Horror Short Review: The People Outside (2025)

Written and directed by Scott Alexander Naar, The People Outside is an unnerving horror short that stars Melanie Michael, Dalton Santos, Katie Hettenbach, Alex Santiago, Alex Scott-Webster, and Fil Swan.

In October of 2025, unsettling reports began to surface in California. Entire families, as well as lone residents, began vanishing without a trace from their homes. To most, it seemed they had simply packed up and left in the night. But there were whispers of something stranger. That before each disappearance, four figures were seen standing silently outside of the houses of the soon-to-be missing.

Sold. I love that premise and while the final film can’t quite match what my imagination conjures up, it’s still a very creative watch. Where a young couple become targets for the people outside.

Creepy. That’s word that best sums up this short and Scott Alexander Naar does a fantastic job of capturing it and enhancing it as it progresses. There are no surprises here, thanks to the opening text that appears on screen, but the how and why of it all remains an exciting and tension heavy mystery.

It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but it’s a great example of how low-budget horror with a game cast and a talented director be turned into something so much more.