Every day through October, the Department of Tangents brings you the Daily Horror Film Fest – one short horror film for every day of the month. It might be terrifying, it might be funny. It could be an homage classic monsters or something entirely new. Check back every morning for a new scare as we celebrate horror shorts!

I was the kind of kid who would lay in bed at night and search the dark corners of my room, waiting for something to jump out at me. What it would be, I didn’t know. I didn’t know where it would come from, except that the darkness would somehow allow it entry into my world. Maybe it would be a ghost of a family member whose funeral I attended. Or maybe something worse.

The first thing I thought of when I saw “Nightlight,” directed by Cragun Clayburn and Jeff Sanders, was Time Bandits. That may be where this predilection came from in the first place. I’ve written here before how the movie scared the hell out of me, especially the vision of Kevin’s wall getting pushed out into a dark hallway to another dimension, and the glowing head of god chasing Kevin and company away from home and into a terrifying adventure.

The kid in this film is doing the same thing I did, except he actually finds something. Something that bears him no goodwill. Maybe the nightlight will help. Because the bad things disappear in the light. Don’t they?