Indie
Festival Report: Shriekfest Horror Film Festival
This past weekend SpookyDan took a trip down to Raleigh Studios for the annual Shriekfest Horror Film Festival, which featured dozens of independent horror films and shorts that you could have seen before anyone else. Inside SpookyDan talks about his favorites and reveals the event’s big winners.
After spending the weekend at Shriekfest, anyone in attendance certainly feels the admiration and genuine love for the horror genre that Creator Denise Gossett has. She brings her Hollywood festival a group of fantastic new filmmakers, and an indie spirit that is unrivaled. This year was no exception as the festival was loaded with some fun, scary and interesting films. What really stood out though was the short films that played. At most film festivals the shorts can feel like a chore to get through the bad ones, but here we had a solid grouping of shorts. I wish someone would find a way to release them as a collection on DVD!
The Shorts: Cheerbleeders was f*ucking awesome, Kirksdale was genuinely creepy, and oddly disburbing, Pumpkin Hell even freaked me out! Side Effects, He Dies at the End and Eel Girl were crowd favorites. Not to mention the super fun How My Dad Killed Dracula, and The goofy and kick ass short Burying The Ex, starring Danielle Harris.
The Features: The feature films that were people were buzzing about were The Open Door, which won the crowd favorite award. Hard to beat as it had to have two screens added and people were still unable to get tickets. Lovecraft; Fear of the Unknown, had loads of people talking about the rich amounts of information packed in. Bane, is a slow burn that delivers the blood. Alien Raiders had a packed house that got cheers that could be heard from blocks away, even tough it has a lame title, this is one film that people are going to be digging for years to come. Alien Raiders was the hidden gem in the batch of films, Two films starring genre Favorite Tony Todd (who stopped by to show support) Dark Reel and I Murders, made this festival one that should not have been missed.
The Winners:
Best Under 18 Film: The Perfect Victim directed by Eric Badger
Best Under 18 Screenplay: Big Kids Play Manslaughter written by Kelsey Bollig.
Best Acting Performance: Rhoda Jordan in Rule of Three
Audience choice award: The Open Door directed by Doc Duhame
Pretty/Scary award Side Effect directed by Liz Adams
Best Short Screenplay Making the List written by Jesse Kyle Reisman
Best Fantasy Feature Screenplay: The Hercynian Orchid written by Melisa Ford
Best SciFi Feature Screenplay: Scavengers written by Diana Kemp Jones
Best Horror Feature Screenplay The Great American Nightmare written by Tom Manning
Best Supershort film: Eel Girl directed by Paul Campion
Best short film: Kirksdale directed by Ryan Spindell
Best Thriller Feature film Alien Raiders directed by Ben Rock
Best Horror Feature film Bane directed by James Eaves
Congrats to all the winners!
If you get a chance, sign up to the email list to find out about the monthly filmmakers networking event that Shriekfest hosts in Hollywood. It’s free, it’s fun and you get to meet the next batch of filmmakers – whether you make films or not, everyone is welcome!
Look out for our BDTV video coverage of the event next week only at Bloody Disgusting.
Her House of Horrors, the horror division of Independent Production House WOMXNOGRAPHY, has launched its Bite Size Short Grant Program, ahead of its film festival Dollhouse of Horror, which will take place in March 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
The Bite Size Short Grant Program awards $2,000 film grants to female-identifying and queer horror filmmakers. Shorts must be able to be made for $2,000, with a minimum runtime of 8 minutes. Submissions are now open on Filmfreeway, and are being judged by a panel of horror lovers and content creators.
The 2024 Bite Size Short Grant Program judge lineup is as follows:
“James H. Carter II- A documentary director, film producer, podcaster, marketing specialist, and writer. James is the founder and co-owner of Creepy Kingdom. Creepy Kingdom was founded in 2011 and is a multimedia website, and production studio specializing in creepy content. Their primary focus lies at the intersection of childlike fantasy and the macabre, covering horror films, theme parks, haunts, and much more. Beyond their extensive media coverage, Creepy Kingdom hosts events, offers original merchandise, and engages in film production under the Creepy Kingdom Studios brand producing original films like “Foolish Mortals”, exploring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” fan culture, and “Georgie”, featuring Tony Dakota from the original “It” miniseries.
“In addition to founding Creepy Kingdom, James has won awards for his documentary work, including the award-winning “Foolish Mortals,” which has earned him recognition. He has been featured on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween special.
“Ashleeta Beauchamp is the editor-in-chief of Peek-A-Boo! Magazine, a cheeky horror magazine created to uplift marginalized writers, artists, models and other creators within the horror community. She also runs The Halloween Coalition, a community group to provide support and marketing for horror and Halloween events around the Southern California area.
“Titeanya Rodríguez is a multi-hyphenate creative, and the founder and owner of HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, home of DOLLHOUSE OF HORROR and the horror division of WOMXNOGRAPHY. As a fellow storyteller and a self-proclaimed artivist, Titeanya’s mission is to create opportunities for women of color and queer women, across film, tv, sports, music, and beyond. She is also the creator of the BITE SIZE SHORT grant program.”
Winners will have a one-night theatrical screening at Regal Cinemas. Submissions Close April 8 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on May 27, 2024. Shorts must be shot and through post-production by June 30, 2024. The screening will take place on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.
WOMXNOGRAPHY, HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, and Rodriguez are represented by Azhar PR, Granderson Des Rochers, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.
To submit your short to the Bite Size Short Grant Program, go to the FilmFreeway link here.
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