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2025 Festival Film Guide

2025 Films

Film Guide

Film Category

A Fishermen's Tale

Meet the Filmmaker

EDGAR NITO

Director
Synopsis
Legend says that years ago, nature thrived in harmony around the lake and its islands until evil arrived. Men, blinded by dark desires, brought fear, hate, and death. The fishermen call it 'La Miringua', the one that drags and drowns you in the lake for your sins.
Film Category

Affection

Meet the Filmmaker

BT Meza

Writer/Director
Synopsis
Ellie wakes to a living nightmare – she is suffering from horrifying and erratic memory resets, leaving her unable to remember her husband or child. Haunted with vivid memories of a life she supposedly never lived, Ellie is determined to get to the truth, no matter how gruesome the real tale may be. A gripping horror sci-fi starring scream queen Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day).
Film Category

AMIRA

Meet the Filmmaker

Javier Yañez Sanz

Diirector
Synopsis
In the XIX Century there's a music school where it's always dark...
Film Category

ANSWR

Meet the Filmmaker

Stephen Kay

Director
Synopsis
In the spirit of THE SHINING and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (with a little TAXI DRIVER), ANSWR is an exploration of loneliness, grief and the relationship between Man and Machine. At the core of the story is the bond between a broken young man, COLTON RAY (played by the ever-compelling Moises Arias), and his father, “ RAY RAY.” After Ray passes away, Colton’s life comes completely undone. He heads to Iceland to man a remote weather station and try to “get his head right.” Armed with his guitar and the video memories of his deceased father, he tries to make sense of the unpredictable world. While there, he experiments with a new prototype for an AI chatbot, named Cassandra (played by the complex and alluring Rain Spencer). What unfolds is a twisted “love story” between Man and Machine—part psychological thriller, part character study and part metaphysical allegory. ANSWR reveals our need to know, our thirst for external validation and is a frightening look at our increasing hunger for an echo chamber that will tell us the truth that we want to hear.
Film Category

The Ant

Meet the Filmmaker

Cameron Duncan

Director
Synopsis
Three men sign up to participate in a research experiment where the goal is seemingly simple - avoid an ant for 24 hours.
Film Category

Appofeniacs

Meet the Filmmaker

Chris Marrs Piliero

Writer/Director
Synopsis
Enthralled with exploiting our instinct to believe what we see and hear, Duke (Aaron Holliday) sows havoc with a callous disregard of consequences as he goes on a frenzy of reckless deepfake creations for little reason beyond the fact that he can. Things quickly spiral into bloody chaos and Duke just doesn’t give a shit.
Film Category

AVEM

Meet the Filmmaker

Luis Quijano

Director
Synopsis
Struggling with a deep loss and feeling disconnected from his home country while abroad, a young man begins to have a body transformation as he longs for a life of freedom.
Film Category

The Baby

Meet the Filmmaker

Taylor Bustamante

Writer, Director, Producer
Synopsis
A pregnant woman's obsession with motherhood spirals when she becomes fixated on another mother and her young son.
Film Category

Beautify

Meet the Filmmaker

Elizaveta Makarenko

3D Animator
Synopsis
In a world obsessed with appearances, a young woman struggles to reshape herself to fit society’s impossible standards of beauty. As she alters and adjusts her reflection, she loses sight of who she truly is. Beautify is a visually striking animated short that explores the pressures of perfection, the fragility of identity, and the courage it takes to embrace one’s authentic self.
Film Category

Before the Fall (Tres Dias)

Meet the Filmmaker

F. JAVIER GUTIERREZ

Director/ Writer
Synopsis
A giant meteorite is about to collide with Earth. The planet is gripped by despair and chaos. The inhabitants of Laguna listen to the news in terror. Ale, a frustrated young man who lives with his mother, decides to spend his last days shut away, getting drunk and listening to his favourite music. But his plans change when he is forced to help his mother to protect his brother's four children when Lucio, an ambiguous, disturbing stranger appears.
Film Category

The Betta Fish

Meet the Filmmaker

Nelson Lau

Film Director
Synopsis
After a boy goes missing in a peaceful yet superstitious fishing village, a teenager begins to experience haunting visions, forcing him to question his sanity.
Film Category

Big Baby

Meet the Filmmaker

Spider One

Director & Writer
Synopsis
"A nightmare involving a maniac killer in a baby mask serves as inspiration for horror writer Adam Lewis's new script. As more nightmares, visions and real life terror begin to challenge Adam's sanity, he finds himself in a desperate struggle to control his writing, his reality, and who will be Big Baby's next victim."
Film Category

Birth of a fire

Meet the Filmmaker

Archibald Martin

Writer/Director
Synopsis
Romane and Marcus, childhood friends, are hiking in the German Palatinate forest. As Romane catches her breath, she spots a shadow in the distance, hidden behind the trees, watching her.
Film Category

Black Fog

Synopsis
Stranded in the remote Chinese wilderness, a mother and daughter must survive being hunted by a mysterious presence in the fog.
Film Category

Blossom Needs A Ride Home

Meet the Filmmaker

Tim Schwagel

Director
Synopsis
After defeating a bloodthirsty maniac, Blossom needs a ride home. What a hassle.
Film Category

BOT OR NOT

Meet the Filmmaker

Meghan Carrasquillo

Director
Synopsis
In a world where reality dating TV and AI collide, a brilliant young coder competes on BOT OR NOT! A groundbreaking show where contestants date both a human and a hyper-realistic AI. What starts as an exciting experiment soon becomes a tense game of trust and deception. As reality blurs, she must navigate a dangerous system where nothing and no one is quite what they seem.
Film Category

The Cauldron

Meet the Filmmaker

Thomas Pierce

Writer/Director
Synopsis
In 1918, during the Spanish flu pandemic, a young boy must protect his family from an unknown threat in their remote, isolated home. As fear closes in, he must confront not only the dangers outside but also the darkness within himself, facing his trauma and the shadow it casts in order to break free from the cycle of violence and become the man he is meant to be.
Film Category

The Child

Meet the Filmmaker

Bekim Vanbosche

Writer/Director
Synopsis
During her pregnancy, a woman experiences terrifying symptoms that necessitate an urgent intervention by a doctor, plunging both of them into one of the darkest situations.
Film Category

Chimera

Meet the Filmmaker

Eamonn Hearns

Director
Synopsis
A bookish lab technician uses her access to a DNA database to find a date, but the ‘chance’ meet cute turns into something much more sinister
Film Category

Chopper

Meet the Filmmaker

Martin Shapiro

Writer/Director
Synopsis
In this modern-day reimagining of the headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow, a troubled young bartender and her outlaw biker friends start seeing ghosts after taking a strange new drug with supernatural side effects at Daytona Bike Week. She is stalked by a headless ghost on a motorcycle who collects the souls of sinners in the afterlife.
Film Category

Clifton Park

Meet the Filmmaker

Maren Lavelle

Director
Synopsis
Mari loves The Ambassadors. The aspiring actress, and college undergrad, has seen every single one of their experimental theater productions in NYC, and now she has been chosen to travel to upstate New York with the famed theater troupe to work on their new play about a real-life sex cult.

When the group announces that they will be building this new show by staying in character all weekend, Mari salivates at the opportunity to show off her commitment to her craft. But when the line between reality and fiction becomes blurred in a deadly way, Mari must choose between giving over to the dangerously unconventional methods of The Ambassadors or escaping with her own life.

CLIFTON PARK is a short psychological horror that highlights the parallels between coercive communities and auteur directors while exploring the lengths that one will go to for their art.
Film Category

CognAitive

Meet the Filmmaker

Tommy Savas

Director
Synopsis
In this Sci-fi thriller/horror commenting on the ever-growing concern of AI taking our jobs, a group of co-workers stay late at the office in preparation for the launch of their smarter, faster, more cognitive version of chat GPT; they quickly come to realize that the AI they've created has its own sinister agenda. In this bloody battle of the smartest, each of these genius' will have to outsmart "COGN-AI-TIVE" in order to survive.
Film Category

Cosmic Crash

Meet the Filmmaker

James Smith

Synopsis
When an otherworldly being crashes near a lab, chaos is unleashed.
Film Category

Dance with the reaper

Meet the Filmmaker

Carlota Massó

Director
Synopsis
Sofia, the most wanted criminal in the state, cannot avoid meeting her own fate after a manhunt. In this face-to-face encounter with Death, a dance begins, driven by love at first sight. But Death has a job to do: to reap Sofia's soul. It is at this moment that Death must make a crucial decision.
Film Category

Daughter (La Fille)

Meet the Filmmaker

Jorge Sermini

Director
Synopsis
In a remote Belgian town, Bernard struggles to provide for his daughter, Marie, whose survival depends on a sinister secret. As winter tightens its grip, he finds himself torn between his duty as a father and the weight of his own conscience. When a wandering poet crosses his path, Bernard sees a glimpse of the man he once was—but also an opportunity. As the night unfolds, so does a harrowing tale of sacrifice, guilt, and the terrifying lengths we go to for the ones we love.
Film Category

Dead by Dawn

Meet the Filmmaker

Dawid Torrone

Writer / Director
Synopsis
A group of actors invited to rehearse a new play in the mysterious theater of the Heissenhoff family, a well-known artistic dynasty with rumored ties to the occult. Soon, what should have been an ordinary rehearsal spirals into a desperate game of survival as a masked killer begins to stalk them. Unbeknownst to the cast, everything-the theater, the play, and the murders-is part of a dark, elaborate ritual.
Film Category

DEATHGASM 2: GOREMAGEDDON

Meet the Filmmaker

Jason Lei Howden

Writer/Director
Synopsis
In this sequel to the 2015 cult splatter-metal classic, Brodie is washed-up, broke, and stuck in small-town purgatory. But when he learns that 'NoizeQuest', a battle-of-the-bands competition is coming to his town, he sees a shot at redemption - and maybe even a second chance with Medina. One problem: his drummer is missing an arm, and the rest of his band is, well... dead. Luckily, Brodie still has the pages of The Black Hymn, so raising his bandmates from the great beyond is just a riff away. But with every chord comes blood, guts, and the kind of apocalyptic chaos only DEATHGASM can unleash.
Film Category

DEFACED

Meet the Filmmaker

Isaac Bell

Director
Synopsis
When Cassie and her daughter are kidnapped by a sadistic surgeon, she must outwit him and escape his house of horrors before they both become his next experiments.
Film Category

The Devil Whispered My Name

Meet the Filmmaker

John Mathis

Director

Emilia Cotella

Screenwriter, Co-Director
Synopsis
A decade after a tragic ancestral ritual claimed the life of her best friend, a young woman returns to her hometown in the mountains of Córdoba—only to discover that the evil forces she thought she'd left behind are still haunting her.
Film Category

The Devil's Flea

Meet the Filmmaker

Osman K. Tahirbeyoglu

Writer & Director
Synopsis
A doctor arrives in a remote Mayan community to investigate a strange plague affecting its inhabitants. However, her scientific quest turns into a nightmare when she discovers that the cause of the illness is not natural, but a mythical creature known as 'The Devil's Flea.
Film Category

Devil's Prism

Meet the Filmmaker

Kika Magalhães

Synopsis
Shown entirely from Gabi's perspective, the film follows a thief who joins her friends for a routine heist which finds her in an unsettling encounter with a mysterious object that unleashes a dark entity who possesses her.
Film Category

DIY

Meet the Filmmaker

Tony Gardiner ACS

Director | DP | Producer
Synopsis
DIY follows Alex, a young woman
grieving the death of a beloved pet, as she decides to hang a new frame on her apartment wall. But
when she drills into the plaster… blood spills from the resulting hole?!
Bewildered, she runs next door, only to discover a strange man dead on the floor beside a bag full of
cash. Their common wall has been torn open, the hiding place for the loot. Then, right as Alex finds
neighbor Jerry ties and gagged in the bedroom, someone else steps through the front door: Gus, a
hitman running late for his first job with a new crew. When Gus mistakes Alex for ‘Sam’, the bagman he’s
meant to meet and is miffed she’s already ‘done his job for him’, Alex realizes her only hope of survival is
to play along…
Film Category

Do No Harm

Synopsis
When Moira, an off-duty nurse, is brutally attacked on her narrowboat by a hospital patient, the confrontation suggests a sinister history that binds them.
Film Category

THE DOLLMAKER

Meet the Filmmaker

Jose Maria Cicala

Director
Synopsis
In a small rural town, a charming dollmaker becomes an unlikely suspect when a new detective investigates the disappearance of several women.
Film Category

Dolly

Meet the Filmmaker

Rod Blackhurst

Director
Synopsis
A young woman, Macy, fights for survival after being abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise Macy as their child. A daring blend of New French Extremity and 1970s American horror.
Film Category

Dolores

Meet the Filmmaker

Cecilia Andalón Delgadillo

Writer/Director
Synopsis
Dolores is a 7-year-old girl who just wants to play, runs away from a fire demon and accidentally falls into a grave. There she meets two sinister corn husk skulls who want Dolores to stay with them and a curious armadillo who tries to get her out at all costs.

Animation / Animation: Pablo BEDOLLA, Nabí OROZCO, Dámaris CERVANTES
Film Category

Don't Be Afraid

Meet the Filmmaker

Mats Udd

Synopsis
A ghost story about a depressed photographer making a comeback with newly taken photos at the location where his son once disappeared. At the exhibition, visitors discover that someone is actually standing in the background of the photos.
Film Category

Don’t Leave the Kids Alone / No Dejes a los Niños Solos

Meet the Filmmaker

Emilio Portes

Director
Synopsis
A claustrophobic and psychological horror film about two competitive siblings alone in their new house. Newly widowed Cata attends a party, leaving her two young sons, Mati and Emi, alone at their new house. As the brothers attempt to find their games console their rivalry raises its head.
Film Category

Donor

Synopsis
After volunteering to be the egg donor for her now-pregnant friend, a woman grows to regret her choice in the aftermath of her own miscarriage—and considers taking back the only baby she has left.
Film Category

Dooba Dooba

Synopsis
Shot entirely on in-home security camera and drawing on elements of analog horror popularized on YouTube, Dooba Dooba follows Amna as she arrives for what she assumes will be a typical babysitting gig. She realizes she’s very mistaken when she learns that Monroe, the girl she’s babysitting, is not only sixteen, but suffers from severe anxiety after having watched her brother get murdered when she was a child. Monroe’s behavior becomes increasingly unbearable until Amna questions whether she wants to stay, not realizing she has no choice.
Film Category

Drink Up

Meet the Filmmaker

Wenzler Powers

Writer / Director
Synopsis
When Carter, a man celebrating three years of sobriety, loses his job, he’s lured into a mysterious bar offering free drinks in exchange for his recovery chip. But what begins as one drink turns into a nightmarish spiral through time, addiction, and guilt—until he realizes the true cost of trying to drown his demons.
Film Category

Empty Jars

Meet the Filmmaker

Guillermo Ribbeck

Synopsis
A lonely landlord falls in love with a charismatic spirit and helps him find a new body so he can feel again.
Film Category

Fisher Cat

Meet the Filmmaker

Rex Provost

Writer/Director/Editor
Synopsis
A third date camping trip goes awry when a couple hears screams in the woods.
Film Category

Flatastic

Meet the Filmmaker

Alice SAEY

Director
Synopsis
Pushed to their limit, the Manta Rays rise up against Man to take control of the Earth; it is the dawning of a new Flat era.
Film Category

FLESH & BLOOD

Meet the Filmmaker

Presley Nathan

Writer/ Director
Synopsis
After a little girl loses the ability to speak, a determined Psychologist breaks into a secluded church to treat the mute child against her fathers wishes, but as she begins to unearth the source of her trauma, something much more terrifying rises to the surface ...and into the room.
Film Category

Franken Struck

Meet the Filmmaker

Sommar Boulware

Director
Synopsis
A reckless hand, a lethal play, a love so pure now ripped away. Forged hot from
rage and shocking light, the Creature’s love must set things right.
Film Category

Frankenbabes from Beyond the Grave!

Meet the Filmmaker

Andrew Bowser

Director
Synopsis
Frankenscience and religious ideology reanimate a cohort of recently deceased fetishists to create the perfectly subservient woman only to unleash hell on the patriarchy.

Film Category

Glasgow

Meet the Filmmaker

Léo Devienne

Synopsis
Cleo has amnesia. It’s Saturday and she has to balance between preparing her romantic getaway with Gaetan and the endless video calls with her obnoxious boss. When the stress become unbearable, the fragments of a buried trauma will give this day a sense of « déjà-vu ».
Film Category

The Gnawer of Rocks (Mangittatuarjuk)

Meet the Filmmaker

Louise Flaherty

Director, Producer, Writer
Synopsis
Two young women out for a walk follow a trail of coloured stones left on the ground, which leads them to danger. They are trapped in the lair of the Mangittatuarjuk, the Gnawer of Rocks. The women are terrified when they realize what the monster has been doing. The young women and their village must use the teachings of the elders to defeat the monster.
Film Category

Good Luck

Meet the Filmmaker

Andrew Teng

Director
Synopsis
Ke-Fang takes her daughter back to her late mother’s former residence to sort things out, only to discover that her daughter keeps receiving strange "elder-graphics" from the deceased grandmother. These messages trigger a series of mysterious symptoms. Upon investigation, Ke-Fang learns that her mother had also received similar "elder-graphics" before her bizarre death — and they may be connected. As the images keep coming, her daughter's health continues to deteriorate. Now, Ke-Fang must find a way to break the curse before it’s too late.
Film Category

Hide

Meet the Filmmaker

Cory Pratt

Director
Synopsis
The story centers around Levi, a handyman for a wealthy family in the Hollywood Hills, who faces poverty, lives paycheck to paycheck, and occasionally sleeps in his car. One night when he believes the family is out of town, he decides to sneak into the property and take some money from the safe. He figures they'll never know and he'll replace it down the road. Unfortunately for him, he soon realizes the house may not be as empty as he thought when the sound of someone groaning in pain seeps out from the darkness of one of the rooms. He follows the sound and finds a young man he's never seen before. He's slumped in a wheelchair, seemingly drugged, and has chunks of his flesh cut out. Before he can try to help the guy, the family suddenly comes home. Levi hides just as they bring in several guests for what seems to be a pre scheduled dinner party. Levi soon realizes that his desperation for a quick pay day will soon turn into the most horrifying night of his entire life, which he's forced to witness from his hiding spot in the kitchen pantry.
Film Category

THE HIRING PROTOCOL

Meet the Filmmaker

Francois CHOQUENE

Director - Screenwriter
Synopsis
In the near future, Agathe undergoes a job assessment. She soon discovers some unsettling new recruitment techniques—ones that will leave a lasting mark on her.
Film Category

Humanzee

Meet the Filmmaker

Taro O'Halloran

Director, Co-Writer, Producer
Synopsis
In a quiet house in the suburbs, a lonely woman’s grizzly past comes back to haunt her when an old friend knocks at the door.
Film Category

I Beg Your Pardon

Meet the Filmmaker

John W. Lustig

Director, writer, animator, voice actor
Synopsis
A man commits a terrible crime and the consequences are not what you’d expect.
Film Category

Imago

Meet the Filmmaker

Rafa Dengrá Oliver

Synopsis
Lidia wants to tell a story to her sister Marta, but there is a problem: it's so much scary.
Film Category

IMPOSTOR SYNDROME

Meet the Filmmaker

Jenny Rosiquez

Director
Synopsis
Elías is a young man who, after a very successful start as a horror writer, is now filled with insecurities and creatively blocked. He goes to Mercedes, his trusted therapist. During a therapy session, Elías reveals what happened the last time he tried writing, along with the mysterious and terrible events surrounding his creative process. Is Elías suffering from impostor syndrome? Or is he being influenced by something ancient and terrifying?
Film Category

Impure

Meet the Filmmaker

Xavier MESME

Director
Synopsis
In an abandoned boarding school, Mahé reunites with Cristèle, her lost love, after years of silence. But their painful past resurfaces when Cristèle’s unsettling fundamentalist father appears.
Film Category

In the shadows

Meet the Filmmaker

Jérémy Barlozzo

Director, screenwriter
Synopsis
AS NIGHT FALLS, ALICE AND CLEMENT RUN BREATHLESSLY.
IN THE HEART OF AN OPPRESSIVE NATURE, SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS IS STALKING THEM. THEY HAVE ONLY TWO CERTAINTIES: WHAT IS PURSUING THEM IS AGGRESSIVE, AND IT SEEMS TO SEE IN THE DARK...
Film Category

Indian in a Box

Meet the Filmmaker

Nishanth R.

Director
Synopsis
An Indian immigrant awakens inside a confined metal box, with the walls slowly closing in… unless he can do the work assigned to him.
Film Category

Influencers

Meet the Filmmaker

Kurtis David Harder

Writer, Director, Producer
Synopsis
In the sun-drenched countryside of southern France, CW lives a quiet, idyllic life with her girlfriend Diane, hiding a dark obsession with murder and stolen identities. During an anniversary getaway, they cross paths with Charlotte, a bold, alluring influencer whose curiosity quickly turns intrusive. When CW acts on a violent impulse, the consequences spiral out of control, and as Diane begins to suspect the truth, CW’s carefully constructed life threatens to collapse around her.
Film Category

The Inspector

Meet the Filmmaker

Alejandro López García

Writer/Director
Synopsis
A fake gas inspector visits vulnerable elderly people to take advantage of them. It is now the turn of Carmen, a charming grandmother who keeps great antiques.
Film Category

INTERMISSION

Meet the Filmmaker

Anna Liakos

Director

Alex Liakos

Director
Synopsis
Things take a turn for the worse for the Prevue Time Quartet.
Film Category

Isolation

Meet the Filmmaker

Chih-Chieh YU

Taipei, Taiwan
Synopsis
During the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, an unidentified fishing boat runs aground on a remote military island. Responding swiftly, the stationed soldiers assume it's another routine drill—until figures leap from the ship and gunfire erupts. This is no exercise.

The vessel carries not enemy combatants, but the undead. As the island is overrun by zombies, the soldiers’ ideals of duty and valor quickly unravel. Discipline falters. What once symbolized patriotic pride descends into chaos.

Cut off from reinforcements and with no way out, the young conscripts are forced to confront not only the flesh-eating enemy but the collapse of everything they believed in—order, brotherhood, and identity.

Blending military thriller with zombie horror, the film explores how the myths of war—especially those imposed on the young—shatter under extreme pressure. When the rules of engagement collapse, survival demands more than just combat skills. It demands clarity about who the real enemy is.
Film Category

IT IS WATCHING

Meet the Filmmaker

Ripley Howarth

Director
Synopsis
A paranoid woman attempts to go about her day whilst being deeply afraid of a potential watcher who she fears is following her.
Film Category

Itch

Meet the Filmmaker

Joe Savage

Writer, Director & Producer
Synopsis
'Itch' is a modern folk horror story for the dating app generation. When Jules arrives at Thomas' house for a second date, she's troubled by the sneaking suspicion that the first date may have landed her with an STI. That trepidation descends into outright terror, as a series of revelations are made throughout the evening...
Film Category

Jimmy

Meet the Filmmaker

David-Jan Bronsgeest

Director
Synopsis
After years away, Dilara returns home for the funeral of her childhood friend Jennifer. The town feels different, her old friend group even more so. Grief hangs in the air, but something else lingers too. The name no one says out loud: Jimmy.

Once convicted of a violent crime, Jimmy became the town’s urban legend. Now, his story is back in circulation: as a true crime podcast everyone’s listening to. Against her better judgment, Dilara starts listening too. But the voice in her headphones feels too familiar. Too close. And after listening, something seems to be triggered when Jimmy returns to set right what was done to him.

What begins as a search for answers slowly unravels into something dangerous. When another tragedy strikes during a memorial rave, Dilara realizes the past isn’t done with them and Jimmy’s story isn’t over.
Film Category

The Last Snow

Meet the Filmmaker

Rodolphe Bouquet-Populus

Synopsis
In a ski resort where snow is starting to disappear, Isabelle and Guillaume find themselves stuck on a chairlift...
Film Category

Lights Camera Carnage

Meet the Filmmaker

Logan Weisberg

Director
Synopsis
When a group of ambitious film students summon a real demon to star in their movie, survival quickly becomes the only scene left to shoot.
Film Category

LOOKER

Meet the Filmmaker

Max Kaplan

Director, Co-Writer, Editor
Synopsis
Anna learns she is inexplicably cursed to melt away when not being perceived and must go to greater and greater lengths to be seen... with terrifying consequences.
Film Category

Love is the Monster

Meet the Filmmaker

Alex Noyer

Director - Writer - Producer
Synopsis
Troubled couples head to a transformative retreat, where they fall prey to a sinister cult seeking to resurrect the Finnish ancient goddess of love.
Film Category

The Mannequin

Meet the Filmmaker

John Berardo

Writer, Director
Synopsis
When aspiring fashion designer Sofia Rojas dies alone in a historical downtown Los Angeles building, most people accept it as a tragic suicide. Her younger sister Liana, however, remains unconvinced. When she returns to the site with plans to rekindle her sister’s ambitions, Liana begins to have paranormal experiences that quickly escalate from unsettling to downright terrifying. She discovers that the building is haunted by a serial killer who brutally murdered and dismembered his victims there over half a century earlier. Now that he’s marked Liana and her friends as his next victims, they have to find a way to escape the ghost’s deadly grasp before they lose their own body parts.
Film Category

MASK

Meet the Filmmaker

Kévin Mendiboure

Director & Writer
Synopsis
A young woman receives a mysterious mask that grants her every wish. As her desires grow increasingly excessive, the mask unveils its darker nature - blurring the line between fortune and curse in this atmospheric and modern morality tale.
Film Category

Masks

Meet the Filmmaker

Andre LeBlanc

Writer/Director
Synopsis
A husband slowly draws his wife from a long-standing catatonic state by having her wear a series of old Halloween masks. Driven by the hope of having her back, he pushes the experiment into dangerous territory, sending him towards a final confrontation he’ll soon regret.
Film Category

Meat Crayon

Meet the Filmmaker

Richard Rotter

Director
Synopsis
A bubbly young girl meets an eccentric art teacher who encourages her to draw freely and embrace her creativity. But as the crayons wear down, the cheerful coloring session grows uneasy, hinting at something far darker lurking beneath the paper. Meat Crayon blends slasher menace with twisted humor, turning childhood innocence into a chilling canvas.
Film Category

Meat Kills

Meet the Filmmaker

Martijn Smits

Director
Synopsis
In Europe, 133 million pigs suffer in cruel livestock farms. For Mirthe (19), this is unbearable. To prove herself worthy of joining ‘Animal Army’ a radical activist group led by the fearless Nasha (22), she secretly films the horrors of a local pig farm.
Her footage earns her a mission to free the pigs, but when Mirthe and the group return at night, they find the cages empty: the pigs already slaughtered. Enraged, Nasha shifts her focus to revenge, targeting and torturing the farmer’s children. Mirthe objects, but chaos erupts when the farmer returns, determined to protect his family as he hunts down the activists.
The farm becomes a bloody battleground while Mirthe is trapped between Nasha’s vengeance and the farmer’s fury. Mirthe must get her hands bloody if she wants to get out alive.
Film Category

The MenHeim Clinic

Meet the Filmmaker

Diana Grant

Director

Jacob Pappo

Co-Director
Synopsis
Set in the 1940s, a young paperboy searching for his missing brother stumbles upon a clue that leads him to investigate a seemingly renowned doctor’s questionable clinic, only to find far more than he bargained for, with the price of his life being the debt.
Film Category

MERMAIDS

Meet the Filmmaker

Adriana Vecchioli

Writer, Director, Monster
Synopsis
Sex, rage, and tentacular transformation collide when two women realize their pleasure kills... and they like it. 🦑
Film Category

The Mortician's Daughter

Meet the Filmmaker

Elwood Walker

Director, Writer, & Producer
Synopsis
After her Mother’s death, Violet must fulfill her Mother’s final wish that she is embalmed by her own daughter. But as she prepares her Mother’s corpse in the funeral home she was raised in, long-buried memories resurface & Violet discovers a terrifying secret…
Film Category

Mr. Brown

Meet the Filmmaker

Abdul Majid Abbasi

Director
Synopsis
A young family checks into a fancy hotel during its famous pie festival. At first, everything seems perfect — the staff is friendly, the food is great, and they even get a free upgrade. But things take a dark turn when the father suddenly disappears. As the mother tries to find him, their little boy goes missing too. The hotel staff act strangely, and a mysterious man named Mr. Brown always seems to be nearby. The mother soon realizes this hotel is hiding a terrifying secret — and not everyone who checks in gets to leave.
Film Category

NAILS

Meet the Filmmaker

William Lott

Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Composer
Synopsis
Three ambitious podcast hosts prepare for their biggest episode yet, featuring Charlie Baker, the sole survivor of a brutal attack by Southern California's latest serial killer - The Beast. However, their pursuit of fame collides with the very horror they've been chronicling when they find themselves fighting to survive against a terrifying figure that may be The Beast himself.
Film Category

NIGHT SHIFT

Meet the Filmmaker

Lynda D'ALEXIS

Synopsis
An ordinary gas station employee finds himself facing a series of unexpected events during his night shift, uncovering the mystery behind the disappearances haunting the town.
Film Category

Overgrown

Meet the Filmmaker

Nathan Ginter

Writer, Director, Editor
Synopsis
When two childhood friends reconnect to dig up a time capsule they buried in their youth, they discover something strange lies beneath the surface.
Film Category

The Overnight

Meet the Filmmaker

Brody Wellmaker

Director, Writer, Actor
Synopsis
After a long day on set, rising actress Scarlett heads to dinner with Roman, the arrogant director she’s been seeing. But when they accidentally run over a crew member in the parking lot, Roman’s panic turns violent. Abandoned to fend for herself, Scarlett must fight to survive.
Film Category

PITFALL

Meet the Filmmaker

James Kondelik

Director
Synopsis
After a young man gets separated from his friends in the woods, he falls in to a 10 foot deep pit of spikes, impaling him through his leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that his fall was not an accident.
Film Category

Pocongdorie

Meet the Filmmaker

Jasper ten Hoor & Ivan Hidayat

Directors
Synopsis
After the death of their mother, Indonesian siblings Dwi and Daya have to clear out the parental home. In doing so, they come across a lot of stuff, including their deceased mother.
Film Category

Poppa

Meet the Filmmaker

Peter Ahern

Writer, Director, Animator and Producer
Synopsis
An unlucky dude encounters a sticky situation after accidentally swallowing bubblegum.
Film Category

Prends Chair

Meet the Filmmaker

Armin Assadipour

Director
Synopsis
Venance, an overweight teenager, faces remarks and teasing about his overweightness, in his neighborhood and even in his own family. His body reacts to become an outlet for his pain.
Film Category

PRICE

Meet the Filmmaker

Byron Mason II

Director
Synopsis
Down-on-his-luck actor Price finally lands the role of a lifetime—playing Dennis, an unhinged murderer in a comeback film from once-renowned indie director Steinbeck. But when Steinbeck deems Price’s performance unconvincing and threatens to fire him, the director issues a chilling ultimatum: become Dennis or lose the role. Desperate to prove himself, Price locks himself away, practicing lines, mimicking Dennis’s habits, and sinking deeper into the killer’s psyche until he can't tell who is who.
Film Category

PROJECTION - An Experimental Horror

Meet the Filmmaker

Ari Groobman

Writer/Director/Producer
Synopsis
Katie has escaped an abusive household with her dog and younger sister Haley, in exchange for a less than ideal temporary housing environment. They soon realize that someone is too eager to welcome them to the neighborhood.
Film Category

Prowl

Meet the Filmmaker

Isaiah Quiñones

Writer/Director
Synopsis
After a stalker’s shocking suicide in her home, a former child star turned rising pop sensation returns to her mansion, only to find herself haunted by a presence that blurs the line between obsession and something far more sinister.
Film Category

Rebrand

Meet the Filmmaker

Edoardo Ranaboldo

Director
Synopsis
A group of camping YouTubers head to the woods to make their final video. Unbeknownst to them, four masked men follow behind, planning to make a video of their own.
Film Category

The Red Mask

Meet the Filmmaker

Ritesh Gupta

Director
Synopsis
When outspoken queer screenwriter Allina Green is chosen to pen the final instalment of the legendary slasher franchise 'The Red Mask', anger, outrage, and online death threats from die-hard fans causes a rift in her relationship with reticent fiancé Deetz. Desperate for a creative breakthrough, the pair escape to a secluded Airbnb, where Allina concocts a dangerous game to play to unlock her writer's block. But when two uninvited houseguests crash the scene, the weekend turns dark and a twisted contest devolves into a duel to the death in a love letter to the stalk and slash genre.
Film Category

Redux Redux

Meet the Filmmaker

Kevin McManus & Matthew McManus

Directors/Producers/Writers
Synopsis
Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter's murderer. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity hangs in the balance.
Film Category

Reflections

Meet the Filmmaker

Julia Cassini

Synopsis
A displaced girl wants to go viral on social media to belong, and to do so, she decides to go live performing the ritual of the Brazilian legend of Loira do Banheiro. The consequences are unexpected. In collaboration with director Eli Roth.
Film Category

Remnants

Meet the Filmmaker

Ethan Hunt

Writer/Director
Synopsis
The glow from an antique lantern brings horror from the past into a young man’s home.
Film Category

Sacred Beast

Meet the Filmmaker

Link Kraft

Writer/Director, Cinematographer, Camera Department
Synopsis
1764, France, a mysterious beast is brutalizing a rural village in the dark forests of Gévaudan, killing hundreds in ways never before seen. The king sent many hunters to slay the beast, but all failed. An aristocratic Parisian hunter is hired by the villagers as a last resort. But, these woods see through him. He is tried and tested on his journey, his perceptions of reality shaken, and it seems he is not the only hunter wandering this primeval forest. As he delves deeper, the truth rears its ugly head and he questions all he is. What must become of him in order to return to the outside world.
Film Category

SÁRÚ

Meet the Filmmaker

Elena Walsh O'Brien

Director
Synopsis
When a young girl moves into a secluded house on the edge of an ancient forest, she discovers a mysterious fairy ring hidden within. Drawn by curiosity, she crosses a threshold never meant to be broken - unleashing the preternatural, as the forgotten rules of the old world claw their way back.
Film Category

The Sequence

Meet the Filmmaker

Joe Bandelli

Director
Synopsis
After a terrifying and deeply disturbing nightmare, stay-at-home mom Taylor (Katie Parker) wakes in a panic, convinced that the horrific events she dreamed about must never come to pass. As she prepares for moving day, tension with her husband, Thomas (Andrew Pifko), and son, Mike (Braxton Alexander), only fuels her growing fear. But when eerie details from her nightmare start manifesting in reality, Taylor becomes desperate to alter the course of events, doing everything in her power to prevent her worst fears from coming true. Nothing will prepare you for when the final dinner bell rings.
Film Category

SEVERED

Meet the Filmmaker

Megan Duffy

Director
Synopsis
A woman makes an important discovery.
Film Category

SHED

Meet the Filmmaker

Steven J Mihaljevich

Writer/Director/Editor
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve, a crazed, strange man with nothing to live for, embarks on a murderous rage, killing a family in cold blood. As he starts to take over the families property, unbeknownst to him is one more family member - a curious, courageous 10 year old girl Mia, who has found herself locked in the farms' work shed accidentally through a game of hide and seek . Mia must survive in the shed for days, without food or water, until someone comes for her - but soon that person will eventually be the insidious dying man and the two characters must come face to face. What unravels is a thrilling game of cat and mouse through desperation, revenge and incredible endurance.

Film Category

Sleep Tight

Synopsis
A woman suffering from sleep paralysis wakes up to find a strange noise coming from inside her closet.
Film Category

SLOW

Meet the Filmmaker

Rebecca Berrih

Director
Synopsis
A field recorder’s life shatters when she encounters a sinister force that manipulates time and must outwit it to escape a nightmare where every second feels endless.
Film Category

Slush

Meet the Filmmaker

Ashley George

Director
Synopsis
Laced with magic and melancholy and set in the Pacific Northwest, SLUSH follows Frankie as she reunites with her estranged father, Kyle, and a town that's shunned their family for years. SLUSH explores themes of monstrosity and grief as this family confronts their collective traumas together.
Film Category

Spirit Slayer: The Rise of the Apprentice

Meet the Filmmaker

Joel Lim

Writer/Director/DoP
Synopsis
Wen Li, the lazy but talented grandson of two spirit slayers, is sent on an errand during a rare blood moon. When he carelessly botches a talisman ritual at the sacred Spirit Tree, a forbidden seal breaks , releasing Ling Yan, a seductive and vengeful fox spirit once imprisoned by his grandfather, Master Liu.

As Ling Yan possesses a young office worker and begins a trail of chaos, Wen Li must confront the spirit face to face aboard a city bus , with salt, rice, and very little clue what he’s doing. When Master Liu enters the fray, old secrets unravel, and the cost of past decisions comes due.

Blending Taoist rituals, martial arts, and supernatural comedy, Spirit Slayer: Rise of the Apprentice is a genre blending origin story set in modern day Singapore, where one reckless mistake awakens a haunting past , and forces a slacker to grow into a spirit slayer.


Film Category

Stardust Bowl

Meet the Filmmaker

Lauren Best

Director
Synopsis
Maci is blowing off her closing duties when she's ordered to clean the arcade. Little does she know, the task at hand is monstrously deadly.
Film Category

Strawberry Milk

Meet the Filmmaker

Erika Robel

Synopsis
After a struggling new mom falls and bumps her head, she accepts the help of a friendly neighbor. But when that woman does the unthinkable, she finds herself in a vicious battle to protect herself and her baby.
Film Category

Striya

Meet the Filmmaker

Paige Campbell

Director, Writer
Synopsis
In the middle of the night, the beis din of a small medieval town is embroiled in an argument over whether – and how – to put teenage Gele to death for an unnamed offense. Her father, Ansel, soon arrives to make his case for allowing her to live, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. Meanwhile, Gele escapes and makes her way to the rabbi’s home, where the true horror of her supernatural transformation is revealed.
Film Category

SWORD OF VENGEANCE

Meet the Filmmaker

Nemanja Ceranic

Director
Synopsis
In a post-apocalyptic future a young warrior must take revenge on his enemies for the crimes they committed against his family.
Film Category

Tapestry

Meet the Filmmaker

Jason Sheedy

Writer, Director, Editor
Synopsis
A desperate mother performs an occult ritual to resurrect her lost child.
Film Category

Telaraña

Meet the Filmmaker

Nicola Ríos

Synopsis
In a mountain estate in Puerto Rico lives a family with hidden secrets. On a night of rebellion, Naomi, the young teenage daughter, confronts the eight-legged parasite looming in her home and must make a choice: conform to her family’s identity or forge her own path.
Film Category

Terroir

Meet the Filmmaker

Casey Rogerson

Writer/Director
Synopsis
A young wine critic (Madison Hu) returns to a French vineyard one year after giving it a bad review. There, she and her friends become the target of a masked killer.
Film Category

Thinestra

Meet the Filmmaker

Nathan Hertz

Director and Story By
Synopsis
A miracle drug delivers the overnight weight loss you've always dreamed of. But will it turn you into a walking nightmare?

Thinestra stars identical twins Melissa and Michelle Macedo.

It’s a sweltering Christmas in LA. Penny—plagued by body dysmorphia and cycles of binge eating—impulsively takes Thinestra, a mysterious Ozempic-like drug. That night, she violently expels masses of fat in a painful and grotesque purge. But her discarded flesh returns…and like the Hyde to Penny’s Jekyll, PENELOPE is born. As her ravenous dopplegänger wreaks bloody havoc, Penny struggles to regain control. Can she overcome her hunger before it's too late?
Film Category

TheThingsWeDo

Meet the Filmmaker

Nick Cremers

Director, writer, producer, editor, vfx
Synopsis
A young boy makes a cake for his mother and hopes it will satisfy her extreme hunger.
Film Category

Trad

Meet the Filmmaker

Dave Bekerman

Director / Writer / Producer
Synopsis
A struggling influencer reluctantly pivots to “tradwife” content to dig her husband out of a financial hole and soon becomes trapped by the increasingly disturbing demands of her viral persona.
Film Category

The Trees Have Eyes

Synopsis
Among a mystical forest of ice and snow, a hunter reaps the consequences of what he sows.
Film Category

Trespassers

Meet the Filmmaker

Cyril Vrancken

Director
Synopsis
A thief breaks into a house, only to find the TV showing three shadowy figures by the pool. They're waiting for him...
Film Category

VÄSEN

Meet the Filmmaker

Kristofer "Kiggs" Carlsson

Synopsis
Sweden, 1721. With food becoming increasingly scarce, two sisters turn to the maleficent
Gårdstomten for help. In return, he demands a simple gesture. A bowl of untouched
porridge every morning.

One day, Anna, crippled by hunger, takes a mouthful of porridge, much to the chagrin
of the Gårdstomten who unleashes a horrific evil in the form of the deadly Mylings.
Film Category

Very Prosperous Men

Meet the Filmmaker

Josiah Walker

Director
Synopsis
A struggling door-to-door Bible salesman navigates the haunting consequence of his actions.
Film Category

What the mermaid likes

Meet the Filmmaker

Jessica Puppo

Director
Synopsis
As she struggles to cope with the departure of her older sister, Essie finds herself alone with her father. In the lake that borders the family home, she discovers a mysterious mermaid, which feeds only on gasoline.
Film Category

What the Night Hides (Lo Que Calla la Noche)

Meet the Filmmaker

César Liang

Synopsis
In the dead of night, a woman wakes to find her mother speaking with an unexpected guest.
Film Category

When The Cold Wind Blows

Meet the Filmmaker

Jon Keng

Director
Synopsis
While lost during a military training exercise in the Bruneian jungle, a young soldier seeks shelter at an abandoned resort - only to be seduced and haunted by a mysterious spirit who forces him to confront grief, desire, and a fate darker than death.
Film Category

Wonderland

Meet the Filmmaker

Laura Malatos & Helen Sun

Director // Producer
Synopsis
In the aftermath of her father's funeral, a grief-stricken Alice falls into a haunting Wonderland, where an uncanny version of her father beckons her to stay.
Film Category

Worst Thing You've Ever Done

Meet the Filmmaker

PJ Germain

Director / Co-Writer
Synopsis
Highschool really sucks… and no one knows that better than best friends Aaron and Keith. So when they set out to crash a small graduation party, buried emotions and teenage tensions explode, forcing everyone to face the worst parts of themselves.
Film Category

You Can't Talk To The Dude

Meet the Filmmaker

Lucas Murphy

Writer / Director / Co-Editor
Synopsis
After moving into a newly renovated apartment, Rory's life falls apart when a mysterious old
man appears in his home.
Film Category

You Have Her Eyes

Meet the Filmmaker

Jordan Sommerlad

Co-Director
Synopsis
A woman’s fears about having children begin to manifest as visions of her dead grandmother.
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