Halloween Horror Nights' Short Film Contest

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the Universal Halloween Horror Nights short horror movie contest. I was referred to this contest by a thread that was made on Talk Horror and I figured that I would take a look and see what the indie genre had to offer. I guess, the contest is this: indie filmmakers were given the opportunity to turn in their 3 ½ minute long horror short to Universal. Then, a panel of judges picked out the 10 finalists. These finalists would be judged by the public to decide who gets awarded two tickets to Halloween Horror Nights 2010, gets exclusive invitations to the Eyegore Awards as well as $1,000 cash prize. Had I knew about this, I would have been all over this competition. Anyway, here are the films…

Hazards

A young woman encounters a deranged killer that escaped. However, not everything is what it appears to be. I wasn’t a big fan of this one because it seemed too generic. That’s not to say that it was awful, because it wasn’t.




Jasper

An elderly woman looking for her lost cat become the target of two homicidal hoodlums… or are the hoodlums the target of something more wickedly? This was a fun little short that reminded me of the style of Sam and Ted Raimi. It was fun and overall entertaining.




Love Me Tender

A young girl who sees her Valentine’s Day crush talk to anther girl decides to give him a kiss he won’t ever forget. This wasn’t really horror as much as it was a revenge movie… I guess. I don’t want to reveal anything but, it was good but certainly not horror.




The Marksman

A man is on a mission to rid the world of people disguised as demons but when he finds a seductive one, things take an unexpected twist. I really enjoyed this one. The effects were great and surprisingly I didn’t see the ending coming. I felt as thought it was sort of in the vain of Frailty. It was rather creepy when the woman reveals herself for what she really is.




Mister Wednesday’s Playground

A young woman is kidnapped by a girl who tortures her in preparation for meeting the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday. This was short that I had to watch over and over again because I didn’t fully understand it. Everything leading up to the end made sense but the ending didn’t. Perhaps I’m not getting it.




Parasite

We follow a young woman who suddenly comes down with a case of severe paranoia and fear and the things she does while in that state of mind. I enjoyed this one for how it personifies the element of fear.




Suffering In Ecstasy

Not sure how to describe this one but I think it’s about a girl who gets some sort of high from inflicting severe masochistic pain on herself, but then she gets admitted to the psych ward. It was truly shocking and quite frightening but I didn’t make much sense.




Trick

A young boy is depressed when his dad refuses to buy him a costume for Halloween because of the financial burden it would be so the boy takes matter into his own hands. This was the only animated short and it was fun and faithful to the spirit of Halloween.




The Widower

Haunted by his dead wife’s suicide while pregnant, a man tries to forget things but the spirits won’t allow him to. This wasn’t a bad short but I felt very confusing towards the end. It had a great character though.




The Winter Stalker

A psychotic old man takes a liking to a young woman and begins to “stalk” her while contemplating sending her a special gift. However, this stalker may be a person that we all know and love. This is perhaps my favorite one because it’s a whole new take on a beloved Children’s tale. Combined with excellent photography and great performances, I have to say this one gets my vote.


If you like any of the shorts you saw, please vote for your favorite short by clicking right here. Voting ends at September 17th at noon.