10 Creepy Animated Horror Shorts To Watch This Halloween

If it wasn't animated, it'd probably be banned.

Spook Train
YouTube, @Lee Hardcastle

With many young people now growing up in the internet age, and YouTube having been a staple of the internet landscape for the past decade and a half, it's unsurprising that the practice of telling scary stories that's been around since the dawn of humanity now comes with the added bonus of creepy videos - of which there are many.

Some of the best ones, if you ask anyone growing up in the 2000s however, have to be the animated ones. The creepy, the weird, the disgusting, the downright terrifying - these are the shorts that would've been banned or demonetised on the site in 2019 if they were live action.

Showcasing the raw talents of the most disturbed and creative artists, and a lot more unique that what many horror buffs are used to seeing, this is the kind of creepy, spooky stuff worth checking out. While there are more than a few others worthy of the attention of avid horror fans, this batch of ten creepy, horrifying and harrowing (and sometimes funny) short films is a good place to start.

10. Haunt

A stop motion student film by emperorglenuff, this short's subject matter isn't nearly as creepy as the actual doll that plays its main character, with its empty, black eyes just staring right into your soul.

It's not just the creepy doll, though. The atmosphere, the uncomfortable movement of the stop motion, and the oppressively closed-in feel of the little doll house and the dark forest outside all work together beautifully, masterful in their simplicity. There's something equally oppressive about the silence, the aged tone of the film, like it was made in the '80s under mysterious and untraceable circumstances, rather than by a student in the 2000s. All of its unsettling elements come together to make an impressively creepy student film, one that will scare many kids, and even some adults, alike.

It's amazing what one person can get up to with the tools and the time, and this short is a great example of that. Those eyes were an especially shudder-inducing touch.

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Spook Train
 
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Contributor

Writer, artist, professional animator. Indie comics and Hi Nay podcast creator. Queer Filipino storyteller || @MotzieD on Twitter || Originally from Quezon City, The Philippines. Currently based in Toronto, Canada || motziedapul.com