Ranking ‘Love, Death & Robots’ Volume 4 Shorts from ‘Best’ to ‘Eh?’
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
If there’s one show I never want Netflix to stop making new seasons of, it’s Love, Death & Robots, the award-winning animated anthology that’s consistently delivered some stunning pieces in each of its four seasons so far. If you want to read a spoiler-free review of Volume 4, I’ll insert a link below, but in this article, I am going to rate the 10 short films that appear in the 2025 edition, so it’s going to be packed with spoilers. Also, the rank is in ascending order, from ‘best’ to ‘meh’!
Read: Love, Death & Robots Volume 4 Review
1. ‘The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur‘, directed by Tim Miller, is my absolute favorite in the anthology, not just because of its stunning animation (by Blur Studio), but also because it delivers a compact yet epic sci-fi tale set on a futuristic planet, where the ultra-wealthy exploit the poor by turning them into objects of amusement in blood sports. Elite socialites flock to a massive intergalactic battle arena, where some of the best warriors gather to compete in gladiator-like combat. They are pitted against each other along with deadly animals and must fight to the death. The last one standing wins. Told through the perspective of a fierce Japanese warrior, this short is a fantastic tale of violence, class divides, and what it means to be free. This is the seventh short in Love, Death & Robots.
2. My second favorite short is ‘Spider Rose‘, once again featuring top-class animation by Blur Studio, and also a sci-fi tale directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson. In case you’re beginning to think I have a soft spot for science fiction, I really don’t. It’s the more human element in Spider Rose that won me over. It follows a solitary, grieving woman living in a forsaken corner of the galaxy, plotting revenge against the species that murdered her husband. As part of a trade deal, she comes into possession of a cute alien pet, but only for a limited time. Spider Rose becomes fond of this pet, and they form a strong connection. In the end, she succeeds in taking revenge, but the damage to her space station is lethal. There isn’t enough oxygen or food left to sustain either of them. The pet’s owners won’t return in time. In a wild twist, she tells the pet it can survive by feeding on her, which it does. The pet is eventually retrieved by its owners. It’s a savage but profound ending, showing just how scarily self-preserving creatures can be. Spider Rose, satisfied after defeating her nemesis, lets herself be devoured to join her husband in the afterlife. Not that I loved it for the philosophy. It’s the darkly funny lesson that sold me: your pets will eat you if that’s the only way they can survive.
3. At rank three is ‘Close Encounters of the Mini Kind‘ by Robert Bisi and Andy Lyon, which plays out like War of the Worlds on cocaine. It opens hilariously with aliens landing on Earth, greeted by armed Americans. Though the aliens indicate peace, the humans attack instantly, triggering an apocalyptic war. Hundreds of UFOs invade, and a bloody, chaotic war ensues. The animation features miniature creatures, as the title hints. A misunderstanding ends the world. Epic.
4. Honestly, I’m a bit torn about what to place at number four, but I’ll go with ‘The Other Large Thing‘, directed by Patrick Osborne. If I were ranking purely on story, it would land higher, probably at number two. The concept is fantastic: a devious house cat dreams of world domination and seizes the chance when its owners bring home a robot that can understand feline speech. The cat tricks the robot into using the owners’ credit card to order more robots, launching a city-wide takeover alongside other cats and their robotic minions. The only reason it’s not ranked higher is that the animation style and color palette didn’t quite pull me in.
5. “Don’t fuck this up,” everyone keeps telling Donal Maguire, a Catholic priest chosen by an alien species called the Lupo for an important conversation in the short film “Golgotha“. So important that, if he fails, it could lead to war between humans and aliens. In my review, I mentioned how the “humans versus aliens” theme was becoming repetitive, but Golgotha is a witty little short about the fragility of the human race. The Lupo are a water-based species and believe Donal has found their messiah. They meet by the beach, awaiting a holy conversation. In the most comical twist of the series, their messiah turns out to be a dolphin, who tells them that humans are, essentially, assholes. The Lupo promptly launch their battleships. Donal says, “I fucked up.” The hyper-realistic animation had me doing a double take to confirm it wasn’t live-action, until the aliens showed up. What I liked most was how this short cleverly critiques ecological destruction. If aliens visited Earth today, they might very well decide we’re not worth saving. So keep saying “sorry’ and “thank you” to your AI bots before they take over the planet.
6. At rank six is the eighth short, “Zeke Got Religion”, directed by Diego Porral. I would’ve ranked it lower if I let personal biases kick in, because this story is about an atheist American soldier, Zeke, who begins to believe in God after encountering a demon raised by Nazi satanists during World War II. As an atheist, I found this borderline religious propaganda. But viewed objectively, the storytelling was crisp, the animation was excellent, and the WWII setting made it compelling. It’s a perfect blend of action and horror, and I love both, so Zeke Got Religion wins on entertainment.
7. Now that I’m near the end of the list, I must say all the shorts were fantastic in their own ways. It’s only the next three that I’d call “meh” or unimpressive. But even “For He Can Creep”, at rank seven, had standout elements. Directed by Emily Dean, the short is a classic devil’s bargain story. Satan seeks out a poet in 18th-century London and demands he write an epic glorifying the devil. But the poet’s cat stands in Satan’s way and gathers a feline gang to defeat him. It’s quirky, and cat lovers might enjoy it. The Doctor Faustus influence and historical setting were great, but the animation was underwhelming. The cats looked hideous, as if created with basic 3D tools or maybe not by humans at all.
8. Okay, I really liked the basic idea behind ‘400 Boys’ by Robert Valley, but the mixed style of animation instantly made me wince, it’s retro-futuristic, but in a weirdly unappealing way. The story is set in a war-torn human city, where bands of super-powered men and women are constantly battling each other for turf supremacy, however, a new gang on the block, nick-named ‘400 Boys’, terrorize everybody. Now the twist was wicked – the boys are actually giant babies, and the character designs for the giant fighting babies was awful. They looked like someone picked up old plastic babies from the 1960s and animated them digitally. Also, when the action involves giants five times the size of humans, it gets dull fast. I didn’t enjoy this one.
9 and 10. It’s a tie between Can’t Stop and Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners. Can’t Stop is a marionette musical tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers by David Fincher. It opens Volume 4. Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners is a simplistic short where appliances complain about their owners. While it had the potential to be funny, it felt too out of place in this otherwise gritty and imaginative anthology.
Overall, volume 4 is of-course a totally binge-worthy series, but it needed more shorts and definitely more theme variation. Which short was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
Read Next: The Royals Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version Below)
