Matrimony
2025 · 3m
Directed by Derek Bensonhaver
Genres: dark comedy, horror, thriller
A man takes his wedding vows, "til death do us part," to a chilling extreme, because in this marriage devotion rots and the past refuses to stay buried.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A three-minute film that takes the most sacred social contract and turns it into a literal rot—nobody else would've dared push that premise into actual horror territory, and Bensonhaver commits to the bit so hard it loops back into something genuinely unsettling and funny.
The formal restraint here is admirable: a short that knows exactly which horror tropes it's inverting and frames them with enough precision that the surrealism feels earned rather than gimmicky, situating itself in a lineage of transgressive ceremony-rituals.
The decision to keep the tone tightrope-walking between dark comedy and genuine dread—rather than collapsing into either—hinges on a single tonal modulation that turns devotion into something grotesque, and that choice is what makes three minutes feel sufficient.
Festivals
- Spooktacular Film Fest for Horror & Sci-Fi 2025, Official Selection