With Halloween just hours away, today feels like the perfect time to announce the winner and two finalists of our inaugural Nightmare Shorts competition. Launched in early August, the initiative was designed not only to unearth some exciting new horror shorts in time for Halloween, but also to help champion the next generation of genre storytellers.

With almost 100 horror and horror-adjacent submissions to consider, choosing a winner was no easy task. Thankfully, our jury - three of the most exciting names in genre filmmaking, Caleb Phillips (Other Side of the Box), Nikyatu Jusu (Suicide by Sunlight) and Rob Savage (Dawn of the Deaf) - found time in their busy schedules (Savage was in the midst of releasing his latest feature, Other Mommy, while watching contenders) to deliberate, ultimately reaching a unanimous decision.

So, if you’re looking for something scary to watch this Halloween, why not take a recommendation from our jury of horror experts? Read on to discover the short film that won them over, alongside the two finalists that made our inaugural competition such a success.

zar-horror-short-film

Winner: Zar by Daler Murzagali

Winner of Short of the Week’s first-ever Nightmare Shorts competition, Daler Murzagali’s Zar is a Kazakh horror film that transforms the very real fear of child abuse into a chilling supernatural tale. When an abusive music teacher uses a mystical kobyz, a traditional Kazakh folk instrument, to exert control over his students, Murzagali builds an atmosphere of mounting dread through striking visuals, assured production design and an imposing central performance. Eschewing special effects and cheap jump scares, Zar is a deeply unsettling reminder of just how effective horror can be when rooted in real-world fears.

“Zar immersed me in its protagonist’s experience of puberty and menstruation so completely. Through its framing, breath, color, performances, and an evolving score with a character arc of its own, I felt her discomfort in every fiber of my physical being.” - Nightmare Shorts juror Nikyatu Jusu

▶︎ Read our Review and Watch the Full Film

***

knitting-club-short-film

Finalist: Knitting club by Diogo Abrantes + João Rito

Synopsis: Miguel, a delivery man, drops off red yarn at a knitting club. When three eager grannies insist he stays for tea, he discovers their next masterpiece won't be knitted. It'll be him.

Director's Statement: In our modern world of fast deliveries and disposable culture, our short Knitting Club asks: what if tradition fought back? Miguel represents everything contemporary. Speed, technology, instant gratification. The three grandmothers represent Portuguese artisanal craft, slow, patient, eternal. When these worlds collide, the horror isn't supernatural. It's the realisation that the old ways never truly die. They just wait, needles ready, for the next generation to walk through the door. This is folk horror in its purest form: tradition as predator, craft as weapon, and "handmade with love" as the most terrifying promise of all.

This short was made in partnership with MOTELX, Lisbon’s international horror film festival. As part of a screenwriting competition, the winning script was awarded the opportunity to be produced and directed by us. We shot it in Lisbon over two days, capturing almost all the visual effects practical and in-camera. The only post-production VFX were the background eyes on the sweaters at the end. Over the past year, the short has had an incredible festival run, screening at more than 40 festivals worldwide, primarily in horror but spanning other genres as well.

▶︎ Watch the trailer | Filmmaker Website

***

urei-horror-short-film

Finalist: Ürei by Yerkezhan Baizhan

Synopsis: When a frail grandmother is left to babysit a toddler, the worst-case scenario unfolds. A creepy tale from Kazakhstan, based on a chilling true story.

Director's Statement: One day, when I was five years old, my parents left me alone with my grandmother, who had cancer. I spent most of the time telling her stories and showing her my toys. When my parents returned home, I was watching cartoons in the living room. Suddenly, I heard my mom screaming in my grandma's room. I don't remember much after that, except the paramedics arriving at our house. In the days that followed, many people came to see my grandma in her room, which I was forbidden to enter. No one had explained death to me, so it seemed as though my grandmother had simply stopped living with us.

It was only when I grew up that I realized my grandmother had died on the day I was left alone with her. I don't know how long I had been playing with her body after she died. That must be why I became fascinated with everything related to death and loss.

This film is about helplessness, the loss of family values, and how we take our loved ones for granted and fail to appreciate them while they're still around. It also shows how a child can sometimes face something that is difficult even for an adult to handle. And yes, I believe that children can see and communicate with ghosts. I think a child's worldview isn't as simple or as innocent as we tend to believe.

Feature Adaptation: Since making the short film Baizhan has developed the premise into a feature, which has been playing festivals throughout 2026. You can read reviews of the film on Collider, Fangoria and The Hollywood News