YouTube of Terror! (Patreon)

“There are more horror movies on YouTube, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your box office.” -Shakespeare, probably

YouTube is loaded with horror movies. There are literally more than I can ever watch. There is even a playlist of 660 free horror movies currently available for free on the site. (Oh, come on! Someone send them 6 more movies!) YouTube, however, has incredibly poor search functions so finding these films means hammering away at searches and uses external search engines. Here are eight of my fav horror shorts from today’s spooky YouTube horror movie speed-dates.

Waterbone (Dir. Ryan Coonan, 2015) 

Practical effects zombie kangaroo. Also, the pervasive distrust of government in cinema has roots in the fact that even when they are trying to help, say, for example, by testing the water for dangerous zombie viruses, it is often too little too late. Also, Practical effects zombie kangaroo.

Mamá (Andres Muschietti, 2008) 

You’ve probably heard of the 2013 Guillermo del Toro film by the same name, but Mamá was a two minute short film before it was a del Toro hit. You can see how this caught del Toro’s eye. Fairy tale terror mixed with a strong metaphoric relationship with the monstrous and a desire to play with the genre is a potent combo that would be hard to pass up. 

Dead Ahead (Downman and O’Keeffe, 2017) 

This is a great apéritif for a horror movie marathon. It’s under two minutes yet it packs in more charm and horror movie references than most manages in a full runtime. I’m of the opinion that every spooky movie binge needs these charming cinematic breaks just to keep things fresh.

Shelter (Dir. Ben Thompson, 2015)

All of the lighting is diegetic and the villain is like Jensen Ackles from My Bloody Valentine but with Freddy Krueger’s glove. The short also highlights our increasingly strained relationship with nature and the people society forces to labor in some of the natural world’s harshest conditions. 

Every 90s Commercial Ever (RocketJump 2, 2015) 

Ever see The Stuff? This is that but via the surreal aesthetics of 90s commercials. As the saying goes, we are what we eat. Our consumption is directly tethered to our relationship with the land. As we consume the artificially flavored surreal monstrosities that pollute the snack foods isle, we become as they are. Like The Thing, but Gushers. 

CREAK | A Short Horror Film (6four6 Films, 2015) 

Usually a camera that doesn’t move is a sign of a novice filmmaker. CREAK never moves its camera even for a second and this series of maybe five lockdown shots use that to deliver more tension than I see in most big budget films. 

While I’m here, a giant empty house, reflecting the emptied homes and apartments throughout the world, will always be filled with ghosts and monsters while people are forced to sleep on the street. 

Bedfellows (Dir. Drew Daywalt, 2010) 

Excellent use of information. We know our main character is doomed well before she does. This was the first time I was actually shouting “Don’t pull back that blanket you dork! Run!” in a while. It’s hard to overlook the underlying tension of the salient observation that we could be so close to the monstrous and not even know it as we are so deeply entrenched in our day-to-day lives. 

SELFIE | A Short Horror Film (Coat Tale Productions, 2019) 

I take a lot of selfies. Using this mode as a gimmick for a horror movie is so damn clever. I loved it. The young woman reluctantly sending selfies to a partner that manipulates and pressures her folds so nicely into a monster that only manifests as you take selfies. 

Insert some trite observation about how the internet is a mixed bag of misery and creative freedom.