A Night of Horror is pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the festival’s 2026 short and feature length screenplay competitions.

A NIGHT OF HORROR FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

WINNERS

Winner: FOREVER (written by Emanuel D. Gumina)

After the premature birth of their son, a young married couple struggles to stay connected as a monstrous fate transforms their family.

1st Runner-up: EVL (written by Jim Connell

A disillusioned eco-lawyer enters a high-stakes job interview at a secretive startup touting a revolutionary, limitless green energy, only to realize the company’s true asset is an ancient evil designed to ignite the next phase of global warming: hell on earth.

2nd Runner-up: DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: THE NIGHT STALKER (written by Chad Ferrin)

The life and crimes of Richard Ramirez.

FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

ACCELERATE (written by Alan Mah Baxter)

After avoiding driver’s ed for years due to a past car accident, a young woman finally getting the courage to take her first course discovers her driving instructor IS NOT her actual instructor and must fight to uncover who he really is and how to escape an increasingly dangerous situation.

THE ALRAUNE FAMILY (written by Victor Martín León & Elena Del Moral)

Diana escapes from the orphanage to meet her father, who lives as a recluse in a cabin by a lake and who lost custody of her when she was a baby. But we know something she doesn’t: her father has just kidnapped a girl.

DEATHSLED (written by Wesley Steven Drent)

Jake’s life is in shambles when he acquires a car with a portal to Hell in the trunk that thirsts for evil souls in exchange for demonic guidance and gifts of devil’s gold.

THE FAVORITE (written by Steven Raney)

A film can containing 16mm footage of an occult ritual sits archived for decades. Once rediscovered, those who watch the cursed footage die.

HIS FATHER’S HOUSE (written by Kenneth Lawrence & Travis Delaney)

Mark, a man with no memory of his childhood, inherits a remote farmhouse from the father he never knew. He travels there with his girlfriend Kate to find answers about his mysterious past. They discover his father was obsessed with the occult, believing he could achieve immortality by summoning the child-devouring demon Lamashtu to possess Mark in the womb.

HOUSE OF FLIES (written by Alex Havens)

A couple, Mason and Avery, reunites after a 6-month break to see if they can salvage their relationship through a secluded, private weekend in the forest. Their plans hit an obstacle when they arrive to find their StayBNB hosts, an older couple named Joseph and Tara, are there when they aren’t supposed to be. This is only the first of the weekend's many odd occurrences that test the strained couple’s growth and trust in each other, ultimately leading to their hosts’ disturbing truth.

THE PERSON YOU WERE BEFORE (written by Mark Jonathan Landau & Ali Reza Tafreshi)

The Person You Were Before is a semi-autobiographical medical drama with sci-fi elements that acts partially as an exposé of the daily life of healthcare workers. The lofty ideals that may have initially attracted well-meaning individuals to become physicians belie the dark reality of medicine. The broken healthcare system molds the psyche of those who engage in it, both patient and practitioner, until the result is something unrecognizable to themselves.

THE RED HOURGLASS (written by B.C. Jones)

After a mysterious night of sleepwalking and waking up in the nearby woods, a young virgin woman finds herself mysteriously pregnant. After the birth of the child, the world begins to change all around her. Is her child the messiah or is it something much more sinister?

SOUTHERN RITES (written by Christopher Brian Dorsey)

A young man unwittingly becomes part of century old blood oath between a matrilineal family of witches and a dark entity

VACCUS (written by Leiter S Daniellson)

When trauma activates a rare genetic void, a bookstore clerk is recruited to become a masked executioner for a shadowy organization. But forbidden knowledge awakens something buried within him, forcing him to confront what he’s become.

VIBE (written by Michael McKean)

Vibe exploits the exploitation cinema of the 70’s to fight the current objectification and commodification of women occurring as a result of the AI boom. Vibe is a film about a female sex doll who embarks on a journey for revenge after her creator is murdered.

SEMI-FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

AILM (written by Steve Brumwell)

When a prodigal son returns to Dublin in search of his lost brother, he finds himself trapped inside a mysterious shelter governed by silence, memory, and an ancient consciousness. As grief rituals unfold and hidden guilt surfaces, he must confront the ghosts of others—and his own—before the Shelter decides his fate.

APEX (written by Richard P. Doyle)

On a guided tour in the Australian outback, a city-slicking expat and his starstruck boyfriend must rely on a charismatic but unpredictable bushman to survive a monstrous apex predator determined to make a meal of them and their fellow hikers.

BLACK HOLE SUN (written by Edward Learman)

In the suburbs of modern Britain, a man, suffering nightmares, loses his job before finding himself a suspect in a gruesome murder investigation . The apparitions become more frightening as the mystery deepens until he’s compelled to face his dark past.

BLUE EYES OF THE SWALE (written by Jose Montalvo)

In 440 CE Arabia, a gifted seeress with piercing blue eyes defies oppressive traditions and betrayal to protect her tribe and her forbidden love, while the personification of Death offers guidance amidst the chaos of war.

THE BORDERLANDS (written by Christopher Brian Dorsey)

A nun in a remote wilderness outpost descends into madness after a priest's death, murdering her patients in the name of mercy, while a dark supernatural presence manipulates the isolated survivors toward violence and despair.

BOTTOM FEEDER (written by Ari Groobman)

A social recluse running from their past is forced to come out of their shell in the most horrific trial by fire in this body horror comedy.

CALIGO INN (written by Shaun Delliskave)

A rising political star retreats to a secluded Virginia inn to draft a campaign platform that will secure him a spot on a presidential ticket—but as nightmarish visions blur with reality, he’s forced to confront the ghosts of those he sacrificed to climb the political ladder. Caligo Inn is a psychological thriller with gothic horror overtones, laced with political intrigue and moral reckoning, in which ambition, guilt, and supernatural justice collide under the genteel veneer of Southern hospitality.

CARTOON MAN (written by Miguel del Campo & Fatima Abdulaziz Alshamsi)

After a tragic prank, a reclusive teenager is mysteriously resurrected by his childhood cartoons—returning as a grotesque half-human, half-animated monster fueled by vengeance. As his former bullies die in disturbingly cartoonish ways, his estranged brother must confront the guilt of doing nothing—and face the violent consequences of nostalgia turned sour.

THE DAMNED NEXT DOOR (written by Paul Grammatico)

Detective Montanez tries to solve an unusual murder at a nightclub and discovers a virus that turns people into cannibal undead and convert themselves into the persons they consume.

DEAD TOWN (written by Jerry Procanik)

Dead Town effectively combines slasher horror with teen comedy, uniquely blending the Old West and supernatural Native American lore. Where else can you find a serial killer from the late 1800s battling present day clueless co-eds and convict killers? Filled with unexpected twists, Dead Town has something for every fan of this genre: strong female leads, gory kills, one-liners and redemption.

DEVIL CARDS (written by Mićo Ivanović)

Dave receives a mysterious black box containing six different cards. It is said that if all six cards are used, the devil will rise again.

DEATH CAN BE A FUNNY BUSINESS (written by Joe Fishel)

A funeral home director who moonlights as a stand-up comedian must learn to cope with four ghostly visitors who appear during his daily life and performances.

ECHO HILLS (written by Scott Thomas Jessick & Mark Daniel Johnson)

When Sam moves into his late uncle’s house in rural Iowa, his friends Emily and JD come out to help him settle in and get a break from their own lives. The weekend feels like a reset - until the woods around the house start to feel heavier and hum.

THE FARM (written by Craig Urquhart)

A Korean woman tries to escape her internal demons in remote Canada, but is forced to fight for her life when they incarnate in the real world.

HAUNTED (written by James Michael Farley)

Haunted by the death of their co-founder and a year of faking evidence, a fractured production team must survive a night in a remote Vermont home controlled by a chronically online demon who uses their own greed and aspirations against them.

THE HITCHCOCK MURDERS (written by Adrian Eric Barker)

Professor Wes Craven and third years UCLA film student Jon Carpenter are caught up in a slashers desire to bring back Alfred Hitchcock from the depth of hell.

HUNGER (written by Brian Dorsey)

A group of trappers lost in the wilderness of the 1840s Pacific Northwest must face more than the elements to survive.

HUNCH (written by Michael E Caisley)

Bank robbers fleeing the law hole up in a Victorian mansion in the desert, but soon learn an ancient spirit is no fan of their misdeeds.

JOSHUA TREE (written by Leon McConnell)

A dog faced killer and his pet Chihuahua hunt a church youth group through the deserts of Joshua Tree and pick them off one by one.

LET ME IN (written by Jared D Tagliaferro)

In this gritty slasher thriller, work-consumed Boston Detective, David Carr, is haunted by the disappearance of the “BLOCK KILLER”- a serial murderer he shot, but whose body vanished in a house fire a year ago. When the killer resurfaces, he continues where he left off: targeting tranquil neighborhoods throughout the city, leaving each block with nothing but silence and bloodshed.

NECROTICA (written by Wesley Steven Drent)

Years into the Zombie Apocalypse, a suicidal widow must reconcile with her murderous brother to protect an orphaned child as the undead become the least of their concerns and the corrupted world descends into literal Hell on Earth.

THE NIGHTMARE MAN (written by D.E.S Collins)

A small-town teenager is slowly going insane? Or is she one of the first to notice the evil infestation gradually poisoning her home town.

OFFLINE (written by Nuno Graça)

When three wealthy couples force their tech-addicted teenagers into a surprise "digital detox" weekend on a remote island, they unknowingly deliver them to a disfigured man who has spent his entire life cut off from the modern world—born, raised, and still living in complete isolation on the island for 25 years, waiting for revenge against the families whose children once bullied him.

THE POPPET (written by Susan Eileen Jizba)

When a popular teen is forced to move-in with her dad and weird, witchy stepsister, she rebels by creating a ritual doll said to have vengeful properties, which backfires horribly when the murderous Poppet doll becomes alive, forcing her to work with her despised sibling to destroy it.

SANGUIS SEPTEM (written by Caprice Castano)

When seven women are found dead in ritualistic formation, a detective arrives in a small town where grieving husbands share an uncanny unity. Beneath their respectable facades, the husbands are bound by something darker than grief.

SCHISMA (written by Cameron A. Straughan)

In a rigid theocratic future, a gender non-conforming astronaut leads a fractured crew to investigate a mysterious deep-space anomaly that manifests their fears and grotesquely mutates them, forcing humanity toward a terrifying new stage of evolution.

SHOOT THE DEAD (written by Mark Meloche)

A 1950s police photographer named Ethan encounters a sinister supernatural entity while documenting a crime scene.

SO SPINELESS (written by Erin Copen Howard)

After her research is sabotaged, a driven biotech student discovers her altered drug liquefies the human skeleton. Desperate to save her career, she exploits the defect, unleashing escalating consequences that spiral beyond her control.

SOMNUS (written by Steven Raney)

After the death of his partner, Jonas Keene receives a Somnus smart bed through a Halo Network Bereavement Initiative. As the system adapts to him, Jonas begins noticing small shifts in the rhythm of his nights and in himself, subtle changes that follow him into the day. What began as comfort settles into something he cannot name, a presence that moves through both his sleep and his waking thoughts.

THE VAMPIRE RUSSELL (written by Jeff Goldstein)

A world-weary man searching for the woman he lost decades ago, strikes a bargain with a charming but manipulative vampire who claims he can help find her - pulling them into a shadowed journey where every revelation costs the man his blood, and the truth is more terrifying than the monster he's bound himself to.

VILESTOY (written by Solvan Knell)

In 1970, a Thai Air Force pilot and an American GI survive a plane crash on the Laos–Thailand border. Stranded in the jungle, they stumble upon Khao Saming — a hidden village the pilot was warned never to return to. At first, it seems untouched by time, its people oddly kind. But beneath the surface lies something older than faith and deadlier than war.

THE VILLAGE PHANTOM (written by Astrid Elisabeth Guaaker)

Fiona Haegerbergh, a journalist for The Metro Standard, arrives in a rural Norwegian town to investigate rising drug use. Officially, she’s there to produce a web series— but Fiona has her own agenda: uncovering the truth behind the recent suspicious death of a local drug dealer…

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS (written by Rolfe Kanefsky)

When the quiet town of Whispering Falls becomes victim of a serial killer who uses the verses of nursery rhymes as an inspiration for violence, it’s up to a local police officer and a small group of high school students to put a stop to this reign of terror! In the tradition of “Seven”, “Silence of the Lambs” and “Blue Velvet”.

THE WHISPERING (written by John Ellis)

Rookie cop Rebecca Jones believes she's been here before, and she's convinced she knows who killed her.

ZANDAYA (written by Curtis W Harrison)

In 1847, scorned Céleste curses her rival's bloodline through voodoo. Centuries later, twelve-year-old Sophie Henderson moves into a cursed house and discovers a protective doll, unknowingly binding herself to Zandaya—a young woman trapped between humanity and the curse's darkness.

ZEBRAS (written by Adam Holley)

Two detectives, one an old school grizzled veteran and the other a an ambitious rookie. Both from different generations, races and backgrounds are paired up on stakeout where realities clash only to be forced to work side by side fighting against the very forces of evil.

A NIGHT OF HORROR SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

WINNERS

Winner: DEVICES (written by Jared Moskowitz)

With his wife gone for the night, a new father’s first solo parenting venture becomes a nightmare.

1st Runner-up: HIGH RISE (written by Jerry D. Ochoa)

Newly engaged couple Rob and Madison are thrilled to start their new life together in the gorgeous high-rise home of their dreams. But as they settle in, Madison begins to wonder if they share the same dream at all. Rosemary’s Baby meets Sliver in this darkly comic horror thriller from the writer of The Virgin and Mermaid.

2nd Runner-up: BRUISES (written by Sarah Jo Brims)

After a collision on New Years Eve, an unstable middle-aged woman forms a parasocial relationship with the teenage frontman of a heavy-metal band in her small town.

FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

THE BLANKET (written by Arlis Mongold)

After a mysterious package from Peru arrives at their doorstep, the Kellerman family discovers a handmade blanket inside — soft, beautiful, and unlike anything they’ve seen. But as night falls, the warmth it offers turns deadly.

BLOODY REPAIR (written by Solvan Knell)

A tax-evading computer repairman hides out in a crumbling apartment with his “paralyzed” grandma. When a shady client drops off a military-grade laptop and warns, Don’t open any files, Andy’s curiosity wins—if he can dodge taxes, he can open a folder or two. Inside he finds brutal footage of kidnappings and killings… starring his own client. Now trapped between his grandma and a hitman at the door, Andy’s only way out might just be a screwdriver.

CHILD SUPPORT (written by Mannie Rivera)

On a sweltering summer day in 1992, two friends sneak into one of their dad's locked rooms hoping to find a stash of porn—but instead, they uncover something far more disturbing

DEHISCIENCE (written by Mark Jonathan Landau, Ali Reza Tafreshi)

A guilt-ridden detective is tasked with investigating a seemingly outrageous claim made by a plastic surgeon.

DON’T SPEAK (written by David Alan Bentley)

Amara, a survivor of parental abuse, returns to the home she swore she'd never see again, hoping to put the past behind her. But the silence inside isn’t empty — it’s alive. As memories bleed into reality, Amara is forced to confront a truth buried deeper than she ever imagined… and silence may no longer be enough to keep her safe.

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (written by Steve Hanisch)

Gina enlists the help of her boyfriend, Joe, to kill her mother so they can finally get some sexy alone time.

HUNGER (written by Christopher Brian Dorsey)

Four lost trappers face more than the elements as they struggle to survive the 1840s Pacific Northwest.

KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS (written by Ryan Jackson)

Set over three different nights, a man who's only referred to as “The Captor” abducts and interrogates three people he believes are “monsters” posing as humans. According to The Captor, he has the one weapon that can kill these monsters: an old shotgun he calls Kindness.

THE STAIN (written by Phil Bucci)

After discovering a new clue in her mothers missing persons case, Nina returns to her childhood home where a phantasmal predator transports her to another realm.

XOXO, VENUS (written by Morgan)

A beautiful other worldly woman (being?) meets a soon-to-be-wed couple in a hotel bar and introduces them to a world of desire, transformation, and awakening. Species meets Indecent Proposal.

SEMI-FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

A FAIR TRIAL (written by V.P. Evans)

Two strangers wake up trapped in a darkened room, forced to face a twisted trial that brings their very existence into question.

A NIGHT OF JAZZ (written by Nancy L Kimmel)

Sebastian Lineaux, a sophisticated vampire with the bearing of old-world nobility, brutally slaughters two rapists attempting to assault a young woman in Detroit's dangerous streets.

A SINGLE DEAD (written by Solvan Knell)

A single father died on his children’s birthday — but every year on that day, he still comes home for the party, pretending he’s alive. His kids, torn between love and fear, play along with unsettling joy… and quietly consume everything he brings.

A SUPER FRIENDLY GUY (written by Mićo Ivanović)

David is a super friendly guy during the day. But is he really that friendly at the end of the day?

BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT (written byJustin Carter)

Mia learns of a haunting presence stalking her. She follows the advice of a video given to her for these specific circumstances. She avoids detection until the entity leaves, but falls for its ruse. It catches her and takes her life before retreating. The video provides one final instruction before shutting down, and her body complies: breathe in.

THE DARK (written by Anthony Cuomo)

A boy’s TV induced fears come true when he encounters a monster in his bedroom.

DEAD OF THE DEAD (written by Ryan Dean Mullenix)

In a desolate world overrun by the undead, Dawn flees a relentless horde, her breath ragged, her will unbroken. She seeks refuge but finds only more terror in a mobile home overrun by ghoulish ranchers. Escaping the carnage, she encounters Ale, a survivor fighting her way to a safe place. Ale and Dawn's desperate fight for survival leads them to an unexpected ally, a ghoul with a peculiar appetite, but can this unlikely friendship save them from the horrors that await?

DEALT (written by Matt Webb)

In a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, four weathered survivors draw cards to determine who must leave the group.

FRANCHISE POTENTIAL (written by Patrick Barb)

A horror film enthusiast finds the line between fiction and reality blurring when he acquires a rare slasher film.

GODHOOD (written by Walter Maduro)

Godhood is an animated sci-fi & dark-fantasy epic about Raiko, an exiled, wooden-skinned god seeking acceptance and purpose. He teams up with Higgs, a skeptical scientist, to uncover his origins and confront a menacing resurgence that threatens the delicate balance between gods and mankind, in which secrecy and fear conceal the absolute truth.

HEAD(LESS) (written by Jenny Popovich)

Using deepfake tech for her dissertation research, PhD candidate Brittany Clarkston and her brother Mike try to fake evidence of the “Elmore Rider,” a headless motorcyclist allegedly haunting Mud Creek Bridge near Elmore, Ohio, but on the 110th anniversary of his death, eerie glitches, a disturbing video, and ghostly WWI sounds reveal the legend is real. Trapped and hunted, Brittany and Mike struggle to use the rules of the underworld to destroy the malevolent revenant.

THE LAB (written by Nancy Kimmel)

A blood collection facility is the front for a vampire.

LEX TALIONIS (written by P.M. Nelson)

When Dillon wakes up injured in a stranger’s home with no memory of how he got there, he’s met with kindness from Heather, a woman who claims to have rescued him. But as his memories begin to resurface, Dillon realizes he’s not just a guest. He’s at the center of a dark and personal plan that challenges the very idea of justice.

LUMA WAS HERE (written by Russell James Redl)

At 21, Luma Le Fanu descends into a maelstrom of grief and forbidden rites, confronting fragmented memories as she struggles to reclaim herself in a universe that devours innocence.

METAL SHOW (written by Ashland Thomas

When a local heavy metal band unleashes a forbidden Satanic ritual during their final song, the music becomes a deadly symphony, and the audience pays the ultimate price.

ONE SHOT DEAL (written by Solvan Knell)

After prison, a broken ex-con is pulled back into crime by the ghost of his best friend, now bound to a cursed car. What begins as a desperate favor for a ghost seeking peace spirals into a grotesque ride of betrayal forcing a man to rob the isolated father who may have damned them both.

PLEASE SHARE (written by Stacie Herrington)

Broke gamer Nola is having a bad night. She loses her bartending job for standing up to a creep, her roommate will kick her out tomorrow if she can’t pay rent, and she learns her missing father has been declared legally dead, leaving his farmhouse to a half-sister Nola never even knew existed. In a last-ditch attempt to make rent, Nola treks out to the off-grid East Texas farmhouse to try to get a cut of the inheritance one way or another. But the farmhouse hides some dark family secrets, and Nola discovers the terrifying reason for her sister’s off-grid lifestyle.