Directors responsible for “Scary Movie”, “Saw”, “Hard Candy” and “Dawn of the Dead” are creating original short films exclusively for Xbox LIVE, to air this autumn.

Here’s something we didn’t expect. Microsoft has commissioned a clenched fist full of the world’s hottest horror directors to produce a series of movie shorts for Xbox LIVE. Safran Digital is handling production.

The ‘pilots’ will be made available free of charge to everyone signed up to the Xbox LIVE gaming and entertainment network. We assume this to mean lowly Silver members as well as the gallivanting Gold collective. This mega-bucks enterprise will premier sometime in the autumn, or so says Microsoft and it rarely backs down.

Here’s what’s in the ‘cutting’ room… hwah ha ha haaa…:

“Doggie Heaven (Woof!)” is about a guy who gets shot dead but finds himself in the wrong heaven. Both James Wan and Leigh Whannell of “Saw” fame are at the helm.

“Hamzee!”, from director James Gunn (Slither, Dawn of the Dead) also stars in his sitcom about a human-meets-chimpanzee boy. Described as South Park meets Small Wonder… if you remember that?

“MEATDOG: What’s Fer’ Dinner” is from Hard Candy director David Slade (who also did 30 Days of Night, but never mind). MEATDOG is an animation featuring a dog made entirely of, well, bits of meat. Something about occult pigs and a ravenous rabbit here too… next!

“Blue Like You”. Patrick and Cyndy (with a Y) meet up with a woman called Blue who is entirely stupid or something. Sounds awesome! Lucky McKee (The Woods) is directing.

Andrew Douglas (The Amityville Horror) is directing “The Miracle of Phil” is about a man that gets pregnant. Didn’t this already just happen in real life?

Oh, now this one is from the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Marcus Nispel. It’s called “Adrenaline Slam”, a kind of reality TV drama in which ordinary people experience the extraordinary. A bit like Yahoo! UK Videogame news.

John Clisham? Probably you won’t have heard of him (unless you’re a movie geek), but he’s the happening thing on the interweb right now. He’s directed something called “Assorted Nightmares: The Janitor”, a Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt hybrid to star Jenna Dewan from the movie Step Up. So this is a definite must-see.

And that’s your lot. Not bad at all, in fact absolutely astounding to have come out of nowhere. Microsoft chose to announce all this from Comic-Con, the comic convention (get it?) taking place in America from today and running until 27 July. MS is also running one of its Bringing It Home campaigns from the show, meaning videos and freebies available via Xbox LIVE and this time MSN and Zune Marketplace. Highlights include previews of Warner Bros Pictures’ “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Supernatural,” “Lost Boys: The Tribe,” and other such sci-fi delights.

To take advantage of everything on offer all you need to do is log on to LIVE from this evening.