By BRYAN CHRISTOPHER
Happy New Year, short horror fans. Hopefully 2021 is giving you some indication that it’ll be better than 2020, and I’m here with some new short horror films to at least help move things in the right direction. This month’s shorts feature a young boy trying to make the best of some very dire circumstances, a spooky animated movie from deep in the woods, and a fun twist on an old-school creature feature.
Enjoy, and as always, if you or anyone you know have a short film you’d like me to consider or if you’ve got some news you’d like to share in the short horror world, please contact me via Twitter or email me at remedialhorror@gmail.com!
Homesick (2020)
Length: 11 minutes Director: Samuel Goodwin Starring: David Samuel Goergen
Routine is important for a lot of young kids, so when little David gets stuck at home with his parents gone and a mysterious cataclysmic event taking place outside, he clings to his daily schedule for some semblance of normalcy. He brushes his teeth, he cleans up after himself, and he only watches television at the scheduled 8pm timeslot. Director Samuel Goodwin does an amazing job at putting the audience in David’s shoes, wanting desperately for things to return to normal but becoming more and more certain that they won’t. I think the twist in the film’s final moments strain credulity a bit, but in a way that makes you a lot more interested in what kind of childhood David had before things seemingly went to hell.
Where you can find it: Streaming on YouTube
100,000 Acres of Pine (2020)
Length: 7 minutes Director: Jennifer Alice Wright Starring: Sarah Airiess, Jericca Cleland, Lawrence Marvit, Tobias Taastrom
Jennifer Alice Wright’s short film takes a very interesting approach to an animated film. Following a young park ranger named Megan as she investigates her brother’s mysterious disappearance, Wright leverages what appears to be computer animation to simulate stop-motion. The film’s resulting aesthetic feels like something is off, just as something is off in Maleboge National Park where Megan’s search takes her to increasingly surreal and malevolent surroundings. It’s a perfect, bite-sized morsel of eeriness with some fantastic visuals and a sinister atmosphere.
Where you can find it: Streaming on YouTube.
Time Heals No Wounds (2020)
Length: 10 minutes Director: Jordan Barnes-Crouse Starring: Kallie Jean Sorensen, Gabriel Carter
Jordan Barnes-Crouse’s short film is a throwback to old sci-fi films of the 1950s with really fun timey-wimey shenanigans and impressive creature effects thrown in for good measure. It all starts with a scientist who has discovered the key to warping objects through time. When the first thing he receives is a “futuristic” boombox, he’s surprised to find a message recorded from a future version of himself urging him to move forward with his experiments. He has his wife send his wife to the great unknown, only to have her confronted by his aged doppelganger almost immediately. I won’t give too much away, but things quickly take a turn for the strange with monsters and time-hopping aplenty. Time Heals No Wounds is a fun romp for those who like their vintage horror homage a little on the wacky side.
Where you can find it: Streaming on YouTube
