Give Your Attention Span a Break With These 7 Short Sci-Fi and Horror Movies

Sometimes , you ’re in the humor forthree minute of Marvel superheroes , or90 minutes of battles in Westeros . Other meter … doesn’t a tight - paced curt film that make you laugh , think , or pipe up in terror ( or some combination thereof ) sound kind of nice for a change ? If that ’s the case , io9 has you cover .

Here ’s our latest round - up of excellent genre shorts , none of which operate over 15 minutes . ( Many do have NSFW speech , so be aware if you ’re blasting ’em through your speakers . )

1) Singularity Stories Vol. 1

Where will you be when computers become self - cognizant and start rebelling against their human masters ? In Colleen ’s case , she ’s just chilling out at home , really want to hear Alexa ardor up some easygoing pop music . Asa Derks ’ short — which is really just a well - directed conversation between one woman and her AI gadget — go bad to some existential places , but it also has a great meter roast the crap out of Bruno Mars . [ viaShort of the Week ]

2) “The Astronauts” Episode 1

Set adrift in blank after their ship explodes , a brace of dorky spaceman ( play by Colin Burgess and Tynan DeLong ) take caudex of their situation : Their space suit are charged enough to keep them alive for a while , but all-fired it sucks to have lost all their stuff with the ship . Oh , and they ’ll miss that third spaceman , though he did have an annoying habit of humming Eagles Sung . Graham Mason ’s first short in a series ( this first entry is by far the longest , at just under four minutes ) may be somewhat obviously low - budget , but it also proves that clever authorship , just cast , and creative sound design can make all the deviation . you could watch more misadventures with Kurt and Roy by look into out the rest of “ The Astronauts ” episodesright here . [ iaVimeo Staff Picks ]

3) On/Off

Here ’s a very different sort of astronaut narrative . On a space place orbiting Earth , Meredith ( Carole Brana ) has a nut - out moments before she ’s set to do a spacewalk . If that seems ominous — especially considering she simmer down herself down by injecting … something … into her neck — it only gets bad , as her attention drifts from the task at hand ( not ideal in any hazardous situation , much less in space ) into first blissful abandon and then white-hot - live panic . Suffice to say , all is not what it seems in Thierry Lorenzi ’s short . [ ViaDust ]

4) How to Be Alone

https://vimeo.com/316912477

5) Quitter

Quitting smoke is notoriously hard . But do the tremendous wellness benefits of kicking your nicotine addiction overbalance the possibility of losing your mind in the process ? In Lee Boxleitner and Sam Boxleitner ’s horror short , Jenna turns to hypnosis to rid herself of the itch to ignite up , which seems like an effective program until she realizes she may have also unlock something very sinister in her subconscious .

6) Twin Islands

This whimsical animated fable ( co - directed by Manon Sailly , Lara Cochetel , Raphaël Huot , Christine Jaudoin , Charlotte Sarfati and Fanny Teisson ) envisage a pair of island land , create by god to be ruled by generations of twin brothers with one very specific requisite : perfect symmetry between the lands . Or else . When one of the queens gives nascence to a individual infant , her despairing husband tries to figure out how to salve their baby without angering the gods . [ viaVimeo Staff Picks ]

7) Special Day

Teal Greyhavens ’ little begins at Emily ’s eighteenth birthday party , as her family excitedly gathers to let her in on a little enigma : Like all of her congenator , she ’ll soon have “ a new friend ” of her very own , someone with some very specific noesis about Emily . Her family thinks it ’ll assist her succeed in lifetime , but Emily is n’t quite sure she agree . And just when she ’s starting to grasp what it all means … circumstances take a sudden , terrifying twist . [ viaAlter ]

For more , make certain you ’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom .

AnimationHorrorMaika MonroeSci - FiShort Filmsvimeo

Maika Monroe in How to Be Alone.