In early July, Universal Studios Hollywood put out the call for short films as part of their annual Halloween Horror Nights competition. After poring over numerous entries, director Eli Roth (“Hostel”), Daily Variety’s Marc Graser, and Horror Nights creative director John Murdy whittled the best of the crop down to ten finalists.

Now it’s your chance to take a peek at this selection of shorts and vote on whichever one you think is the most horrifying three minutes of the bunch.

Here’s a quick rundown of the finalists:

• “103” by Andy Keleman, proves that self storage facilities are creepier than morgues.
• “Closet Monster” by Douglas A. Plomitallo is my personal favorite of the bunch. If a lesson is to be learned from this short, it’s that cookies and cucumbers don’t go well together.
• “Eric” by Nicolas Simonin reminds you that the scariest thing on public transit isn’t always the seats.
• “Follow the Sun” by Ben Radatz will probably win the contest in part due to the fanbase of the uncredited participation animation team at MK12. Not that this tribute to movie concession stand ads doesn’t deserve it – it’s brilliant.
• “Hacked” by Stephen Lubin has scared me away from video chatting for a spell.
• “Monster In My Swimming Pool” by Brent Bokovoy has little girls telling each other stories by candle light, and monsters living in the walls – this would be my favorite, but it feels like a clumsily edited version of a brilliantly frightening longer piece. Damn that 3 minutes restriction! Regardless, this is the filmmaker to keep an eye on…
• “Slash In The Box” by Nick Everhart stars a clown jack in the box. That a couple leaves sitting on the kitchen table. I don’t get why they’re surprised at all when things go wrong.
• “Stalled” by Noah Reich reminds me of how my bathroom looked back in my bachelor days (though the graffiti in this one beat anything my roommate would have dreamed of).
• “Strangeland” by Gregory Schultz takes place on the moon, with some fantastic set design, and an all to brief glimpse of alien life.
• “The Cure” by Adrian Barrios is the one zombie film of the bunch, and proves that some times good news comes a little too late.

The filmmaker whose short receives the most votes will be flown out to visit our fair city to attend the “Eyegore Awards” at the opening night of Halloween Horror Nights, along with $1000, and their film receiving a premiere showing on the Chiller network.

You have until September 9th to watch and vote, so don’t dilly daddle!

Want to campaign for your favorite short? Tell us about it in the comments.