The Terrible Thing of Alpha 9, directed by Jake Armstrong, is a madly cool animated short film that will make you gulp back your man tears in a testosteroneous way. Are you ready for our monstrously cute short film of the week?

Multiple award-winning The Big Thing is a witty little take on the story of Adam and Eve and thanks to a chance meeting in 18th century Paris it has possibly the most lush production values in short film history. Peruse it now!

Ooh! This week’s award-winning short film has been hailed as the British Hellboy. Nice! Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders is influenced by The X-Files and The Naked Gun, and producer Ryan McDermott is now making a full-length very British Raiders of the Lost Ark. Buh-rilliant.

Benito Robinsoni rose to film short fame with grindhouse movie trailer Slash Hive. We caught him in between feature films (giallo slasher and supernatural cop movie) to froth over Neon Killer, a hilarious nod to the luridly graphic excess of 1970s Poliziotteschi movies. Enjoy every daft and glorious minute!

Yes, it’s our short film of the week! This short sci-fi spoof is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape where smoking is outlawed. Pop fact: The Extinguisher was shot at the now-gone old Beckton gasworks in East London where Kubrick shot Full Metal Jacket!

Bleak and haunting, desolate and devoid… It’s grim up north in Scottish filmmaker Ruth Paxton’s award-winning take on rural isolation and nerve-wearing home care. Great performances and a disquieting underbelly elevate this short above the format’s usual one-note fare, and mark Paxton and Malone out as ones to watch.

Remember when a visit to the pictures meant being treated to an eclectic 2D cabaret of newsreels and shorts before the feature even began? Nah, neither do we. But that doesn’t mean we don’t yearn for those halcyon days of cinematic variety, which is why we’re bringing you a new feature – one of our favourite short films, every single week. Simple really.

Remember that viral email that explained how to get someone to have sex with you just by claiming to be from the future? This viral was turned into a witty little short film by director Torrey Meeks. Prepare to be delighted and… inspired. You dirty dog.

This week’s short film The Calligrapher by the Brothers Quay is one of their early stop-motion pieces. Terry Gilliam adores them and rated their venture The Crocodile as one of the top ten animated films of all time…

This week, we’re giving some love to the unsung hero of surrealism; Jan Svankmajer. Famous for his bleak and uncanny exploration of inanimate objects, he gives us a much needed reminder of the power of simplicity. Watch on!