The shortest, scariest movie of the year has arrived — and you can watch it right now.
“Dead Grandma,” which is written and directed by Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti, is set to debut at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles — but Variety readers can get a sneak peek of the short below.
Kempf and Toti delivered a viral horror sensation last year with their indie film “It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This.” The pair promised that, despite a rousing reaction during festival slots and independent screenings, it would never be made available for home viewing.
The idea for “Dead Grandma” came from Toti’s 2015 day job as a preschool teacher, which inspired darkly comedic thoughts.
“I was working 6–8 hours a day in a nursery with all these infants crawling around me,” Toti said in a statement. “One day, I had the urge to lie down on the floor as if I were dead, just to see what the babies would do. This idea made me laugh at the time, and I thought it would make a good short film.”
“There’s this famous legend about Ernest Hemingway,” Kempf said in a statement. “Supposedly, somebody bet that he couldn’t write a short story using only 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 with an even darker sense of gallows humor and appreciation for the macabre.”
The short is set to debut as part of Slamdance’s 99 Special program, which takes place Sun., Feb 22.
“Inspired by Slamdance’s $99 Special, our new 99 Special program embraces affordable technology, apps and DIY filmmaking methods to unleash your imagination into 99-second (and under) moving image gems,” Anna Lee Lawson, the Slamdance film festival & screenplay competition manager, said in a statement. “99 Special is geared toward accessible filmmaking and serves to break down the cost barrier of production.”
“Dead Grandma” has already made some fans in other filmmakers. Director Uwe Boll praised the work, saying, “I thought it was a photo, not a film. But then it ended up surprisingly…and dark.”
Director Alex Ross Perry said, “It’s an entire saga of humor, dread, and discomfort somehow squeezed into the length of a commercial. The final reveal is a real gut punch.”
Beyond the premiere of “Dead Grandma,” Kempf and Toti are starting production on their newest film, “Scary New Year.” The Kempf-scripted project is produced by Liane Cunje and Divide/Conquer, and stars Lauren Viteri, Sam Hook, Amelia Ann, Beck Nolan and Zach Schnitzer. Adam J. Minnick is set to be the cinematographer.
Watch “Dead Grandma” below.
