The shortest and scariest movie of the year has arrived. You can watch it now.
Dead Grandma, written and directed by Rachel Kemp and Nick Toti, is set to premiere at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles, but Variety readers can sneak a peek at the short below.
Kemp and Toti made the horror sensation viral last year with the indie film “It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This.” The pair promised that the film would never be made available for home viewing, despite the intense reaction it received during festival slots and independent screenings.
The idea for “Dead Grandma” came from Toti’s daily routine as a kindergarten teacher in 2015. It inspired some darkly comedic thinking.
“I worked six to eight hours a day at a daycare center with lots of toddlers crawling all over me,” Toti said in a statement. “One day I had the urge to lie dead on the floor and see what the babies would do. This idea made me laugh at the time, and I thought this would make a good short film.”
“There is a famous legend about Ernest Hemingway,” Kemp said in a statement. “Perhaps someone made a bet that they couldn’t write a short story in just six words. In response, Hemingway wrote: ‘For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.'” We tried to match the spirit of this story with our film, but added Gallows humor and an even darker sense of the macabre. ”
The short will debut as part of Slamdance’s 99 special program on Sunday, February 22nd.
“Inspired by Slamdance’s $99 Special, our new 99 Special program incorporates affordable technology, apps and DIY filmmaking techniques to unleash your imagination into 99 seconds (or less) of video gems,” said Anna Lee Lawson, Slamdance Film Festival and Screenplay Competition Manager, in a statement. “99 Special aims to make filmmaking accessible and helps break down the cost barrier of production.”
“Dead Grandma” has already made fans among other filmmakers. Director Uwe Boll praised the film, saying, “I thought it was a photograph, not a movie, but the end result was surprisingly…and dark.”
Director Alex Ross Perry said: “It’s a story of humour, horror and discomfort somehow squeezed into the length of a commercial. The reveal at the end is really gut-wrenching.”
After the premiere of Dead Grandma, Kemp and Toti have begun work on their latest film, Scary New Year. The project, written by Kemp, will be produced by Lian Kunje and Divide/Conquer and will star Lauren Viteri, Sam Hook, Amelia Ann, Beck Nolan, and Zach Schnitzer. Adam J. Minnick will serve as director of photography.
Watch “Dead Grandma” below.
