Much it is for comedy, brevity is a friend of horror. It's a genre where punchiness is key, and that's extremely difficult in movies that go over the 120 minute mark. With that in mind, I present you a new horror short called Tuck Me In - which is based on a two-sentence long scary story and clocks in at a tight 60 seconds long:
This short was directed by Ignacio F. Rodó, and it recently won this year's international Filminute Award (opens in new tab), but perhaps the most interesting thing about it is its inspiration. About a year ago, a user took to the AskReddit forum making a simple request: they wanted to hear the best horror stories users could come up with in just two sentences. The top submission - which now has 6,038 upvotes - was written by Juan J Ruiz (username justAnotherMuffledVo), and can be found in its entirety below:
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.”
A damn effective story, and one well-adapted by Rodó!
While Ruiz's story is certainly fantastic, it is actually one of many amazing ones featured on the Ask Reddit page - and filmmakers desperate for inspiration would have a field day with some of the entries. For example, this one - from user cobaltcollapse - managed to send about three chills down my spine in succession. It would take some good makeup, special effects and talented actors, but it could be horrifying
After working a hard day I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn't know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there.
Like Ruiz's, this next one from comparativelysane also deals with parents, children, and creepy duplicates, but it could have two really cool scares if done properly:
You hear your mom calling you into the kitchen. As you are heading down the stairs you hear a whisper from the closet saying "Don't go down there honey, I heard it too."
This last one from jmperson would also need a good amount of special effects, but I like the narrative twist to it and that it could provide a good mix of both horror and terror:
The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams.I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06, I heard my closet door creak open.
Feel free to use the comments section to give us your own two sentence horror story!
