Zombies, Vampires & Pumpkins | Horror Shorts for Adults – review

Director: Daniel Rübesam (segment)

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers


This is an anthology film made up of pre-filmed shorts and, as a whole unit, is not on IMDb at the point of writing.

However it is a shame as the anthology (released on Amazon video on demand) actually looks to bring some strong, well produced shorts together. Whilst some are self-contained and some surreal, others, like Pandora – the short that contains vampires – are more a prelude for something bigger.

losing fangs

Before I begin with the look at Pandora I do want to mention the wonderful short Dead Hearts, which was directed by Stephen W. Martin and originally released in 2014. A surreal look into the life of Milton Mulberry (Valin Shinyei, Sanctuary), child mortician and doomed lover, who is beaten by his enemy’s gang. The leader, Harold (Duncan Templeton), and the Slaughtered Lambs, wear werewolf masks and, when we first see them attack Milton he is dressed as a vampire and loses his plastic fangs. This was the short in the anthology I had seen before but it was a delight and has someone acting (or dressing, at least) as a vampire.

searching

As for Pandora, it is a 14-minute short and was released in 2017. It is set in a post-apocalyptic future were an event (which sounded awfully like a pandemic) has killed millions and altered millions more, leaving humanity as an endangered species. When things start, we see resistance soldiers Sherman (Sarah Alles), Matt (Joshua Grothe) and an unnamed (and rather doomed) third in a corridor, weapons raised. The third is grabbed and dragged off at high speed and the other two shine lights to reveal what appears to be a bat-like creature.

bat creature

The short then cuts to Matt getting instructions and a mission briefing from Miller (Errol Trotman-Harewood). They are looking for a girl, a subject of prophecy, called Pandora (Thekla Hartmann). Apparently gifted with powers she could change the world. Back in the mission Sherman and Matt split up and scout in different directions. Matt ends up in a tiled room where he finds a corpse but is soon attacked by a more human looking vampire.

vampire

Probably the only other thing to mention around the story is that a vampire can be killed by having a pipe pushed through the cranium but we get very little other lore (bar the suggestion that Pandora might be a half breed of human and vampire) but this is a nicely put together short. However, its failing probably lies in the fact that it really does feel like the opening scenes from a much larger vehicle and so feels like it isn’t self-contained. Not a reason to not watch it, though, and it is one of a number of worthwhile shorts in this vehicle. 6 out of 10.

As the anthology doesn’t have an IMDb page I’ll link to the short’s imdb page, which is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK