scribbled the outline for his horror film on a napkin, a film in which he would write, direct, produce and be the star in. He then gathered some amateur actors, a budget of $19,000 and a 16 millimeter camera from the stone-age that could take only 32 seconds of footage at a time. And forget about any sound, all dialogues were horribly dubbed, assumingly in his henhouse or something, by three persons in post-production.

 

A family of three, the husband Mike, wife Margaret, their daughter Debbie her little dog (which of course is soon to be killed) is on a road-trip on a desert place where they seem to be lost. As they continue to drive through the deserted countryside, in a driving-segment that seems to last forever while the soundtrack is consisting of elevator music, they arrives to a place which is guarded by Torgo. He’s half-human and half-satyr, with big knees and dressed as a homeless man from a western movie. And one can see right away that this man has some serious issues as he’s twitching, barely able to walk, completely zoned-out and disorientated with a hopeless expression on his face that screams: Kill me now, please! Well, he wasn’t acting, more on that sad story later.

 

Manos: The Hands of Fate

 

While they have some kind of a staring contest, Torgo finally delivers one of the greatest lines in the history of cinema: “I am TORGO! I take CARE of the place, while the MASTER is away! And he then says “But the CHILD, I’m not sure the MASTER would approve, or the dog. The master doesn’t like children. He also has his own theme. Anyway, they ask him for some directions, but Torgo says that there isn’t any way out of here, and it will be dark soon. Torgo lets them stay for the night, even though he gives a warning with “The MASTER would be very DISTURBED! As they settles in they see a painting of the master, who looks more like a Mexican drug lord. The wife finds the painting very unsettling and says with the most monotone-dubbed voice: “He looks so sinister… oh, Mike, I’m scared…he has the meanest look…” And most of all, as Torgo said, he doesn’t like children. But we soon learn that he loves beautiful women and The Master wants her. But since The Master already has a dozen of wives in his harem, Torgo wants her for himself. Alright, time to get the fuck away. Too late.

 

Here’s a drinking game: take a shot for every technical flaw and fuck-up that pops on screen, and you’ll be dead of alcohol poisoning just after the ten first minutes or less. Where to even begin… the fact that the film was shot with a rotten potato of a camera that was able to just film 32 seconds at a time, is just the top of it. There’s so much eye-rolling and what-the-fuck-moments here that it is hard to keep track. The editing and pacing is completely off the rails, the acting is completely absurd with lines that hardly could be written by a sober person. It’s so incompetent in every single aspect, from the first frame to the last, in such a unique way you’ve probably never seen before. Actors look awkwardly right into the camera with obviously zero instructions from the director as the camera just rolls. There’s a cat-fight scene between the Master’s frustrated wives which is so bad that words are just too hard to find, as pretty much the rest of Manos: The Hands of Fate – or “Hands: The Hands of Fate” which is the accurate translation since Manos is the Spanish word for hands.

 

Manos: The Hands of Fate

 

Manos: The Hands of Fate became a big deal in El Paso when the film had its premiere at the local theatre, where even the city major was among the audience. The actors came with limousine and all dressed up as it was a big Hollywood-film event, but little did they know as the cast and crew hadn’t seen a single clip from the film, and didn’t know what a disastrous, humiliating shitshow that awaited them. The only one who saw some of the raw footage, was Jackie Neyman Jones, who plays the family’s daughter, who could tell that this didn’t look like real filmmaking after seeing some Hollywood movies. Harold then said “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it in the lab“. And she then thought to herself: wow, movies really ARE magic. The premiere can maybe be described as a “The Room scenario” where the audience begun to laugh and scream at the movie in such way that the cast and crew snuck shamefully out of the theatre and was never seen again. John Reyonolds, who played Torgo, blew his brains out after struggling with drug problems, which is on full display in the film. Nothing would stop Hal Warren, however, and shortly afterwards he wrote a script for his second film, with the title Wild Desert Bikers, but no producer would touch it. So, Manos became his first and final film.

 

After some screenings at some drive-ins, the film quickly disappeared into obscurity, and it wasn’t until the film was picked up by the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 some years later, that it was brought back to life. It has since gathered a solid fanbase and cult-following, and has grown into one of the greatest so bad, it’s good movies. An obscure prequel titled Manos: The Rise of Torgo was made in 2018 and the sequel Manos Returns where Tom Neyuman, The Master himself, would reprise his role. Unfortunately he died during the filming at the age of 80. And as a goldmine of trivia Manos: The Hands of Fate is, also check out the short documentary Hotel Torgo.

 

Director: Harold P. Warren
Country & year: USA, 1966
Actors: Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Adelson, Harold P. Warren, Stephanie Nielson, Sherry Proctor, Robin Redd, Jackey Neyman Jones, Bernie Rosenblum, Joyce Molleur, William Bryan Jennings
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/

 

Tom Ghoul

 

 

 

 

3 DAYS – Horror Short Film

When three female friends sense danger on a camping trip, they keep each other laughing until one decides to make a run for it.

 

3 Days is a creepy horror short that reminds you how camping in the woods can be anything but cozy sometimes…

 

3 DAYS - Horror Short Film

 

Director: Julie Sharbutt
Country & year: USA, 2019
Actors: Zoey Martinson, Julie Sharbutt, Liz Wisan
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9562580/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come Play (2020)

Come PlayOliver is a young non-verbal autistic boy who communicates through tablets and smartphones. His parents are struggling with their relationship, he is bullied at school, and he is lonely and longing for a friend. As Oliver is spending most of his time trying to comfort himself with Spongebob episodes and using the Snapchat filter for fun and giggles in his own room, a strange story suddenly appears on the screen. It’s the story about Larry, or “The Misunderstood Monster”. This mysterious creature is trying to use Oliver’s devices in order to break into his world, but will his parents be able to save him before it’s too late?

 

Come Play is a movie that’s based on a short horror film titled Larry by Jacob Chase. Chase is both the director and writer of this movie as well. It’s his first feature film, and as a debut it’s a solid performance where he proves that he knows how to utilize certain tricks in order to kick up the atmosphere a few notches. While a considerable part of the movie is centered around the family drama, it manages to make it credible without taking away the focus from the monster. If you have seen other boogeyman-movies like for example the Australian The Babadook, you might easily agree with the necessity to delve into family tension before bringing out the monster tension.

 

Now, as for the monster itself…it is creepy mostly when you don’t fully see it (which is often the case with monsters in movies). The illustrations in Larry’s “story” are very atmospheric, however, where you see him in various poses without ever showing his face to the viewer. The style of the illustrated story helps bringing in a lot of tension in regards to the monster and our expectations of what he actually looks like.

 

While the original horror short does come off as a bit more creepy since there is practically nothing revealed about Larry at all, Come Play is a decent feature film version based on a simple idea that was given a bit more flesh. While it’s not really a movie that will scare your socks off or anything, and is probably mostly aimed at a younger audience, I hope Chase is planning to make more horror films in the future. Also, I like the movie’s obvious allegory: how technology, which is supposed to bring people more together, often make them more lonely than ever…and how it’s easy to become prey to whoever wants to manipulate you from the other side of the screen.

 

Come Play

 

Director: Jacob Chase
Country & year: USA, 2020
Actors: Azhy Robertson, Gillian Jacobs, John Gallagher Jr., Winslow Fegley, Jayden Marine, Gavin MacIver-Wright, Rachel Wilson, Alana-Ashley Marques
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt8004664/

 

Vanja Ghoul