Horror Short Review: 5 Minute Dating (2010)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to 5 Minute Dating! This is a popular speed-dating event where anyone is welcome (with a small fee of 79.99 per date-night). We hope tonight you finally meet your soul mate!

Written and directed by Peter Hatch, 5 Minute Dating is a tongue-in-cheek horror short that sees a man, an over-dressed man with a posh English accent, turn up for a 5-minute speed-dating event. That might not seem like anything out of the ordinary expect this man has extreme burn scars that has distorted his facial features.

Called Slash, his affable and friendly nature, makes him very likable. As for the women that sit at his table? They alternate between feeling sorry for him, screaming, vomiting or just outright telling him he doesn’t have a chance.

It seems as though love is not in the air for Slash. That is until he sits down to meet Sarah who also has an extreme facial deformity. They seem to be hitting it off, until Sarah’s eye begins to ooze blood causing her to run away in embarrassment.

When she does come back, the pair try to continue their conversation but the timer goes off meaning they have to move on to another table. It seems as though Slash has missed his chance for love… or has he?

If you’re wondering why this sits in the ‘horror’ camp, wait it out. The ending is gleefully dark and twisted. It’s the cherry on top of an absolutely brilliant and clever take on how we view people who look different. We see them as monstrous when often, they are just like us. They get lonely, they want a partner and hope to fall in love. That 5 Minute Dating tells this story and then pulls the rug out from under us so spectacularly is why it’s a great short.

Check it out yourself below.