Horror Shorts Film Festival is open for voting!

2016 Horror Shorts Film Festival is open for voting! 47 short films are competing to be the best… and the spookiest! Click on the image or on the film name to view the entries and remember, you can vote for as many films as you like, once a day for the duration of the contest!

 

1. “This movie was highly influenced by The Twilight Zone.
2. It was made in 7 days on a $2,000 budget.
3. It was part of the graduate film program at the University of Central Arkansas.”

The Town Where Nobody Lives by Al Topich

A Light On by Cedric Gegel

1. “This film was shot in just 2.5 hours, and the entire thing is one single 6.5 minute shot from start to finish. This took a lot of coordination between the director/lead actor, Cedric Gegel, the cinematographer, Daniel Stemen, the antagonist, Trevor Smoot, and actress Rebecca Lehman, who did a great deal off-camera to create certain effects.

2. All sound effects (except for the television) are from the actual shoot – no external foley was used. The only change was that certain sounds (the picture frame dropping, doors slamming) were amplified to ensure they were being heard.

3. Every person involved in the project, except for one, was a student in college at the time of filming. The score was written by Matthew Raymond, who was a senior in high school at the time. Director/actor Cedric Gegel, cinematographer Daniel Stemen, and actor Rebecca Lehman all attended Capital University together, and actor Trevor Smoot attended Otterbein (he and Gegel met through a production of The Music Man, which Lehman was also in).”

A Light On by Cedric Gegel

1. “It is an exploration of depression, grief and suicide.
2.  It was written after the suicide of my best friend a year and a half ago.
3. It was filmed on a budget of £200 GB.”

I Should Have Run by Gabriela Staniszewska

1. “There’s no dialogue – so anyone can enjoy it no matter what language they speak
2. We used real practical effects
3. It’s a “safe for work” horror film that both kids and adults can enjoy”

Time To Eat by Luke Guidici

“1.)When I started writing The Lady in White I wanted to present a horror/thriller story that would leave the audience wondering about their own choices in life and the potential consequences of their actions.

In the film Dan (played by Sean Archulet) is the representation of poor choices every person can make in our lives. Choices that in a laps of judgment can hurt the one’s that we love, which we see in an extreme example in the film.

Detective Stone (played by Thomas Scott) is basically the audience that over the course of the film realizes the gravity of Dan’s choice that ultimately leads to his (Dan) destruction. Also, however, Stone represents the poor choices of the audience themselves so that by the end of the film the audience might be thinking about their own actions and consequences.

The Lady in White herself (played by Emily Jean) is whatever the audience interprets as the deciding final outcome of those choices. We never reveal what she truly is in the film. Is she a ghost, a demon, something else? I wanted her to be ambiguous so that the audience could draw from her whatever choices and consequences they deal with in their lives. It is  the idea of knowing that judgment is coming but not when that I think is what makes TLIW so unnerving.

2.) I couldn’t do this film without the many talented and hardworking members of my cast and crew. Nor the skill of those who designed the props and wrote the music. A lot of people think filmmaking is just picking up a camera and pointing it at a subject but the reality is it’s the idea of one or two talented people who collaborate with a bunch of other talented people to create something amazing.

I’m still relatively new to the filmmaking world in comparison to others. But from my experiences on sets (shorts and features) from running the show to low man on the totem-poll I’ve learned that there is not one small part on set. Every person there is essential to the completion of the film. So with that said I hope people will see this film, look at the credits, and realize just how much so many people put into this project. I couldn’t do it without any of them and I am so grateful to have gotten to work with people much more talented than me.

3.) I think horror is in a transition period right now. With recent films such as The Witch, It Follows, Hush, in my opinion lean a lot more heavy on the “less is more” aspect as opposed to a few years ago we were just bombarded with the monster, blood, gore, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I do appreciate the subtlety of not getting all the answers and being terrified because of it.

I feel like that is what I was going for with The Lady in White and many people who have seen the film have told me they wanted to know more or what happens next. To me it’s the unknown that is terrifying and in reality we don’t always get all the answers and in my opinion that is the best type of horror.

It is my hope that when people watch The Lady in White that they leave it with a sense of feeling uncomfortable and thinking about what they would do in Dan or Stone’s situation. Most of all I just hope people really enjoy the film and look forward to what we will do next.

The Lady in White by Lewis Guthrie

“This is a subject matter that hasn’t yet been tackled yet by horror films. Where do the survivors go? Who do they become? What COULD they become? The answers to these questions might be scarier than the slashers they survived… If they continue to survive long enough to find the answers.”

Survivors Anonymous by Sam Falco

 

1. “The film is actually a project for a past Global Horror class.
2. The film is meant to be in the style of Val Lewton-produced horror films from the 40’s (with a little Nosferatu thrown in).
3. The story is something I had in my head for several years and initially tried to write as a short story.”

I’m Not Dead by Jack Reilly

“The main three things I would like my global audience to know about my film is it’s core themes, my humble beginnings as a media practitioner as found in my personal bio and the intentions of the surrealist short. Contact can also be made if audience members had further questions about my work and its intentions.”

The Passage by Samuel Lardner

 

“Over 120 people were involved in the filming of this project and our main sponsor was Sagamok Anishinawbek, a First Nations reserve on the north shore of Lake Huron.

REZilience is a ten minute “proof of concept” short that is being made into a full length feature in the summer of 2016. Every dollar that REZilience makes in film festivals will be invested into making the feature.

In Eastern Woodland Art, a serpent in the belly is a symbol for illness and disease.  The fictional reserve is called Serpent Lake Reserve for that reason.”

REZilience by Jayson Stewart

“We plan to turn this into a weekly TV series in 2017.

1.  Main characters Tiffany and Jessica have a sordid backstory that will be revealed.
2. Ex-boyfriend Mike will wreak havoc on Tiffany and Jessica.”

Bonds Series by Tari Robinson

1. “I shot 95% of it at my house with my family. That’s my fiancé and real life kids. I didn’t cast any actors. Scary Jerry is the only non family member in the movie.
2. Dante, Dekker and Landis are all named after directors Joe Dante, Fred Dekker and John Landis.
3. I shot, edited and scored the entire film myself. Asking a close friend to step in to operate the camera when I was in a scene.”

Landis by Woody Edwards

“I think the 3 most important things I want the audience to know is..

1. They will probably not see another film like this one. It is unique and unexpected.
2. They will more than likely be surprised.
3. I would hope they will enjoy it.”

Left Behind by Eddie Felan

“Although The Tooth Fairy, I hope, comes across as having quite a high level of production value; (in particular the cinematography, sound design and music), this was actually achieved with very little finance behind it. It was liberating to realise how much can be done with such a lean budget.

The Tooth Fairy was made with a ‘less is more’ approach, especially with the tooth fairy itself. In my opinion, the fundamental part of an audiences fear when watching Horror films is purely the build up of the unknown. The more an audience sees of a monster, the less scary it can seem. The film concentrates on the build up… Just to torture you, of course. Especially a scene involving a night-mask.

It was a very conscious decision from the start, whilst of course adhering to certain troupes in the horror genre, to attempt to subvert these troupes at the beginning. The short is deliberately executed so that the first half is about introducing our characters and setting up points for the second half, but tonally this first half is not what you’d expect from a Horror film.

It’s more naturalistic, with an every-day feel to shed light and establish our two main characters, a single mother and her daughter. My main aim was for there to be greater impact with the contrast between the calm and natural vibe of the first half, to the tension building and horror elements of the second. Hopefully the later horror elements are enhanced and strengthened because they’ve slowly crept in to the narrative, instead of us for example starting with an opening shot of a knife with blood dripping down it. I believe this will help to make The Tooth Fairy stand out a bit more and differentiate itself for an audience, in comparison to other horror shorts.  “

The Tooth Fairy by Tom Turner

“The 3 most important things would be

1. The chilling build up of the film.

2. The old nostalgic feel of the film &

3. The sudden comedic twist ending.”

The Werewolf’s Greatest Hit by Jim Zounis

1. “We love scary movies and we hope they do to, and in the vein of older scary movies we created Darker. We hope our audience finds it scary.

2. We are Latino filmmakers.

3. The writer and director/producer are BF’s and when working on the same project make great content. Prepared to be scared!”

Darker by Alex Torres

1. “Gay Themed Horror Film

2. Cultural & Religious Blending

3. Filmed on Location in Salem, Mass featuring a home from the 1800’s”

Salem Occultist by Alexander Roman

“I only have one important thing, that is that I want my movie to be not only creepy, but it also conveys a content, a message to the audience.

For example, with “Don’t steal the scarecrow” the message is you have to pay for you false, maybe just because naughty, but that result can be very bad. So, be nice when you can. I only have one important thing.”

Don’t Steal The Scarecrow Doll by Annie Nguyen

“The Scared One is our very first short film. It is a self produced film and we really wanted to make it in the old way (by focusing on the suspense rather than blood and gore).”

The Scared One by Romain et Thibault Lafargue

1. “Knockers is only available on VHS (or VHS look or something), wich is without a doubt, the best way to watch a 80’s movie
2. Knockers is  recorded in french ! France, the country of Lumière Brothers, Melies, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer… All are spiritual fathers of Knockers
3. There is David Hasselhoff with underpants on a wall !”

Knockers version Anoria bis by Naima Chebahi

“The film was entirely shot in studio in France

Actors films, Sophie and David, are married for real 🙂

The film does not have much budget”

Kitchen by Steve Duchesne

JURY AWARDS

1st Place Jury Award: $150 Site Credit + 1 FilmStro soundtrack license for movies with up to a $1M budget worth $1999

2nd Place Jury Award: $100 Site Credit

3rd Place Jury Award: $50 Site Credit

AUDIENCE AWARDS

1st Place Audience Award: $300

2nd Place Audience Award: $60 Site Credit

3rd Place Audience Award: $40 Site Credit

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