Not enough time for a full scream-fest? Check out these spine-chilling short films for a quick shock of pure fear to your system. These underrated mini-movies are the stuff of nightmares, guaranteed.
Visitor Information (2015)
Alan Resnick, of Adult Swim glory, directed this 4-minute masterpiece in which a very sick-looking man in a yellow raincoat gives a tour of a dismal parking garage at night. As he shows the camera around his favorite haunts, the strange man makes repeated requests for assistance alongside hints at a mysterious disease and weirdly philosophical commentary. By turns hilariously deadpan, horrifying, and oddly sweet, this is one cry for help you won’t be able to look away from.
Possibly in Michigan (1983)
Fall down the rabbit hole into the dark side of fairytales with this trippy 12-minute flick from Cecelia Condit. In the middle of American suburbia, a masked stalker follows a woman through a shopping mall and to her home. But the tables are quickly turned when the prey becomes the predator. Dancing, cannibalism, and revenge ensue. Shot in glaring neons and pastels, with an addictively synthy 80’s soundtrack, Possibly in Michigan takes itself none too seriously – and yet it’s deadly good.
The Fall (2019)
From Jonathan Glazer, director of Under the Skin and several music videos for Radiohead, comes this 7-minute nightmare about the horrors of mob mentality. A crowd of men in terrifyingly blank masks close in on a frightened man and submit him to a surreal and vicious punishment. It’s a minimalistic set-up, but it packs a punch with its sinister mood and the fall guy’s sense of total powerlessness. Be prepared to spend most of the time on tenterhooks in bleak suspense, but be warned: there’s one hell of a jump scare.
