Happy Halloween! Here's 18 Short Horror Films You Need To See! (2023 edition)

October Challenge Day 31:

Happy Halloween everyone!! Here is 18 brilliant short horror films to spook up your day.

Why 18 you ask? Because this is the 8th month of the old Roman calendar and the 10th month of the current calendar. BRAINS!

So without further ado, below is my pick of some of the best out there. With a review of 18 words or less, and in no particular order, please enjoy Horror Habit's 2023 Short Horror Film Festival.

Anaconda: Sex - lots of sex! Power, and the internet. This one is brilliant.

Meet Jimmy: UHHHHHHGGGGG! I Listen To So Much TRUE CRIME PODCASTS! [crying and screaming].

Abracitos: Profound, totally unsettling - with jump scare galore. This one sticks and makes your brain itch.

Sweetie: Someone learns the hard way that when those trick or treaters come, don't be stingy with that candy!

The Dead Collectors: Hands down! One of the best zombie comedy shorts I've come across in a long time!

Box Fort: I LOVE box forts! And this one is epic ... in many ways ... Love This!

Mental Image: This guy is not sleeping tight at all ...

Antikk: Be careful out there, when antique hunting. Excellently terrifying.

Neighborhood Watch: Oh the unraveling mind ...

Desecration: Just some soldiers out in the woods, what could go wrong when they find a kid out there?

Hushy Bye: Being new parents can be rough!

Emma: A very neat take on a haunted house story. Clever effects.

Elevator: A meetcute bloodbath, perhaps?

Parched: Oh this one unnerved me in ways I cannot explain... 

Phone: 347: So I'm not exactly sure what I just saw but I liked it!

Mommy: Careful kids! Mommy told you not to leave the room when she's on a date!

Death Metal: Hilarious! Whip smart! Just a metal head who inherits a possessed guitar. It's a blood bath.

Blood and Guts: Strap in for a wild ride down bad science road! 

Buried Alive (1990)

October Challenge Day 30

I'm sending off this year's October Challenge with a real winner! GIVE ME ALL THE MADE-FOR-TV THRILLERS! Let's check out:

Buried Alive

This title doesn't leave much to the imagination but let me tell you - the ending is EVERYTHING.

Here we have the classic tale of a wife who is done being married and looking for more money. Her and her lover concoct a plan that is sure to be a fail safe for the future they want to embark on. 

UH OH

Are you sure, madam? Are You SURE?

Oh my gawd I love this stuff so much!

Well, as you can imagine, the "death" of her husband doesn't go quite as planned and the latter half of this film is a level of revenge that I simply wasn't prepared for. Oh, and don't forget the nightmare of being: BURIED ALIVE.

Cremate me, folks. Or just drop my corpse off at a body farm so I can at least continue contributing to science, but do not bury me!

This story is unhinged in all the ways and every bit of an absolute stellar made-for-TV film. There's something about made-for-TV films that just hits me straight in the heart. Cripples me. I can't look away. This one though stands heads and shoulders above a lot of films I've seen. 

Yes, it has a very Tales From The Crypt feel, and that's perfect. I didn't mind at all. The '90s vibes here are strong and nostalgic, and Jennifer Jason Leigh is phenomenal as usual. I don't have one complaint about this film. Not one [chef's kiss].

I'm just going to have find a copy of this and add it to my video collection. I'd love to watch it again and again. 

I don't know what else to add - just check it out. Best watched in a farm house, be sure there is a dog barking in the background somewhere. Paris with champagne, a fancy meal, and dirt - everywhere.

I rented this film from Scarecrow Video or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's sidebar to see where else you can find this absolute GEM of a movie. I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

The Nanny (1965)

October Challenge Day 29

You know I'll NEVER turn down a Bette Davis film. Particularly scary Bette Davis! Let's take a look at:

The Nanny

Here we have the tale of a loving nanny, waiting for the return of her charge - a 10 year old boy - who's returning from a mental institution because ... well ... something terrible happened when he was 8 years old....

 The mother is having a breakdown about her son's return. The father isn't having anything to do with anyone's feelings and just yeets out of town. There's the nanny though, she's tried and true and holds everything together, much to the rage of this young man who is just an absolute nightmare of a child. 

Folks. I had to rewind this film so many times because I wasn't paying attention 100% of the time. Don't do this. Sit down, distraction free, and watch this walking, talking, anxiety attack in one shot.

Was I crying by the end? Maybe. You don't know me! 

This is simply a stellar film. Full of raw terror, heartbreak, immense tension, and maddening behavior. I enjoyed this film immensely! I also remembered when I used to babysit and NEVER AGAIN. Never. Again. I babysat some real nightmares of children - always little boys who took great pleasure in tormenting me, locking me out of the house, etc. [sips wine, in my peaceful world, embracing my inner Bette Davis badassery] Never again. 

In any case, this is an excellent film! Don't pass it up. 

Best watched in an aggressively clean room. Pairs with cake, coffee, and cigarettes. Be sure to sit very close and awkwardly in front of the TV.

I rented this film from Scarecrow Video or use the Find It! Watch It! links to see where else you can find this not-at-all-childish chiller.

Rabbit (2017)

October Challenge Day 28

I had to sit with this one for a while. It's ... different. Let's take a look at:

Rabbit

This is a story about a woman who feels her missing twin sister is in danger, needs her, and she knows where to find her.

This is kind of neat - a spooky tale about twins being spooky! And it is neat, and weird, and odd, and wait a minute ... what is going on here? 

This film's atmosphere is mesmerizing! Particularly as we join the wanderings of this young woman's journey through eastern South Australia. And wanderings we go, I got left behind a few times and had to catch up, but overall, it's a neat mind trip into this woman's insistence that she'll find her missing sister. 

Things go off the rails though when she stumbles upon a caravan in the woods.... and she might have just found what she was looking for ....

This film lost me from time-to-time, and my head was tilted quite a ways as the film was coming to its conclusion. This is definitely a film that will take you down [ahem] down rabbit holes. I don't see this film being a good fit for all horror/thriller fans. It's pacing is raw and unnerving, which works great sometimes and sometimes you're just not feeling it. 

Overall, it's not a bad film at all but it has a particular flavor that will please certain palates. Best watched near a camp fire. Pairs with scant resources and flasks with a rabbit's foot hanging from key chains. 

I watched this film on the Roku Channel, or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you might find this burrow of science and madness.

Fright House (1989)

October Challenge Day 27

Okay, so it's Friday night and you're all settled in for the evening. What do you watch? Trash sometimes. Sometimes it's trash. Let's take a look at:

Fright House

So the description of this film hinted at some sort of anthology but I didn't see anything that resembled that. In fact, I still have No Idea what I watched?!

At the beginning there was something about a monster killing people, making it look like a suicide? Then there is a bare-chested witch posing as a therapist? There's a cop being mean to his fiance? There is a fraternity that inherited an abandoned house?? There is apparently the devil lurking around campus but I couldn't tell if the house was on campus or was the house the same one that was half demolished - what's going on here!?!

And then I see this film has both Duane Jones and Al Lewis in it. Not Ben from Night of the Living Dead, and Grandpa from The Munsters! What is going on here?!

This film is ... not good. 

I could not keep track of what was going on so I started shopping online.

Did it give me the comfort background noise to make for a perfect snuggle night in on a cold October night? Most certainly. 

My favorite review of this film comes from Tony the Halloween Terror, on Letterbox, who said: "I didn't understand at least half of the eyebrows in this movie". Same, Tony, same.

I watched this film on Tubi, because of course I did, or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this .... feature...