Our Winners: The 1st Annual BASH—Buff Awards for Short Horror!

I discovered the vast array of horror short films on YouTube when we did Halfway2Halloween last April. These amateur indie flicks proved to be creative, effective, and scary. Averaging under ten minutes in length, they’re economically told. The range is suspense, thriller, horror and even slasher. Nothing is off limits.

In honor of these films, we present the first annual BASH Awards (Buff Awards for Short Horror)

BEST ACTING

Maika Monroe in “How to Die Alone” and Laura Jane Turner in “Curve.”

Maika Monroe is good at playing disturbed characters. She has a certain look that can’t be taught. Her narrations are perfection ass her character plods into a psychotic meltdown.

Likewise, Laura Jane Turner turns a simple performance into a memorable one in “Curve.” She plays the part with sincerity, with believable reactions and real terror.

They split the BASH award.

BEST SCREAM QUEEN

Jamie Taylor Ballesta in “The Changing Room”

There’s an art to playing a scream queen in a horror film. Jamie Lee Curtis has made a career of it. Maybe its in the name, as Jamie Taylor Ballesta proves in “The Changing Room.” In four minutes, she plays the nameless character with raw emotions and a perfect range of playful to terrified.

BEST SHORT

“Toe” wins the coveted BASH for Best Short.

Clocking in at 7 minutes, “Toe” is a masterful work of art. This stop-motion animated flick has a chilling sound and surreal presentation. Filmmakers Neal O’Bryan and Chad Thurman serve as directors and animators, with O’Bryan handling the brilliant cinematography. It’s the animations that give us goosebumps as we watch. This horror short has a haunting aesthetic that will leave you with a state of dread, and hoping for more.