A Night of Horror is pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the festival’s 2025 short and feature length screenplay competitions.
A Night of Horror Feature Screenplay Competition
WINNERS
Winner: DOROTHEA (written by Chad Ferrin)
Based on the life and times of American serial killer Dorothea Puente.
1st Runner-up: TOILET SHARKS (written by Bruce Griffiths)
When mutant sharks attack the residents of a small coastal town from within its sewerage system, a toilet cleaner is forced to team with a shark rights activist, a germophobic biologist and a portaloo vendor to prevent them from biting the whole world in the ass.
2nd Runner-up: THE EIBON PHENOMENON (written by Adrian Castro & Georgina Neville)
When an internet influencer, during a live stream, reads from an ancient book inadvertently opens the gates of hell unleashing the end of the world. David and his daughter Emily, along with Davi[d sister in law Jill, make a perilous journey across the ravaged land to a safe zone in the nation's capital.
FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
AMISH ZOMBIES (written by Johnathon Miller)
A group of obnoxious out-of-towners on a Halloween farm tour team up with their pacifist hosts to face off against an onslaught of ravenous undead.
AUTUMN SOCIETY (written by Laura Katherine Winter, Nathaniel Davis, Micah Radley, & Bob Dod)
A young writer desperate to overcome writers block wanders onto the dark web and finds herself the target of a mysterious cult.
ED KEMPER (written by Stephen Johnston & Chad Ferrin)
Based on actual events of American serial killer Edmund Kemper, who murdered his grandparents at age 15 and, after being paroled for that crime, killed eight women in 1972 and 1973 including his own mother.
FOLLOWING HENRY GRACE (written by Christine Makepeace)
A reality TV crew takes an alarming detour when a former cult member discovers his mysterious online girlfriend isn’t what she appears.
GOODNIGHTMARE (written by Ian Rowe)
When an Autistic woman’s favorite late-night horror show starts predicting real-life murders, she must confront her fears in order to save her town from the show’s malevolent host.
LUPINE (written by Joel Deering)
A young woman becomes the victim of a vicious attack that local police believe to be animal related. But, upon further investigation, the small town cops quickly realize that they are all prey to something much bigger and more frightening then they could have ever imagined.
THE MOVE (written by Andrew McGivern)
A down-on-his-luck Gen-Z'er finally moves out of his parent's basement to make a fresh start, but his coming-of-age plan is cut short when his new roomie turns out to be a psychopath with a secret.
SEMI-FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
CHANGE THE WORLD (written by Robert Michael Neumann)
Jack tracks down Vietnam era violent radicals he blames collectively for the death of his peace activist girlfriend, Helen, during a terrible night in college mostly lost to his memory. Now after ten years of avenging Helen, he wants to say a final goodbye…
DANTE (written by Anthony Francis Cuomo)
A young man discovers that his split personality is responsible for a series of gruesome murders.
GOODBYE OLD FRIENDS (written by Rafael De Leon Jr.)
A young woman must survive a nightmarish birthday night in her childhood home when her imaginary friend returns to terrorize her and her fiancé.
THE GRAVEYARD TREE (written by Lee David Copeland)
Inspired by the real-life horrors of the Bloody Benders, a family of 19th-century Kansas serial killers, the story takes a dark turn 50 years later, when children discover a forbidden apple tree growing in a forgotten cemetery. Consumed by the fruit's beauty, they bring it home, unleashing a malevolent force.
THE HISTORIC DISTRICT (written by Jodi Gab)
It’s Halloween weekend in Rock Bay, a quaint little fishing town, and seasonal famous tourist destination. It is well known for its immaculate streets and neighborhoods and especially for their yearly Tour of Homes in The Historic District. But these deceptively gentile homes house terrifying secrets.
NIGHT OF THE MUMMY (written by Lucas Baty)
In the ancient year of 2004, a video game-loving garage band takes on the job of tracking down and defeating a psychokinetic mummy after it explodes their drummer’s head.
THE OLIVE GROVE (written by Ivan Germano)
While trying to gain eligibility for a second Australian Visa, a group of backpackers end up working for an odd lady farmer whose favourite hobby is to kill and cook people.
OUT CAME THE SUN (written by Mike Weimer)
A filmmaker manipulates his friends into reviving a dead TV show, unaware they are caught in a deadly trap connected to his past sins and ambition.
REDDER (written by James Steele Haney)
In 1986, a troubled woman kidnaps a teenage pop star and is driven to commit horrific acts.
RENFIELD (written by Adrian Eric Barker None)
Renfield is off on a mission to Transylvania to find his lost professor and along the way find love and horror in the Forrest near the castle.
SAKURA (written by Richard Fore)
A masked killer targets 27-year-old musicians, adding to the ranks of the infamous "The 27 Club."
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO HELL! (written by Ben Alpi & Michael Klug)
A pacifist English teacher must lead his colleagues in a battle against Santa Claus, who's been possessed by a child-devouring demon.
SCREAM IF YOU NEED ME! (written by Ian Anthony Senior)
An African-American couple wins an English mansion in a competition. After they move in, ghosts of the past try to warn them of something sinister.
SERVING JUSTICE (written by Paul Thornhill)
An attorney, tangled like a puppet in a web of deceit, must unmask a ruthless killer and separate truth from lies — before he becomes the killer’s next deadly treat.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO BABY MARVIN (written by Laurie Kirk)
After several devastating revelations on his 18th birthday, a former child star's other half emerges and together they take a bloody journey towards revenge.
VIRULENT (written by Robert Borden)
With a new pandemic seemingly affecting only older victims, a group of twenty somethings take a steeply discounted cruise--big mistake.
ZOMBIE BBQ (written by Zongying Liu)
A father and son face a zombie outbreak, caused by contaminated meat at a local burger joint. As the infection spreads, they must navigate family tensions and forge alliances to survive.
A Night of Horror Short Screenplay Competition
WINNERS
Winner: DILL (written by Owen F, Russell)
Three friends accidentally kill the school mascot. It comes back looking for a new host.
1st Runner-up: PET (written by N'cee van Heerden)
The best rapper to ever ride the 206 bus meets a beautiful young woman that has a pet problem.
2nd Runner-up: THE SABBATH OF THE DEAD (written by Samuel Vogel-Seidenberg)
Rachel, a determined woman, along with a group of survivors, faces a zombie apocalypse centered around an abandoned synagogue in Eastern Europe. As the undead rise, Rachel retrieves ancient scrolls and a shofar from the synagogue, initiating a series of rituals to stop the undead threat.
FINALISTS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
BLOOD SUGAR (written by Travis Long)
After the death of her mother, a young woman broke and battling medical issues inherits a house...and something else.
CAVEAT EMPTOR (written by Chris Churilla)
When the child of a kidnapped and starving vampire is thrown in with her, she must resist feeding on them or risk losing her humanity.
FOR THE RECORD (written by Ricardo Bravo)
During a police interrogation, a seasoned detective faces off against a most innocuous old lady accused of a most heinous crime.
THE GATES OF HELL (written by Sammy Benjamin Vogel-Seidenberg
Based on a true story. Teenagers Sebastian, Jake, and Brian, known as "The Horror Boys," set out to explore New Jersey's most haunted locations, culminating in a terrifying journey into the notorious Gates of Hell.
IS OUR ROOMMATE OK? (written by Jarred Fernandes)
Things spiral as a group of roommates play with a Ouija board.
THE JOB INTERVIEW (written by Pierfranco Allegri)
Father Romath is a priest that barely survived the Rwandan Genocide, and escaped to Italy to study psychology: the man, in the middle of a crisis of faith, now believes that God and the Devil are merely concept… but his encounter with a patient in a church hospital might change everything.
JUST FOR FUN: A HORROR LOVER’S FANZINE (written by Susan Eileen Jizba)
A callous former fraternity guy learns a little too late that his careless words and actions can have deadly consequences.
LEAVE IT BURIED (written by Rafael De Leon Jr.)
Tiffany and Sasha dig up an old tape recorder from Tiffany's late father's backyard. They should have left it buried.
MSG (written by Ho-seung Son & Ri Yang)
A chef, weary of harsh online ratings, opens a ritual meal delivery service where food is free from judgment. But when a spirit tastes the offering and declares it ‘flavorless,’ he is cursed with a terrifying fate…
NYARLATHOTEP (written by Kermet Key)
A strange figure stirs up trouble in a small Midwestern town so the police send in an undercover agent to investigate, but will they fall under the madman's spell?
THE PROP (written by Wolfgang Tyra)
After an actress takes home a seemingly innocent prop from a film set, she unwittingly unleashes a dark and demonic force tied to its sinister past, turning her life into a waking nightmare.
SECRETS UNKEPT (written by Joseph DiFrancesco)
A man is tormented by the secrets he keeps, and most of them are not his own.
WEIRDOS (written by Chris Churilla)
When a customer turns out to be a vampire, a stoner pizza delivery girl must resist his attempts to control her or become his eternal slave.