Behind the Couch

Written and directed by Olivia Rose Beatty, Lived Once Buried Twice: The Legend of Margorie McCall  (2025) is a morbidly humorous short film which brings to life an old County Armagh folk tale about premature burial. It marks the directorial debut of Beatty, who grew up in Lurgan – the town where the tale originates. As the old yarn goes, some time in the 18th century a woman named Margorie McCall, who lived and worked in Lurgan, died after a brief fever. During her wake, mourners tried in vain to remove her wedding ring. Margorie was buried in Shankill Graveyard and, that very same night, was exhumed by robbers who had heard she was buried with her precious wedding ring. Also unable to remove the ring, the desperate ghouls tried to cut off Margorie’s finger. As soon as they began cutting, and the blood began flowing, Margorie awakened with an unearthly scream. Having scared off the graverobbers, Margorie proceeded to make her way home and give her husband the shock of his life... ...

Written and directed by Olivia Rose Beatty, this short film brings to life a spooky old folk tale from my hometown, Lurgan, County Armagh*. According to local legend, poor Margorie McCall died after a brief fever. At her wake there was much commotion concerning her wedding ring. Many of the mourners tried in vain to prise it from her finger, perhaps anticipating that grave robbers might attempt to steal it. Margorie was buried in Shankill Graveyard, and sure enough that very same night, her body was exhumed by robbers after her precious ring. Also unable to remove the ring, the ghouls tried to cut off Margorie’s finger, and as soon as they began cutting and the blood began to flow, Margorie awoke with an unearthly scream… Her headstone still stands in Shankill Graveyard to this day, and it bears the eerie inscription, 'Margorie McCall: Lived Once, Buried Twice.' This old tale has always been ripe for a filmic adaptation, and Beatty, in her directorial debut, has created a stri...

If you heard it ringing, would you be prepared to answer what lies at the other end of the telephone?  The Telephone is a brand new psychological horror short from Nine Ladies Film. Written and directed by Stuart Wheeldon, it stars Nigel Barber ( Mission Impossible 5, Spectre ), Bern Deegan ( Hideaways, The Honeymooners ) and Rachel Prince. Shot on location at The Black's Head pub in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, over three days in February 2016, The Telephone follows the story of Richard, a reporter, who, after receiving a strange letter and an ornamental glass fish, travels to a remote small town to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young woman. While staying in a room in the local pub, the last place the woman was seen alive, Richard is disturbed by an old telephone that seems to ring endlessly. A chance encounter with the spectral image of a young woman follows, plunging Richard into psychological mayhem. Is the ghostly figure seen late at night the missing girl? W...

2014 Dir. Melanie Light The Herd is an unshirkingly brutal, vegan-minded short which serves as a chilling metaphor for the inhumane treatment of cattle at the hands of the dairy industry. Hundreds of millions of these sentient creatures suffer and die every year as their bodies are treated like machines. Forcefully impregnated so they produce milk, they are pumped full of growth hormones to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk, and antibiotics to combat constant mastitis infections. When they are no longer able to lactate, they are destroyed. The Herd substitutes women for cattle and subjects them to the same horrendous processes as the average dairy cow as it delves into the everyday horrors of the dairy industry… Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review .

2009 Dir. Paul Synnott A woman hurts herself in the bathroom, but seems to show no signs of pain. How long will it take before the damage catches up with her? Shot on Super-8 film, Paul Synnott’s short film is a haunting and quietly upsetting rumination on the horror of human psychology. While the narrative is akin to peering into someone else’s nightmare, it is vaguely linear in form, and as it progresses, feelings of dread and unease reach out from dark, dank depths... Up close and personal camerawork proves very unsettling, disarming even, as we’re privy to a very private and painful moment. The lasting effect is a lingering, creepy one, as though we’ve intruded somewhere we shouldn’t have. Shades of early Polanski (think Repulsion ) and even a touch of Hooper (some of the editing calls to mind the opening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ) hint at Synnott’s influences, while the Super 8 film gives it the look and feel of something we shouldn’t be witnessing. Something un...

2013 Dir. Colin Clarke When a man ventures into the foreboding forest that surrounds his village to seek the help of a witch, their forbidden ritual is interrupted by witch hunter William Thatcher Blake. After sentencing the unfortunate pair to death for fraternising with the Dark Lord, Blake is cursed by the witch, and when he returns home, soon realises the full extent of her dark powers… Colin Clarke’s short film unveils itself as an atmospheric love letter to vintage Gothic horror. Witches, ancient rites, dark woods and violent revenge are swirled together in a cinematic cauldron that expertly conjures the spectres of bygone horror. With a distinctly old fashioned feel, there are nods to the likes of vintage Hammer, Michael Reeve’s Witchfinder General and the gloomy dread and sadism of classic Italian Gothic horror. One moment in particular - the scene depicting the unfortunate witch’s demise - pays homage to Mario Bava's Black Sunday/Mask of Satan ; right down to th...

A few months back I interviewed director Ryan Haysom about his short neo-giallo Yellow , the influence of by-gone Italian horror and the morbid allure of black leather gloved killers, glinting switchblades and bloody ultra-violence. With the film now screening at various festivals around the world, and going down a storm with critics and audiences alike, I thought it was as good a time as any to catch up with Mr Haysom and the makers of Yellow . Joining us in donning black leather gloves and talking about the film are cinematographer/writer Jon Britt and producer Catherine Morawitz. How did you come up with the story for Yellow ? HAYSOM : I am a big Italian horror fan and I’ve always wanted to make a giallo-styled film, so it’s always been in the back of my mind. Jon and I share a very similar experimental aesthetic when it comes to our ideas on cinema. When we decided to actually try and create a film, we were going in the same direction from the very start and it felt very or...

2012 Dir. Ryan Haysom Italian giallo films, made popular by the likes of Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Sergio Martino, are renowned for their brutal violence, dazzling style and convoluted ‘whodunit’ narratives. Immensely popular in Italy throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies, they eventually fizzled out of fashion. Throughout the past couple of years however they have appeared to make something of a comeback; specifically in terms of their influence on a new generation of filmmakers. Recent films such as Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Amer , Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio , Guillem Morales’ Julia’s Eyes and Federico Zampaglione’s Tulpa , highlight the impact the giallo has had on contemporary horror cinema, with its combination of exploitative violence and art house aesthetics. Another notable title to proudly wear its giallo influences on its blood-spattered sleeve is the short film, Yellow (directed by Ryan Haysom and produced by Catherine Morawit...

2012 Dir. Randal Plunkett When Robert (Conor Marren) awakens deep in the woods with a head wound and no memory of how he got there, he attempts to find help while memories of the recent past come flooding back to haunt him… Director Randal Plunkett’s brief but powerful tale hits the ground running and immediately draws us in with its sinister atmosphere and quietly smouldering tension. The early on sense of isolation and danger, together with the juxtaposition of the beautiful, sun-dappled woodlands and the macabre discoveries made within them, is a potent mix. The main focus of the narrative is Robert’s cautious, increasingly desperate exploration of his immediate surroundings, and his gradual realisation that something is wrong. Very wrong. Stumbling along old country lanes – like those ones in old Irish tales on which the devil is said to have been glimpsed - as the quiet around him relentlessly encroaches, he eventually happens on an old deserted farm; the only sound coming...

Italian giallo films are renowned for their brutal violence, dazzling style and convoluted ‘whodunit’ narratives. The combination of grind-house exploitation, art house aesthetics and bizarre fetishisation of violence, render the giallo a highly distinctive and unnerving cycle of films. The giallo is exclusively Italian and was initially popularized by Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage . The films began to lose their commercial appeal in the late Seventies, but recent films such as Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Amer , Guillem Morales’ Julia’s Eyes and Federico Zampaglione’s forthcoming Tulpa , to name but a few, highlight the overwhelming influence of the giallo on a new slew of international filmmakers. These ‘neo-gialli’ have sparked a resurgence of interest in the film cycle that looks set to continue with a new short film by Berlin-based filmmaker Ryan Haysom. Yellow is currently in production and looks set to draw heavily from the gialli of yesteryear, wit...

2011 Dir. Peter Ferris Shot in and around Belfast last winter, Cold Blood is the second instalment of an unfinished trilogy of short films. It follows the exploits of vampire Elias Mortenson (Peter Ferris) as he travels the world forcefully recruiting vampires under the guise of an acting coach. Working as a stand alone film, Cold Blood hinges on some fertile ideas – particularly in its exploration of the tribulations of a group of young people, unwillingly turned into vampires and attempting to resist their new blood-thirsty instincts (recalling the chilling plight of Claudia from Interview with the Vampire ). The makeshift family they create echoes that of the clan in Near Dark – and of course the concept of vampires attempting to reform has been explored in the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ,  Angel ,  Twilight and True Blood . Aspects of Oliver Twist  and  Lord of the Flies  swirl throughout proceedings as the youngsters are left to fend for the...

2011 Dir. Jeremiah Kipp Director Jeremiah Kipp follows up his stark and unsettling brood-fest Contact – a Cronenbergian meditation on addiction and paranoia – with a similarly provocative short focusing on a young woman’s suicide bid and the myriad instances and thoughts that have led to it. Much like the scene in The Rules of Attraction in which a young woman slips into death’s embrace by slitting her wrists in a warm bath, Crestfallen captures the painfully wrought moment in an abstract, lyrically beautiful way that, while poetic, doesn’t lessen the impact. An ethereal atmosphere is conjured with shards of sunlight streaming through a window into the darkened world of the woman (Deneen Melody). As the life bleeds out of her and swirls into the bathwater, we are privy to her equally swirling thoughts. Unfolding as a series of disarming and striking images, Crestfallen is tentative in its observation of shattered dreams and submerges us deep within her trauma. While ...

A young man (Grzegorz Golaszewski) has moody visions/flashbacks to a series of increasingly macabre and downright bizarre incidents that may be his interpretation of a love affair gone wrong. Adopting the role of Charon-like driver, he chauffeurs another man to some sort of private club where people sit around immaculately laid tables and seemingly indulge their dark fantasies. A young woman (Marta Szumiel) reappears fleetingly throughout his visions and the introduction of a mysterious Dictaphone seems to threaten him with truths he’d rather not hear… Meanwhile, people stare pensively and longingly at one another and writer/director Grzegorz Cisiecki, who hails from Minsk, Belarus, rummages through themes and concepts such as paranoia, desire and longing with myriad beautiful images that waft about each other like some spectral puzzle slotting into place. Are these dreams? Cryptically significant moments blurred by the skewed logic of memory? A languid cacophony of striking ima...

2004 Dir. JT Seaton Matthew Coburn is a young man who would like nothing more than to stay young and attractive forever. On the eve of his 30th birthday, he invites David, a guy he meets in an online chat-room, to his home to have sex. In the middle of the night, Matthew wakes up to find himself alone. Or is he? He soon begins to realize that someone, or something , is lurking in the dark in his home. Is it David? Or someone else, skulking in the shadows? As Matthew is plunged into a waking nightmare, he comes to realise that the price of vanity is high… Very high. ‘ Has your past ever come back to haunt you? ’ Nightshadows was produced the same year as Hellbent - the first gay slasher film. With its cast of gay characters falling victim to a devil-masked psycho, that film had fun Queering the usual conventions of the slasher film, while also sticking quite rigidly to them. Nightshadows , a dark tale of obsession and guilt, follows no such rules or conventions. What direct...