Master of Horror Stephen King once said that a good short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. He may have been referring to literature, but I think the same comparison can be made when discussing short-form filmmaking as well. After all, genre shorts tend to be at their best […]
Master of Horror Stephen King once said that a good short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. He may have been referring to literature, but I think the same comparison can be made when discussing short-form filmmaking as well. After all, genre shorts tend to be at their best when simply hinting at a larger and more sinister world before ending on a single, satisfying scare.
Unfortunately, very few horror fans are in the habit of consuming short-form horror outside of anthology compilations and TV shows. This means that there’s a lot of great scary media out there that is yet to be appreciated by mainstream audiences. With that in mind, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six horror shorts to give you nightmares.
From viral scares on YouTube to shot-on-video classics, the following list will highlight a wide array of short films for your viewing pleasure, though keep in mind that we won’t be including anthology flicks or films within films like the cursed videotape from The Ring.
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite short horror films if you think we missed a particularly freaky one.
All the fancy practical effects and spooky monster designs in the world can’t save your film from failure if no effort was put into good, old-fashioned storytelling, and that’s why Caleb J. Phillips’ 2018 viral hit Other Side of the Box is such a fun little ride despite its antagonist basically being a silly little cardboard box and the weird naked guy inhabiting it.
And yet, throughout the course of this fifteen-minute supernatural thriller, audiences will be on the edge of their seats in an attempt to understand exactly what is going on and how the box actually works. The ending might not work for everyone, but if you ask me, it’s the really the eerie journey that counts – not the horrific destination.
It may seem like a cop-out to include both of these three-minute shorts on the list as a single entry, but I feel like Takashi Shimizu’s first steps into what would later become known as the Ju-On franchise complement each-other perfectly as an introduction to the new wave of J-Horror that was about to take the world by storm in the late ’90s.
While these zero-budget shorts (which feature the first on-screen appearances of both Kayako and Toshio) were originally produced as part of a made-for-TV anthology program, they’ve far outgrown their origins and are now better known as viral internet videos and DVD extras hinting at how the Grudge films originally began.
And the best part is that they’re still canonical, making them a must-watch double-feature for fans!
By far the shortest film on this list, David B. Earle’s iconic video loop is also one of the most effective despite its length. In fact, There Is Nothing used to be known as one of the scariest videos on the internet – at least until it was discovered that this freaky combination of uncanny valley makeup and audio backmasking was simply an infinitely repeating art project and not a legitimately cursed video.
Your scare-mileage may vary when revisiting this short depending on how old you were back during the early days of YouTube and how seriously you took the internet legends regarding its alleged curse. That being said, I still find Earle’s weird little art project to be a fascinating piece of viral horror history worthy of being rediscovered by a new generation.
A Found-Footage-obsessed YouTube Channel, Fake Documentary Q has produced tons of quality content over the years. That’s why it’s difficult to single out a particularly effective short that’s better than all of the others, but my personal favorite among these eerily realistic productions also happens to be one of the simplest.
Appropriately titled Basement, this 8-minute horror yarn is shot from the perspective of a single security camera inside of an elevator and depicts unexplainable phenomena that will likely haunt your nightmares for a long time after the credits roll – especially if you live in an apartment building.
While I won’t give you any spoilers, I’ve had this short on my mind every single time I’ve entered an elevator for the past couple of years – so sensitive viewers beware.
There’s a certain kind of digital grunge unique to early 2000s horror that I tend to appreciate even in bad movies from that time, but it’s always fun to see these deep shadows and saturated colors show up in a legitimately chilling story. Brendan Muldowney’s underrated Irish short The 10 Steps is a great example of this, as this memorable little horror yarn boasts Hollywood-level photography and nuanced worldbuilding despite its simple premise and short length.
In fact, one could argue that the film’s 10-minute runtime is already cinematic overkill, since the real meat of the story happens during the final moments. However, it’s precisely the expertly crafted build-up that makes such a straightforward premise continue to terrify viewers so many years later.
Visually, I’d argue that Robert Morgan’s TheCat with Hands is the most impressive film on this list, but it’s also remarkably effective in its attempt to capture the unsettling logic and atmosphere of both ancient fairy tales and surreal nightmares. The short isn’t even particularly graphic, using retro photography and gorgeous yet spooky stop-motion to tell a strange story about the titular cat, but every detail here feels off in precisely the right way.
And while Morgan would flex his stop-motion horror skills again in shorts like Bobby Yeah and even a segment in ABCs Of Death 2, you’re likely more familiar with his phenomenal work in the underrated 2023 feature, Stopmotion!
