With Hulu’s annual “Huluween” celebration coming to an end, we’re excited to reveal the winner of the Huluween Film Festival, which boasted brand new shorts hailing from several up-and-coming filmmakers.
The winner of the $50,000 prize (to be used towards the production of their feature-length film) is Elaine Mongeon for her date night horror short “Swiped to Death”, which begins when Olivia “swipes right” on a handsome stranger and has her world collide with some serious hidden danger. Glen Zipper is co-writer and producer.
“‘Maybe you’re a serial killer’ jokes are almost perfunctory in the first five minutes after matching with someone on a dating app,” Mongeon previously explained to us about her short film, “Swiped to Death”. “We thought we could have a lot of fun leaning into the terrifying horrors that might very well await on the other side of a match. So, in other words, stay off of Tinder, people!“
Watch it again!
Mongeon also revealed her filmmaker inspirations, which include: “Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark), Ridley Scott (Alien), Stanley Kubrick (The Shining), William Friedkin (The Exorcist), George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead), Mary Harron (American Psycho), John Carpenter (The Thing).
She adds: “Richard Wenk (Vamp) and Tom Holland (Fright Night) are the specific influences for ‘Swiped to Death’!”
Mongeon also shared with us her go-to Halloween films: Psycho, 28 Days Later, Let the Right One In, Ghostbusters, A Quiet Place, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).
To view all of Huluween short films, visit the special Huluween category on Hulu, click over to www.youtube.com/hulu, or just continue on below!