Every year, we are struck by the range, imagination and quality of the screenplays submitted to the competition. Our judges read every entry at least twice, with many scripts revisited as the final decisions were discussed and debated.
We are now proud to present the results of this year’s Feature and Short Screenplay competitions.
Each category includes one Winner and five Runners-Up, recognizing the screenplays that made the strongest impression on our judges. We have also awarded 100 Honorable Mentions to scripts that demonstrated notable skill, originality and promise.
Congratulations to everyone recognized below, and thank you to every writer who trusted us with their work.
WINNER
The Carpenter - Gabriel Cousins
RUNNERS UP
Swine — David Stobbe (screenplay), Henry Weisel (story) ・
Tabor Mountain — Jondaniel Cornett ・
Spores — Octavio Llano Mestres ・ Let It Grow — Alastair Train・
The Waiting Room — Jonathan Amaniel Schuster
WINNER
Here Comes Lucy - Jeremy Guthrie
RUNNERS UP
Slated to Win — Michael F. Roberts ・ Tough Love — Bianca Bina ・
Friend — Gordon Gravley ・ Lure — Carlos Bigorra ・
Serenity — Lexis Hooton
WINNER
The New Guy - Emma Giaconne
RUNNERS UP
Sweet Angel — Kacey Chapman ・ Toutouig — Leonardo Valenti ・
The Blonde — Lexis Hooton ・ Bruja — Christina Saballos ・
The Gardeners — Court Moss
WINNER
Second Coming - Osi Okerafor
RUNNERS UP
Here Kitty Kitty — Steve Hart ・ Afterimage — Kurt Choate ・
There’s Something in the Water — Julia M. Sauder ・
The Best I’ve Ever Had — Michael Potts ・ Mandie — Liu Iacono
.png)
WINNER
Mrs. Rodgers' Gift Shop - Jane Hamilton
RUNNERS UP
Afterblack — Daniel Dauphin ・ Moonshine — Warren Lane ・
Lock the Gate, Vâlcov — Nilson Bernardi Ferreira ・
Long Hair / Don’t Care — Molly Rydzel ・ Cry Baby — Sebastian Granskog
WINNER
Piggy In The Middle - Jessica Whitehouse & Anna Lee
RUNNERS UP
The Heathen - Rob Kotecki ・ Meat - Courtney Kettle ・
For You - Keshia Clemons ・
Sulis Isle - Kathleen Kent & Kimberley Morrison ・
Howl - Orin Black & Kim Bertrand
WINNER
Punk - L. G. Grant
RUNNERS UP
Like & Survive - Jake Webb & Edward Wiklund ・
The Death of Sister Smash - Mark Steensland ・
Confinement - Robert Morrison ・
Ghost Hollow - Jason Bunch ・ The Station - Nick Nelsen
WINNER
Hey, Ollie! - Kevin Staunton
RUNNERS UP
The Skeptics - Marc Masciandaro ・ City of the Dead - Sam Ellis ・
Ghost in a Jar - Jason Lally ・ Whispers in the Walls - Myles Gann ・ Venomous - Matthew Lardieri
WINNER
The Search Party - Suzanne Lawlor
RUNNERS UP
IN[fem]OUS - Eddie Cisneros ・ Meme - Vikki Harris ・
No Gods Want My Confessions - Rowan Sun ・
Let Me Go! - Kieran Papandony ・ Welcome to Mourning Wood - J.G. Clark
WINNER
Double Entendre - Paloma Rodriguez
RUNNERS UP
One to Grow On - Joseph Daniel Zeltser ・
Emo Kids vs. The Lizard Mayor - Lyndsey Morgan Anderson ・
Palm Tree Tales: Heritage - Thiago Oliveira ・
The Terror Below - Justin Olson ・ Kill Jar - Jessica Hinds
WINNER
Gruber's Vault - Michael Spellman
RUNNERS UP
The Inclination - Andrew Dean Pearson ・
Her Neck Kept Growing in Her Casket - Phaedra Crowe ・
Hide - Joshua R Searcy ・ Salem - Destiny ・ Electa - Kenny Kistner
.png)
BEST SCREENPLAY
The Feature winner was Piggy In The Middle by Jessica Whitehouse and Anna Lee, in which a young woman mediating her parents’ bitter separation discovers that each has promised her to the same hungry thing beneath their farmhouse. Feature Runners-Up: The Heathen by Rob Kotecki: A devout teenager’s parents enlist a charismatic exorcist to correct her rebellion, unaware that his ritual is preparing her body for the demon already inside him. Meat by Courtney Kettle: A washed-up wrestler accepts experimental treatments to reclaim his former glory, only to find his restored strength transforming him into the monster he refuses to recognize. For You by Keshia Clemons: Online sleuths trying to rescue a lonely artist from a nightmare livestream uncover a predatory digital cult that turns the promise of being seen into a trap. Sulis Isle by Kathleen Kent & Kimberley Morrison: A grieving widow finds unexpected companionship while tending an isolated Scottish lighthouse, unaware that the island’s welcome demands a sacrifice in blood. Howl by Orin Black & Kim Bertrand: A returning doctor and her friends shelter in a bar during a moon-triggered werewolf outbreak, where old prejudices and buried relationships become as dangerous as the creatures outside. For the Shorts, the winner was The Carpenter, by Gabriel Cousins. After refusing to pay a carpenter for his work on their home, a couple discovers that every alteration he made conceals a terrifying means of collecting his debt. Runners-Up: Swine, screenplay by David Stobbe, story by Henry Weisel: A farmer’s secret nighttime encounter with a young mother confined to his barn exposes a horrifying relationship between affection, ownership and slaughter. Tabor Mountain by Jondaniel Cornett: An isolated lookout shelters a stranger from the creatures surrounding his station, only to discover that his guest poses a more calculated threat. Spores by Octavio Llano Mestres: Two laborers renovating a neglected house encounter a fungal presence that exploits loneliness and grief by offering the comfort of lost loved ones. Let It Grow by Alastair Train: A developer battling health anxiety uses immersive technology to simulate his feared illnesses, neglecting the real damage his increasingly compulsive experiments cause. The Waiting Room by Jonathan Amaniel Schuster: A young Black German man awaiting an integration interview begins erasing his identity, escalating from rehearsed introductions to horrifying physical alterations.
BEST TWIST
For Best Twist, the Feature winner was Punk by L. G. Grant, which follows a teenage suspect in a near-future murder investigation where a locked room and dozens of eyewitness accounts make the case seem impossible to dispute. We were blown away by the revelation that overturns it all, but we wouldn’t dream of spoiling it here. Feature Runners-Up: Like & Survive by Jake Webb & Edward Wiklund: A disgraced documentarian films a snowbound influencer retreat as its guests are murdered, only for the survivors’ success to reveal another layer of manipulation. The Death of Sister Smash by Mark Steensland: A frustrated musician confronts the successful rock star who appears to be her alternate self, discovering that stealing her life also means inheriting its deadly debts. Confinement by Robert Morrison: A woman under house arrest fears her deaf and blind brother is trying to kill her, while their buried family history exposes a different understanding of victim and aggressor. Ghost Hollow by Jason Bunch: A missing-person investigator searching for a photographer uncovers a Southern estate where stolen youth sustains a predatory arrangement between the house and its owner. The Station by Nick Nelsen: A technician returning to an isolated weather station after his wife’s murder finds its new monitoring system exposing discrepancies in the alibi that cleared his name. For the Shorts, the winner was Here Comes Lucy by Jeremy Guthrie. A babysitter follows increasingly frantic instructions to keep a little girl locked in her bedroom, only to discover the warnings were meant to protect the child from her. Short Runners-Up: Slated to Win by Michael F. Roberts: A couple seeking a missing winning lottery ticket must recover an erased memory that reveals why they paid to forget that day. Tough Love by Bianca Bina: A television parenting expert intervenes in a troubled household, where surveillance footage reveals that the apparently dangerous teenager has been protecting the baby. Friend by Gordon Gravley: Feuding parents searching for their missing daughter follow her unlikely friendship into a discovery that overturns their assumptions about victim and perpetrator. Lure by Carlos Bigorra: A woman pursued through deserted streets leads her threatening follower toward a cemetery, where her waiting daughter gives the encounter a monstrous new meaning. Serenity by Lexis Hooton: A recovering addict takes a destitute old friend home, only for his act of kindness to unravel into a carefully prepared feeding trap.
BEST VILLAIN
For Best Villain, the Feature winner was Hey, Ollie! by Kevin Staunton, centered on a beloved children’s television host who draws a struggling single mother into his circle, then begins punishing her son for things she told him in confidence. Brutal and chilling. Feature Runners-Up: The Skeptics by Marc Masciandaro: Two married skeptics investigating a frightened girl’s apparent haunting discover that her father’s campaign to enforce religious belief extends far beyond his own children. City of the Dead by Sam Ellis: A grieving New Orleans woman frees a dangerous sorcerer to save her murdered brother’s soul, while an FBI investigation into corrupt police collides with his monstrous revenge. Ghost in a Jar by Jason Lally: A young woman mourning her mother and grandmother brings home a supposedly haunted jar, releasing a family predator whose respectable reputation concealed generations of abuse. Whispers in the Walls by Myles Gann: A former cult recruiter renovating a bargain house discovers that its whispering pipes feed a sinister business built on stolen life stories and human appetites. Venomous by Matthew Lardieri: A zoology student seeking help for an injured friend discovers that a roadside zoo’s welcoming owner uses his exotic animals to torture human captives. the Short winner was The New Guy by Emma Giaconne: A charming new employee makes himself indispensable to his colleagues, quietly engineering tragedies that leave each of them dependent on his kindness. Short Runners-Up: Sweet Angel by Kacey Chapman: A teenage traveler stranded at a roadside motel accepts help from a familiar churchgoer whose reassuring manner conceals an obsessive and carefully planned abduction. Toutouig by Leonardo Valenti: A woman visiting her boyfriend’s Breton village discovers that his declarations of love coexist with his willing participation in a community’s terrifying reproductive ritual. The Blonde by Lexis Hooton: A young woman entering a wealthy man’s private sexual arrangement discovers that his language of consent conceals a violent need for possession and control. Bruja by Christina Saballos: A mother collecting her daughter from her grandmother’s house confronts a supernatural presence that manipulates familiar voices and appearances to engineer its escape. The Gardeners by Court Moss: A young woman grows a husband from blood-fed soil, only to discover that her father intends their union to perpetuate the valley’s brutal traditions of obedience.
MOST MESSED UP DEATH
For Most Messed Up Death, the Feature winner was Suzanne Lawlor's The Search Party, in which volunteers searching for a missing child. Don't ask us how, but it culminates in a man sewn inside a deer carcass fed through an industrial meat grinder while his friends scramble to shut it down. Feature Runners-Up: IN[fem]OUS by Eddie Cisneros: Two rival female serial killers compete over a group of college friends, while a bullied outsider discovers that her trusted online confidante has been helping arrange the slaughter. Meme by Vikki Harris: A teenager’s photography project unleashes a spirit that turns pictures of her classmates into gruesome death memes, leaving her blamed for the killings. No Gods Want My Confessions by Rowan Sun: A corrupt Malaysian tycoon takes shelter at a roadside hotel, where a mysterious woman and the surrounding jungle turn his companions’ cruelties against them. Let Me Go! by Kieran Papandony: After abandoning a woman he fatally injures during a one-night stand, an office worker is tormented by her vindictive ghost as she takes control of his life and the people around him. Welcome to Mourning Wood by J.G. Clark: When a werewolf terrorizes a remote northern town, its hard-drinking residents summon a whiskey-loving Goatman whose battle creates an even larger threat. For the Shorts, the winner was Second Coming by Osi Okerafor. A disgraced preacher stages a resurrection that goes horribly wrong when the dead man begins rebuilding himself from the living congregation. Short Runners-Up: Here Kitty Kitty by Steve Hart: A family’s cat-stealing scam attracts a vengeful shapeshifter whose retaliation includes turning one son’s gutted, deboned body into a scratching post. Afterimage by Kurt Choate: A psychic crime-scene cleaner who ignores a dying woman’s pleas faces supernatural retribution as three victims’ fatal wounds transfer onto his own body. There’s Something in the Water by Julia M. Sauder: Four friends’ fishing trip becomes a bloodbath when their treatment of a captured mermaid provokes revenge, including a fatal attack on one man’s genitals. The Best I’ve Ever Had by Michael Potts: A woman subjects her older lover to increasingly dangerous tests of his heart, revealing a murderous obsession with collecting and preserving his predecessors’ hearts. Mandie by Liu Iacono: A young woman reenacts her tormentors’ recorded humiliations as lethal revenge, leaving one attacker restrained, flayed and mutilated before he bleeds to death.
BEST DIALOGUE
For Best Dialogue, the Feature winner was Paloma Rodriguez with Double Entendre, in which a translator held captive by a crime boss deliberately mistranslates his demands to the detective negotiating her release, conducting two very different conversations at once. It's genius! Feature Runners-Up: One to Grow On by Joseph Daniel Zeltser: A young man attends his sister’s wedding, where his childhood wish to keep his parents together turns a family reunion into a murderous nightmare. Emo Kids vs. The Lizard Mayor by Lyndsey Morgan Anderson: An out-of-work journalist returns to her Indiana hometown and joins her old emo friends to expose reptilian politicians who conceal their killings as drug deaths. Palm Tree Tales: Heritage by Thiago Oliveira: An Indigenous woman joins a team of flamboyant decluttering influencers at a Brazilian mansion, where a family curse and the estate’s stolen wealth awaken far more than bad energy. The Terror Below by Justin Olson: In 1926, a disgraced reporter investigating a mountain town’s massacre discovers underground predators and an abandoned heiress who may be its only hope of survival. Kill Jar by Jessica Hinds: A visitor’s unsettling questions draw an isolated elderly couple back into their history of abducting and abandoning children, turning a promise of forgiveness into a brutal reckoning. For the Shorts, the winner was Jane Hamilton's Mrs. Rodgers' Gift Shop, in which a grieving customer trades increasingly barbed remarks with a gift shop owner whose perfectly chosen presents reveal secrets their recipients would kill to keep. Short Runners-Up: Afterblack by Daniel Dauphin: A successful artist’s encounter with an estranged fellow artist turns their history of betrayal into a confrontation involving black paint that opens onto an impossible void. Moonshine by Warren Lane: A sheriff struggling to reconstruct a disastrous night becomes entangled in a grotesque mystery involving his missing wife, suspected lycanthropy and dangerously adulterated liquor. Lock the Gate, Vâlcov by Nilson Bernardi Ferreira: A vain professor and his perceptive wife become trapped in a Romanian town where a flirtatious admirer and a nightly curfew conceal a werewolf threat. Long Hair / Don’t Care by Molly Rydzel: A short-haired outsider navigates the shifting loyalties and casual cruelty of a girls’ sleepover, where the obsession with long hair takes a sinister physical form. Cry Baby by Sebastian Granskog: As a contagious crying sickness spreads through Finland, a defensively macho husband retreats to a cabin with his wife and treats emotional vulnerability as an existential threat.
BEST OPENING SCENE
For Best Opening Scene, the winner was Michael Spellman’s Gruber’s Vault, in which a locksmith opens a bank vault sealed for forty years and hears his missing daughter calling from inside. The opening’s final image turns a moment of impossible hope into something utterly chilling. Feature Runners-Up: The Inclination by Andrew Dean Pearson: A wormhole expedition unravels as its crew’s buried memories return, exposing a corporate experiment that has rewritten violent prisoners into astronauts. Her Neck Kept Growing in Her Casket by Phaedra Crowe: A group of cinema workers in 1979 London is haunted by a dead friend whose impossibly extending neck draws them toward the violence concealed behind her apparent suicide. Hide by Joshua R Searcy: A Manhattan inspector and his protégé investigate a superhuman killer whose attacks on a biotech company lead back to his oldest friend and a buried military experiment. Salem by Destiny: A rookie police officer investigating a silent serial killer uncovers connections to an abused girl’s disappearance and the authorities who ignored her pleas for help. Electa by Kenny Kistner: A young marine worker struggling to support her grandmother accepts a lucrative offer to become the quarry in a wealthy elite’s rigged human hunt.
.png)
Every year, the volume and quality of submissions to Frights! Camera! Action! remind us why the horror genre remains one of the most fiercely imaginative spaces in storytelling. This contest was especially competitive, with writers tailoring their nightmares to our signature categories. Choosing winners and runners-up meant passing over many screenplays that were chilling, clever, bold, or beautifully crafted. Below is a selection of one hundred scripts that stood out to our judging team for their originality, atmosphere, scares, emotional punch, or sheer audacity. Each has earned an Honorable Mention for contributing something memorable, thrilling, or deeply unsettling to this year’s competition.
The Caretaker of Eternity by Tim Morgan. Impossible deaths linked to an AI resurrection service draw a detective and a parapsychologist into conflict with an ancient force determined to let the dead rest. Black Sea by Stuart Long. Before D-Day, a young American naval officer arrives on the Romanian coast to negotiate with an ancient vampire who sees the coming war as an opportunity. Mo vam Wolfe by Gary B. Haley. An 83-year-old vampire-werewolf hybrid finds unexpected companionship with two young women, only to discover that their acceptance conceals a calculated betrayal. The Melting Man by Jack Williamson. An astronaut’s experimental treatment after a classified space disaster transforms him into a murderous creature whose condition may threaten far more than his own humanity. Riddle Park by Curtis W. Harrison. A bullied young man builds an amusement park to trap his former classmates, forcing them through deadly riddles tailored to their personalities. House of Salt by Jim Hendricks. A recovering addict accepts a nanny job with a woman who keeps her stillborn twins in a freezer, then discovers that employment has become captivity. Truly terrifying. So Spoiled by Erin Copen Howard. An overlooked dancer contracts a flesh-eating infection just before a career-changing opportunity, but refuses to stop performing even as the contagion spreads through her company. Koala-Pig by Daniel Patrick Coughlin. A scientist’s supposedly miraculous animal hybrid unleashes a killing spree, leaving a troubled security guard and his allies racing to destroy it. Cry Baby Bridge by Aaron Mulvey. A teenager livestreaming a final party before graduation takes his friends to a haunted local landmark, uncovering a truth the police never wanted broadcast. Wrong by Courtney Jones. Seven stranded college students discover that the town surrounding them is a predatory entity using terrifying illusions to feed on their fear and sorrow. Standstill by Julia Lucio. Twelve strangers trapped in an endless traffic jam discover that the road has chosen them, and that escape will not be possible for everyone. Road Kill by Ashley Wilson and Rebecca Wilson. A group of Smoky Mountain park rangers must identify the killer among them, whose murders are committed on Mother Nature’s behalf. The Felix Tapes by Warren Camp and Andrew Pedesclaux. Three desperate film students recruit a serial killer to rescue their failing production, then must decide how many lives their perfect edit is worth. How to Fix a Broken Heart by Josh Kreuzman. A grieving widower’s search for relief brings him to an entity offering his deepest desires while plotting to claim his body and soul. The Prepper by B J Gibbs. Following a terrifying encounter, a police officer struggles to hold on to her sanity as she confronts the possibility of an impending zombie apocalypse. The Wager by Carmine Catroppa. Two brothers posing as priests encounter Beelzebub and must survive a year-long game of tag with their lives as the prize. Paradise Resorts by Darrell Bishop. A complimentary island upgrade turns two couples into prey for wealthy guests, while one husband’s growing brutality threatens to make him another monster in their midst. Mad Moose by Trevor Baierl. Hyper-aggressive moose terrorize a North Dakota town before contaminated meat in a chili cook-off threatens to spread their disease to humans. Awesome. The Haunting in Ajo by Julie Nicholson. A couple renovating an isolated Arizona property for their YouTube channel unknowingly film supernatural events as the house begins driving them apart. Noose by John Platt, Shawn Sheridan and Brennan LaFaro. The survivor of a frontier train massacre hunts an apparently indestructible outlaw, unaware that an otherworldly force is feeding on both men’s vengeance. Things Kept Inside by Naomi Alexandra Neddow. A volatile man and his psychology-student fiancée postpone selling his inherited estate, unknowingly trapping themselves inside an elaborate occult design. Full Occupancy by Lou Haack. A television producer suspects that an apartment building’s ageless owner controls arrivals, departures and deaths to keep every unit occupied. Malleus by Jack Cross. A zealous witch hunter turns a remote settlement against a devout young woman, awakening something far older than the evil the community believes it is destroying. Sutton Farm by Nick Hildreth. A couple rushing to their hospitalized daughter crash near an isolated Ohio farm, where distance and reality unravel as buried fears drive them apart. Scars of a Butterfly Sunrise by Daniel P Coughlin and Elizabeth Arroyoarce. A pregnant woman trying to leave online sex work must survive a final broadcast engineered by the men who have been exploiting her. The Feed by Michele R. Wells. A broke gig worker wins a residency with a seemingly perfect influencer, then discovers that her vampire hostess wants a willing successor. The Order by Brian M Wixson. Models attending an exclusive fashion event discover that their wealthy hosts are selecting them for a cannibalistic feast and a deadly hunt. Crawlspace by Attila Gyula Balazs. After allowing her abusive partner to die through neglect, a woman begins losing her grip on reality following a secret bargain with the demon beneath her house. CAMP by Elsa Guerrero. Two sisters visit a summer camp for adults where the elderly staff punish condescension with supernatural brutality, making respect for their elders a matter of survival. Nightmare Hall by Enriko Neltsas. A young woman hiding from a stalker in an abandoned dorm befriends two students, then begins to fear that her pursuer is spending winter break with them. Nursery—An Anthology by Britney Paige Koblinsky-Goldenberg. Familiar nursery rhymes and childhood memories become sinister stories that uncover the horror beneath comforting bedtime traditions. Goldy by Gregory Funaro. A death marked by a gold-painted smile forces childhood friends to confront an ancient evil that followed one of them home from a frozen pond. Crackjaw by Nelson Torres. A faded celebrity chef seeking a legendary eel discovers a Louisiana clan feeding an ancient lake creature, with his loved ones next in line as offerings. The Asimov Curse by Edison Gabriel Toro. Four friends awaken a curse during a Chilean cemetery tour and search for its surviving family connection, unaware that evil is already among them. What Makes You Tick by J.R. Kinnard. A pain researcher investigating euphoric tick bites becomes addicted herself, even as she discovers that the parasites are turning their hosts into breeding vessels. Truly terrifying. The Masters by Leif Johnson. Famous horror filmmakers trapped in a realm governed by their genre’s brutal conventions must confront iconic monsters and their own secrets to escape. The Caravan by Craig Tudor James. Two fugitives take shelter with a chained man inside a remote Welsh caravan, where violent hallucinations and a soul-feeding woodland entity threaten them all. The Shoal by Matt David Patron. A fisherman awakens Cthulhu’s dream-cult beneath a dying Maine island and must reclaim his supernatural heritage to save his daughter from a mass baptism into the deep. The Crimson Masks by Jack Packshaw. A grieving teenager investigating her new home uncovers a dark-web network selling fear to paying viewers, then becomes its next attraction. Imposter Syndrome by Heather N. Lambert and Chris Martin. Investigating a bloody library shooting sends a journalist down an internet rabbit hole that threatens her understanding of reality. The Finality of the Infinite by N.E. Leigh. An unemployed architect accepts work at a wellness company whose restorative treatment leads him toward buried family memories and an ancient machine beneath the facility. Modit by Luis Masia. A drug trafficker’s Caribbean holiday becomes a nightmare of black magic, family revelations and mounting paranoia as a hurricane cuts off his escape. Clark from the Dark by Gordon Phillips. A single mother turns her son’s fear of a mysterious presence into a playful bedtime rhyme, only to discover that his nightmare has a sinister reality. The Portion by Nick Nelsen. A man returning for his sister’s funeral uncovers an escalating cycle of human sacrifices used to resurrect and sustain another woman. Death Ward 13 by Todd Anthony Nunes. Four rookie nursing students working a stormbound asylum’s final night discover that its supposedly harmless remaining patients are anything but. Den of Spiders by Tom Elvis Lavery and Deborah Ann Blount. Researchers investigating a Kentucky meteor impact site encounter mutated spiders whose intelligence suggests that humanity is losing control. Little Cabin on the Hill by Dušan Čupić. A stranger’s arrival at a reclusive farmer’s North Dakota home becomes a dangerous contest in which neither man is quite what he seems. Red Ghost by Erin Copen Howard. A killer camel carrying a dead man traps an antique picker and prospectors at an abandoned Arizona mining camp. Awesome. Murder in the Home by Anthony Osarfo. A teenager born from a supernatural pact unleashes her monstrous form against children’s-home staff who murder the headmistress and frame her for their crime. The Girl at the Gate by Gunnar E Garrett Jr. A lonely girl confined to her family estate befriends a mysterious neighbor, forcing her to question whether her mother’s terrifying warnings are protection or paranoia. The Chair by Dominick Tambasco. A teenager investigates an isolated house linked to recurring deaths and suicides, discovering a curse that threatens his own family. Spoon-fed Addiction by Silvano Williams. A self-destructive Houston drug dealer hunting his friend’s killer carries a parasitic darkness toward the sheltered daughter of a sheriff. Don’t Leave Our House by Jim Hendricks. A lonely wife befriends the eccentric family next door, then begins losing her memories and identity to a household that keeps what it takes. The Lonely Life of Albert Munday by Darren A. Furniss. After murdering his wife and her lover and burying them in the woods, Albert discovers that neither intends to stay dead. August Chatham by Scott Alan Ward. An elderly mother recounts how her son’s unexplained violence, his twin sister’s disappearance and a fearful community transformed a family tragedy into local folklore. The Lower Network by Scott Alan Ward. A mycologist discovers that a town’s newfound calm comes from an ancient biological network stripping away the emotions and instincts that make its residents human. The Mark of the Wolf by Giacomo Giammatteo. A man hiding his werewolf nature faces mounting suspicion when savage killings and missing children bring detectives and hunters armed with silver bullets to his town. Fear in the Flesh by Amber Wolffe. A disgraced police officer discovers that her new town’s sheriff feeds vulnerable residents to an ancient entity, forcing her into an unlikely alliance to destroy it. Best Actress by Eduardo Escober. A lonely waiter’s dream romance with a famous actress becomes a struggle for survival as she learns to reproduce and consume his identity. Voidaxis by Mark A Donnell. A ritual murder inside the Library of Congress leads an investigator toward ancient extraterrestrial visitors and a gateway beneath Camp David that threatens to reopen. Nahual by Jamie Cooper. A vampire who survives by hunting cartel soldiers must ally with a kingpin when an experimental army of feral vampires threatens them both. The Wraith’s Mercy by Mike Foster. A brigantine stranded on a windless ocean loses its crew one by one to something rising from the water that knows their buried sins. Arcade Heroes by Marcus De Storm. A criminal steals an arcade machine whose monstrous challenges begin producing real-world massacres, while its smiling guide draws him deeper into the game. Maybe Death by William Chialdikas. A bereaved teenager’s toxic new friendships spiral into sex, drugs and violence before a school killing spree forces her to confront her sister’s death. To Live and Die in L.A. by Emily Andreen. After another psychiatric admission, a troubled man works with a court-appointed psychiatrist and people from his past to piece together his fractured life. 18th & Idaho by Joe Verdugo. A repeatedly sold house refuses to stay quiet as a detective investigates the realtor who knows exactly why its murdered occupants cannot leave. The Forgotten Ones by Justin Olson. A widowed social worker and her teenage sons investigate missing children and uncover vampires and werewolves preying on San Francisco’s neglected youth. Darkness by Tim Britto. A distrustful man must overcome his isolation when unnatural darkness takes passengers from a subway train that shrinks with every disappearance. Revenge Is Ours by Jean Nudd. A psychic archivist whose foresight failed to save her father must embrace the gift she now despises to help police stop a paranormal murder spree. Je Te Vois by Keshia Thomas. A woman raised in Paris returns to New Orleans, where a stranger connected to her childhood draws her into a supernatural reckoning over stolen lives. The News..! – Loch ’N’ Load by F!N. A severed head on the shore of Loch Ness sends a local inspector into an investigation of the truths hidden beneath the water and within their own identity. He Just Won’t Die by Brian Spatz. A billionaire couple’s failed attempts to murder an ex-husband collide with a vigilante’s Miami killing spree, scrambling the boundaries between killers, victims and suspects. Mosca by George Putnam. A new doctor investigating a Mississippi town’s sudden deaths finds evidence of an enormous blood-feeding insect, despite the sheriff’s determined disbelief. The Carpathian Drive-In by Clay Griffith. A vampire quietly running a drive-in theater falls for a human artist, threatening his community’s stability and everything he believes about his own kind. Relia, Demon Slayer by Maria Luisa Soriano. A cursed teenager awakens her divine heritage to confront the ancient demon haunting her before it can fulfill its promise of global destruction. Whistling Dixie by Todd Bronson. Two estranged childhood friends investigate racist murders and uncover Confederate zombies returning to settle old scores in blood. Claire by Martyna Anna Mól. A woman imprisoned in a camera-monitored room receives objects from her past that force her to confront buried memories while her grasp on reality deteriorates. The Adlet by Eddie Yaroch. A possessive mother feeds those who hurt her son to a savage creature, while the ghosts of his former girlfriends try to save her next victims. Granddaddy’s House by Michael Potts. A professor caring for his grandfather encounters ghostly children and a sinister figure whose presence exposes the family’s connection to five missing girls. Suagothel by Duncan Putney. Colonial Rangers retreating through the Vermont wilderness under a British major enter an uncharted region where the dead wait beyond the safety of torchlight. Cryptid by Bruno Derlin. A South Jersey sheriff faces renewed savage killings and his estranged daughter’s return as the Jersey Devil legend threatens to repeat his family’s tragedy. The Night Stalker by Mike Murdock. A combative Las Vegas reporter pursues a vampire through a string of blood-drained bodies while officials work to suppress the supernatural truth. Dead End Mary by Brett McKay. Teenagers taking a wrong turn become trapped on a looping highway, where a murdered bride with headlight-bright eyes hunts them using abandoned cars. Zombie Love by Curtis W. Harrison. A disciplined survivor and an outspoken scavenger discover that his blood may reverse the zombie plague, making them targets for an infected scientist. Psithurism by Michael Mortimer. A literary agent and her struggling writer husband seek refuge in a woodland cottage, where a strange forest presence deepens the fractures in their marriage. Hidden People by Harry Ewan. A weary professor’s family holiday becomes a desperate effort to save his troubled daughter from mythic beings who believe she may be their savior. The Looking Glass by Renee N Meland. Seven strangers trapped in a mysterious hotel must confess to murders they do not believe they committed if they are to escape. Dead Cold by Ben Del Fuoco. After crash-landing in the frozen Arctic, a group of influencers must escape an obsessed scientist before becoming his next experiments. Bad Faith by Dean Laurence Poland. A young couple visiting a family shrine in rural Japan discover a community where physical deformity and spiritual pollution have become objects of worship. The Chain by Fabian Olive. Six strangers awaken in a room with only five of them chained, forcing them to communicate and cooperate before their surroundings turn against them. Ledger of Shadows by Daniel Balázs Tóth. An artist’s sketches map a centuries-old prison beneath her London boarding house, awakening an entity that has waited for her bloodline to return. NuMe by Matthew Thompson. Two homeless lovers sell miraculous body transformations through a mysterious computer, knowing that another version of each customer is left trapped with an unseen terror. Motel Sicks by Sandy Weed, Jr. A father’s baseball road trip with his teenage son unravels at a rundown motel, where familiar strangers and disturbing inconsistencies expose the truth behind his perspective. Killer Phantom by Mohammad Safwan Fayez Moubaydeen. An assassin raised by a ruthless sisterhood becomes its target after sparing a child, forcing him to confront his conditioning and his violent alter ego. RAT/GIRL by Linda Niccol. An urban explorer trapped in a derelict building must strike a grisly bargain with a rat if she is to have any hope of rescue. Truly terrifying. Devil’s Lottery by John Beaton Hill. A traumatized child-protection investigator returns to her hometown, where an abuse case exposes ritual violence and a supernatural force tied to her childhood. Red Eyes by James Callaway. A World War II submarine crew faces an internal nightmare when a sailor becomes a flesh-eating predator, dividing the captain’s attention between the enemy above and the monster aboard. Where the Devil Lives by Charles John Potthoff. Stories spanning a century follow demons exploiting human weakness, tracing the consequences of temptation, cruelty and the hunger for power. One Hour Boyfriend by Hunter Dunn. A charismatic DJ offering women an hour of uncomplicated romance chooses the wrong partner and finds himself fighting to survive the night. Devoid by Nico Nijhawan. A pastor’s captivity becomes a psychological battle with a sadistic killer while teenagers encounter something sinister that draws seemingly unrelated lives into the same nightmare.
If your name appeared above, congratulations. You can download your laurels from our FilmFreeway laurel centre and order your Honorable Mention trophy above.
If you didn't make it this time, we say this sincerely: do not stop writing. Many entries hovered on the brink of selection. Every year we watch writers break through after refining, rewriting, and returning with sharper claws. Horror thrives on persistence, and so do horror writers.
We are thrilled to announce that the next contest is now open, boasting an increased prize pot and the same promise as always: every script will be read at least twice, often more when the judges begin their spirited debates.
Thank you to our writers for the nightmares. And thank you to our judges for surviving them!
Stay spooky,
David York & The Contest Judges
