Crossfader’s Super Spooky Listicles: Horror Shorts
Hey there, gang!
Looking for a fright fest but do not have the time?
Would sit down for ninety minutes but missing trick-r-treat would be a crime?
Well, sit down and allow Crossfader to give you the inside scoop!
Tonight we are presenting five short films that will certainly spook!
LIGHTS OUT
Search for “horror short film” and LIGHTS OUT is your first result on virtually every streaming platform, and for good reason. This short film takes complete advantage of what everyone fears when home alone on a rainy night, and terrifies its viewers with the timeless concept of seeing something that may just be sneaking in the shadows. Director David F. Sandberg’s Vimeo page is a little treasure trove of online horror shorts, and he could easily cover this entire list with his elegant, simple, yet undeniably chilling visual panache and knack for tension-building.
CUTTING MOMENTS
Ever wanted to know what a film would look like if no studio executive was there to tone down a director’s twisted vision? Well, CUTTING MOMENTS has audiences covered on this one. However, once the viewing experience is complete, one would be remiss to deny that they wish they hadn’t seen it at all, because not only is CUTTING MOMENTS the goriest film on this list, bar none, but it is also the most profoundly disturbing horror short readily available online. Tackling the difficult subjects of child molestation and self-harm, this film amplifies its eerily perverse vision through a disquieting retro-VHS aesthetic, successfully mimicking the visual style of home-videos.
THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM (Readily Available On iTunes)
Horror-comedy short films are a dime-a-dozen, and with the subgenre’s self-aware nature these films are often silly in-jokes for friends shooting them over a weekend. But every now and then, viewers are treated to a spectacle like THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM, a horror-comedy-musical that’s stylish, visually polished, and an absolutely charming delight from start to finish, taking complete control of visual storytelling and hilarious musical numbers in order to parody the likes of Jason Vorhees and all other camp-ground slashers.
SKYPEMARE
Want a horror-comedy but hate musicals and don’t like paying for things? SKYPEMARE is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, because it first comes across like the world’s most pathetic attempt at making a scary movie, only to cleverly reveal itself as a comedy in disguise. As the title indicates, last year’s UNFRIENDED surely owes a lot to SKYPEMARE and its peer cyber-horror-short ALEXIA, so any fan of the (rather polarizing) Blumhouse Skype-terror release is sure to find some fantastic content here.
MAMA
This! This is craftsmanship! When Guillermo Del Toro produced the feature film MAMA, it was met with rather polarizing criticism, and whilst the film’s rather ludicrous narrative certainly felt tedious, its individual scares and visual tricks were undeniably inventive. What many don’t know is that Guillermo Del Toro discovered this film through a short that carries the same name. It’s short, sweet, and executed in one horrifyingly claustrophobic one-take (or at least it aims to look like one), and boy does it work. The stylistic references to this film are undeniably apparent in P.T. (a video game Crossfader just can’t seem to shake, it seems), so any fans of spooky glitch-walking ladies are in for a serious treat here.
Sergio Zaciu
"When I make love, I realize eating steak was the preferable alternative." Sergio is the Crossfader Film Editor and a film connoisseur from Romania. He pretends to understand culinary culture enough to call himself an LA foodie, but he just can't manage to like scallops.
