Mile High Horror – 10 Indie Shorts
Mile High Horror is a film festival in Denver, CO. that got its start in 2010. It’s mission ‘to showcase the very best genre films from around the world.’ The annual Mile High Horror Festival takes place in the fall while also hosting other events throughout the year. Citadel by Ciaran Foy won Best Feature Film in 2012 and in 2013 We Are What We Are and Haunter were some of their featured films. Currently for rent on Amazon you can check out ten great short films from the Mile High Horror Festival and brought to you by Indie Rights.
If you like watching movies as much as I do chances are you’re growing tired of seeing the same ideas remade over and over. That is why I am always looking for something new and am happy to have stumbled upon these shorts. Short films are where a lot of movies start. They are brought to life at hundreds of film festivals across the globe. Short films help bring new filmmakers into the foreground, allowing fresh ideas to play out on screen and gain attention from a wider audience.
Check out what these 10 shorts have to offer!
Gillespie – Directed by John Gibson
Knock knock, who’s there? Oh no one but a bible toting lunatic and his twin brother. This little rapture tells a tale of sin. It’s not the exaltation we have all come to know; the one where the pure are saved from hell on earth. Instead your sins are what bring death to your door in a black and white piece that grants no forgiveness.
You can’t escape these door-to-door messengers!
46 Miles – Directed by Brad Stabio
Here is one good reason why you shouldn’t hitchhike – Serial Killers. We take the backseat on a ride through the countryside with an unlikely duo. Having only met each other through chance they discover they have a lot more in common than originally anticipated.
Loyal to their ways it’s either ‘my way or the highway’ for this hitchhiker and his lonely highway companion.
Certified – Directed by Luke Asa Guidici
The route is new for this mailman and the neighbors are friendly; some friendly enough to invite you inside, offer you a coca cola and tell you a tale of love, loss and zombies? Going postal is taken to a whole new level when the mailman gets an uninvited surprise. I’m guessing we won’t be seeing him around these parts any time soon.
And I thought I was gullible…
Velvet Road – Directed by L. Gustavo Cooper
An infection is spreading in a different place in time, where those who were persecuted for the color of their skin were the first to be accused. Everyone is dying. Families are being torn apart and it is only just the beginning. Would you risk your life to save the one you love even if they were already dead?
Zombies don’t discriminate.
Nursery Crimes – Directed by L. Whyte
Little Bo Peep lost her sheep…you won’t believe what happened to them. A stop motion and 2D animation with a not so innocent twist on those childhood nursery rhymes singed into our memories. The narration of this short is reminiscent of readings I’ve heard of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.
Jack didn’t stand a chance.
Bunny Boy – Directed by Brandon Laganke
What would you do if you found a sedentary rabbit on your walk to school? Poke it with a stick or try to nourish the poor helpless animal? Maybe you should just keep on walking. This silent short speaks volumes about stranger dangers and how at any moment one’s life can be changed forever.
If he would have just left that costumed man rabbit alone…
A Little Off the Top – Directed by Adam O’Brien
Some life lessons are learned the hard way. When you have everything in life but fail to give anything in return, you’re usually the one who ends up suffering. Take a seat in this hairstylists chair for some words of wisdom and a hairdo worth dying for. His technique is cutting edge and will make your hair stand on end.
Skull caps are in, right?
Incubator – Directed by Jimmy Weber
Waking up in a hotel room bathtub filled with ice, awesome. Discovering that someone has performed surgery on you and left you with a foot-long set of surgical staples as a souvenir; even more so. Panic comes quickly once you realize that you’re not only sealed inside this hotel room but that you are also not alone. Something stirs inside you.
This is worse than losing a kidney!
White Room – Directed by Chris Chitaroni
Another stop motion animation short, this one using mismatched dolls to tell a story about monsters in closets; only this time you’ll never guess who the monster actually is. It’s like Robot Chicken meets Cube meets Devil with a smidge of Cthulhu. Remember that time you used G.I. Joe to murder Barbie? Yeah, this is that. She had it coming.
I just love the blood.
The Table – Directed by Shane Free
This is the last short of the group but certainly my favorite. History has documented all sorts of strange contraptions built for various reasons and The Table showcases one of them. The execution alone is severe but the road to the sentencing is simple and precise. I have to say though; it’s a pretty sweet table. Anyone want to try it out?
Curiosity killed the cat you know.
So there you have it, The Mile High Horror 10 Indie Shorts! A gentle mix of creativity and costly decisions, the horror in these shorts is subtle and not always what you’d expect. The Mile High Horror Festival is already taking submissions for 2014 and with the track record they’ve had in just the last few years, I’m sure there will be more great shorts to come!

by Becky
Becky Hansen is an author and editor from the Seattle area who has recently focused her talents on critical review. She has quickly become our resident zombie authority as her knowledge on the subject is quite impressive. She's not only a writer of zombie fiction; she's also a very talented special effects makeup artist, and avid zombie movie enthusiast. Becky doesn't just limit herself to the walking dead, in fact she has a quite extensive knowledge of all things horror. More so she has a passion for all movies as well as music, games, and books, Everything that WatchPlayRead is about, which makes her the perfect addition.