24 best short movies under 90 minutes | Stuff

We all love an epic movie now and again, but sometimes you just don’t want to sit through two and a half hours of tedious exposition, giant robots punching each other or little people rambling through the countryside. To that end, we’ve scoured the best streaming services to assemble a collection of the best short movies that don’t muck about.

All of these movies clock in at 90 minutes or less. That hour-and-a-half sweet spot is ideal for weeknight watching and – as the following list shows – it’s perfectly possible to tell a gripping, thought-provoking and all-round entertaining story working within such time constraints.

NB: some of best short movies runtimes shown below may be slightly above 90 minutes, but before shooting us an angry email please note that this includes the end credits. Skip those and you’ll be in and out in under an hour and a half, trust us.

Additional words by Tom Wiggins, Matt Tate and Natalya Paul

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie

While we’ll always hold a special place in our hearts for the outright cinematic chutzpah on display in the 1993 live action Super Mario Bros. film (yes, the one where Dennis Hopper plays a dinosaur-human hybrid), it’s fair to say that this recent animated adaptation sticks much closer to Nintendo’s source material.

Mario and Luigi (Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) are plucky New York plumbers who find themselves sucked into a magical land via a Warp Pipe. Once there, they find themselves drafted into in a war against the tyranny of Bowser, the evil king of the Koopas (Jack Black, having almost as much fun as Dennis Hopper was in the same role).

This movie isn’t particularly imaginative or ground-breaking stuff, sure, but the gorgeous animation and some game voice acting from the ensemble cast will keep kids (and older Nintendo fanboys and girls) more than entertained for its trim running time. Let’s a go!

Running time: 92 minutes

Watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Netflix

Stand by Me

Stand by Me is a warm coming-of-age story that follows a quartet of Oregon teenagers who, in the long hot summer of 1959, head off into the woods to look for the body of a missing boy. These schoolfriends are seeking adventure, possibly fame and definitely a reward, but find out that childhood dreams and the cold reality of the adult world they’re about to enter are far, far apart.

Like later moviegoer favourites The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Stand by Me is based on a non-horror Stephen King story. Starring 1980s screen icons River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack and Richard Dreyfuss, this nostalgic road movie (well, is it still a road movie if they walk?) is a certified classic that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Running time: 89 minutes

Watch Stand by Me on Now Cinema

Evil Dead (2013)

Evil Dead has already been remade once by original writer-director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead 2 being basically a better budget reworking of his ultra-indie debut), but this slick Sony Pictures attempt is an entirely different beast – albeit one born from the same DNA and a similar setup: a bunch of attractive young people decamp to a remote forest cabin and unwittingly awake something ancient, angry and deadly – if not without a wicked sense of humour. Cue demonic possession, gallons of gore and a life-and-death battle against evil itself. Despite all the violence and terror, there’s something so OTT about Evil Dead that it never feels anything less than fun.

Running time: 91 minutes

Watch Evil Dead on Shudder (Prime Video channel)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s novel has been criticised by some for being a little too grown-up. And it’s true that much of the humour of Anderson’s script will be wasted on the young. However, adults who read the book as kids will likely find this brisk and involving tale a winning blend of the story they remember with Anderson’s off-beat style.

A cast of familiar voices, led by George Clooney, infuse the beautifully detailed character models with warmth, charm and wit, and they make it easy to foot for the Fox family and friends against Boggis, Bunce and Bean, the avaricious and vicious trio of local farmers determined to hunt them down.

Running time: 87 minutes

Watch Fantastic Mr. Fox on Disney+

Watch Fantastic Mr. Fox on Amazon Prime Video

Watch Fantastic Mr. Fox on ITVX

Airplane!

Released back in 1980, Airplane! is a parody of the various disaster movies popular at the time – but unlike most parodies (Scary Movie, we’re looking at you), it manages to be consistently hilarious. In fact, it’s regularly rated one of the best comedy films ever made.

When food poisoning takes out the crew of an LA to Chicago flight, a former air force pilot might be the only person on board who can avert a catastrophe. Trouble is, wartime trauma has left him with a crippling fear of flying, so getting him back behind a joystick is going to require something truly remarkable.

With sight gags and slapstick galore, plus a host of hitherto non-comedic actors like Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen subverting their straight man reputations, Airplane! forms the template for later classics like The Naked Gun and Hot Shots! (both of which were made by the same team). But it stands alone as a pioneering classic – and a movie that still nails its cues over 40 years later.

Running time: 88 minutes

Watch Airplane! on Paramount+

Shiva Baby

Clocking in at a beautifully brief 78 minutes, Emma Seligman’s directorial debut is a witty, acerbic and sex-positive indie drama set at a shiva – a day-long mourning event in the Jewish faith. Struggling college student Danielle (Rachel Sennott) arrives with her parents, only to discover that also in attendance are not only her ex-girlfriend but her current sugar daddy – and his wife and new baby. ‘Awkward’ doesn’t being to describe it.

Running time: 78 minutes

Watch Shiva Baby on MUBI

Watch Shiva Baby on Channel 4

Commando

This delightfully over-the-top action movie ticks off just about every 1980s Hollywood cliché as former special forces soldier John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his best early-career appearances) takes on a ruthless Central American dictator’s entire army single-handedly.

Commando has it all: explosions, punch-ups, car chases, improper use of garden tools, a gaggle of scenery-chewing villains and lots and lots of bullets. Schwarzenegger proves himself a vital and arresting screen star in spite of his slightly stilted acting (he’s much better in Predator, which followed soon after); his sheer physical presence is more than enough to carry this brilliantly entertaining romp home.

Running time: 90 minutes

Watch Commando on Disney+

Cloverfield

Cloverfield was perhaps the zenith of the “found footage” sub-genre of horror – and sure, it’s a patchy one, with every decent effort (1999’s The Blair Witch Project) seemingly matched by a dreadful one (2016’s Blair Witch).

But Cloverfield succeeds by taking the concept and conceit – that the viewer is watching real-life footage of the events, recovered after the fact – beyond its low-budget roots by setting the movie not in a creepy forest or secluded farmhouse, but in New York during a massive, initially mysterious disaster. So the viewer essentially gets a first-person view of the apocalypse, complete with gory deaths, collapsing buildings and much, much worse. It’s a fun ride while it lasts, but those who suffer from motion sickness might well have to check out early – Abrams does love his shakicam footage.

Running time: 85 minutes

Watch Cloverfield on Paramount+

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

One of the all-time horror greats, this low-budget, lo-fi bombshell clips along at a brisk pace – but never feels rushed. After an introductory voice-over hints at the carnage to come, director Tobe Hooper rachets up the tension as a gang of road-tripping teenagers get side-tracked on a rural Texas highway. To reveal more would risk ruining the delectable shocks to come, but it’s probably not spoiling anything to say that, yes, some unconventional use of lumberjack gear does take place. Ghoulishly great stuff.

Running time: 83 minutes

Watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Shudder

Watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Shudder (Amazon Prime Video channel)

Creep

This micro-budget indie flick follows a videographer hired for a mysterious job – one that initially seems simple but turns out to be anything but.

With a lean cast (it’s basically a two-hander starring writer/director Patrick Brice and co-writer Mark Duplass – yes, he of mumblecore movie fame) and a leaner 77-minute running time, Creep relies more on mood and tone than special effects or gore – and it’s well worth sticking around until the shocker of a conclusion.

Running time: 82 minutes

Watch Creep on Netflix

The Blair Witch Project

It wasn’t the first horror movie to utilise the found footage angle (or “gimmick” as some might say) but The Blair Witch Project was the first to break into the mainstream. A true box office phenomenon, its success was partly due to a marketing campaign that hinted at the movie being a true story. Was this real-life footage we were watching, cobbled together from tapes discovered after a trio of college film students vanished in the Maryland woods?

Of course it wasn’t – but the lo-fi handheld footage, unknown cast and their convincing sense of escalating panic as they realise they may not be alone in the forest all serve to create a disturbingly authentic feel. In the years since its release we’ve been deluged with similar films but this remains one of the best, and creepiest, examples.

Running time: 81 minutes

Watch The Blair Witch Project on Amazon Prime Video

Palm Springs

Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, two strangers who happen to be guests at the same wedding, find themselves trapped in an infinite time loop in this offbeat romcom. If they fall asleep or die, they wake up and have to live the entire day through again. The pair decide to make the most of this temporal purgatory, indulging in wilder and wilder behaviour safe in the knowledge that whatever happens, they’ll just end up back at square one. Life, it seems, has truly become meaningless.

If might sound like a cliched concept, but Palm Springs feels different by dint of focussing on a pair of people rather than just one. The chemistry and tensions between the two keep the film involving – and it’s very funny to boot.

Running time: 90 minutes

Watch Palm Springs on Amazon Prime Video

Blue Ruin

When a dishevelled, lonely drop-out who lives in the rusted wreck of a car (the ‘blue ruin’ to which the title refers) is given word that his parents’ killer is set to be released from prison, he rediscovers a purpose in life: bloody revenge. Off comes the ratty beard and matted hair, in goes a fresh battery to bring the car back to life – and our hero sets off to murder the man who destroyed his life.

Funded via Kickstarter and shot on cheap consumer camera gear, Jeremy Saulnier’s tight, taut thriller is proof positive that great things can be achieved on tiny budgets. A stripped-back and savage re-imagining of the revenge movie genre.

Running time: 92 minutes

Watch Blue Ruin on Amazon Prime Video

My Neighbor Totoro

Being wholesome and emotional without straying into cloying sentimental is a tough task, but it’s one Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki have nailed time and time again. 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro is a prime example.

This film about a pair of young sisters who move into a new house and befriend a forest spirit in rural post-war Japan really does have something for everyone: an overarching sense of wonder; hand-painted bucolic beauty; a touching depiction of family life; a soaring score from the masterful Joe Hisaishi; and of course the titular Totoro, a now-iconic Ghibli character representing… well, all sorts of things if you care to think about it.

Running time: 87 minutes

Watch My Neighbor Totoro on Netflix

The Lion King (1994)

Hmm…not sure how much we really need to say about this one. It’s arguably Disney’s most beloved film of all time, Elton John did the music, and it features Rowan Atkinson as a sardonic talking bird. And that’s before we get to quite possibly the most traumatic death scene in any film, live action or animated. It’s The Lion King, you know? It’s good.

As you probably know, Simba’s coming-of-age battle to take his rightful place as King of the Pride Lands has been semi-recently remade using cutting edge CGI, but somehow lost everything that made the original so special in the process. If you want to revisit this timeless masterpiece, watch the 1994 version. And because you’re reading this article, we’re going to assume that you’ll appreciate the 30 minutes shorter runtime, too.

Running time: 89 minutes

Watch The Lion King on Disney+

Porco Rosso

Another tightly paced Ghibli classic, Porco Rosso is set in the 1930s Adriatic – a place where airborne pirates harass tourist cruises until they’re seen off by our titular hero. He’s a louche, middle-aged Italian pilot who has (for reasons never truly explained) been cursed with the face of a pig. When the pirates hire a brash American fighter ace to take Porco out of the picture, his simple life is turned upside down.

With all this set against the backdrop of rising Italian fascism, Porco Rosso is richly served with thoughtful subtext and themes; as with all Ghibli films, these don’t smash you over the head with a metaphorical hammer, but reveal themselves through the story and its wonderful characters.

Running time: 94 minutes

Watch Porco Rosso on Netflix

Toy Story

People will always argue about which Toy Story film is the best, but nobody can dispute that the first is the most significant. The first entirely computer-animated feature-film and the film that launched Pixar as a studio, Toy Story is about as landmark as movies get.

For those who have been living peacefully under a rock for the last 25+ years, the film follows a gang of toys that come to life when humans leave the room. Their ringleader, a cowboy named Woody, is the favoured plaything of his owner Andy until the arrival of Buzz, a delusional action figure who believes he’s a real space ranger. The two fierce rivals eventually have to team up when they become separated from Andy, and the adventure that follows is as epic, dazzlingly inventive and yes, tear-jerking, as it was back in the mid-’90s.

Running time: 81 minutes

Watch Toy Story on Disney+

Lady Bird

Lady Bird begins with the titular character (played by Saoirse Ronan in Oscar-nominated form) hurling herself out of a moving car. It’s just about the only moment of visceral action in this drama – and yet there’s so much going great stuff going on here that you’ll be glued to the screen.

Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age story, loosely based on her own adolescence, is sharply written, very funny (particularly Timothée Chalamet’s try-hard outsider) and brilliantly observed – even if you didn’t grow up in California in the early noughties. A perfect watch for those in the mood for a quirky and quick-witted dramedy with believable characters and an unforced slice-of-life plot line.

Running time: 94 minutes

Watch Lady Bird on Now Cinema

What We Do in the Shadows

Taika Waititi’s outstanding mockumentary about a bunch of house-sharing New Zealand vampires really hits the horror-comedy spot – and doesn’t hang about while doing so. With plenty of laughs mined from the awkwardness of being a neurotic immortal living in the modern world, it’s certainly leaning more towards the comic side of the spectrum, but it’s not lacking in genuine moments of creepiness. If you’re a fan of This Is Spinal Tap as well as Interview with the Vampire, this is one movie to get your teeth into.

Running time: 87 minutes

Watch What We Do in the Shadows on Shudder

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Set in 2029, this iconic anime movie (adapted from the manga by Masamune Shirow) follows a cyborg agent in her attempts to track down the Puppet Master, a hacker able to manipulate people’s personalities and memories.

Ghost in the Shell not only looks gorgeous, being one of the first films to combine cell animation with CGI, but also raises interesting questions about the nature of human identity in an increasingly tech-dominated world. A true cyberpunk classic – and this original animated version is far superior to the 2017 live-action remake starring Scarlett Johansson.

Running time: 82 minutes

Watch Ghost in the Shell on BFI Player

Watch Ghost in the Shell on BFI Player (Amazon Prime Video channel)

Pig

Nicolas Cage’s rehabilitation as an actor continues in Michael Sarnoski’s superb, oddball and affecting drama.

Cage is superb as a bedraggled and taciturn truffle hunter living in the Oregon forest, all alone except for his beloved foraging pig. When the animal is apparently kidnapped, he springs into action to track her down in the city – but anyone expecting a John Wick-style revenge thriller might be surprised at where Sarnoski’s film goes. Instead of leaving a trail of twisted bodies and broken glass in his wake, Cage is instead forced to reconsider his past and confront his choices as he reckons with the task at hand.

Running time: 92 minutes

Watch Pig on Netflix

My Octopus Teacher

If all you know about octopuses is how tasty they are when turned into takoyaki, Craig Foster’s captivating Netflix documentary might just make you change your order next time you go out for sushi.

The film follows a year in the conservationist’s life, in which he took a daily dip among the kelp off the coast of Simon’s Town in South Africa. It’s among this forest of marine foliage that Foster forms an unlikely inter-species bond with an unnamed female cephalopod and, with the help of a world-class underwater cameraman, captures some of her species’ truly mind-blowing skills, characteristics and behaviour on film. It gets a bit schmaltzy towards the end, but as an insight into the life and world of a creature that wouldn’t be out of place in a sci-fi movie, it’s truly fascinating.

Running time: 84 minutes

Watch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix

Frances Ha

Greta Gerwig’s Frances is a late-20s New Yorker, full of dreams of making it in the big city but lacking the talent or drive to actually make anything happen. Instead, she latches onto her best friend as a crutch, and when that route comes to nothing she’s finally forced to look inwards and make some difficult choices. Noah Baumbach’s black-and-white film sounds arty and arch, but it’s sweet, funny and involving, all buoyed along by Gerwig’s wonderful performance.

Running time: 86 minutes

Watch Frances Ha on Prime Video

Watch Frances Ha on Mubi

Check out our guides to the best streaming service for the US and the UK as well.