I started to post this last night. We all write shorts, even if its just for a contest. Personally I love watching them.... If they're good. So if you've got any faves, dump them into this thread. I only think it could help writers of shorts to see some decent ones.

I'll kick us off with a horror that is absolutely low budget, but effective IMO.

Nice film, James. I want one of those things!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qivpYWj28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKLGo4MDgQ

This is not only kind of neat, but this was the first work of the director, and it led to his getting to direct a major motion picture.

Thanks jwent

Now my wife wont be able to sleep tonight.

And I score!

It's a double win. That really was a cool little short. Thanks for sharing.

Shawn.....><

Great idea, James.
And that one actually made me jump... very creepy.

Here's one of my favs, a finalist from Tropfest (Australia).

[youtube][/youtube]

Glad I could help, Led. Double-tap her for me... its been awhile.

Kev,
I watched Latchkey months ago. I think you posted it somewhere here. Loved it. That was amazing for a low budget short.

James

Brilliant short film.  

James,

It's been awhile????

I somehow find that hard to believe. You're nothing more than a lady's man.

I'll tap it like that barrel under your boot my friend.

Have a great one brother.

Unless of course you want to get drunk with me and start a fight with someone here tonight.

In that case, I'm in.

Shawn....><

Don,

That was fantastic. I must admit.

Didn't see it coming.

Shawn.....><


Do you know what the Lotto numbers were on the back?

Quoted from Don Brilliant short film.

I just watched it and what's cool for me is that my daughter's in China and so we discuss the language and she texts words sometimes in Mandarin. Watching them scratch onto pads was cool. You'd have to be pretty fast. You should see how sloppy my hand gets when I'm writing "brainwaves" for scripts and it's in simple English without the pictographic complexity. The "scritch scratch" sound in that video was impressive.

Sandra

Cool idea.

I have always loved this one.  Experimental, B&W, but something about it that really grabs you.  It wears its Lovecraft influences on its sleeve, but I actually like that.

the gibbering horror of howard ghormley from stevedanielsfilms on Vimeo.

Nuit Blanche is one of my favorites.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Wow, Thanks for both of those. Two black and whites with no dialogue. Both, very effective.

Bert, that one seemed Lynch-esque to me. Amazing shots. Especially him riding the bike. Would love to know how they got some of those. It made me uncomfortable which is a score. Gotta admit, I was reminded a bit about "The Farm"...

Matias, holy hell did they spend some money on that one. Loved it. They didn't even list a writer, because its just a scene. Write the story yourself. In your own mind. Trying to shoot my own stuff, but that makes me want to call it quits. I hope this guy is making a decent living at what he does...

James

Despite the amazingly low FX at the end, "He Dies at the End" was REALLY effective!  :))))))

I like that one Bert!! Very Lynch'ish which I LOVE!!

The one Z posted is visually interesting, but that's all. IMHO. As I was saying to Sandra recently on Skype, computer generated effects are sort of ruining films for me. Nothing feels real anymore and the cgi takes you out of the story. All it does is dazzle your eyes. I even don't like photos anymore if they look like they've been tampered with. Some people post landscape pics and such that are incredibly gorgeous, but I lose interest, because I know that's not how the original pic looked.

Anyway. I've always liked this short. Simple, but great!

Awesome pick, James! He Dies at the End scared the hell out of me.

Here's one I discovered years ago that's always stayed with me:



(In case the video doesn't work, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J24rL7Tqb5E).

While the following is actually a trailer for an unmade movie, it's probably my favorite film on youtube.

Pretty neat Canadian short film, minus the subtitles, I  don't know why they're there.

This has a real nice creep factor to it. Nicely done...

James

There are a ton over at MoviePoet. Search for the Short Films contests and you can watch them there.

That is, Black Hole is my favorite. Short, simple, and brilliantly done.

I also like Side Effects.

Here's one I stumbled upon at craigslist.  Very effective for what it is:

Evil Instincts: Benicio Del Toro - Directed by Nadav Kander from Gentlemans Quarterly on Vimeo.

Phil

This is what drove me to start writing...



Love it.

Can't find the embed option in YouTube, but this one is fantastic: http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=SGfyxzJacLI