We couldn’t be prouder to celebrate the theatrical release of APPOFENIACS, hitting theatres nationwide tomorrow, October 2nd! Following its standout West Coast Premiere at Screamfest 2025, writer-director-producer Chris Marrs Piliero’s darkly comic techno-thriller is officially making its big-screen debut. Get tickets at AMC
2022 Festival Guide
Film Category
8 FOUND DEAD
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Two couples escape for a weekend getaway in the desert, only to find their air b&b is already occupied.
Film Category
AFTERTASTE
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Following the death of her mysterious grandma, her Amah, a young chef is haunted during her first night of service. In this directorial debut, we explore the world of a chef on her first day of work - and the worst night of her life. She struggles to find peace under the regime of a tyrannical chef, the weight of her immigrant family, an insatiable specter and the pressure to receive a mystical 'gift' from her dying grandmother.
Film Category
ALL YOU CAN EAT
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A young waitress stumbles upon a dark and sinister cabal operating behind the scenes of the fast food diner where she works. She now has the proof she needs to bring this secret to light, but unseen evil forces are unleashed in a bloodthirsty attempt to stop her. NOLA GOMBO loves her job at the diner, but loathes her boss KIP MEATSOCK. The 'day to day' workings of the diner would grind to a halt without her, but there has always been a niggling doubt in the back of her mind that things at the diner are not totally as they appear. Working early one morning, and while attempting to stay out of Kip's way, Nola over hears something that is chillingly disturbing, but also seems to confirm her suspicions that the diner is a front for more nefarious undertakings. Nola, armed now with hard evidence, attempts to convince and gain the help of her close friend and co-worker GURDIP CHUTNEY, but before Nola get to fully explain her concerns a frenzied and grizzly incident causes Gurdip's disappearance.
In desperation Nola goes looking for Gurdip, only to suddenly and viciously have to fight for her life as she becomes the focus of a blood crazed, ghoulish nightmare.
In desperation Nola goes looking for Gurdip, only to suddenly and viciously have to fight for her life as she becomes the focus of a blood crazed, ghoulish nightmare.
Film Category
Baby Boom
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
The middle-aged alcoholic Runar believe he has scored the perfect date. Things take a strange turn when he realizes he's impregnated with her alien eggs.
Some fun facts: features a Lydia Laska remix by Alap Momin aka Oktopus (Dälek) which will be released as a single together with the film. And it stars Espen Lervaag. The mind behind Maniac which was remaked by Cary Joji Fukunaga for Netflix.
Some fun facts: features a Lydia Laska remix by Alap Momin aka Oktopus (Dälek) which will be released as a single together with the film. And it stars Espen Lervaag. The mind behind Maniac which was remaked by Cary Joji Fukunaga for Netflix.
Film Category
BABY FEVER
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A popular teen's dream to be crowned Prom Queen is threatened when she discovers she is pregnant with something even worse than her dumb jock boyfriend's offspring.
Film Category
Bean Feasa
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
The skeptical daughter of a traditional healer has her certainties challenged when she encounters one of 'the Good People'. Bean Feasa is an Irish-language supernatural drama inspired by Donegal folktales and filmed on location in the Donegal Gaeltacht. *Winner of the Comórtas Físín Irish-language pitching award 2021.
Film Category
The Black Zombie Movie
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Don is having a perfect day until a determined realtor finds her way to the backyard of his property, looking to stop gentrification by "buying back the neighborhood." Best friend George isn't having the best day with his son. Kenya, Don's sister, suggests therapy to both of them during an unexpected zombie apocalypse All they have to do is survive the day
"It's always good in the hood, just not today."
"It's always good in the hood, just not today."
Film Category
Blood Rites
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Three teenage girls with a monstrous hunger begin to unravel in the English Fens.
Film Category
The Blue Drum
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A grieving woman is tormented by memories of a mother that abandoned her as a child. The day of her father's funeral, a presence calls for her to discover secrets long hidden.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Film Category
Catch Your Breath
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A shy teenager (Andrew) is peer pressured by his older brother (Mike) into playing a game that is said to summon the ghost of the town legend, 'The Lady Beneath'. To disprove his brother and impress a girl at school he reluctantly agrees. The rules of the game are simple, as long as Andrew holds his breath, he is safe from The Lady Beneath. But how long can Andrew hold his breath?
Film Category
CIMIM
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
When five friends decided to camp in the middle of the desert in order to escape the trials of everyday life, they never expected the evil they'd encounter. After Mallory returns to the group to find herself sitting at the fire, all hell breaks loose. Now they must find a place to hide in the vast flat desert landscape - or die trying.
Film Category
Code One Eighty Seven
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Two detectives begin a routine investigation of what appears to be a homicide but there are no visible signs of death, the apartment is spotless, and there is a strange portrait of a little girl with bloody words written on it. It doesn't take them long to realize that something else is at the crime scene, lurking in the shadows.
Film Category
Cookies by the Fire
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A desperate teenage girl digs up a dark family secret to ensure she can celebrate a peaceful, merry Christmas, with her mother and brother.
Film Category
Crimson Ties
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
When a 10 year old girl is forced to spend the weekend with her older sister and her wild friends, she becomes drawn to a pendant hidden in the house, and the night takes a deadly turn for the worse.
Film Category
Darker
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
When her father goes missing, young Rhena (Adriana Bakker) enters the woods to seek out a mythological creature believed to collect the stories of dying beings.
Film Category
The Days That (Never) Were
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Three characters are about to have the best time of their lives ... until a strange phenomenon appears to interrupt everything.
Film Category
D.O.D.
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
*WARNING* This ain't your daddy's zombie apocalypse.
Ambitious, startling, brutal, and hilarious, there is no way to brace yourself for the face-melting glory of D.O.D. The world has come apart. Society has collapsed. The dead have risen. As two survivors stumble upon the wreckage of a crashed airliner, they aren't prepared for the astonishing discovery they make. Think Dawn of the Dead meets Dumb and Dumber and you might be halfway there. You have to see this barn-burner to believe it.
Ambitious, startling, brutal, and hilarious, there is no way to brace yourself for the face-melting glory of D.O.D. The world has come apart. Society has collapsed. The dead have risen. As two survivors stumble upon the wreckage of a crashed airliner, they aren't prepared for the astonishing discovery they make. Think Dawn of the Dead meets Dumb and Dumber and you might be halfway there. You have to see this barn-burner to believe it.
Film Category
Daze
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Best friends Iris & Beza embark on a dreamy road trip where they reflect on the meaning of life. Things take a sudden turn when reality threatens their whimsical outing.
Film Category
Deer Camp '86
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
The year is 1986. Chernobyl has the worst nuclear disaster in history. Mike Tyson becomes the youngest ever heavyweight champion. Hands Across America inspires an awful song, and in Michigan, six knuckleheads from Detroit travel north to partake in the annual tradition of deer hunting. But upon arrival, something horrific has been awakened... In an ironic twist of fate, the hunters have become the hunted.
Film Category
Ditched
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
It's 1996 middle-of-nowhere Ohio. In one of the state's many cornfields, a group of neighborhood kids play Ditched-a fast-paced, nocturnal version of hide-and-seek. When it's 12-year-old Cole's turn to be 'ditched' and find his friends, he quickly realizes how cut-off he is from everyone and everything. As the search leads him deeper into the corn he stumbles across a disturbing truth; there's something hostile in the field with them...something not human.
Film Category
Do Not Disturb
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Do Not Disturb is a psychedelic exploration of love, lust and carnal desire. It follows Chloe and Jack's honeymoon in Miami where a peyote trip to strengthen their marriage bond forces them to confront their toxic relationship while it awakens a desire to consume human flesh. Love is all consuming in this narcotic nightmare crafted by writer/director John Ainslie.
Film Category
The Domestic (2022)
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
The Domestic tells the story of an upper-class, happily married couple who hire the daughter of their recently deceased housekeeper as their new helper, only for things to take a dark and macabre turn when she tries to destroy them from within... Exploring themes of tradition versus modernity, African witchcraft and muti, and the extreme class differences in our society, THE DOMESTIC is a tense, disturbing descent into suburban horror.
Film Category
The Druid's Hand
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
An ostracized town priest and his acolyte face the ramifications of their dark past. Guilt turns to paranoia as an evil ignites their once peaceful town.
Film Category
Employee of the Month
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Inès is the mainstay of EcocleanPro, a small wholesale company selling household products. She gives herself body and soul to her boss PATRICK, in the love of a job well done. Although PATRICK is proud of his 1992 Manager of the Year award, the laziness of his employees JEAN-PAUL and JEAN-PIERRE play shoulder to shoulder with the boastfulness of NICO, the tiresome salesman.
Under the blasé gaze of the new trainee MELODY, the marketing phrases of the Benelux manager ANNA NILSSON open up a new mental space for Inès: she is the only one who never gets a raise, even though she works harder than the others. Is it because she is the only woman in this boys' club?
Ines takes her courage in both hands and for the first time insists on being augmented, but Patrick throws her out in two sentences. Ines gets screwed again; her frustration turns to anger. Ingesting Xanax and Viagra won't help. Ines wants her raise and all of EcoClean is going to pay cash for these years of exploitation.
Mélody's internship will finally prove to be very instructive...
"The cast is great, and the ending is pitch-perfect. So get ready to laugh until your sides hurt." - Bobby LePire- Film Threat
"Jasmina Douieb and Laetitia Mampaka shine with hilarious rapport, making Employee Of The Month a comical, infinitely rewatchable joyride." - Nightmarish Conjurings
Under the blasé gaze of the new trainee MELODY, the marketing phrases of the Benelux manager ANNA NILSSON open up a new mental space for Inès: she is the only one who never gets a raise, even though she works harder than the others. Is it because she is the only woman in this boys' club?
Ines takes her courage in both hands and for the first time insists on being augmented, but Patrick throws her out in two sentences. Ines gets screwed again; her frustration turns to anger. Ingesting Xanax and Viagra won't help. Ines wants her raise and all of EcoClean is going to pay cash for these years of exploitation.
Mélody's internship will finally prove to be very instructive...
"The cast is great, and the ending is pitch-perfect. So get ready to laugh until your sides hurt." - Bobby LePire- Film Threat
"Jasmina Douieb and Laetitia Mampaka shine with hilarious rapport, making Employee Of The Month a comical, infinitely rewatchable joyride." - Nightmarish Conjurings
Film Category
EVERYONE WILL BURN (Y Todos Arderán)
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In a small village in Leon, Spain, María José (30 COINS and SEXY KILLER’s Macarena Gomez) prepares to end her life after failing to get over the death of her son years before. Everything changes when she receives a visit from Lucía, a strange little girl who might be connected to a local legend about stopping an impending apocalypse. With the enigmatic girl by her side, María José faces the corrupt community, triggering strange events and a series of horrific deaths among the local population.
Film Category
Extraneous Matter - Complete Edition
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
One day, a strange thing comes to her, who is suffering from being sexless with her boyfriend.
Film Category
Fake Plastic Blood
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Atop a parking garage in downtown Detroit, Clara asks her drug dealer for the forbidden blue pills - to help her deal with the "fake bitches" at her roommate's party tonight. The drug comes with a warning: she might hallucinate some very disturbing things. On her way to the party, the visions start - and they are exactly what she had been hoping to escape.
Film Category
VRDLK: Family of Vurdulak
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
VRDLK: (pronounced Vor-Du-Lac) centers around a traveling diplomat that is caught in a snowstorm and forced to take shelter with a poor Serbian family.
When the family warns him of “beasts” that hunt in the night, he is quick to dismiss their fears as superstition and fairy tales - a mistake he may not have a chance to make twice.
Based on acclaimed Russian writer, Aleksey Tolstoy's 1839 gothic novella, "The Family of The Vourdulak"
When the family warns him of “beasts” that hunt in the night, he is quick to dismiss their fears as superstition and fairy tales - a mistake he may not have a chance to make twice.
Based on acclaimed Russian writer, Aleksey Tolstoy's 1839 gothic novella, "The Family of The Vourdulak"
Film Category
Five Star Review
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Jenn arrives in NYC and checks into a home sharing apartment for a two-day stay and is greeted by Alex, her well-reviewed host, who is seemingly pleasant. As the stay unfolds, so does a series of unsettling events that lead Jenn to wonder if they are purely happenstance or is something sinister really going on? Though both women are politely engaged, there is an uncomfortable and arresting tension that surrounds their interactions. Jenn overrides her suspicions, after all, Alex has five star reviews. Five Star Review is a horrifying, psychological story of trust, personal security and the ultimate betrayal. What you don't know CAN hurt you.
Film Category
FOLLOW HER
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
With arresting visuals and an engrossingly lurid mystery, FOLLOW HER is a nail-biting, seat-squirming, stylish suspense thriller that swept the recent Fantasporto Film Festival, including wins for Best Picture, Best Actress, and the Audience Award as well as Jury Awards for Best Film at Popcorn Frights, Ravenheart and Sinistro. The disturbing but timely female-led psycho-sexual thriller centers on a struggling actress and live streamer who has finally found her hook: secretly filming creepy interactions she encounters via online job listings, and using the kinks of others to fuel her streaming success. For her next episode, she's been hired to write the ending of a screenplay in a remote, lavish cabin. Once there, the alluring self-proclaimed screenwriter hands her a script in which the two of them are the main characters. This client isn't what he seems, and even though the money's great... the real payment here could cost her life.
Film Category
The Gift
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
The Gift is a short science fiction / horror film that explores human nature and how catastrophic events can occur when a climate of distrust is cultivated. It is set in the near future after alien ships appear in the skies above Earth's major cities, throwing the world into chaos. Unable to determine the alien's motivations, the media feeds the planet a steady diet of fear, uncertainty and doubt. But when the alien's true intentions are finally revealed, an unspeakable tragedy unfolds.
Film Category
Give Me An A
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A wild ride of an anthology reacting to the overturning of Roe v Wade through horror, dark comedy and sci-fi. Created by an all female filmmaking team, this 17-segment series focuses on the visceral gut reactions of each filmmaker to expand conversations about women's reproductive rights and the importance of bodily autonomy and also addresses the issues of a democracy that does not protect the needs of the majority of the population.
Film Category
The Goldsmith
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Three young robbers break into an elderly couple's country house to ransack their goldsmith's workshop. They will discover that the two old people are anything but harmless, and they will live the most terrifying experience of their life.
Film Category
GUT INSTINCT
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Cold, alone and time is running out...A young woman wakes to find herself waist deep in ice and cuffed in place. She doesn't know how she got there, but she knows she needs to get out. Fast.
Struggling to break free, it becomes clear that the situation she's in is more complicated than first appears, but escape might be just within reach...
Struggling to break free, it becomes clear that the situation she's in is more complicated than first appears, but escape might be just within reach...
Film Category
The Hangman
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A woman returning home is stalked by a mysterious upside down figure.
Film Category
Heartbeater
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A woman realizes she's been catfished by her worst nightmare.
Film Category
It Gets Darker
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Lara has not been herself lately, a fact that everyone around mentions constantly. Little is known about the incident that led to her feeling this way, but when Vanessa, her childhood best friend, pushes her to join in a relaxing weekend in an isolated resort, Lara finally agrees. This idyllic retreat reveals its true intent when Amir arrives, Lara quickly finds out that this is nothing but a trap to silence her against speaking to the police about the incident with Amir, the cause of her recent situation. When a confrontation between Lara and Amir turns deadly, she must find her inner strength and fight her way through the night to make it out alive.
Film Category
The Jogger
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A woman's jog through the park reveals horrors unimagined.
Film Category
The Keys
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Los Angeles 1949. Rupert, a young real estate agent, to prove his merit, pilfered an estate listing from his office. Upon arriving at the listed residence, he senses something amiss with the tenants of the house. Rupert is forced to consider, has his desperation for success cost him more than he can afford?
Film Category
KillHer
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Mattie and her three besties--Eddie, Jess, and Rae--head into the woods for a weekend to plan Mattie's upcoming wedding and bachelorette party. Eddie, Mattie's roommate and an unrelenting practical joker, leads them to believe they will be setting up camp near Mattie's hunky fiancé, Jagger, and his friends. They soon realize the tent they've snuggled up next to belongs to a mysterious recluse named Mr. Rogers, rather than Jagger, and this is definitely his neighborhood! With zero cell reception and only a literal pot to piss in, their weekend camping trip is beginning to look like a bad idea. But it only gets worse when people start to die and a terrible secret is revealed. All these girls wanted was a killer pre-bachelorette party... and that's exactly what they got.
Film Category
La Nueva
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Maria is the new teacher who arrives at an old religious school. On her first day, she will have to teach a group of rebellious teens who are part of a punishment class. An unexpected event will turn the classroom into a real hell. Not knowing the lesson can cost you your life.
Film Category
The Last Christmas
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A mischievous 8-year-old girl unleashes a twisted Christmas nightmare, when her plans to capture Santa Claus go horribly wrong.
Film Category
Leopard Heels
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A job interview turns sinister when misogyny and malice constrict around Renée Hart. Is it a career opening, or the venomous jaws of a trap?
Film Category
The Lion and the Firebird
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
RISING FIRE, an early human, flees with her daughter, pursued by a violent warband -- the LION MEN. When she is inadvertently saved by one of the last NEANDERTHALS, the two struggle to communicate and find trust. But when the Lion Men return, they become the key to one another's survival - and the future of humanity.
Film Category
Living With Chucky
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A filmmaker who grew up alongside Chucky the killer doll seeks out the other families surrounding the Child's Play films as they recount their experiences working on the ongoing franchise and what it means to be a part of the, "Chucky" family.
Film Category
The Loneliest Boy In The World
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
'The Loneliest Boy in the World' is a modern fairytale - with zombies. A satire and a celebration of family values, of the imagery of horror films, of suburban life, of the American Dream and of the ultimate taboo; death.
Film Category
Los Pies Fríos (Cold Feet)
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Once upon a time there was a father and a girl who lived happily together. It could be a fairytale story, but it is not: the girl is going to die and her father will do whatever it takes for saving her. Including killing someone else.
Film Category
The Lost Boys (1987)
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire! When newly-divorced Lucy (Dianne Wiest) moves her sons to her father's house in Santa Carla, California—"the murder capital of the world"—her teenage son, Michael (Jason Patric), quickly falls in with the town's bad kids: a bike-riding, Jim Morrison-worshipping gang of blood-sucking vampires. Her younger son Sam (Corey Haim) and his buddies, the Frog brothers, are the only ones who recognize the signs of vampirism in Michael, and they plot to battle the legions of the night before they take over the entire town. Co-starring Barnard Hughes, Ed Herrmann, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz and Corey Feldman
Film Category
MAD HEIDI
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In a dystopian Switzerland that has fallen under the fascist rule of an evil cheese tyrant (Casper Van Dien), Heidi (Alice Lucy) lives the pure and simple life in the Swiss Alps. Grandfather Alpöhi (David Schofield) does his best to protect Heidi, but her yearning for freedom soon gets her into trouble with the dictator’s henchmen. The innocent girl transforms herself into a kick-ass female fighting force who sets out to liberate the country from the insane cheese fascists.
MAD HEIDI is an action-adventure exploitation spoof based on the popular children‘s book character Heidi and the very first Swissploitation film.
MAD HEIDI is an action-adventure exploitation spoof based on the popular children‘s book character Heidi and the very first Swissploitation film.
Film Category
Mama Retreat
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A weary mother-to-be attends an all-inclusive glamping retreat in the mountains, only to have her greatest fears about motherhood realized.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Film Category
Matriarch
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
After an overdose nearly takes her life, Laura Birch (Jemima Rooper, The Girlfriend Experience, Flowers in the Attic: The Origin) escapes from the high-stakes pressure of the advertising world to return to her roots. Accepting an invitation home from her estranged mother (Kate Dickie, Game of Thrones, The Green Knight), Laura hopes the time away in the secluded English village will help calm the demons raging inside of her. She soon discovers that the locals of the town are all protecting an unspeakably dark secret"”a secret that involves not only her mother but her own terrifying destiny as well. Matriarch is from writer/director Ben Steiner and is a thematic successor to Steiner's 2018 20th Digital short Urn. The film also stars Sarah Paul, Franc Ashman, and Keith David Bartlett.
Film Category
Mean Spirited
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A failed vlogger buries the hatchet with an old friend who's possessed by a demon.
Film Category
Melchior The Apothecary
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In medieval Tallinn, the famous knight of the Order who freed the Baltic Sea from pirates is murdered. The hero's head is chopped off and his mouth is stuffed with coins. The gold chain he bought the same day is missing. The Sheriff orders Melchior the Apothecary, who can talk to the dead, to investigate the crime. The clever young man discovers that the murdered knight was looking for a mysterious "Prisoner of Tallinn" and clues lead to the Dominican monastery. A terrible series of crimes is unleashed -anyone who comes into contact with this secret is in danger. At the same time, the apothecary has doubts about his apprentice, who seems to be hiding something...
The feature film Melchior the Apothecary is based on a popular novel known from the top of book sales charts. Screenwriters Indrek Hargla, Elmo Nüganen and Olle Mirme intertwined the characters and events known from the book "Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St Olaf's Church" with completely new and exciting twists and turns created for the film.
The feature film Melchior the Apothecary is based on a popular novel known from the top of book sales charts. Screenwriters Indrek Hargla, Elmo Nüganen and Olle Mirme intertwined the characters and events known from the book "Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St Olaf's Church" with completely new and exciting twists and turns created for the film.
Film Category
Motion At Your Door
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
One year ago, a mother and child died in the apartment downstairs. If the neighbors hadn't ignored their cries, they might still be alive. Tonight, something stirs in the apartment downstairs...and this time, its cries won't be ignored.
Film Category
Naked Zombie Girl is Back
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Barbara is naked. Armed with only a chainsaw, she must survive the zombie apocalypse.
Film Category
Next Exit
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
NEXT EXIT follows a research scientist (Karen Gillan) who makes national news proving she can track people into the afterlife - Rose (Katie Parker) sees a way out and Teddy (Rahul Kohli) sees his chance to finally make it. These two strangers, both harboring dark secrets, race to join the doctor's contentious study and leave this life behind. While Rose is haunted by a ghostly presence that she can't outrun, Teddy is forced to confront his past. As these two misfits humorously quarrel their way across the country, they meet people along the way who force them to reckon with what is really driving them. The film also stars Tongayi Chirisa, Tim Griffin, Diva Zappa, and Nico Evers-Swindell.
Film Category
The Night Nurse
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Lonely wheelchair-bound Tallulah's sad nursing home Christmas turns deadly when a vampire comes to feed, preying on the blood of the elderly... and Tallulah's darkest fears.
Film Category
Night Shift
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
On one fateful night, an ambulance worker embarks on his night shift, driving across the city. He happens upon a vampire, and upon realizing what he is, it is up to the human to save the lives of those that the vampire seeks to kill.
Film Category
Pruitt & Igoe
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
I like to describe "Pruitt & Igoe", as “Boyz N Da Hood” meets “Halloween”. The film’s central question is simple, what would happen if your typical slasher villain skipped over the suburbs and infiltrated one of the most dangerous streets in America? The residents of the fictionalized neighborhood, "Pruitt & Igoe", -named after the infamous St Louis Housing Projects of the 1950s- are no strangers to violence, so if you come to their hood, you better come correct. Shot directly on location in North St. Louis’s Walnut Park East neighborhood, Pruitt & Igoe looks to make its mark as a unique entry into the slasher genre.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Watch the full video on the Screamfest YouTube channel by clicking Preview on the image above.
Film Category
Old Time Radio
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Intended as the introduction to a horror anthology. Riktus Grim, decaying away in a wretched squalor, awaits his only solace: a new tale from his Old Time Radio (voiced by Paul Giamatti). What wretchedly delightful tale will his host present to him this evening? As Riktus's lobotomized servant, Vincent, bumbles in... the Host speaks! It's time to prepare for a new terror!
Film Category
Old Time Radio-Your Move
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
We find ourselves back in the macabre world of Old Time Radio. Riktus Grim and his half-brother, Edward Mise, have once again managed to climb their way out of their graves and make their way up to the ancestral home for a simple game of chess. What could go wrong...?
Film Category
The Once and Future Smash & End Zone 2
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In 1970, Mikey & William both portrayed football cannibal Smash-Mouth in the influential cult hit, End Zone 2. Now, 50 years later, only one can wear the mask.
Playing with:
End Zone 2
Fifteen years after the events of End Zone, Smash-Mouth is back to finish off the cheerleaders who killed his mother.
North American Premiere
Runtime: 1h 1min
Country: United States
Directed by August Kane
Produced by Tex Beckerson, Jacques Renault
Written by L. Ray Hobbson
Main Cast: Percy Wynne, Bernadette Ryan, Dahlia Dimont, Patricia Ford, Melody Riviera, Mikey Smash, Randall Browning
Playing with:
End Zone 2
Fifteen years after the events of End Zone, Smash-Mouth is back to finish off the cheerleaders who killed his mother.
North American Premiere
Runtime: 1h 1min
Country: United States
Directed by August Kane
Produced by Tex Beckerson, Jacques Renault
Written by L. Ray Hobbson
Main Cast: Percy Wynne, Bernadette Ryan, Dahlia Dimont, Patricia Ford, Melody Riviera, Mikey Smash, Randall Browning
Film Category
The Powers that Be
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A young politician discovers a horrible truth about all the events in the world that change the course of humanity.
Film Category
The Ratcatcher's Daughter
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In the bitterly cold streets of Petrograd, the daughter of an infamous Ratcatcher flirts with a revolutionist and is thrust into a nail-biting, journey into the dark, mysterious forgotten underworld.
Based on a tragic love story by Alexander Grin, 'The RatCatcher's Daughter' paints a grim tale of 1920's post war Russia, plagued by poverty, addiction and the threat of revolution.
Based on a tragic love story by Alexander Grin, 'The RatCatcher's Daughter' paints a grim tale of 1920's post war Russia, plagued by poverty, addiction and the threat of revolution.
Film Category
The Recipe
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A housewife in the 1970's procures all the ingredients for a deadly dish that liberates her from not only her marriage, but reality itself.
Film Category
The Revelation (De openbaring)
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
At the start of the corona pandemic unemployed Jacob moves in with his elderly mother and falls under the spell of an internet conspiracy theorist. As his sister Magda looks on helplessly, Jacob becomes convinced that COVID-19 the beginning of the Apocalyps. A great sacrifice has to be made.
Film Category
Ride or Die
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Three teens are on a road trip when a dangerous man with a strange affliction jumps into their car. The story he tells them is hard to believe...
Film Category
Robyn Hood
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A sultry succubus steals the belongings of an unsuspecting man to quench her insatiable thirst for his soul.
Film Category
The Rotting of Casey Culpepper
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A girl battling leukemia and her single father fall into a well of paranoia when the girl experiences visions of a tumor-covered creature.
Film Category
Run Sweetheart Run
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
After what begins as dinner with a client, a single mom (Ella Balinska) finds herself hunted by a monstrous and seemingly unstoppable assailant (Pilou Asbæk) in this terrifying dark thriller.
Film Category
The Seance
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Following the death of his husband in a freak accident, skeptical Alex (Andy Ur) is convinced by his friend Jason (Jared Boghosian) to visit with a mysterious psychic medium, Madame Sharma (Sapna Gandhi).
Madame Sharma conducts a seance and conjures the spirit of the dead husband, The spirit takes over her body and long buried secrets are revealed in this hilarious and spooky supernatural screwball melodrama.
Madame Sharma conducts a seance and conjures the spirit of the dead husband, The spirit takes over her body and long buried secrets are revealed in this hilarious and spooky supernatural screwball melodrama.
Film Category
Seeing Diane Arbus
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A movie theater projectionist with dwarfism has a fateful, frightening reunion with the famously voyeuristic photographer, Diane Arbus.
Film Category
Shaky Shivers
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Two young women find themselves at an abandoned camp in the woods with a book of magical spells surrounded by classic monsters in this comedic send up of '80s horror films.
Film Category
Slasher Squad
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Amber's quiet night at home is interrupted by a chilling news report: A killer is on the loose in the area! Unsettled, she checks the locks and scans the outside. There's not a soul in sight. Perhaps a shower to clear the head... But Amber isn't alone and she's about to be put to the test. A deadly test she may not survive.
Film Category
Slayers
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Kick-ass vampire slayer, Elliot Jones (Thomas Jane), made it his life's mission to take revenge on the bloodsuckers who murdered his teenage daughter. After years of tracking them, he has finally reached their secret and hidden base. But to get to them he will need to use a motley crew of social media superstars. Enter "˜The Stream Team': party-girl Jules (Abigail Breslin), gen-z pro-gamer Flynn (Kara Hayward) and their team of trend-makers and breakers! With a hundred million-plus combined followers, they have attracted the attention of reclusive billionaire Beverly Rektor (Malin Akerman), who invites them to party at her multimillion-dollar vacation compound. They soon discover these rich people are none other than the ancient vampires that Elliot Jones is chasing. When the team is being held captive in a house of horrors to serve the vampires plan to take over the world, Elliott is their only hope of survival. As he links up with Flynn, a slayer in her own right, will he take down the vampire hoard and save The Stream Team?
Film Category
Smiley Face
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Three young women experience the nightmare of being devoured by a humanoid creature.
Film Category
Something in the Garden
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
It's nighttime in the suburbs and the stillness is interrupted by a strange presence, a creeping being that lurks in the dark
Film Category
Song for the Pale
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Hannah runs a popular podcast titled "Attached". She collects haunted items from her listeners to then do extensive research and create episodes explaining its origins and backstory. Until one day, Hannah receives an unmarked item from a listener, that ends up leaving her speechless.
Film Category
Soul Casket
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A teenager's camping trip turns to horror as the unnerving discovery of an ornate box that has the ability to completely contain a human soul leads him to experience perplexing, unimaginable occurrences.
Film Category
Sucker
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In a twisted story of co-dependence, two sisters are pitted against each other by a giant, abhorrent leech creature that uses its mind-controlling influence to puppeteer them from the inside out.
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Sam discovers her sister Caitlin has been infested by a monstrous leech creature, that is slowly sucking her life force dry. Caitlin is reluctant to accept help and the sisters quarrel over how to deal with the parasite. Meanwhile, Sam struggles against the creature's hostile, telepathic takeover, only to find that she herself has become a host...
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Sam discovers her sister Caitlin has been infested by a monstrous leech creature, that is slowly sucking her life force dry. Caitlin is reluctant to accept help and the sisters quarrel over how to deal with the parasite. Meanwhile, Sam struggles against the creature's hostile, telepathic takeover, only to find that she herself has become a host...
Film Category
SWALLOWED
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
After a drug run goes bad - two childhood friends must survive one horrific night in a backwoods hell of drugs, bugs and obscene intimacy in this body horror nightmare.
Written and directed by Carter Smith (THE RUINS), SWALLOWED stars Jena Malone, Cooper Koch, Jose Colon and queer horror legend Mark Patton.
Written and directed by Carter Smith (THE RUINS), SWALLOWED stars Jena Malone, Cooper Koch, Jose Colon and queer horror legend Mark Patton.
Film Category
Sylvie Made It
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
In hell, labor is inexpensive, and the multinationals of the living world have found a profitable way to subcontract unpleasant tasks. Séverine, dead for 30 years, works in the customer service department of a large e-commerce company with the hypothetical promise of going to heaven if she works hard. Her only daily pleasure is to follow her son's orders as they are placed and to see him grow up through the purchases he makes. One day, her son dies in his turn but leaves for heaven. The contact is lost. Séverine will do everything she can to skip the steps in a company dehumanized by its hierarchy and get her ticket to heaven.
Film Category
Tistlebu
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
As a young urban couple volunteers at a remote farm in an attempt to get closer to nature, they are given the task of caring for a strange mushroom-like growth looming in the barn. Both develop relationships with this primordial power, threatening the integrity of their relationship, and their lives.
Film Category
Under the Ice
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
After losing his father in an accident, Edur wakes up in the middle of a nightmare. A presence will haunt him with his worst memories.
Film Category
The Understudy
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
An aspiring actress has an audition at a prestigious downtown theatre, but underestimates the sacrifice she needs to make to get the role.
Film Category
UNHEIMLICH
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
During a rainy night, a girl wakes up after a nightmare. She will discover that things are not as normal as the house has become a surreal maze, with a sinister creature waiting in the shadows.
Film Category
THE WAKE
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A restless 15-year-old has spent his life surrounded by death, raised in his parents' funeral business in a small town. Viewing his alcoholic father as profiting from the dead, our hero does him one better leading to some unexpected consequences.
Film Category
Wallpaper Man
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Based on the popular short story, "The Wallpaper Man". A young girl, Emma moves into a new home with her abusive father after the tragic death of her mother. There, living within the walls is a creature who offers Emma the ultimate deal: he will take away her pain, in exchange for human life.
Film Category
Watchful Eye
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A mother and daughter face a night of terror when a strange man hacks into their home CCTV.
Film Category
Whaley House
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Whaley is inspired by the Whaley House, the most haunted house in America. Thomas Whaley, Sr. had knowingly built on cursed ground, the family home haunted by the ghosts of all who'd been executed there. During the editing of the footage of this short story, the crew discovered a mysterious figure. During one lone take, our camera passed the old courtroom. At one of the benches was a figure whose silhouette you can see. Watch the end credits to see the footage.
This short was made by possible by a grant from the California Arts Council. Alumni from Screamfest wrote, directed and produced this short film.
This short was made by possible by a grant from the California Arts Council. Alumni from Screamfest wrote, directed and produced this short film.
Film Category
When the Time Comes
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
A grieving husband chooses to fulfill his wife's dying wish by leaving the safety of his home and venturing into an apocalyptic landscape in search of a cherished memento.
Film Category
WHO GOES THERE
Meet the Filmmaker
Synopsis
Things go from bad to worse after a woman attempts to dispose the body of person she may or may not have murdered.
Prepare for a night of horror and celebration! The 26th Annual Screamfest kicks off with the highly anticipated film, NIGHT DRIVER, screening on Opening Night at 7:30pm.
Discover the official 2026 Screamfest Horror Film Festival lineup, schedule, and event details. Read the full press release to get the latest updates on terrifying indie films, special screenings, and tickets.
Join Screamfest for a special 15th-anniversary Fears & Beers screening of The Cabin in the Woods under the stars at McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga on Sept 12, 2026! Enjoy an exclusive Q&A with actor Fran Kranz, grab a bite from Sarah's SammichesSaladsSides food truck (available for purchase), and sip on complimentary Golden Road Brewery beer for ticketed guests 21+. Plus, stick around after the screening for horror trivia!
Celebrate 25 years of Thirteen Ghosts on the big screen! Join Screamfest LA at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, for dinner, drinks, and sheer terror. Grab tickets now!
Catch the 40th anniversary screening of the 1986 sci-fi horror cult classic Critters on the big screen! Hosted by Screamfest LA at the luxury LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 7:30 PM. Enjoy full in-theater food and cocktail service, followed by a live horror trivia night featuring exclusive giveaways and prizes. Tickets are limited—reserve your seats now!
