8 Most Disturbing Horror Short Movies
6. Wild
Springing from the mind of Dutch filmmaker Jan Verdijk, 2018’s Wild follows a family of three, Toine, Iris and son Jacco, as they spend a “relaxing” vacation in the south Netherlands. Things start to go awry during a disagreement over some barbecued wild meats; here the father of the family is implied to be abusive having also lashed out at his son earlier in the flick. Iris advises him to take a walk in the woods alone and what unfolds over the remaining four minutes simply leaves your jaw on the floor.
Blackly comic and utterly nightmarish, Wild combines elements of family drama and surrealist horror. For such a short film, it spends a commendable amount of time giving you a feel for the setting and its characters. It makes the film all the more disturbing when the relatively relaxed atmosphere is shattered in the film’s final act
Themes covered by this beautifully demented flick include abuse, karmic justice, dehumanization and the ethics of consumption. Whilst Verdijk’s portrayal of these themes is anything but subtle, Wild still manages to be gorgeous looking, funny and disturbing all at once. The final shot of the credits is literally *chef’s kiss*.