"The Walking Dead" returned for its fourth season Sunday night on AMC. On one hand, fans were treated to the usual dose of creeping, shuffling, bloody dead things. On the other hand, everybody has to wait a week for the next installment.
Fortunately, you don't have to go zombie-free during that time. We've rounded up five of the greatest zombie short films to ever grace the Internet.
These shorts have it all, from pathos to intestines, from blood to deeply moving emotional moments. Just a warning: If you're at work, there are extremely gross moments and strong language in some of these. Here they are, in no particular order.
"Cargo": This short is the wordless story of a survivor and his baby daughter. It lunges at, and takes a bite out of, your heart with a well-crafted seven minutes of grasping zombies wrapped around a deep emotional core. If you thought you would never cry over a zombie movie, this might change your mind.
"Too Late": In just two minutes, this film manages to gross you out and then completely turn your expectations around.
"Spoiler" takes place in a post-zombie-apocalypse world where the threat of infection still lingers. The stakes are high and the tension ratchets up as a coroner is called in to evaluate a possible outbreak.
Teller, the silent partner from the Penn & Teller magic act, has turned out a couple of zombie shorts. The first, "& Teller," gives you the double pleasure of seeing zombies and hearing Teller speak.
"Zombies and Cigarettes" gives a nod to George Romero's legendary "Dawn of the Dead" by placing the action in a shopping mall. It's also a hard-luck story of a young man trying to impress his crush while zombies attack from all sides.