8 Most Disturbing Horror Short Movies
4. Man On A Train
Set over five minutes of sweat-inducing tension, Man On A Train follows a young woman as she is watched by a creepy weirdo on an empty train carriage. With a simple setup and airtight execution, writer/director Jack Shanks does a lot with his straightforward concept.
From the start of the piece, we see Esme, portrayed by a subtly brilliant Tomeka Mortimer, board a train despite deep-rooted anxiety. She checks out her window and, looking back, suddenly finds herself alone.
That is, except, for a lone man at the end of the carriage staring at her; the nauseating glimpses of this character tells us something is very clearly ‘off’. Over what feels like hours but only lasts seconds, the man makes his way closer and closer to Esme’s seat, the tension rising to unbearable levels as fear roots her to the spot.
Shank cleverly plays with deep anxieties some of us have felt during travel; missing our stop, the fear of strangers and the evil intentions of bad people. This tense atmosphere is compounded by the tragic reality many women face when simply just existing in public. There are clear themes of female harassment presented to us during this intense little movie, all nightmarishly handled without a drop of blood or single jumpscare.