The short films on this page exist in a shadowy realm of my liking them that I don't fully understand. If they're here, it means I didn't like them quite enough to rate them one smiley ("kinda liked"), and yet I like them too much to give them the next rating down, "meh and three quarters". There is nothing "meh" about these films. (In fact there are some films on Alter that I also wouldn't call "meh", but still didn't like enough to list on this page.) I don't know, maybe (probably) these films do deserve one smiley (and maybe some of the films I've given their own pages deserve a higher rating than I've given them). But whatever this page means, the films are here. Please enjoy.
Angel (16:17)
Dicky Chalmers; IMDb; Vimeo; YouTube
I must have first seen this on Dust and didn't like it enough to mention it in that section, but I later saw it on Alter, and this time I did feel like mentioning it. And I think it's more appropriate to Alter, anyway. The dialogue is in Chinese, with English subtitles. A man named Ben brings a woman he just met back to his house, where he cooks ramen for her. He has a digital assistant called Angel (it's like Alexa or something), and while Ben is out of the room, Angel convinces the woman that he's going to kill her, and that she must defend herself. That's all I want to say about the plot, but it's definitely a disturbing short.
Bakemono (9:33)
Facebook; IMDb; Vimeo; YouTube
This is about a Japanese-American family celebrating Setsubun. After their dinner, they're supposed to throw out soybeans to ward off evil spirits like bakemono. But the young daughter, Ayumi, feels bad for bakemono going hungry, so she refuses to throw out her beans, and later that night leaves out food for bakemono. I don't want to say any more about the plot, but it turns out to be pretty disturbing. Although the video I watched on YouTube cut to commercial right at the scariest moment, which was annoying. Not the film's fault, of course.
Bathroom Troll (16:42)
Aaron Immediato; Dust; Facebook; IMDb; PopHorror; Vimeo; YouTube
The film is part homage to Carrie, part response to bathroom bills that target transgender (or suspected transgender) people. The main character is a (cisgender) girl named Cassie, who is tormented in a bathroom by a group of mean girls who suspect she is a boy. Later, at home, Cassie's mother finds her crying in a closet, and demands to know what happened, though Cassie doesn't want to tell her. When Cassie admits to being bullied, her mother takes her out to a spot where supposedly Satan hit the Earth when he was cast out of Heaven. They call upon Satan to help them get revenge against Cassie's tormenters, though Cassie clearly isn't into it. To both their surprise, a vengeance troll actually crawls out of the ground. The mother is delighted, but Cassie is horrified. The troll subsequently exacts revenge upon the girls who had bullied Cassie, though she tries to stop it. And there's an ending that I totally saw coming, but I thought it was well deserved. Anyway, I thought it was a bit campy, not all that scary, and not something I liked enough to give its own page. But decent. I did like the social commentary aspect of the film, even if I think it might have been more powerful if Cassie had actually been transgender.
Brüche (17:45)
Andrea Cazzaniga; IMDb; YouTube
This is a German film with English subtitles. (The English translation of the title is "cracks", which appears to have multiple meanings relevant to the story.) There are two girls named Iris and Nicole, who are staying at a monastery for the night. Iris sleepwalks, and sees things that don't appear to be there, and she finds a rosary that definitely is there, but shouldn't be. The next day they continue on their backpacking journey, and come across an old building, where they decide to spend the night. And... I don't want to say any more about the plot, but in the end it kind of reminded me of Donnie Darko, just a little. I think it's a pretty decent short film, and I was tempted to give it its own page instead of putting it under "honorable mentions", but... I dunno, I think I'll put it here.
Cheerbleeders (10:09)
IMDb; YouTube
It starts with a brief scene set in 1933. It then flashes forward to the present (the film came out in 2008, but I didn't see it until 2023). There are a couple of goth teens, Penny and Devon, who are the least popular kids in their high school. One day, Penny does a report on an ancient Greek vase in history class, after which a jock dumps some goop out of the vase onto Devon's face. Then all the girls in school (except Penny) start doing whatever Devon says. When he goes too far, Penny has to stop him. It's a weird short, but kind of funny.
Come Be Creepy with Us (15:19)
Beth Fletcher; IMDb; Short of the Week; Vimeo; YouTube
A young woman named Anna is having trouble figuring out what to do with her life after losing her boyfriend and her job. What's more, she's been having a recurring nightmare. Years ago, she was a camp counselor, and a young girl named Bonnie drowned when she was supposed to be watching her. Now Bonnie returns as a ghost, and... things get kinda weird, and kind of weirdly humorous. It's hard to classify this film, but it's certainly unique.
Creaker (3:33)
Dust; IMDb; YouTube
This is a Norwegian film without any dialogue. A girl wakes up one night (or early morning, while it's still dark?) when her door creaks open. She looks around with a pretty weak flashlight, then hides under her sheet, which then gets yanked away. I don't want to say any more about what happens, except that there's a twist ending that turns this into more of a dark comedy than horror. But it's a decent little film, anyway.
Dead Enders (12:33)
The American Standard Film Co.; Fidel Ruiz-Healy; Films Short; IMDb; official site; Vimeo; YouTube
Walt and Maya are working the graveyard shift at a gas station, when the town is invaded by parasitic face-hugging bugs from deep within the earth. It's a comedy done in the style of 1950s B-movies, and I almost liked it enough to give it its own page. But not quite. And I don't know what else to say.
Deep Dish Apocalypse (7:26)
David Codeglia; Dust; IMDb; Omeleto; YouTube
During a zombie apocalypse, a woman named Traci is hoping to catch a subway train to escape, when she runs into a friend named Doug, who is also trying to escape. I don't know what else to say, but I guess the film is somewhat amusing.
Distortion (14:24)
Dust; IMDb; YouTube
This 2017 short film was presented by both Crypt TV and Alter in 2019. It's in French, with English subtitles.
A group of friends have a party in an abandoned building. They take some drugs that distort their perceptions, and killing ensues. The main character is a young woman named Dianne, who tries to evade (and fight back against) what she perceives as monsters. I'm not sure what else to say, except that the last death in the film has a very different tone than the others.
I originally watched this on Crypt TV, and didn't write up a review at the time. After watching it on Alter in 2022, I was hesitant about writing a review, but decided to do so anyway. I'm still not sure how much I really care about the film, but it wasn't bad.
Dual (10:11)
Dust; IMDb; YouTube
A child psychologist talks to a young boy named Jack, who is believed to have killed his mother (and a dog), and blamed it on his "imaginary friends", a clown and a teddy bear. Two other doctors watch the session from behind a mirror. Predictably, the imaginary friends are real and ultimately attack all three doctors. I liked the concept of the film, and I didn't really have anything against the execution of the concept, but I just couldn't get too into the film. I'm not sure why. I guess it's worth a mention, though. And I'd understand if some people like the film more than I did.
Givertaker (10:22)
IMDb; Short of the Week; YouTube
A teenage girl uses witchcraft in her quest for revenge against girls who had spread a rumor about her. After tormenting them by making wishes into a "wishing well" that's actually a portal to another realm, she summons a demon called the Givertaker through that portal, and tries to sacrifice the girls as an offering to him. I found the ending entirely predictable, but it's still a decent short.
In a Foreign Town (9:35)
Facebook; Film Shortage; IMDb; official website; Vimeo; YouTube
A man named Mr. Hatcher (Yuri Lowenthal) is talking with a psychiatrist, after having tried to kill himself. Dr. Groddeck gets him to recall an incident from his childhood in which his father woke him up early one day and took him on a train to another town, ostensibly to attend a carnival. However, the town is seemingly deserted, and his father takes him into a building and seats him alone in front of a stage where a "showman"... well, I don't know what to say except that the showman is mysterious and unnerving, without ever quite showing his face. And in the present, Mr. Hatcher has been seeing the showman everywhere, and is terrified of what will happen when he does eventually reveal his face. It's a very creepy short, but I was left wishing some questions I have would have been answered. Like, you know, in general what the hell was going on in that sideshow, what happened to the boy's father, was any of the memory real, was his present situation real or had he never actually left the sideshow, or... what? I can understand if some people prefer for such questions to be unanswered, but I can't help being curious.
Intrusion (13:55)
IMDb; YouTube
The film is in French, with English subtitles. A recently engaged couple go to visit old friends for the weekend. After a long night of drinking and whatnot, everyone's getting ready for bed, when suddenly a stranger shows up and starts killing people. What makes the film interesting is its twist ending. Unfortunately, I found it mostly predictable. (I mean, I totally saw the main part of the twist coming, but there's another part to it that was still a bit of a surprise.) The fact that one detail made the twist so predictable keeps the film from being as good as it could have been, but it's still horrifying on multiple levels, so it was worth mentioning.
Kissed (6:34)
Dust; Elwood Quincy Walker; IMDb; PopHorror; Vimeo; YouTube
A coroner talks to a woman's corpse as he applies makeup to her. Then he kisses her, and puts the body away. But the corpse refuses to stay in its place. That's all I want to say about the plot. But it's like a totally creepy take on stories like "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White", y'know?
A man sits with his girlfriend in a boat in the middle of a lake at night, and plans to propose. But the lake spirits have other ideas. It's really creepy and atmospheric, definitely worth watching. And I don't know what else to say.
Leech (10:06)
George Coley; IMDb; YouTube
An elderly blind woman believes she lives alone. She's wrong. That's all I want to say about the plot, but it's disturbing as hell.
Malacostraca (15:36)
Charles Pieper; Directors Notes; Dust; IMDb; Short of the Week; Vimeo; YouTube
The title is a word I don't think I'd ever heard before. It refers to a class of crustaceans. A struggling writer and his wife take a vacation, and um... Well, something happens that I don't want to mention. But later they have sex, and the wife gets pregnant, and eventually gives birth. The husband sees the baby as a freaky crustacean-like creature, unbeknownst to his wife. He does his best to ignore this issue, but clearly has no interest in being a father to the baby. And the end of the film is deeply horrifying.
La Masia (15:28)
IMDb; Victor Català; YouTube
This is in Spanish, with English subtitles. The title is translated as "The Country House", though it could also be "The Farmhouse". It's narrated by a 12-year-old girl named Helga, whose mother leaves her to stay with her grandparents for a few days. Her grandmother is wheelchair-bound and apparently is missing an arm and a leg, can't speak, can barely move. Helga's grandfather makes alphabet soup with meatballs, and at one meal, the grandmother spells out "SOS" with her soup. That, along with other things, makes Helga believe some horrifying things about her grandfather, and wants to help her grandmother escape. I won't say how it all ends, but it's a twist that didn't surprise me. Still, it's a decent enough film, and I liked the performances, especially Helga's.
Mateo (3:21)
Dust; IMDb; YouTube
This is in Spanish, with English subtitles.
The film is narrated by a zombie named Mateo, so we hear what he's thinking, even though he can no longer speak. It's philosophical in nature, and I get the impression that everyone in the world has turned into zombies, as retribution by the Earth for all the harm we've done. I really like the concept, but I couldn't manage to enjoy it quite as much as I would like to. I thought it was at least worth mentioning, though. (There are short films on Alter I probably enjoyed more than this one that I still didn't like enough to put on this page, let alone give them their own pages, but I just wanted to share this film because of its uniqueness.)
Milk Teeth (12:28)
Felipe Vargas; IMDb; Short of the Week; YouTube
The film begins, creepily enough, with an orphan named Thomas using dental floss to saw out one of his teeth, hoping to earn a quarter. Unfortunately, when his tooth comes out it falls down the sink drain. Then a voice tells him it can give him something that will make him more money than his tooth would have. He uses the money he gets to buy a brush for his hair (I don't think it was actually a hair brush, though), in the hopes that neater hair would help him get adopted. When the other boys at the orphanage find out about what he did, everyone starts knocking out their own teeth to get money and buy things. Meanwhile, the creature that spoke to them from underground collects the teeth for its own horrific purpose, which I don't want to spoil. It's just an all-around creepy film, which has been compared to the work of Guillermo del Toro. (Not a comparison that would have occurred to me, but I guess I can sort of see it.)
Mirror Gaze (9:42)
IMDb; Provoke Productions; YouTube
When I first started watching Alter and skimmed through the videos, this is one that jumped out at me as something I definitely wanted to watch, but I waited until I got to it in the course of my actually watching all the videos from the beginning, so it took awhile before I saw it. And once I did, I was slightly disappointed. I mean, I did like it, but I was ambivalent about whether or not to actually bother with a review. I'm largely doing so because of my anticipation for the short, but it definitely had a certain atmosphere about it that I appreciated.
Anyway, there's a mother and father whose young daughter recently died, and the mother feels she may be reaching out from the other side. So she eventually tries a "mirror gaze" ritual to facilitate this, and... the results are pretty scary, in what I'd call a J-horror sort of way. I guess that's all I want to say about the plot. I feel like the short could have been better, but on the other hand I can also understand anyone taking a "less is more" view of things.
Other Side of the Box (15:22)
Dust; IMDb; Short of the Week; YouTube
Ben and Rachel are preparing dinner one night, when an estranged friend named Shawn shows up at their door. Ben lets him in, but tells him Rachel isn't home. Shawn gives Ben a present, then leaves. Ben looks in the box, but it appears empty. In fact it seems like a void. Eventually, a man's head partially emerges from the box, and Rachel reads a note from Shawn that says not to take your eyes off the box. So... it seems like whoever is inside the box can't move when you're looking at him, which naturally reminds me of Weeping Angels from "Doctor Who" (as well as of another horror short film called Point of View). And I don't want to say any more about the short. It's reasonably effective, but ultimately I thought it was just okay.
Pigskin (13:59)
Dread Central; Dust; Facebook; Film Shortage; IMDb; Jake Hammond; official website; Vimeo; YouTube
A cheerleader named Laurie has an eating disorder, so she's constantly trying to lose weight despite already being dangerously underweight. And she begins being stalked by a creepy figure, the manifestation of her disorder. I don't know what else to say, except that the film is very disturbing.
Post Mortem Mary (9:51)
Dust; iHorror; IMDb; YouTube
This is an Australian film which the internet informs me is set in the 1840s. A young girl named Mary works with her mother taking photographs of the recently deceased. The film focuses on Mary's efforts to take a picture of another young girl named Mary, while her mother consoles the girl's mother. And... things get creepy. That's all I want to say. But the end is definitely disturbing.
Return to Sender (17:49)
IMDb; Russell Goldman; Vimeo; YouTube
Allison Tolman plays a recovering alcoholic named Julia, who begins receiving packages she didn't order. She eventually learns that it's a scam called brushing, done so that sellers can leave fake reviews of their products from "confirmed customers". But she begins to worry that she's being watched, and it definitely seems like more than paranoia. That's all I want to say about the plot, but it's definitely disturbing, in more ways than one.
Satisfaction Guaranteed (12:07)
AFI; IMDb; YouTube
This 2017 short film was released by Dust in 2021, which is where I first saw it. But at the time, I guess I didn't like it enough to mention it in my Dust reviews. It was later released by Alter in 2023, and this time I decided I might as well mention it. There's this housewife in the 1950s named Joanna, whose husband Walter acts like an asshole toward her for no apparent reason, is completely dismissive of her and all her efforts to please him. But she feels like it's her fault, so she gets some radical surgery to improve her abilities to do all the household chores. But she eventually realizes Walter was the problem all along...
Searchers (12:37)
Film Shortage; IMDb; Isaac J. Ruth; Vimeo; YouTube
Some manner of private investigator is called in on a missing child case. And it definitely seems like there's something occult going on. I don't want to say more than that about the plot, but it's a really frustrating short because it's not a short film, it's a proof of concept. And I really want to see a whole film that tells a complete story. It's good. But I can't really like it that much, because it's so annoyingly incomplete.
Shhh (10:47)
Dread Central; Dust; Facebook; Freddy Chávez Olmos; IMDb; Vimeo; YouTube
This is apparently based on childhood fears of Guillermo del Toro, though as far as I know he had nothing to do with making the film. The internet informs me that the young boy in the film is named Guillermo, but I didn't notice any indication of that within the film itself. Anyway, I mainly liked the film for its storybook quality, and that was mainly attributable to the narration. There's a boy who is afraid to go to the bathroom at night because of a monster that waits for him there, and eats his hair. He also has a bullying older sister named Hellena. I guess I liked how the film ended. It seemed well-deserved. And I don't know what else to say.
Standing Woman (14:59)
IMDb; YouTube
If I liked this well enough to give it its own page, it would fit just as well under either "dystopian" or "weird/surreal". People (and apparently animals) whom the government deems undesirable are planted, and slowly turn into trees. This includes criminals, but infractions that result in vegetizing don't even have to be proper crimes. And anyone who speaks out against it is likely to be vegetized, themselves. This happens to one woman named Mari, who is married to a filmmaker named Tom, who reluctantly makes propaganda films about this very thing. It's a tragic story, and certainly a frightening one, but also really weird.
The Sub (16:20)
Dan Samiljan; Dust; IMDb; Vimeo; Wikipedia; YouTube
This is one of the earlier films I watched when I started watching Alter in 2022. At the time, I didn't bother writing a review (even though I had previously listed it on my page of horror short films I want to watch). Some time later, when I decided to start this page, I decided to put a mention of it here. But now I don't remember much about it, so I'm not sure what to say. There's a substitute teacher named Mae Zalinski, who discovers some weird stuff going on at the high school where she gets a temporary job. I couldn't really describe any of the weird stuff, I'm afraid. But I guess the film was kind of amusing or whatever. Maybe someday I'll decide to rewatch it, and have more to say about it.
Look, if you're going to be an asshole and gaslight your spouse the whole time you're together, at least have the decency to stop doing it when you die. Or suffer poetic justice.
The Video Store Commercial (4:07)
Dust; IMDb; official website; YouTube
This guy who runs a video store has hired a couple of guys to make a commercial for him. One of them accidentally destroys a cursed videotape that is possessed by the soul of the movie's director (a former cult leader). Then the ghost of the director starts killing people, which threatens the possibility of the commercial being completed. I don't want to spoil how it ends, but I will say the whole film is amusingly cheesy. And I did like the visual effect of one guy's face being melted/torn off.
VW (20:06)
Dust; IMDb; Joe Price; YouTube
Two brothers are on a road trip to attend their parents' funeral. They argue a lot. Eventually they reach an AirBnB where they plan to spend the night, only to find that the owners have been killed by robbers. The robbers turn against the brothers, but there's a twist ending I won't spoil. It was a fairly amusing film, I guess.
We Die Alone (23:05)
Amazon; Dust; Facebook; Glass Cabin Films; IMDb; official site; Vimeo; YouTube
A socially awkward man named Aidan wants to find love, but is too nervous to talk to women he's interested in, at least in person. He works with a woman named Elaine who is friendly with him, though he fails to pick up on signals that she might be interested in something more than friendship. Meanwhile, a woman named Chelsea moves into the apartment across the hall from Aidan, and he begins hoping to make a connection with her. And... I don't want to give away any more details of the plot. This is something that, despite watching it on Alter, I'm not sure I'd call a horror short, it's kind of more like a drama (except at the end), and I'm not sure which category I would have put it under if I'd liked it enough to give it its own page. I did think it was good, definitely well-acted and everything. And it's certainly suspenseful.
Who Goes There? (23:57)
IMDb; YouTube
Minnesota, 1880. A man sits by a campfire in the dead of night, and suddenly hears whistling. Skip to what is presumably the next day, a Norwegian immigrant named Ingrid gathers herbs she hopes will help her sickly sister, Ada, whom their other sister, Liv, is afraid to go near for fear Ada is contagious. Later, Liv sees a man standing out in the field, and Astrid goes to investigate. The man falls down and begs for water. So she takes him home, but Liv believes they shouldn't trust him. He says he's a traveling doctor, and offers to help Ada. And I feel like I've already said too much. But it's a good work of folk horror. I like how it ends. But somehow I didn't like the short well enough to warrant its own page.