Soothe Your Tattered Nerves With (Throwback) Scariest Horror Short of The Week – “Playtime” (Grand Prize Winner of “Who’s There” Challenge)

8 November 2016

Yep, this has been published before. Let’s face it, the election clock ticking down has pretty much everyone on edge (at best). We can tell you that, through life experience, sometimes the way to get your mind off something scary in real life is to watch something fictional, like oh, a horror movie, that at least diverts the terror into a manageable area. So, we are (re)presenting a pretty goddamned scary short horror film to distract you! Enjoy, and just hit the category tag for ‘Scariest Short Horror Film of the Week’ (or month) if you want more. Hey, things could be worse… you could be the main character in this terrifying little gem.

You remember the scariest short horror film of the entire month of May, “Lights Out,” right? Uh, yeah, we remember it pretty vividly, too. We thought it won First Prize, and “Lights Out” did win Best Director.

We were surprised to find there was a Grand Prize Winner of the Bloody Cuts “Who’s There?” short film challenge that was a different film. How could anything be scarier than Lights Out? We were scared to watch “Play Time”, honestly, but it WAS still light out. It’s light out right now, which is why we are brave enough to post it. However, nice summer evening out or not, this one is fucking scary. I personally would be screaming as loud as the actress in the movie if I saw it in a movie theater, and probably more than once. If I was the actual character, I would have soiled myself (and well before the ending).

So if you want a good old-fashioned scare, turn out the lights, turn up the volume, and switch to full-screen. Then check this out:

So… not as much of a slow burn (if you can describe any three-minute short that way) as “Lights Out”, but…yeah. Doesn’t waste much time, and we loved it.

We do recommend the below “making of” short. It’s interesting… and it might help you sleep a little better.

New Trailer For Frightening “Lights Out” Is Here… Brave Enough To Watch?

27 June 2016

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So, regular visitors and readers here might recall an award-winning short film that pretty much scared the hell out of everyone who saw it, titled “Lights Out”. If you don’t recall it, you probably haven’t seen it (it is extremely hard to forget), but you can take a gander right here. Two more shorts by the same team found their way online, and the piece featuring them can be found here.

Anyway, we caught the second trailer, and it is also the stuff of nightmares. We dare you–no, we double dare you–to watch both trailers below alone in the dark…

This is the feature film debut of David F. Sandberg. However, he previously directed the original short that the film is based on. Here’s the official plot description from IMDB… now we have a backstory!

When Rebecca left home, she thought she left her childhood fears behind. Growing up, she was never really sure of what was and wasn’t real when the lights went out…and now her little brother, Martin, is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that had once tested her sanity and threatened her safety. A frightening entity with a mysterious attachment to their mother, Sophie, has reemerged. But this time, as Rebecca gets closer to unlocking the truth, there is no denying that all their lives are in danger…once the lights go out.

“Lights Out” opens July 22nd at a theater near you. Oh, and the icing on the cake? David F. Sandberg decided to focus on practical effects and avoided as much CGI as possible.

Scariest Short Horror Film Of The Week: “There’s No Such Thing…” (Drew Daywalt)

20 December 2014

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Last time we ran this feature, we had a pretty creepy “check under the bed for monsters”-themed short film, The Little Witch (watch it here). We actually have a total of three of these short films based on monsters under the bed, so it would do you good to watch all three (the third is coming next, hang in there) as they are all clever, have very different outcomes, and will scare the hell out of you.

Check out Drew Daywalt’s scary 2010 short “There’s No Such Thing…” below…

This is why, as a child, I never asked my mom or dad to check under the bed for monsters when they tucked me in. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to check myself…

Don’t Miss “The Little Witch” – Horror Boom’s Scariest Short Horror Film of The Week!

10 December 2014

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We were holding this back, but for some reason, multiple versions of this same tale/concept have been popping up. Two of them appear to be by the same team (same guy playing the dad), only the gender of the kid is different. We found this one to be the most effective, by far. No gore, no violence at all (the artistic team lets your imagination do all the freaky work), but still the stuff of nightmares, and clocking in at two minutes. That is not an easy task. Watch it below… lights off, of course!

The reason that more than one film-maker has used this theme, we discovered a couple of days ago, is that it was based on a very creepy and raved-about Reddit post. If you’re in even a little bit of an unstable mood, and are having trouble sleeping, we recommend that you save the creepy sub-reddits for the daytime. The disturbing, creepy threads are clearly indicated by the name of the category (such as “letsnotmeet), so there’s no danger of you suddenly getting the shit scared out of you if you’re paying attention to the topics. When it comes to reading some of them alone at night, you have been warned…

“The Little Witch” was produced, directed, and filmed by Alasdair McBroom – ‪check out his official site right here. The story was adapted from a version by Reddit user who goes by the name of “justanothermuffledvo”.

Don’t forget: if you know of a really good short horror film we haven’t featured yet, please share it with us so we can give it a gander and (if it’s creepy enough) post it! You can put a link, or the title, in the comments section.

See the Spooky-Ass Short Film That Inspired Jennifer Kent’s Upcoming “The Babadook” – “Monster” (2005)

26 November 2014

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Yep, we already ran this in July, but since the movie will be opening in selected theaters and on VOD Friday (that’s according to the website; it better not get bumped again), and now is a great time to watch, or re-watch, the frightening short and trailer. Click “View original” in the lower left to see the complete piece. Trust us, it’s worth the extra little click. We also put a ‘Countdown Calender’ in the footers at the bottom of the page, scroll down and you’ll see it in the second column. It cannot open soon enough for us!

HORROR BOOM

So, as you may know, The Babadook, the debut feature from talented Aussie film-maker Jennifer Kent, is one of the most highly anticipated upcoming horror releases of the year. When it was screened at Sundance, audiences and critics alike knew they’d just seen something unique, special …and pretty goddamned frightening.

Monster, the short film that was basically the seed of The Babadook, won several awards –the full list is here— at short film festivals. We’ve heard that the tone and theme of Monster are very similar to the upcoming feature-length film, and though we haven’t seen Babadook, we have seen enough clips and trailers to be able to confirm that. It has a very spooky, gothic, fairy-tale tone (kind of in the same way the deeply frightening 2013 film Mama did, though we’re pretty sure–no offense, Mr. Babadook– Mama is the one that will forever haunt our…

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Scariest Short (VERY Short) Horror Film of The Week- “One Last Dive,” From Jason Eisener

19 November 2014

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This may be the shortest Horror Short of the Week ever at a little over one minute. But boy, does it pack a wallop.

When The Conjuring was released in the summer of 2013, three indie film-makers were asked to do short horror films that would just have one common theme: They all needed to take place at 3:07. If you saw The Conjuring, you know why 3:07 is a very creepy time of the night. I even dared people to come home after seeing Conjuring and watch these three short shorts either at 3:07, or to time it so the last one ended right before 3:07. Not too surprisingly, there were no takers (possibly because I made the stipulation that all the lights had to be off in the house at the time).

They were all partially presented by VICE. The first short was an incoherent jumble–all I could tell was that a séance was involved (I think) and then the people recording it freaked out at 3:07– the second (by Ti West) was creepy and had a great filming style, but had no narrative. So I recall by about that point I was pretty sure they were all going to be pretty mediocre. I was very wrong about that. Watch Jason Eisener’s (Hobo With a Shotgun, V/H/S 2) “One Last Dive” below. Crank up the volume!

I almost hit the goddamned ceiling! And I didn’t even watch it on a large window OR have the music at a high volume. While we’re on the subject, I should mention that I am aware you don’t get a ‘Scariest Short Horror Film of The Week’, once a week anymore. The truth is, I have a few tucked up my sleeve but am also running out of good ones that are scary as hell. Thanks for being patient, and if you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments section! We already put up the one with the creepy Smiling Man when it was suggested to us in a poll. To find new ones, I usually have to sit through nine crummy ones to get to the 10% that are actively frightening.

“One Last Dive” still scares me after ten or so viewings.

Variety Review of ‘[REC] 4: Apocalypse’ Says The [REC] Franchise Has “Largely Bounced Back”

1 November 2014

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Well, after we just spent over an hour combing the net, trying to find out if Javier Botet is back to appear as The Medieros Girl (AKA the ‘attic monster’) in this “final” installment, we only succeeded in scaring the shit out of ourselves, especially with some of the horrifying galleries that Tumbler has put together. So we’ll let you know when we know. By the way, if you’re wondering why the word ‘final’ is in quotes when we use it referring to [REC] 4: Apocalypse, that’s because this review from Variety.com states that the door is more or less left wide open for a sequel. That’s just fine with us!

Click “View Original” is the lower left to read the entire review.

Scary Short Horror – Two more Creepers From The Creators of “Lights Out” (Bloody Cuts Award Winner)

28 October 2014

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So did you see the post here where we featured “Lights Out,” which won the prize–along with some awards– for Best Direction in the Bloody Cuts “Who’s There?” Film Challenge? No? If you haven’t, watch these two shorts first and save Lights Out, the strongest of all of the series of shorts that take place in the same apartment with the same actress.

First, though, check these out. Both have very little gore and could probably be suitable for kids (if they want a real scare). There’s also little-to-no dialogue, and only one (human) character. They also can frighten you even when watched in broad daylight.

First, there’s “Pictured”…

Then, because she didn’t have enough damn sense to move out of this apartment, “Cam Closer” below:

Finally, whether or not you’ve seen “Lights Out”, we DARE you to watch (or re-watch) with the lights off and the sound cranked.

That one is scary every time.

Scariest Short Horror Movie of The Weekend: 2:00 AM (AKA The Smiling Man)

26 October 2014

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First, thanks to the anonymous reader who suggested this short movie (we always welcome suggestions, especially since for one thing, we’re running out of short very scary horror films). You know what? Best to just watch it first, then go into the background.

Jesus, can you imagine being in this guy’s position? I would have turned around and walked briskly in the opposite direction five seconds after I saw this guy, but hey, that’s just me.

Turns out this is a short film by filmmaker Michael Evans that was inspired by “The Smiling Man”, a post on Reddit (actually, in a sub-category called Let’s Not Meet) by someone anonymous who picked Blue_Tidal as a nickname. Blue_Tidal said it was based on a true experience (except for the stinger at the end). You can read about how that came about here. As you can see, it freaked many people out. Were you one of them?

Like we said, if you know of a short horror movie that we haven’t posted yet, drop us a line or even put it in the reply space. We are always on the lookout for suggestions!

See The New Red Band Trailer For V/H/S Viral Here (Possible Spoiler Alert)!

20 September 2014

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The reason we use “spoiler alert” in the title is that we’re pretty sure most of the best moments from the latest flick in the V/H/S franchise are in this trailer. At least three big jump scares/shockers are given away. Someone gets hit by a bus very suddenly in the middle of a sentence, just out of the blue. Do you know how effective that bit it when you’re not expecting it?*

Both previous red band trailers for the first two installments gave away maybe one or two moments, but saved the best, most memorable moments. Now, the reason this trailer for V/H/S Viral concerns us here at Horror Boom as far as spoiling all the best moments is that, frankly, the reviews haven’t been that enthusiastic. The word we hear most to describe the movie from paid reviewers and casual message-board users is “disappointing”. The other complaint is there’s only three stories and the framing story shoots itself in the foot by trying too hard to tie the stories together and ends up confusing the viewer by being too self-consciously non-linear.

Yes, one ticket for” V/H/S Viral”, please!

So, there’s a good chance you could watch this Red Band trailer, get your anticipation all cranked up, then see the movie and think, Man, I wish they hadn’t put so much in the fucking trailer. Who knows, though? There could be a ton of great stuff they held back.

Having said all that, hey, check out the goodies below! Other than the possible spoilers, we got pumped up enough for the movie to curse out loud when we saw the release had been bumped from this month to the end of October, because now we want this movie in our face ASAP!

Here’s the latest synopsis:

After watching on the news that an out-of-control ice cream truck is being chased by the police around the upper LA area, killing people and wrecking havoc among the way, a group of teens hell-bent on capturing the next viral video set out to chase the van. Things go from bad to worse when the content inside the van is revealed to be several tapes with bizarre stories, including that of a deranged illusionist who, after obtaining a demon-powered cloak, sets out on a killing spree; a garage scientist that manages to build a machine and open the door to a parallel world, where he and his double find out that their worlds are dangerously different; and the story of teenage skaters who unleash hordes of demonic foes after desecrating a ritual site in Tijuana.

We heard that last segment is the best. V/H/S Viral will be available on VOD October 23rd, followed by a limited theatrical run beginning on November 21st!

*The Statute of Limitations for spoilers on Final Destination (the original) have run out, but someone spoiled the bus hit in that movie for me. While everyone else in the theater got the top of their heads blown off (metaphorically of course) I appreciated it, but regretted overhearing someone’s LOUD conversation who was leaving the theater and prancing by the by the ticket-holder’s line, unaware anyone else but him and the friend he was relating basically all the shockers and reveals (including the train-track death) to existed. In the ads for Final Destination 4 (which fans agree was the weakest in the series), they ruined a bus-hit in the tagger for the trailer in the 15-second TV spot, for Chrissake.