Heartbeater
2022 · 6m · US
Directed by Rob Himebaugh
Genres: dark comedy, horror, thriller
A woman who received a heart transplant discovers her donor was a violently obsessive ex — and death has not loosened his grip on her.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Everyone expects body horror or supernatural revenge—Himebaugh flips it by making the obsession *metaphysically real*, a donor's will literally grafted into flesh, which is genuinely unhinged and nobody saw coming.
The formal restraint here matters: a 6-minute runtime that refuses easy catharsis, executing the conceit with the precision of a procedural thriller while maintaining tonal ambiguity that lingers long after the cut.
The sound design—every heartbeat layered, distorted, becoming another voice—is the entire film; it's the one choice that transforms what could be a gimmick into something visceral and lived-in.