10 Scariest Short Horror Films You've Probably Never Seen

From the mind of British avant-garde director John Smith, The Black Tower begins with an unnamed narrator (Smith) noticing the titular building while out for a walk. Its imposing presence within the London skyline is what catches the narrator’s eye, although they don’t remember ever seeing it before.

From here, the tower appears to the narrator in various locations as they go about their daily life. Nobody else acknowledges the tower’s existence, and the building seems to operate by its own strange and unknowable logic.

There's an element of cosmic horror to this film as the narrator becomes equally obsessed and terrified of the landmark as the days and weeks go on, with an uneasy atmosphere gradually pulling audiences into this peculiar and fantastical mystery.

Primarily presented in a series of still images and voice over, this short is like a surreal storybook that only grows progressively weirder. And as offbeat and puzzling as things become, Smith manages to inject a wry playfulness into The Black Tower.

Alongside the increasingly odd circumstances that the narrator finds themselves in, the filmmaker’s experimentation with sound and editing creates some unexpected punchlines - and it's only something this creatively strange that a building can be an effective horror villain.