get a minute ? Got 10 minutes , more like ? We ’ve gathered 10 late sci - fi , horror , phantasy , and recreate shorts , range from low - budget endeavour by emerging filmmakers to more professionally polished works . Two thing they all have in common : They ’re all very brief , and they ’re all extremely entertaining . Enjoy !

1) The Lake

This animated short by single - named filmmaker Gunner time in at just under two minutes — but it ’s still quite reminiscent , using a racy black - and - blue pallet ( with a soda water of T. H. White on that expressive optic ) to depict a hugger-mugger moonlight swimming that take a sudden , wondrous bit . [ viaVimeo Staff pick ]

2) Progress Bar

“ This film was written by a human … however , the character Lexi ’s duologue was generated by AI . ” With that opening textual matter to prepare you , Peter McCoubrey ’s film immediately plunge into its story of a individual gallon , her AI virtual help , and a client - service rep tiredly toiling for a see app . The AI - script duologue is canny , and it adds a layer of machination to Lexi ’s nipping exchange . But Progress Bar is more than just a gimmick — it shows a future tense that manages to continue hilariously terrene even with all the mellow - technical school embellishment . What exactly does a “ Frozen Pizza Nite ” taper smell like , anyway ?

3) It Happened on Orchard Street

Scott Jeschke ’s eerie shortsighted hold its time revealing incisively what happen on Orchard Street , but make it open from the very beginning that it was something very , very defective . Like , retribution - from - beyond - the - tomb bad . Even without any dialog , the pieces of the puzzle still come together pretty fast — for the consultation , that is . The misfortunate protagonist is not so lucky .

4) L1ZY

Like Progress Bar , this is another taradiddle of an AI - power personal help — but Lexi ai n’t get nothing on L1ZY . In this dark comedy , a dorky suburban category excitedly activate their brand name - new , AI - powered personal assistant ( “ It gets impertinent the more we use it!”)—but shortly find the chipper equipment has turned itself into an invasive specie that has gained waaaaay too much power over their lives . This short from directorial duo John Carlucci and Brandon LaGanke ( a.k.a . Ghost + Cow ) was made in junction with Big Data , an electronic music undertaking whose cheeky name suggest the Black Mirror vibes on display here are no accident . [ viaShort of the workweek ]

5) Time Is a Place

A man and a charwoman have vivid dreams about each other — endearing , passionate , rolling - around - on - the - beach dream — but they ’ve never met in mortal . Or have they ? As Tim Nackashi ’s dreamlike Time Is a Place investigates , the deep connecter they divvy up duad a chasm they can seemingly never hybridise . The short is n’t quite long enough to dig too deep into their quandary , but it leaves quite the impression all the same . [ viaDust ]

6) Reverse

We ’ve featured Josh Tanner ’s film before ( see : The LandingandThe Rizzle ) , but his latest may be his most tense creative activity yet . Reverse fill a intimate horror movie band - up — a lone gadget driver , a abandoned parking garage , the eery signified that something ’s ambuscade in the shadows — and dribble it through a car ’s many gamy - technical school sensors , which repeatedly assure our unassuming motorist ( whose mode quickly escalates from “ Meh … must be a bug ” to “ HOLY CRAP ! ” ) that he ’s not as alone as he retrieve he is .

7) How Have You Been?

Heather Colbert ’s short about a solitary , cave - dwelling creature who finds a acquaintance just when it needs one the most also fall out to be a euphony video for British singer - songwriter Tom Rosenthal . The pipe down , pensive air is lovely , but you ’ll mostly be focused on the wizardly blend of drawn and stop over - motion animation . [ viaEverything quicken ]

8) Mikus

From the repulsion - loving peeps who brought youWhere Is It?andYour Date Is Here(both drawers antecedently featured on io9 ) come Mikus , written and direct by Todd Spence and Zak White . If that thumbnail below is already making you nervous , wait until you see the whole short — it runs just under four minute and it builds to a hell of a ending . Without spoiling anything , it divvy up some idea with the most late season of Channel Zero , The Dream Door , summarized quite well by its tagline : “ Your puerility is a dangerous thing to leave . ”

9) Scrambled

After a mucilage - snapping girl just miss her train , she plops down to take the time with a game on her phone … that is , until a sweet dogged plaything from the moth-eaten analog retiring get her aid . If all Rubik ’s Cubes were this endearing — the animation , oversee by writer / manager Bastiaan Schravendeel , is bare but very efficient — they never would ’ve go out of style . [ viaShort of the Week ]

10) Crave

settle in a crumble mansion , a deep humankind receives clients who ’ve sought him out for a very specific intention . To say much more would impair the reveals in Carl Shanahan ’s short , which thankfully lets the looker connect the back breaker without over - excuse everything . But suffice to say Crave puts a novel spin on a traditional repulsion monster — one that ’s sombre alternatively of malevolent .

For more , verify you ’re play along us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom .

AnimationFantasyHorrorSci - FiShort Films

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