Hello World of Death-heads! I’m so happy to be here and honored to share with you three tales of the macabre; three yarns of unrelenting terror that all have common themes of women in peril, while also being delicious horror throwbacks, each in their own special way. Without further ado…
Our first entry is MIDNIGHT DELIVERY, directed by Nathan Crooker. This short film was incredible! Where do I start? It’s a simple, stripped-down plot about a woman who receives a knock at the door in the middle of the night. She opens the door to find a mysterious box. Now, I don’t know about you, but everything I’ve ever learned from horror movies tells me that if a mystery package shows up at your door, for god sakes, don’t bring it inside! And for the love of Satan, if it turns out to be some hat of the Devil… Don’t. Put. It. On. But that’s was so wonderful about horror films – we can re-live the same tales over and over again and it never gets old! This tight, slick horror short was expertly made. With its vaguely exotic relic from a faraway land that brings bedlam to its unsuspecting owner, the short conjured up feelings within me of a classic EC horror parable. I can never get enough!
Next in line is a tasty grindhouse morsel, its setting starkly alternating between the punishingly arid desert to the sun-drenched, disorienting high seas. BELOW DECKS, directed by Paul A Brooks, is a claustrophobic tale of a young woman who survives a harrowing experience only to be tracked down and tormented, once again, by a fiend which may be a figment of her imagination… or all too real. This short is dirty, scary, unflinching and I loved every minute of it. It would be interesting to see this snapshot adapted into a feature-length horror movie.
Bringing up the rear is Brian Cottington’s THE AUTUMN PEOPLE which reminded me of a very specific time in horror history, a 1950’s-era Americana, where fresh issues of Famous Monsters were hitting newsstands and trick-or-treaters could terrorize neighborhoods with abandon. It’s with this frame of mind I came to this short… and enjoyed the hell out of it. The story concerns a woman on Halloween night, complete with classic, spooky imagery. A cloud enshrouded moon? Check! Creepy Halloween masks? Again, check! Cornfields, blown fuses, jump-scare? Check, check, check! After the woman’s pedantic friend regales her with the dreadful origin story of a Halloween mega-staple, the Jack-O-Lantern, the two of them find themselves terrorized by beings that may not be of this world. It’s a lot of fun and you know what they say – “It’s Halloween – we’re all owed one good scare.”
Till next time, fright fans…
Ashton
@ashtongolembo
World of Death is the web series that fans of independent horror have been waiting for. Featuring short horror films from all over the globe created by the largest variety of talent that a collection has ever been able to boast, WOD provides plenty of blood, guts, screams and laughs for all fans of the macabre. WOD is the perfect entertainment for a fan base constantly on the go. Watch it anywhere, at any time, for FREE! New episodes premiere the first Wednesday of every month at 10am CST.
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