
The Andersons turns a cheerful VHS-era sitcom into a five-minute nightmare. When Lisa Anderson notices repeating jokes, resetting objects and an unseen audience, her perfect family life begins to resemble a trap rather than a home.
The Andersons is a 2026 satirical horror short built around the unsettling contrast between a cheerful VHS-era sitcom and the possibility that its happiness is artificial. The film follows a picture-perfect suburban family whose routines initially appear flawless.
At just five minutes, the story focuses on Lisa Anderson’s growing awareness that something is wrong. Repeated jokes, resetting objects and the sense of an unseen audience gradually expose the disturbing mechanism behind the family’s perfect world.
The Andersons movie details
| Title | The Andersons |
|---|---|
| Release date | |
| Runtime | 5m |
| Genres | Horror |
| Director | Jace Hayes |
| Writer | Jace Hayes |
| Status | Released |
Story without spoilers
Lisa Anderson is the mother in a seemingly ideal suburban family presented like a classic sitcom. Every joke arrives with a laugh track, daily routines repeat without variation, and the household appears locked in a stable pattern.
Lisa begins noticing inconsistencies that the rest of the family does not appear to recognize. As the world around her glitches, she moves beyond the sitcom setting and encounters evidence of the production behind it, including cameras, a crew and an audience. Her attempt to return to the show raises the film’s central horror: what happens when someone becomes aware inside a world designed to remain unchanged?

What to expect
The film combines horror with satire and uses a VHS-era sitcom format as its central premise. Expect a deliberately compressed story, since the runtime is only five minutes, with the tension coming from repetition, artificial cheerfulness, glitches and the contrast between a family comedy setup and a frightening underlying reality.
Its supplied keywords—VHS, sitcom and horror—point to a format-driven short that plays with familiar television conventions rather than presenting a conventional suburban drama.
Cast and creative team
Jace Hayes directs and writes The Andersons. Madi Flores plays Lisa Anderson, with Joziah Jimenez as James Anderson, Ella Robertson as Chloe Anderson and Jaxon McClellan as Tyler Anderson.
- Madi Flores as Lisa Anderson
- Joziah Jimenez as James Anderson
- Ella Robertson as Chloe Anderson
- Jaxon McClellan as Tyler Anderson
Release and production context
The Andersons is a 2026 horror film with a listed release date of August 22, 2026. It has a runtime of five minutes and is listed as released. The supplied metadata does not specify a country, spoken language or production company.
Reported production figures:
Budget $300
The Andersons official trailer
Watch the official trailer on YouTube
Movies Dock view
The Andersons offers a compact horror premise centered on the unsettling idea of a perfect sitcom family trapped inside an endlessly repeating performance. Its short runtime and focused setup make it a concise entry in the satirical horror space, with Lisa’s awareness providing the story’s main source of unease.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Andersons about?
The Andersons follows Lisa Anderson, a mother who realizes that her family’s cheerful sitcom world is repeating and may be controlled by an unseen production and audience.
What genre is The Andersons?
The Andersons is a satirical horror film.
How long is The Andersons?
The Andersons has a listed runtime of five minutes.
Who directed The Andersons?
Jace Hayes directed The Andersons.
Who wrote The Andersons?
Jace Hayes wrote The Andersons.
Film data:
TMDB















