horror short films

“Recon 6” (Short Horror October, post 3)

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I have a horror-related tidbit to share before presenting today’s horror short film. A part of my brain will be indelibly scarred thanks to Engrenages season 5, episode 2. We watched this episode last night. All I can say is I hope actress Caroline Proust was paid EXTRA for what she had to endure while filming that scene. You could not pay me enough to do it.

You must know? While conducting an apartment search, a plastic bag FULL OF LARGE ROACHES fell onto her head and boiled over. Roaches crawled over the lead investigator from top to bottom, getting into her clothes and running down her back as her partner frantically tried to swat them off of her. We had to see the roaches caught and sticking in her hair. We had to see them piling up on the floor. We had to see close-up shots of roaches all throughout the scene.

I was on the floor hyperventilating and clawing at my eyes with the edge of a scarf as I wanted to watch and NOT WATCH at the same time.

Roaches are the worst of my two phobias, as many of you know, and these were the worst of the worst. These were of the sort that terrorized us during the Great Roachpocalypse of 2016 wherein hundreds (not exaggerating) of huge sewer roaches rose up en masse from our front yard lawn and hovered a few feet above the ground in a gigantic, shimmery, oily, reddish-brown cloud. The insect guy who inadvertently flushed them out took great satisfaction in this result as it exemplified how in the summer, sewer roaches will gather and hide where there’s water (the roaches had been attracted to the drain on the lawn). The lawn’s days were numbered after that. I believe we had it ripped out within two weeks of the incident.

In comparison to all of the above, I have Recon 6 for today’s horror short film October post. It’s one of the two horror shorts on my list that I wouldn’t call “horror.”

Recon 6 offers a fresh take on a very tired subject. If there’s a current “overplayed song” of the horror sub-genres, it would be this one. I used to enjoy it, and I’m still prepared for the worst, but I’ve long since lost interest in watching or reading anything of this sub-genre. That is why Recon 6 so wonderfully surprises me.

 

 

 

It’s actually lovely, judiciously poignant, and even metaphorical, don’t you think? Also, the story has a moral: always carry a handbag with a secure (i.e. zipper) closure.

La Fin.

 

“The Quiet Zone” and “The Smiling Man” (Short Horror October, post 2)

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In a regular cardio kickboxing practice, you sometimes have more to sweat out of your system than others. We usually carry a normal stress-load into the workout, getting to the gym eager to kick and punch the week into smithereens because it just feels so good. At last night’s Body Combat class, though, I wanted to kick and punch it clear into the next century.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with politics and the way the current overall situation has divided even family members. Our political climate is a wrecking ball. Fractures sustained one, two years ago have refused to heal, if not worsened… and it’s hard to imagine how a complete break can ever be mended. When this kind of helplessness builds to fury, you get an extra visceral kickboxing workout. Politics, meet my straight right/cross punch. I’m over it.

I don’t know where this little rant came from. Oh, yes! I was going to say a little something about adrenaline and how it can fire you up, whether it’s slow-burn adrenaline or the kind of adrenaline blast you get when you’re shaken.

Or when you’re trying to escape a killer such as the ones in slasher flicks like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and their ilk.

I’ve got a good, old-fashioned slasher flick to share with you today.

Never fear: this one’s tame for what it is! Slasher flicks are notorious for their gore, but as promised, there’s very little gore in this excellent film that runs for only eight minutes and 42 seconds. I’m talking about The Quiet Zone.

 

 

To balance things out, this next short-short horror film is supposedly based on a true story… loosely based, I would guess, with the urban legend factor doing the rest. This is 2AM: The Smiling Man.

 

 

On that note, Happy Friday Eve!

“Itsy Bitsy Spiders” (Short Horror October, post 1)

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Last week at Target, a man approached the woman behind me in line and starting talking about vampires.

With childlike wonder, he spoke earnestly of “the undead.” He remembered that in Interview with the Vampire, the vampire thought it would be best to turn the child into a vampire when her mother died. He mused on the psychological implications of being a child vampire, and then he apologized for talking too much about vampires. He explained that it all started with Count Chocula cereal, which is “undead because it’s a chocolate-eating vampire.”

This had to be the best one-sided conversation I’ve ever overheard.

Well! My last post flushed out enthusiasm for horror short films, so for those of you who wanted more, you got it. (Much arm-twisting occurred.) In honor of Halloween season, every TALC blog post in October will include at least one horror short film.

To this end, I’ve had to watch tons of horror shorts. The things I do for you guys. It is, after all, my responsibility to vet the films and to share only those that I enjoy and find impressive in some way. As with all art, this determination is subjective… you may not like what I like.

Please also note:

–I’m only sharing films with no profanity, no nudity, and zero to minimal gore.

–I’ve chosen from sub-genres ranging from psychological horror to fantastical horror to the supernatural and to the psycho killer, though even in the latter, there’s not much in the way of killing.

–There are two films in the bunch that I wouldn’t even say are horror films. They might be a little dark, but they’re much more drama than horror, in my opinion. They’re just excellent, beautiful short films. I’ll indicate those when I post them.

–Whether I share one or two films at a time, I’ll keep the total viewing time to less than 15 minutes. You can watch them in the space of a coffee break.

That said, here’s today’s spooky horror short film: Itsy Bitsy Spiders.  (Moral: encourage your child’s artistic inclinations.)

La Fin.