![]() It quickly becomes apparent something isn’t quite right in this five minute film that is soaked in dread. The mournful and moving The Garden, directed by Ian Cottage, starts with a webcam conversation between a locked down mother and daughter. Don’t leave pencils and paper lying around, because you never know what will happen. Turn the lights off, tape the windows shut, and enjoy Insecticide…ĭominic Grose’s The Drawing is a macabre little spine-tingler with a payoff that’ll make you jump out of your skin – or rather, give you an art attack! With ghouls straight out of a demonic horror film, a setting that couldn’t be more innocuous but that turns very frightening very fast, and a palm-sweating sense of inevitable doom, The Drawing works a treat. Fergurson has made numerous shorts, including the disturbing sci-fi video The Island for electronica band Ladytron, and has got dystopian future horror down to a tee. Ferguson, features creepy crawlies, sound design and credits straight out of a David Fincher film, and a horribly prescient evocation of modern day paranoias. The almost unbearably intense and nightmarish Insecticide, directed by Bryan M. With nods to Argento’s Suspiria (listen for the ringtone), this is a brilliantly brutal blast of nastiness, as a young woman settles in for the night with a glass of wine and a soothing bath – little realising there is someone else in the house with her. Tom Hughes’ stylish split-screen shocker A Date with Death pays tribute to the giallo horror genre, as a relaxing evening turns into a gruesome nightmare bathed in red. ![]() A mixture of Don’t Breathe and Night of the Living Dead, Stagnant manages to pack more frights into its under three minute running time than most full-length feature films. A balaclava clad figure attempts to break into a house at night – not reckoning on disturbing some rather unusual occupants. The very creepy nerve-jangler Stagnant, winner of the Audience Award in the contest, is a cautionary tale to not go poking around where you shouldn’t. Simple, elegantly staged, and fitting into the mould of ‘folk horror’ in miniature, The Wedding Ritual features a final reveal that will haunt you for nights. Sheet covered figures approach, presumably not for the group photograph. We’re guessing this isn’t the happiest day of her life after all. The strikingly eerie The Wedding Ritual sees a woman in the woods, in a wedding dress, tied to a tree. Director Ken Cohen has made over 20 short films, including the acclaimed animation Her Lips Are Mine (2019), and the award winning Skin Baby (2018), about a tattoo that comes to life. Sounds harmless enough… except, well, the last ten seconds of this one minute short will send you reeling. The marvellously macabre and unexpected body horror UnTooned starts off like an innocent vlog as a young woman recounts her love of the cartoon character Tommy. Here is a film that finally gives chairs a voice! This wouldn’t look out of place in the ABCs of Death films, and will make you think twice about taking your furniture for granted as you settle down to watch the rest of the shorts. It’s a reverse Toy Story, that’ll have parents reaching for a bin bag and heading to the recycling centre.īilly Hiller’s animation Silent & Deadly features a disgruntled claymation reclining armchair, suffering the indignity of being replaced after years of being farted on – and he’s not going to take it lying down. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect…Ī foul mouthed teddy bear with ideas above his station? No, we’re not talking about the Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted, but the overall winner of the Horror Lockdown Shorts contest, Toys, directed by James Cookson – a brilliantly bleak look at what a nihilistic teddy bear has in store when he decides the world adults have created must be destroyed. Now you can see all Short film finalists on ARROW at The chillers, delving into oft-charted and bizarre worlds, are resourceful, timely, slick, scary and socially distanced. ![]() ![]() ![]() With over 150 outstanding entries, the submissions were whittled down to the Best Ten and judged by cult directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (SYNCHRONIC, THE ENDLESS), who said the films are “better than they have any right to be”. Last June, Arrow Video launched a Horror Lockdown Short Film Competition asking budding auteurs to submit Covid-era horror shorts. AN ANGRY TEDDY WITH A GHASTLY PLAN… an animated armchair sick to death of its owners slobbish ways… a ghoulish girlfriend’s horrible plot to remodel her man… a lockdown wife with a very dark secret buried in the garden… a burglar spooked by a ghostly face in the window… all these and more feature in ARROW Shorts premiering on ARROW, showcasing the very best new film talents delivering a bite-sized nugget of thrills and kills. ![]()
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