The Short Horror Magic of Happenstance Horror Fest
FEARS WITH QUEERS (1 hr)
Queer horror has always been at the beating heart of the genre, but rarely has it felt this vibrant, inclusive, and defiantly alive. Fears with Queers is a dynamic, emotional, and often wildly funny collection of shorts that celebrates identity, transformation, and catharsis through the lens of terror.
From heart-wrenching sci-fi parables to DIY fever dreams, this block captured the entire queer horror spectrum — tender and terrifying, romantic and ridiculous, deadly serious and gloriously camp.
Festival Favorites
The Rewind (Dirs. Mikel J. Wisler & Diana Porter, 11 min)
An unnerving and profoundly emotional sci-fi horror short, The Rewind is based on Wisler’s own short story (read it here) and co-written and co-directed with actor-filmmaker Diana Porter. The film follows Josh (Dustin Teuber), a man desperate to undo the mistakes that cost him his marriage to Nina (Anna Rizzo). When he turns to a new technology promising to let users re-experience painful memories to “learn from them,” his desperation quickly turns obsessive.
Impatient for healing and unwilling to face his flaws, Josh takes a shortcut that lands him in a self-made purgatory, one that becomes a literal manifestation of regret. Wisler and Porter turn psychological horror into emotional horror, exploring the seductive danger of quick fixes and the haunting trap of denial.
The filmmaking is tight and controlled, balancing emotional realism with speculative unease. The ending hits hard, leaving you wondering whether redemption is ever possible for someone who refuses to change.
Watch now: Southern charm meets Bible Belt repression in the unnerving The Things We Do When We’re Alone. With his wife and son gone for a weekend getaway, a closeted gay man copes with his demons of conversion therapy. It’s a disturbingly effective short about being forced into shadows, and the monsters born out of that darkness.
Twice as Shy (Dir. Anjelica Hymel, 13 min)
Tender, funny, and quietly devastating, Twice as Shy turns the werewolf myth into a bittersweet allegory for queer love and anxiety. Two best friends, Rick and Jack, spend the night preparing for Jack’s first full-moon transformation. They’ve built a silver cage, armed themselves with breathing exercises, and tried to make this as safe as possible. But buried beneath their nervous banter lies something deeper: the tension of unspoken feelings and the lingering pain of a recent romantic encounter.
As the transformation nears, emotions boil over. This is a story about what happens when we bottle up our feelings until they devour us. Hymel’s direction is thoughtful and assured, beautifully balancing the intimate with the supernatural. It’s heartfelt, cathartic, and full of longing.
Watch now: Izzy Lee’s My Monster is a wildly fun horror comedy that proves the monstrous can be beautiful. As Christmas approaches, a woman named Lily has to contend with her clueless partner and an unexpected, inter-dimensional holiday monster who just wants two things: blood and cuddles. It may not be a traditional love story, but that’s what makes it so out-of-this-world good.
Further Frights
Pride~In~Our~Steps (Dir. Jonathan Riles, 2 min)
A moving animated poem that weaves together personal statements from LGBTQIA+ artists with dazzling, surreal visuals. Riles fuses stop motion and digital animation to create something that feels both intimate and universal. It’s a hymn to identity and perseverance that begins with a sobering truth and ends with a rallying cry to keep marching against intolerance.
More tone poem than traditional narrative, it’s a beautiful reminder that survival itself can be a form of rebellion.
Watch now: Explore Jonathan Riles’s channel for Shelluster Studios on YouTube. Consider starting with The Amber Thief. It’s a mesmerizing stop-motion fantasy told through darkly whimsical narration. A delicate blend of poetry and menace, it’s perfect for fans of surreal storytelling.
The School of Rocky (Dir. Chloe Niesz Kutch, 5 min)
A joyous and affirming mini-documentary spotlighting The School of Rocky, a shadow cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Kent, Ohio. What begins as a portrait of performance art quickly blossoms into a love letter to queer community, showing how theater becomes refuge and family. It’s short, sweet, and absolutely infectious in its warmth.
Watch now: Sometimes an obsessed fan base creates a community and a cultural movement. And sometimes, we get the horrors of toxic fandom. RAT! follows a disgruntled music journalist who accuses a global pop star of queerbaiting, causing the singer’s devoted army of fans to wage war on him. It’s a pitch-perfect blend of horror and comedy, a campy home invasion thriller that doesn’t skimp on the tension… or the boppy pop tunes.
Pimple Patch (Dir. Noah Berc, 6 min)
Funny, gross, and gleefully self-aware, Pimple Patch revels in low-tech, VHS-era charm. It’s a gooey morality play about ambition, insecurity, and the kind of art that makes you literally bleed for it. Playful and endearing, it’s a body horror treat that will speak to anyone who’s ever been a victim of bad timing, epic meltdowns, and a desperate need to save face (or peel it right off).
Watch now: Seen Too Much (2024), directed by Colin Lo and Noah Berc, is available on YouTube. It swaps the VHS aesthetic for noir grit, exploring what happens when our bad choices trap us in a hell of our own making.
The Triangular Door (Dir. Dylan Mars Greenberg, 9 min)
Leave logic at the door. Dylan Mars Greenberg’s The Triangular Door is pure psychedelic invention. An absurdist, surrealist kaleidoscope of vignettes, colors, and chaos. It’s like watching a midnight cable transmission from another dimension.
Known for her work on Dark Prism (2015) and her contributions to Adult Swim, Greenberg thrives in the liminal space between satire and sincerity. The result here is messy, magnetic, and full of queer creative energy.
Watch now: The Bathtub by Dylan Mars Greenberg is free to stream on YouTube. A lonely man (Bob Bert of Sonic Youth) drifts into a dreamscape from the comfort of his tub, crossing paths with lust, violence, and comic-book surrealism. It’s eccentric, oddly moving, and hard to look away from.
The Kiss (Dir. Rob Ulitski, 2 min)
Brief but unforgettable. The Kiss captures post-pandemic intimacy anxiety through body horror and tactile unease. A woman’s fear of closeness manifests physically as she becomes haunted by nightmarish visions of failed connection. It’s a potent exploration of the simultaneous terror and beauty of human desire. Short, simple, and beautifully shot.
Watch now: The Kiss is available to stream on Vimeo.
Siren (Dir. Luna Wolf, 12 min)
Stylish and spooky, Siren is a slick UK indie creature feature about a weary photographer, a mysterious artifact, and the ancient horror she accidentally awakens. It’s got everything: a cursed relic, a doomed studio shoot, and a rising sense of dread that builds to a satisfying crescendo.
Produced by MJ and Anna Dixon of Mycho Entertainment, Siren merges mythological terror with modern indie flair. Luna Wolf, a longtime indie horror actress (Pandamonium, Slasher House), directs with confidence, delivering a love letter to monster movies through a distinctly queer lens.
Watch now: Explore the Mycho Entertainment channel on YouTube. If you’re hungry to extend that Halloween high, start with Midnight Movie Mausoleum — MJ Dixon’s annual Samhain short about cursed VHS tapes and sinister transmissions.
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