Making a feature-length film is so unbelievably complicated, it’s amazing that anybody manages to do it at all, let alone well.

Rather than jump straight in at the deep end, most directors begin their careers with short films. Ranging anywhere in length between five and 40 minutes and made on a significantly smaller budget than a full-length movie, these petite pictures are a great way to learn the fundamentals of filmmaking without descending into a full-on stress spiral.

Some really famous movies started out life as shorter projects, including the likes of District 9, Fatal Attraction, Napoleon Dynamite, and Whiplash. The horror genre is also full of examples like this, with some making the transition to feature-length pictures more capably than others.

These short films (which are usually always made by the eventual directors of the feature) were the perfect proof of concept - a short extract that could prove their work was destined for something bigger.

While not every short film is guaranteed to translate to a longer running time, the following 10 examples all proved that great horror films can have small beginnings…

• When A Stranger Calls
• Willy’s Wonderland
• Trick 'R Treat
• Lights Out
• What We Do In The Shadows
• Smile
• The Babadook
• Terrifier
• Saw
• The Evil Dead