Living Dark : The Story of Ted the Caver (2013)

Director: David L Hunt
Starring: Chris Cleveland, Matthew Alan, Mark Hayter, Circus-Szalewski. USA. 1h 52m

The creepy pasta scene is rarely taken too seriously in the world of horror, as most of the popular stories are usually upvoted by teenagers, the hidden genuine creepy gems usually go largely unnoticed. It’s not until a couple of 12 year olds try to ritually sacrifice their friend to Slender Man, that a few more people finally wake up to the range of stories and twisted tales that were being shared and obsessed over in forums worldwide.

Short movie roundup Feb 03 2019

I decided that I really needed to put some effort into these shorts, if I’m ever going to get back up to date with things! And with the release of Salad Fingers Ep. 11 I had renewed energy!

The Severing

Often in short movies there’s not a huge amount of time to elaborate on the characters back stories and this unknown is rarely played apon but it’s put to very good use in this incredibly well shot; out of body horror experience. A young girl has just moved into her new home and decides to try a guided out of body experience, but once out of her body she is witness to a gruesome act upon her unmanned body and is unable to awake. There are some really amazing detailed slow motion scenes and effects in this terrific horror. 8/10

Don’t Move

Not to be mistaken for another short film with the same name, reviewed here . This tension filled short has a lot of merit, the cast of two manage to create a damning atmosphere when a cleaner is faced with an curious intruder, there is a good display of camera work but the sound is minimal. The ending is quite pivotal and yet hangs wide open but remains terrifically terrifying. 7/10

Don’t Blink (2014)

Director:Travis Oates .
Starring. Brian Austin Green, Mena Suvari, Joanne Kelly, Zack Ward, USA. 1h 32m.

SPOILERS KINDA

The overall feeling of this film is like a drawn out Creepypasta, and not one of the good ones either.

The principles is simple but the story doesn’t go anywhere, let me explain. A group of 10 friends are heading out on vacation divided into 4 cars, their destination is a small resort village in the middle of nowhere. When they arrive at the picturesque town, they are shocked to find the town is totally abandoned, despite finding this quite odd they are forced to stay as they have very little petrol and no cell phone reception.(but there’s always a signal!!) So they make the most of the resort and act like nothing is odd until one by one they begin to disappear. Because a deserted town doesn’t mean anything that you should run for your lives..

Horror Shorts – The Stairs, Selfie and Playing with the Devil

 

Another addition of horror so soon! Yep I’m on a roll, and I found three more interesting horrors.

The Stairs

Director : ??? France. 2014
Duration: 3.46
Starting with some bleeding steps and flashing pictures of all those scary faces that usually make up the title of any modern Creepypasta, this short remains totally “typical” it soon cuts to the usual home alone with a mobile phone scene that 90% of all horror shorts seem to be exhausting these days, until the young man notices his front door open, after closing it, strange noises come from the bottom of the dark stairs ,and on investigating the lights go out… It’s spooky in a sense but not gripping or scary in the least,
Rating: 1/10

Selfie

Director : Kantom Chantom and Pattakit. Thailand. 2015
Duration: 2.32
Just from the title I kinda guessed the ending of this short, and even if it is predictable and the end result is a bit tacky, without trying to give too much away, it looks like it’s been edited on Paint, but the jumpscare was done well and actually worked on me! So despite the dullness of this I have to give it some credit for the excellent editing.
Rating:4/10

Playing with the devil

Director : Nick Stentzel. Starring : Rachel Frain, Balerie Trevherz, Jessica Hadlock USA.  2014 Based on a Japanese Ritual Hitori Kakurenbo, (One Man Tag) and using characters from the Screenplay “LETTERS” Written Damon Peoples.
Duration: 7.09
First off I was confused and put off by all of the fucking rules, not really knowing what the Ritual entails and only getting little bits of information constantly throughout was off putting, maybe I should have read up about it first, but to make something like this accessible i think a lot more could have been done to educate the viewer but don’t let this distract you as it’s still an awesome horror short, that does actually have a few frights. Three sisters decide to partake in this ritual and until things go terribly wrong and the movie soon turns into a rollercoaster of unsettling frights. The acting from the three young ladies is faultless and it the quality of the film itself is sound. I just felt that every few seconds a new rule was being introduced and I was left confused wondering why anyone would want to play this “game” but it does it’s job I am unnerved, well done. I was expecting it to turn into that early scene in Cabin in the woods  (2011), where the kids are exorcising the witch but… well you’ll have to spare a few minutes to check it out.
Rating: 6/10

Horror Shorts – Vermin, The Passenger and Hi

I’ve decided that it’s better if I double or triple up the horror shorts as doing individual posts will just take forever so expect a few triple bills from now on.

Vermin

Director : Danny Donahue (@dannyfdonahue) Starring: Casey Fichtner. USA.2015
Duration : 2:06
Extremely short but strangely on point, this thrilling silent horror short uses amazing camera angles and sound to fool the viewer and enhance the scares. There is a fair amount of tension and build up to a rewarding ending. A young woman is trying to hang a picture on the wall when strange noises start coming from a cupboard then the tools go missing. It doesn’t sound to scary but even the name of this creepy tale lead you off guard for a sinister scare, for the tiny timing it’s worth a watch. It’s simple, short and very effective.
Rating 6/10