Most people may know David F. Sandberg’s name for directing a movie in one of the most popular horror franchises. In 2017, he became the director of Annabelle: Creation. Two years later, he made the jump to the DC Universe by directing Shazam! Now he is coming back to the superhero universe directing titans of the industry such as Helen Mirren, Zachary Levi, and Lucy Liu in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Even though being a director for superhero movies may come as a surprise to fans who have been following Sandberg from the beginning, the horror factor in his filmography goes in line with his previous work. Sandberg began directing his own horror shorts — alongside his wife, Lotta Losten — and posting them on his YouTube channel. It was then that he began sharing his voice with the world.

10 ‘See You Soon’ (2014)

A creature's face next to Lotta Losten.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

If horror can be felt in 14 seconds, Sandberg will deliver exactly that. The short See You Soon introduces the audience to a woman (played by Losten) who seems to be mourning the loss of the man in the photo she is holding. The man is Sandberg himself because most of his shorts will include the two of them playing every role and bringing these stories to life.

The reflection in the photograph tells the viewers that something is coming, but as the woman turns around, there are no clues to what is to come. However, the short ends with a creature’s face next to Losten’s and the perfect sound to make it very clear that something terrifying is happening.

9 ‘Pictured’ (2014)

Lotta Losten holding a hammer.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

Pictured is a horror short that centers around a photograph hanging in a woman’s apartment. This time around Losten shares the screen with Hanna Johansson. As the main character begins hearing noises in an apartment where she finds herself alone, she realizes the woman in the photograph seems to move every time she takes her eyes off of it.

In the last seconds of the short, Losten continues to cover and uncover her eyes to see how the photograph changes. She does it enough that the woman in the photograph swaps places with her, and she ends up stuck inside the frame.

8 ‘Cam Closer’ (2013)

A woman's body on the floor through a phone's camera.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

In 2013, Sandberg played with an iPhone’s camera in Cam Closer. This time around, the focus was on the camera app of the phone, closely filming everything that could be seen through it. The trick was that there were certain physical things that the main character was seeing, but the camera didn’t see.

However, things got worse when the phone’s camera showed things the woman couldn’t actually see in her apartment. As she follows a body that seems to be being dragged around her apartment, the audience is faced with the jumpscare and a terrifying woman with white eyes.

7 ‘Coffer’ (2014)

Lotta Losten looking over a couch.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

The majority of Sandberg’s shorts follow a formula in which a woman is peacefully doing routine tasks in her apartment until a noise or an object catches her attention, disrupting her harmony. Immediately, the audience knows that whatever it is breaking into her world will be horrifying.

In Coffer, the woman is reading a book when noise and movement coming from a coffer distract her. She sits on the coffer to try and stop it, but curiosity wins once it’s open and she must figure out what’s inside it. As she gets closer, discovering how deep the coffer actually is, the audience is met with the jumpscare: a hand that pulls her in.

6 ‘Closet Space’ (2016)

Lotta Losten looking through a closet door.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

Similar to what happens in Pictured, in Closet Space every time the woman closes and opens the closet door, she finds the hangers inside are multiplying. She tries it with a doll and the same thing happens, more dolls appear every time she opens the door. However, when she puts her husband (Sandberg is in front of the camera this time around) in the closet, he disappears.

She then gets in the closet and nothing happens inside of it. As she steps out, she sees a woman just like her who looks very afraid and a man like her husband lying on the floor. It is then that the viewer realizes there are two of each.

5 ‘Not So Fast’ (2014)

Lotta Losten standing in the dark.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

The tension in Not So Fast comes from the lack of lightning and the heavy breathing or grunting that can be heard behind the woman’s panicking face. In a dark room, Losten is afraid there is something or someone behind her, but every time she tries to reach for the door, it gets further and further away from her. It gets worse the moment the door shuts completely.

However, the perfect plot twist comes when viewers realize Losten is sleep-walking and having a nightmare. The hand that was seen touching her face makes perfect sense as it was Sandberg trying to wake her up. A less scary end to what he has his viewers used to.

4 ‘Shadowed’ (2020)

Lotta Losten reading.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

Even though he was already directing world-renowned movies, Sandberg didn’t forget where he started and during the lockdown of 2020, he delivered Shadowed for his YouTube subscribers. As the lights go out in a woman’s home, she realizes with the light of her flashlight she sees things that aren’t physically there.

That isn’t as scary as when she sees the shadow of a woman in her rocking chair. As more noises begin to happen around the house, she finds herself face-to-face with the shadow of a larger man. Trying to escape this creature, she runs back into her room only to find out she just locked herself with multiple shadows.

3 ‘Attic Panic’ (2015)

Lotta Losten's hands opening a door.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

The title Attic Panic gives away that something completely terrifying will happen in an attic. However, the setting isn’t the typical attic most people picture in a horror movie. It is an attic that has several storage units. The terrifying factor comes in when the light bulbs begin doing an annoying squeaky noise and unscrewing themselves.

If the scary noises weren’t enough, there is a creature underneath a white sheet that is following the woman around. But when the woman locks herself in her storage unit and pulls the sheet to reveal nothing underneath it, there is nothing to be seen. It is then that the audience realizes she just locked the creature in with her.

2 ‘Not Alone in Here’ (2020)

Lotta Losten standing by a door.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

Not Alone in Here is one of those Sandberg shorts that breaks the mold because it immediately starts with a female voiceover. It is also longer than what he usually uploads to his YouTube channel at six minutes and 18 seconds. The voice describes perfectly what she has done and what she is feeling — that she is not alone in her house.

The suspense and the tension come from what she is saying, but also from the way in which she turns every corner afraid that she might find someone or something. Every open door is a sign that something will happen. In the end, it isn’t behind a door, but after looking at her camera that something does indeed come for her.

1 ‘Lights Out’ (2013)

Lotta Losten hiding under the blankets.
Image via David F. Sandberg's YouTube

In 2016, Sandberg directed the movie Lights Out. The feature film followed the story of Rebecca and her brother as she has to come face-to-face with a spirit connected to her mother. Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello, and Billy Burke are some of the actors who brought the movie to life. However, the film is based on a short of the same title that Sandberg directed for the Who's There Film Challenge.

The short is set on a rainy night in which the woman realizes every time she turns the light off there is a creature getting closer to her. Once she is in bed, it is the sound of footsteps that becomes more terrifying than the figure she had seen before. Only under the blankets does she feel safe, but is she?

NEXT: ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Director on the Dragon, Villains, and What He Learned From Test Screenings