Regarding film festivals, one of the unsung heroes is always the short films. Unfortunately, it seems most publications pay them little to no mind, and that’s a crying shame. Some of the best filmmakers got their start by making short films and so many future stars have short films on the festival circuit today. Let’s take a look at the short films of the Tokyo Horror Film Festival.

Stand Out Shorts Fresh From Tokyo Horror Film Festival

Kneading

Directed by Lulu & Augie Syracuse
Written by Lulu Syracuse

An office worker pisses their boss off when they forget to feed the office cat. Surely this will be a normal exchange!

Kneading is short, sweet, and to the point. Lulu and Augie Syracuse have crafted an incredibly weird and atmospheric short film with a stinger you won’t see coming a mile away. The practical effect work gets the job done and leaves a lasting impact. There’s a lot of potential within this two-and-a-half-minute short, and it will be interesting to see where they go from here.

Backward Creep

Written and Directed by Christopher G. Moore

Three friends are en route to an anime convention, but their plans are stopped in their tracks after they run over a pedestrian.

Delightfully campy, Backward Creep excels in one thing: giving audiences a good time. There’s not much to this short, and that’s fine. We have three friends who ran something over and it gets its revenge. It’s simple, in the best way possible. Some shorts try to overcompensate for their short runtimes; Moore doesn’t do that. He puts it all out there and lets you exist within this world for just a few minutes. Supposedly, there is a feature version of this in the works. If Moore keeps the feature fully practical and keeps the gnarly creature design, I’m sold.

Chateau Sauvignon: terroir

Written by David M. Night Maire and Allyssa Rivera-Cabrero
Directed by David M. Night Maire

A young boy and his father run a winery that might be more nefarious than it seems.

Like a fine wine, Chateau Sauvignon: terroir feels a bit pretentious. It takes itself very seriously and constantly withholds from the viewer. Night Maire and Rivera-Cabrero’s script ends up feeling a bit too smart for its own good. Michael Lorz charismatically, and creepily, leads this short with the exhausted vigor of a young adult resigned to a life of depravity. The practical effects in this short look gorgeous and impactful. It’ll make you think twice before going back to a winery, that’s for sure.

Ten of Swords

Written and Directed by Faye Jackson

What would happen if you woke up dead, destined to a life of forced labor? Would you take it on the chin, or fight back?

Let’s see a show of hands if you had no clue Ten of Swords was a tarot card reference. (Raises hand.) Ten of Swords has a lot to say. It comments on forced labor, predestination (to an extent), and the human condition. Jackson’s script does a decent job of getting the point across, but the short really feels like it just goes beat to beat without any real visual flow. Overall, it’s an enjoyable watch with some great action and practical effects. The set and production design is impeccable and provides excellent world-building for this dystopian future. Knowing now, what tarot card this short references feels a bit on the nose with some of the visuals, but that doesn’t mean it’s not impactful.

Grease Bunny

Written and Directed by Benedetto Cocuzza

After a long day of work, Stacy (Haley Hammonds) gets home and orders a pizza. What could go wrong?

The name Benedetto Cocuzza might ring a bell for a few of you. He is the founder of the indie horror video game studio Puppet Combo. I’ll be able to put my bias aside, but there isn’t a single Puppet Combo game I don’t consider a 5 out of 5. Cocuzza’s PlayStation 1 low-res style just tickles that nostalgic spot in my brain that reminds me of my childhood. If you think his short films would be stylistically different from his games, you’re wrong. Grease Bunny is a liminal body horror nightmare, dripping with grease, cheese, and pepperoni. Hammond’s campy acting perfectly embodies the Puppet Combo style, though it could possibly be a turnoff for those who aren’t familiar with Cocuzza’s style. If you’ve ever wondered what a giant pepperoni pizza monster nibbling on someone’s toes would look like, then Grease Bunny is the short film for you.

Also, go check out Puppet Combo’s games; they’re truly excellent.

Support indie game devs!

Beverly Hills Exorcist

Written and Directed by Rem Scobell

A group of exorcists in Beverly Hills attempt to exorcise a house from a giant-headed demon.

I’ll be upfront here, Beverly Hills Exorcist didn’t work for me. There’s a line of camp I can accept and enjoy…this short leaps over that line. The acting feels forced and unrehearsed and it all just happens too fast. Too much character development for too many characters happens in such a short amount of time and it feels overstuffed. Scobell’s idea is fun and could possibly work in a larger sense, but as a short film, it doesn’t.

Body

Written and Directed by Ronald Short

An electronic Frankenstein toy makes its way into a couple’s house…and it’s moving!

Body is incredibly cute. The entire short takes place in the kitchen with Dawn (Leila Anastasia Scott) and Jack (Aaron G. Hale). Scott and Hale are incredibly adorable together and exhibit one of the most believable relationships I’ve seen in a short film. Short has created a short film that should be studied by those who want to make short films. What he created with one prop, two actors, [presumably] one camera, and some fake blood is beyond impressive. Very little happens in this short, but it’s what happens and how it happens that makes this short film charming and exciting.

The Pencil

Written by Madina Schultz and Thomas Schultz
Directed by Thomas Shultz

Sara (Mika Saruar) is an artist struggling to make ends meet. One day she finds a pencil that brings her drawings to life; flowers, money…monsters.

One of my favorite things about festival coverage is when I see a good short at a festival, and then another festival, and another, etc. At this point, I think I’ve seen The Pencil at four different festivals, and it’s well deserved. Coming in at just over 10 minutes, The Pencil tells a harrowing tale of struggle and love. Schultz’s script is tight and precise, and it gets its point across with enough time to play around a little bit. After seeing this short for the first time, I had nightmares of the short film’s creature. Well, guess what’s back in my nightmares now! The Pencil is a perfectly crafted short film that NEEDS a feature-length version.

If you get a chance to see any of these shorts at a film festival near you, be sure you do!