Known for its outstanding short horror offering, the 2024 Nightmares Film Fest once again delivered a stacked lineup of sensational shorts.
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We had the chance to check out one of the best short horror lineups to grace this year’s festival circuit, and we’re thrilled to highlight ten of our favorites from the Nightmares Film Festival 2024. Get the scoop on ten must-see shorts out of the fest that you will definitely want to add to your future watchlist, including films in the horror, midnight, and horror comedy categories. Plus, we’ve even got a couple of outstanding shorts you can watch right now for free.
Recommendation from Berlyn Nikolunauer
Beach Log Kills (10 minutes, US, Midnight)
At a high school football game, the star quarterback promises her lucky number to the deserving girl teammate. During the game, things go wrong. An awkward girl in detention tries to prove herself worthy of the quarterback’s regard and legacy.
The boys are cheerleaders and the girls are the football stars in Beach Log Kills. The film immediately sets a vintage tone with a glossy yet gritty look that takes us back to another time period. Writer/director Haley Z. Boston manages to transport this film to depths where the unexpected becomes the norm.
The film starts in the parking lot, where a bunch of students are pre-partying before a big game. It then changes scenes right into the locker room, where the all-female football team is cheering each other on.
When another student on detention duty catches the excitement of the team and the attention of the team’s star (#36), she learns the team’s doomed fate and assumes the position of taking one for the team she isn’t even on.
Beach Log Kills is abstract and artistic while portraying the different weights of responsibility that fall on various parts of society.
It effectively explores the unnerving idea that some people may do anything, including sacrifice, to keep the star of the show safe and out of trouble.
Terror (10 minutes, UK, Horror)
The sole survivor of a mountain climb struggles to come to terms with a supernatural incident.
Where other films are quick to show you all the good, gory frights, Terror steps in to take full advantage of our imaginations.
Taking place in an investigation room, Terror begins with a focus on Ruben (Charles Sandford) who is being interviewed about a mountain climbing accident with his friend, Jack. While Ruben can’t seem to remember most of the events, it is clear Jack didn’t survive the accident. The scenes cut from the interview room to the scene of Ruben and Jack out on the mountain to a scene with Ruben and his partner, who begs him to tell her what happened.
In an interview with Directors Notes, writer-director Giles Buchanan explains his vision for the chilling, Lovecraftian short:
There was a desire to try and take the audience on a small journey into an environment that felt a bit remote and captivating.
Terror‘s style, acting, and story all work together to create a maddening sense of tension from the desire to know exactly what happened.
A wonderful and terrifying film, Terror dives deep into our psyche to create its own kind of monster.
Jack (7 minutes, US, Horror)
Two co-workers engage in an affair on Halloween night. Someone’s watching from out(in)side.
There’s a good reason this one-take horror short nabbed Best Horror Short at Nightmares Film Festival. Taking place on Halloween night, Jack is an instant classic, should-be-watched-every-October type of film.
Written, produced, and directed by Jay Curtis Miller, Jack manages to shove in the most jack o’ lanterns we’ve seen at one time since Trick ‘r Treat. However, to be clear, this film is not about pumpkins.
Taking place after a costume party has ended, a woman, Linda, finds a man, Terry, hasn’t left the party yet. He has instead managed to cut his hand with a butcher knife trying to carve up one of the many pumpkins in the house. Linda helps Terry bandage his wound while they mention her husband Jack, who is conveniently out of town…or is he??
Director Miller explains his vision for the film to Beyond the Short:
“ As a huge fan of John Carpenter and Brian DePalma, it was fun to immerse myself in the long, drawn-out tension (without cutting) and play with lighting and music cues to create a thriller.”
You can’t have Halloween without a good, classic-style slasher, and Jack delivers a short and sweet story with all the festive touches you could want.
With spooky vibes galore, this sweet treat will help satisfy your post-Halloween cravings.
Bath Bomb (10 minutes, US, Horror)
A possessive doctor prepares an ostensibly romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend, but after an accusation of infidelity, things take a deeply disturbing turn.
Getting ready for a cozy night in, Bath Bomb introduces the couple Dr. Jordan (Anders Yates) and his partner Grant (Daniel Henkel) as they get ready for an at-home date night. Preparing cocktails and a bath, Dr. Jordan offers Grant a giant bath bomb before he gets into the tub. Refusing to join him right away, Dr. Jordan remains dressed and goes to another room, where he begins watching Grant through a screen. It’s weird, but Grant doesn’t seem to mind as he and his bath bomb get into the bath.
While the set and lighting are all beautifully warm and inviting, giving a moody and comforting feeling, Bath Bomb is not for the weak of heart. Dr. Jordan found incriminating photos of his young new intern on Grant’s phone, and he is clearly unhappy. He exacts his revenge in the worst way that slowly reveals itself as the bath bomb fizzes and sizzles away.
Directed by Colin G. Cooper and written by Michael Clifton, Clifton said he was inspired by his love of Gillo films—including the subgenre’s “bizarrely camp world of meticulously choreographed violence, often dream-like depictions of eroticism, and unapologetic focus on style & atmosphere over conventional narrative concerns.” He was also drawn to the subgenre’s large number of queer characters, and he was eager to “resurrect the Giallo subgenre through a queer lens.”
For those who like to squirm and be creeped out, Bath Bomb is some real self-care.
Room Tone (9 minutes, US, Horror Comedy)
A possessive doctor prepares an ostensibly romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend, but after an accusation of infidelity, things take a deeply disturbing turn
For those familiar with being on any kind of film set, you may have heard the sound technician request silence so they can capture room tone. A few seconds of silence (always awkward) follows, while everyone hopes they don’t make any sound that can be captured by the recording devices. Room Tone, co-written by Danny Rhodes and Michael Gabrielle and directed by Michael Gabrielle, superbly captures this moment and turns it into a thrilling slasher ride.
When the sound guy (Mickey O’Sullivan) working on the set in Room Tone asks for silence, the cast and crew struggle to obey. While the short film’s run time is just around 9 minutes long, the scenes seem drawn out as we wait for the sound guy to get the perfect take.
Interrupted every single time, he finally loses his patience. What follows are exciting and hilarious kills. O’Sullivan uses weapons that will make anyone unable to look at a boom mic the same ever again.
A really entertaining take on some of the horrors that take place behind the scenes, Room Tone shows respect for all aspects of filmmaking.
Recommendations from Stephanie Malone
GIRLS (20 minutes, France, Thriller)
Romane and Ally are in love. As they run away, searching for a place where they would be free, they end up kidnapped at a local gas station. Whereas they were looking for peace, vengeance would first cross their path.
Girls may be one of the best shorts I’ve seen in some time, and I promise that’s not hyperbole. As stylish as it is thrilling, Julien Hosmalin’s Girls takes viewers on a seductive, high-octane ride of romance and revenge that left me breathless.
Lounge singer and dancer Ally (Carmen Kassovitz) meets and falls for the mysterious Romane (Natacha Krief) at the club she works at. The two beautiful, free-spirited women hop on Romane’s motorbike and plan to drive off into the sunset, buoyed by love and hope for a brighter future. But their blissful adventure is cut tragically short when a stop at a remote gas station turns into a nightmare. Romane is killed in front of a helpless Ally, who is kidnapped into a sex trafficking ring and put up for auction.
Though Hosmalin, working from a script he co-wrote with Olivier Torres, is respectful in how he handles the violence—never leaning into leering exploitation—he masterfully conveys the horror of the situation. This is aided by Kassovitz’s gripping and emotionally resonant performance. In just twenty minutes, her character runs the gamut from seductress to romantic to tortured victim to fierce vigilante. There’s not a minute of her journey that she doesn’t sell completely, with an electric screen presence that makes you yearn to see more.
I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the short, caught in a web of riveting intrigue and adrenaline-fueled action. Besides the dazzling performances and the sumptuous score, one aspect that stands out is the exquisite editing, as we move back and forth seamlessly and stylishly through time to reveal much in such a short runtime. Some scenes are chilling; others are exhilarating.
The ending is a tour de force, resulting in one of the most gnarly and surprising chase-and-death scenes I’ve ever seen.
Intense, gripping, and flawlessly executed, Girls is a short that would make a brilliant proof of concept for a feature; I’m desperate to see more.
BIRDHOUSE (15 minutes, US, Horror Comedy)
A man wants to live in his birdhouse. His troubled child-prodigy daughter is both his only way into it and the only thing keeping him out.
A man, Gary (Jonah Ray), has an odd fantasy. He wants to leave his body behind and live in a small birdhouse he built. After confessing his strange desire at his self-help group meeting, someone gives him a tape on astral projection and encourages him to try it out. While helping his difficult daughter, Topanga (Riley Cooper)—nicknamed Bird—compete in a creative competition involving storytelling and doll decorating, he listens to the tape and begins his astral projection journey.
Throughout the short story, we can tell Gary has been unhappy for some time and that his melancholy sense of self-loathing and longing has affected his daughter. She’s precocious and has a reputation for being a bit of a nightmare, something we discover in a hilarious scene when she arrives at the scene of her competition, instilling panic and serious “kid-gloving” from the competition directors. She acts overly confident to the point of being obnoxious. Still, it’s clear this demeanor masks a deep-seated pain that seems exasperated when her dad confesses his selfish plan.
Nevertheless, she agrees to help him transcend without her dad knowing the toll it’s taking on her. As he becomes obsessed with taking flight and leaving his old self behind, Topanga withdraws further and further into herself.
Will Gary do what must be done, focusing entirely on himself at the expense of everyone else, to realize his dream? Or, will he find his purpose in the life he already has and comfort in the nest he’s already built?
Written and directed by Jerry Pyle, Birdhouse is a sweet and surreal exploration of sacrifice and self-love that delivers plenty of quirky comedy while reminding us about what’s most important in life.
CATARACT (24 minutes, Denmark, Thriller)
A woman robs a gas station with her nearly-blind younger brother and catapults herself into a claustrophobic tick-of-the-clock race for a new set of lenses for his eyes.
Arlo (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) has cataracts in both eyes so bad he’s almost entirely blind. Together with his sister, Sami (Carla Viola Thurøe), they visit an eye doctor who recommends surgery. However, patients who can’t afford the expensive procedure out of pocket must wait at least a year.
In an act of desperation, the duo robs a convenience store to pay for an off-the-books operation in Sweden. As Sami takes the store owner into the backroom to empty the safe, Arlo keeps guard at the front of the door. When a woman tries to enter, refusing to take no for an answer, things quickly escalate into a frenzied attack. Chaotic editing immerses viewers in the confusion and fear of the action, but we’re only tipping the iceberg of what’s to come.
The duo escapes through the woods and travels by small boat to Sweden. There, they meet a shady man who offers to hook them up with their doctor for the right price. It’s terrifying waiting for Arlo to receive his surgery in the makeshift operating room at the back of a warehouse. I was on pins and needles, tightly gripping the arms of my chair as I watched the procedure. Beautifully shot, it’s as mesmerizing as it is unnerving.
The gorgeously-lensed Cataract is extraordinary from start to finish. Written and directed by Jonatan Egholm Keis, this tense and slow-burning thriller ends in the most shocking and unexpected of ways. It left me reeling.
Full of depth, intrigue, suspense, and twists you won’t see coming, Cataract leaves you feeling as if you’ve experienced the whirlwind of a compelling feature-length film.
Cheat Meal (17 minutes, US, Horror Comedy)
When his girlfriend, Ellie, gets involved with a Svengali-like health guru named Bo, Owen goes to confront her and discovers that there may be more to this health-cult than he first expected.
Directed by Drew Bierut and written by star Cory Walls, the wildly entertaining Cheat Meal begins with a woman walking her dog late at night. Suddenly, she’s attacked by a group of people. We don’t see what happens to her until later in the short.
Cut to a man named Owen (Walls) playing video games, while lamenting the state of his relationship to another young player online. Owen’s girlfriend, Ellie (Olivia Scott Welch), used to be full of life—fun, adventurous, quirky. Now, however, she’s a shell of her former self after becoming obsessed with a cult-like health and fitness program called Body By Bo. Owen has not tried to hide his disdain for the program, and Ellie is fed up with his lack of support or understanding.
As the distance between them grows, Owen becomes convincined there’s something more going on. Suspecting her of having an affair, he starts tailing her, scoping out her gym and later following her to a warehouse one night when she claims to be teaching a fitness class as a favor to her hunky trainer, Bo (Linc Hand).
I won’t dare ruin what happens next, but the ending is hilarious, endearing, and gloriously unhinged.
With pitch-perfect coedy and stellar special effects, Cheat Meal is a playful and devilish satire of Crossfit-like fitness programs with a monstrous twist.
/HAAW/ (12 minutes, US, Midnight)
A typical day at a ski resort takes a bizarre turn when a xenophobic guest shares a gondola with an unusual family.
A Lynchian, sci-fi take on xenophobia, Joey Scoma’s /HAAW/ is chilling from the jump, with its unsettling score and pervasive feeling of foreboding.
Two friends, Brett (Ben Gigli) and Jacob (writer-director Joey Scoma) are waiting to board a gondola. When they enter, they find themselves seating across from an odd looking family with alien-humanoid faces. The mom, dad, and young child—giving off terrifying uncanny valley vibes—begin communicating with each other. However, their limited language allows them to communicate only through a single sound: HAAW.
In the long and tense ride up the mountain, Brett continuously snickers and mocks the family, upsetting Jacob, who tells him to knock it off and apologizes to the family.
Soon, the youngest member locks in on Brett, pointing to him and ominously signaling something to each of his parents. Leaning into his perceived absurdity of the situation, Brett points at himself and parrots the HAAW sound in a way that makes it clear he’s poking fun at the foreigners. While Jacob stews in his discomfort, he’s oblivious to what happens next.
The young passenger approaches Brett and enters his mind telepathically, subjecting Brett to a kaleidoscope of horror—projecting visions of surreal, trippy sights and sounds. Brett is hyperventilating, but the boy speaks to him inside his head, communicating now in English and telling the man to calm down and enjoy the moment. What he says next is alarming, and the ending packs a grim gut punch.
Beautifully shot in 4:3 against a state-of-the-art LED wall stage with high production values and killer makeup effects, /HAAW/ is an unnerving cautionary tale about intolerance and the consequences of dehumanization.
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