In a sense, I believe I may have been asking for it when I actually looked at a film from a group of young filmmakers who described their work as a parody of The Mist, shot while bored out of their minds at a church lock-in. For those not familiar, basically a lock-in is an event hosted by a school or church or the like where kids are invited to spend the night in a building they wouldn’t ordinarily sleep in. They’re locked in; no one can enter or leave during the proceedings.
But here’s the question–how did this improvised parody of The Mist turn out? The answer? Not nearly as bad as you’d think.
You expect a certain amount of low-rent from kids operating out of a church basement, but they actually knew enough about the source material (I get the feeling they’d seen The Mist upward of a couple dozen times at least) to make a pretty fair parody. Look for stuff like: The Guy Who Won’t Speak And Yet Communicates, Fun With Subtitles, and my personal favorite, The Indecisive Monster.
Okay, so this is YouTube dreck at quite possibly its lowest but I’ll admit even I managed to get some good laughs out of it. And since you’re seeing this four minute wonder for free anyway, what more can you ask for?
The Screenhead Ten Scale hands this shoestring production a full six out of ten for actually trying, and occasionally succeeding.
When I settled in to watch this one, I had this strange compulsion that I’d already seen it and written about it. The name looked so familiar that I couldn’t help but check. Turns out I hadn’t, so I tucked into The Boogyman.
There’s not too much here in the way of plot–its meager two-minute run time prevents that–so all you get is a guy home alone one night who finds himself attacked by a monster he cannot comprehend.
What’s interesting about this is that, one, it was shot fully ten years ago as part of a student film project. Two, it’s told in a series of frames, without a whole lot of movement involved. Three, even though it uses a whole LOT of cliches it still manages to make them seem fresh and interesting. Look for things like screamers and the good old fashioned behind you gag.
And yet, despite this, it manages to be a fairly creepy little affair that just might keep you up a night or two, looking for that old goosalum, The Boogyman.
The Screenhead Ten Scale thusly awards this shockingly minimalist horror production a seven out of ten for doing the most it could with what it had to work with.
Open up YouTube and look around for short horror film sometime. My search netted over two hundred and thirty thousand results. The one I’m bringing you today, The Insane, comes from 2008’s San Diego Comic-Con, and it was a contest winner over there. Should it have been? Let’s take a look.
In The Insane, a cop out for bloody payback takes to the streets armed with only his righteous indignation and a crowbar when he finds his wife murdered. But is it really the work of a cult of homicidal lunatics? Or is something much more sinister at work?
Okay, I admit–the ending on this one isn’t exactly a huge surprise. Horror buffs will likely see it coming about halfway through. But it was a solidly done piece, and assuming the rest weren’t anything special, probably blew most of its competition out of the water by virtue of excellent production values. There’s plenty of blood-soaked action in here, and the cop drama aspect is also solidly done. There’s definitely a lot worse out there than this, but do I approve of it sufficiently to merit giving it awards? Not so much.
The Screenhead Ten Scale, meanwhile, issues The Insane a seven out of ten. It’s an excellent example of short horror, but its dependence on the conventions isn’t a welcome treat at all.
Once again I can chuckle in the face of convention and bring you a Fewdio short that lets us all laugh and say “Fewdio Did It First”. Fully six months ago, Fewdio released a horrorshort called The Collector, long before anyone else thought to do so.
Only this version revolves around a nightstalker that hunts its prey in a parking garage after hours. As is, of course, the case with all Fewdio shorts, it’ll turn the very idea on its head in a way you won’t even see coming until the very end. And by then, of course, it will be entirely too late.
I love what these guys do with a horror flick; the way they cut through the nonsense to put forth really choice product reflects very well on them, and frankly, I look intensely forward to the day when they’ll actually do something feature length. Because if this is what they can do with five minutes, imagine what they could do with ninety.
The Screenhead Ten Scale, not surprisingly, gives The Collector a seven out of ten for being creepy and packing a nifty twist.
Just in case you, like me, didn’t make it out to Comic-Con, here’s a fresh surprise for you–another killer piece of horror joy from the folks at Fewdio, the undisputed king of horror shorts.
I’m glad to be back in and covering these guys; they have a whole bunch of stuff we never got to. Rest assured that Baby Sounds will be another prime addition to their short horror array.
This time, a young woman longing to become a young mother discovers that all that makes cooing noises and crying sounds isn’t adorable and wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Any time Fewdio offers up anything to do with children, just save yourself some time: wet yourself and run away. Fewdio horror is good under normal circumstances but when these guys get children involved all bets are off. Some of the most terrifying Fewdio horror comes from children–Mockingbird, for instance. Baby Sounds is just a little more of that sort of thing. Plus, the whole thing has a runtime of under three minutes, giving you incredible value for your time.
The Screenhead Ten Scale issues an eight out of ten to this spooky short–though it’s a bit derivative of some of their earlier work (where do they get all these monsters?), it’s still a fast little scare.
When Fewdio announces that it’s doing a “tribute to H.P. Lovecraft”, “based on (his) personal religious philosophy”, I don’t know whether to run screaming for my mommy or die laughing. See, I know H.P. Lovecraft. And I know most of the time, movies made about his stuff are complete wastes of time and effort with only a handful of exceptions, most of which involve Jeffrey Combs. But I also know Fewdio. These guys have given me more scares than the Wall Street Journal this year. If ANYONE can handle a Lovecraft title…it’s GOT to be Fewdio.
This one, called Conviction, asks one simple question: what happens when the lights go out?
And congratulate them, folks–they made a good Lovecraft short. This isn’t one of Fewdio’s best, but it does use their classic modality of a seriously huge twist at the end–don’t shut off the video when you see the credits start–to put together a pretty scary package that’ll actually make you think.
It may not be the best of the bunch, but it’ll do for a quick scare, AND for a philosophy lesson, all in the space of just five short minutes.
I may well have found the freakiest minute of horror EVER thanks to the boys out at Fewdio.
It’s called Mockingbird, and it sets up easily enough, with a young father listening to his baby monitor as his baby starts crying, and his wife goes to care for the little one. But what he hears quickly turns sinister…and all is not what it seems. Sounds trite, I know…but man…what they did here.
Pay SPECIAL attention to the one minute one second mark. I don’t usually give timestamps, but it actually took me three times listening to it and a comment from the comments section before I finally understood just what exactly was said there. And frankly, when you hear it exactly right, the bottom falls out of the whole thing and almost as suddenly, the creepy factor ratchets up by literally ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE.
Keep a change of pants handy, folks…you might need them after a round of Mockingbird.
After a small break yesterday, it’s back to the Fewdio fun with their seven minute opus, The Cellar.
We’re all aware that almost nothing good ever happens in cellars. This is where people get killed, or at the very least locked away for killing later. So one day, when people start hearing children cry from an abandoned house…well…what’s left to do?
What’s really awesome about this one–and I know I say that about most of Fewdio’s work–is that this one has a two-pronged scare going for it. There’s one big surprise about midway through the short, and then it will follow up that scare with another, BIGGER one…then manage to tack on a twist ending besides. Really, the sheer density of scares in this short is beyond anything I’ve seen before, and fully cements Fewdio as an excellent provider of short horror.
I have to admit, I’m loving the Fewdio line a lot, and every new thing I see from them only encourages me to see more.
So we’re breaking into the Fewdio coverage to talk about an interesting short film that made its way to me via its director. Now, I’m always happy when directors want me to take a look at their stuff–it’s a sign they trust my word and capacity for honest coverage. So when Davide Melini dropped us a line to talk about his short horror film The Puzzle, I knew I had to have a look.
And man, I’m glad I did. He’s put it up on YouTube, and you can find it by just clicking on the name above. It’s a quick four minutes of film, not counting the end credits, and it’s a real winner. All about a mother who enjoys jigsaw puzzles and her profligate, money-wasting son, the ending is one that comes out of nowhere. My jaw dropped when the whole thing finally put itself together, mostly because Melini has built a short, sharp and simple little film that delivers maximum punch from one great twist.
Seriously, when you catch the ending from this little winner you’re going to be just amazed. I definitely was. Invest four minutes in The Puzzle and you’ll get a fast little burst of freaky horror and thrills that’ll leave you breathless for easily five minutes afterward. Not a bad return, I’d say.
It’s true what they say–when the phone rings in the middle of the night, it’s pretty much inevitable that something scary will happen in relationship to it. Because the phone doesn’t usually ring after midnight unless something’s really badly wrong, as we’re all well aware–a family member gets sick or hurt or dies, or someone’s night on the town just went terribly awry.
But in this case, it shows that even when the phone rings after midnight…the danger just might be on the RECEIVING end. I can’t tell you much more than that, because it would basically spoiler the entire two minutes of short film, but it’s going to be a huge surprise, what you’ll see happen.
That’s what I love about Fewdio shorts–so far, every one I’ve seen has featured some totally out-of-nowhere twist that turned everything I’d expected on its ear. After nearly two decades of watching horror and thousands of movies, it’s not every day you find something new and unexpected, and Fewdio never fails to throw in the shock. So go catch Bedfellows if you haven’t already.
When I settled in to watch this one, I had this strange compulsion that I’d already seen it and written about it. The name looked so familiar that I couldn’t help but check. Turns out I hadn’t, so I tucked into 
Open up 
Once again I can chuckle in the face of convention and bring you a Fewdio short that lets us all laugh and say “Fewdio Did It First”. Fully six months ago, Fewdio released a
Just in case you, like me, didn’t make it out to Comic-Con, here’s a fresh surprise for you–another killer piece of 
When Fewdio announces that it’s doing a “tribute to H.P. Lovecraft”, “based on (his) personal religious philosophy”, I don’t know whether to run screaming for my mommy or die laughing. See, I know H.P. Lovecraft. And I know most of the time, movies made about his stuff are complete wastes of time and effort with only a handful of exceptions, most of which involve 
I may well have found the freakiest minute of 
After a small break yesterday, it’s back to the 
So we’re breaking into the Fewdio coverage to talk about an interesting short film that made its way to me via its director. Now, I’m always happy when directors want me to take a look at their stuff–it’s a sign they trust my word and capacity for honest coverage. So when Davide Melini dropped us a line to talk about his short 
Once again,