Before they terrified audiences worldwide, these horror classics began as humble short films! Join us as we count down our picks for horror movies that started as small projects before becoming big-screen nightmares. From viral sensations to cult classics, these films prove sometimes the scariest ideas come in small packages.
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most popular horror movies that began their lives as amateur short films.
00:15Number 10, The Evil Dead.
00:17We're gonna get you, we're gonna get you, not another piece.
00:25Before Bruce Campbell was chainsawing Deadites into Pulp, Sam Raimi was just a scrappy film student with a crazy idea.
00:32Raimi's short, Within the Woods, was a 30-minute proof of concept made for $1,600 with the hope of impressing financers and getting a feature-length movie produced.
00:41It starred Raimi's childhood buddy, Bruce Campbell, as an unlucky camper who falls upon some trouble, and its rough, low-budget gore did indeed convince investors that there was something there.
00:55To possess the living.
00:57Although by Raimi's own account, he had to do a bit of begging, that gamble paid off.
01:02The Evil Dead became a cult phenomenon, and spawned a huge franchise, not to mention Raimi's career.
01:07Without this little short, we might have never gotten the groovy king of campy horror.
01:11All of you will be like me, and then who will lock you up in a shower?
01:18Number 9, Skinnamarink.
01:25Kyle Edward Ball didn't start out aiming for theaters.
01:28He originally built an online following through the YouTube channel, Bite-Sized Nightmares, in which he would visually recreate people's scary dreams.
01:35His 2020 short film, Heck, distilled that eerie, liminal childhood dread into 30 minutes of unsettling imagery.
01:42The short film, and its minimalist approach, became the blueprint for Skinnamarink, a full-length feature about two kids trapped in a house that is plagued by nightmare logic, including missing parents and disappearing doors.
02:12Thanks to word-of-mouth hype and TikTok virality, the feature became a micro-budget sensation, grossing $2.1 million on a budget of just $15,000.
02:23Turns out, translating universal childhood fears into movies is terrifyingly effective.
02:28She said she wanted her to die.
02:31Number 8, Trick-or-Treat.
02:46You must really like Halloween.
02:48You mean Sawwind?
02:50Sam the sack-headed Halloween enforcer is now a horror icon, but before that, he was just a little cartoon guy in Michael Dougherty's 1996 animated short, Season's Greetings.
02:59This two-minute cartoon introduced Sam as we know him, complete with his orange onesie and burlap sack.
03:05About 10 years after the short was released, Warner Bros. let Dougherty expand the concept into an anthology film and gave him $12 million to do so.
03:18While the movie was straight to DVD and failed to make much of an impact at first, it slowly became a cult classic and is now a Halloween staple.
03:26Who knew a doodle of a creepy kid with a pumpkin head could grow into one of horror's most beloved mascots?
03:31Trick-or-Treat.
03:35Number 7, Oculus.
03:37I've met my demons.
03:39And they have many.
03:40I've seen.
03:42I've seen the devil.
03:44And he is me.
03:46He is me.
03:47Mike Flanagan is now one of the leading names in horror, having done a ton of popular Netflix shows and movies like Dr. Sleep.
03:53But everyone has to start somewhere.
03:55Flanagan made the short, Oculus Chapter 3, The Man with the Plan, back in 2006.
03:59And it featured just one actor in a single room with a mirror.
04:03Time out's over.
04:05Are you shy?
04:07I got backups.
04:09Own backups.
04:10And you're on candid cameras.
04:11So let's dance.
04:12The short was widely acclaimed and quickly generated interest, eventually attracting the attention of intrepid pictures.
04:18They helped Flanagan expand the movie into a feature-length release, and he got about $5 million to do so.
04:24And while the director had trouble expanding the story, he did an admirable job.
04:28Oculus received good reviews and grossed $44 million.
04:31You could say this mirror reflected a bright future.
04:34It's about to ship out to a new buyer, so we only have a few days.
04:37That should be enough.
04:40A few days for what, Kaylee?
04:42Number 6, When a Stranger Calls.
04:45Have you checked the children?
04:51Robert, I don't think this is very funny.
04:53Do you know that terrifying urban legend about the killer calling a babysitter from inside the house?
04:58It was already a popular tale, but it got even more popular thanks to the first 20 minutes of When a Stranger Calls,
05:03arguably the most famous part of the entire movie.
05:05The opening scene is based on director Fred Walton's 1977 short, The Sitter.
05:10What do you want?
05:15Your blood all over me.
05:22Shot for $12,000, the short perfectly captured the tension of a babysitter being stalked over the phone.
05:28Despite a very limited release, it impressed producers Barry Croost and Douglas Chapin,
05:33who convinced Walton to stretch the story into a full cat-and-mouse thriller.
05:36While the rest of the movie doesn't quite measure up, that opening sequence is simply iconic.
05:40Number 5, The Babadook.
05:50You can bring me the boy.
05:54You can bring me the boy.
05:56Director Jennifer Ken introduced the terrifying titular creature in her 2005 short, Monster.
06:01With Ken herself referring to it as Baby Babadook, Monster explored a child's fear of a lurking presence in the dark.
06:07There's nothing simpler than that.
06:09Ken later reimagined the idea, deepened the themes, and expanded the story into The Babadook,
06:14a deeply unsettling allegory for loss, parenting, and mental illness, with one unforgettable monster.
06:25The short gave Kent the proof she needed to secure funding for her first feature,
06:31and with a little help from the government of South Australia, she made her now-famous movie,
06:36which went on to win international acclaim and many awards.
06:47Number 4, Mama.
06:49Daddy, there's a woman outside.
06:52If there's one person you should thank for the wonderfully creepy Mama,
07:02it's writer-director Annie Muschietti.
07:04And if there's a second person you should thank, it's Guillermo del Toro.
07:07Muschietti's 2008 short, Mama, was only three minutes long,
07:10but it left a huge impression, especially thanks to the chilling design of the titular character.
07:14No!
07:15No!
07:15No!
07:17Del Toro, himself a fan of creepy supernatural ghoulies,
07:31loved it so much, he offered to produce the feature-length adaptation.
07:34So in came his company, Double Dare You,
07:37which helped Muschietti expand the story of orphaned girls clinging to a supernatural mother.
07:41The movie was a huge hit, and launched Muschietti's career,
07:44leading to further opportunities like the It films,
07:46not bad for a three-minute calling card.
07:48There's no rational explanation that supports this theory,
07:51but it is only the ability to embrace a different reality
07:55that makes science expand beyond the limits of what we know.
07:59Number 3, Lights Out.
08:01Mom, we are talking about a dead person.
08:06Oh, sweetie.
08:11Ghosts aren't real.
08:13Then what is she?
08:17This one's a modern classic of viral horror.
08:20In 2013, Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg made a two-and-a-half-minute short
08:24where a woman sees a shadowy figure that only appears when the lights are off.
08:28Simple, but terrifying.
08:30The short quickly blew up online,
08:32proving that, oftentimes, the simplest ideas are often the most universal.
08:36Producers noticed the virality, including James Wan,
08:38and before long, Sandberg had himself a featured deal with Wan's production company,
08:43Atomic Monster.
08:44Lights Out was just that at the box office,
08:46grossing nearly $150 million.
08:48Sandberg happily rode that success,
08:50going on to have a very successful career
08:52directing the likes of Annabelle Creation and Shazam.
08:55Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we still don't know if the shoot is bulletproof or if you are.
09:02Shoot him in the face.
09:02Shoot me in the face.
09:03In the face?
09:04Number 2, Smile.
09:06I just want to have a chat.
09:08I promise, this is a safe place.
09:11Not for me.
09:13This is a rare case when a short film actually acts as a prequel to its own feature-length movie,
09:17and is technically considered canon.
09:19Written and directed by Parker Finn,
09:21Laura Hasn't Slept runs 11 minutes long,
09:23and concerns one Laura Weaver,
09:25who talks to her therapist about a recurring nightmare.
09:27Visually, it was incredible.
09:29That's what drew me to it.
09:34Paramount saw huge franchise potential,
09:36and gave the short the theatrical treatment.
09:38Good call.
09:39With a $17 million budget,
09:41it grossed $217 million.
09:43They even brought back Laura,
09:45who reprises her role in the prologue of the movie,
09:47having been consumed by the entity.
09:49Thanks to a solid promise,
09:50and some clever viral marketing,
09:52Smile was a huge hit,
09:53and a third movie is currently in development.
09:55Now there's something to smile about.
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10:22It's amazing how many careers were made by Saw,
10:37but before everyone knew names like James Wan,
10:39Lee Whannell,
10:40and Tobin Bell,
10:41there was just a scrappy short with a weird prop.
10:43Saw was essentially a proof-of-concept scene,
10:46showing Whannell's character stuck inside a reverse bear trap.
10:48It was grimy and cheap,
10:58but the talent was obvious,
11:00and it caught the attention of some producers.
11:02They offered to fund the movie for $1 million,
11:04and Wan and Whannell would receive full creative control,
11:07and 25% of the net profits.
11:09What a deal!
11:10Saw grossed $104 million,
11:12and launched one of the biggest horror franchises of all time.
11:15From scrappy short to global phenomenon,
11:17Saw is the ultimate horror Cinderella story.
11:23Have you checked out the original short films?
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