FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION 2023 WINNERS

Winner: Apache (written by Adam Seidel)

An alcoholic cop in a small New Mexican town investigates the murder of a drug trafficker to overcome the guilt he carries from hiding his deceased fathers involvement with a cartel.

1st Runner up: Bitter Harvest (written by John Munn)

A farmer, suffering from PTSD, brings nationwide attention to his small town through the tragic events that he causes to happen over the course of a single day.

2nd Runner up: A Nice Place To Visit (written by John Munn)

A burned out psychic is convinced by a small town police force to come out of retirement and help them convict a serial killer who may have supernatural powers of his own.

SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION 2023 WINNERS

Winner: The Harrowing Void (written by Joe Bookman & Judson Merrill)

A young couple confronts the uncertainty of their relationship during a bizarre theater rehearsal.

1st Runner-up: Flatman Ascended (written by Callie J. Waligora)

An eccentric mathematics professor invites five of his failing students to his house for an emergency lesson to save their grades. They are initially dismissive of the olive branch, but when frustration overtakes the professor, they realize that learning the material is the only way they will be able to survive.

2nd Runner-up: Inside These Walls (written by Rebecca Moret)

When a young maid takes a position serving an imprisoned noblewoman, she’s forced to uncover whether her mistress is truly the monster she's rumored to be - or the victim of a political maneuver that could destroy them both.

FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FINALISTS 2023 (alphabetical order)

The Agreement (written by Jared Stuart)

Young US Air Force wife and mother realizes that she is a part of an alien hybridization program through an abduction and hypnosis, and that her son along with her husband and his family may not be who she thinks they are.

The Devil Herself (written by Luke Wijayasinha-Gray)

A journalist chronicles the life of a notorious female serial killer, uncovering dark secrets in both of their pasts.

High Def Nine (written by John Kestner)

The latest model of high definition television stuns its creators when it makes the viewers believe they're really in the shows and movies they watch, but their excitement turns to horror when the fictional characters materialize into their lives.

Treasure Trap (written by John Munn)

A trip to an actual castle for a LARP seems like just what 17-year-old Robin wants, but an errant arrow in the wrong place, a mysterious moonlight walk and even more adventures lead to her to discoveries of what life, death and true love are really about. A romantic-comedy inspired by the works of John Hughes.

Room 733 (written by Brianna Gardner & Mike Gerbino)

Based on the popular Reddit NoSleep story, "Room 733" follows a freshman college student who has been forced to live next door to the suicide-inducing dorm room 733. All rights have been secured.

The Virgin (written by Trysta A. Bissette)

While searching for a missing child, a nun with a troubled past uncovers dark secrets that trigger a series of mysterious deaths at an isolated Catholic orphanage in the 1950s.

Wizards of the Underworld (written by Samuel T Weston)

Inquisitor Mara Cursbane searches for answers after a freak accident. Between illegal magic, warring orcs, and the machinations of high society, she unearths an ancient conspiracy that threatens her city.

SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FINALISTS (alphabetical order)

Bad Words (written by Stuart Alan Creque)

A player of a popular online word game inadvertently opens a portal to evil.

Bruja Camp (written by Jesse Mattson & Sam Mattson)

A group of six petty criminals have to complete a ten-week therapy program at an Adult Mental Health Sumer Sports Camp so that their crimes can be erased from their records. When suddenly, campers start dying.

Medea (written by Cecilia Jane)

After leaving everything she has behind and moving to America for her boyfriend Jason, Medea is abandoned and left with nowhere to go. Now, she gets her revenge.

Mermaid (written by Jerry D. Ochoa)

Years after losing their mother in a boat accident, Tobi’s continued efforts to contact her creates tension at home.

Pretty Girls Don't Talk To Me (written by Todd Miguel Guerra)

A young necrophiliac finds himself down on his luck, romantically. He meets a girl dying of cancer, who also has trouble finding love and may be harboring her own secret.

Residual (written by Cristi Joy Rumpza)

A recovering addict is released on probation to her mother's house, and their rocky relationship is tested when unexplained phenomena occur after bringing home a used memory foam mattress.

Seventh Circle (written by Ida Thomasdotter)

A modern yet timeless take on Dante's idea of the suicide section of Hell: a support group setting but without support, an eternity of self-reflection and guilt without reprieve or distraction.

Tick, Tick, Tick (written by Danielle Rollins)

While getting ready for bed, a woman hears a ticking she can't explain.

FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS 2023 (alphabetical order)

Adventures in Serial Killing (written by John Munn)

A brother and sister discover that one of their parents is a serial killer. They team up with their other parent to bring the murderer to justice in this comedy / horror mash-up.

Allured III (written by Written by C.J. Stussi, Armand Kachigian)

The Greek Gods are imprisoned in the metadata for their beastly behavior toward the mortals. Bored, they wager over whether science or religion is the prevailing force in the universe. Being able to program algorithms and access every computer on Earth, Zeus blackmails the mortals to liberate the Greek Gods from their imprisonment in the metadata or otherwise he'll destroy the world with his newly acquired technological access and knowledge. But once the Greek Gods are liberated things just take a turn for the worse.

An American Afterlife (written by Michael Natoli)

After a shady life and a suspicious death on a job gone wrong, loudmouth mercenary Gee Zulamina finds herself conscripted onto a team of afterlife assassins, made up of misfit souls from different eras of American history. Will they put aside their differences to work together and fight the forces of darkness, or be stuck forever somewhere between heaven and hell?

As Scared As You (written by Jesse Dorian)

A twenty-something male “drifter” antihero, and a young blind woman become caged prisoners at a bed and breakfast in small-town northern California, where the drifter’s violent, malignant actions prior, push a group of malicious locals - along with their two animalistic, basement-held zombified residents, dressed as a dog and a clown - to seek vengeance.

Birchwood Crusher (written by Hedley Harlan)

The Birchwood Crusher, with a gleeful, upbeat, almost 1950’s pleasantness, follows a Scooby-Doo-like gang of high-school students as they are one-by-one turned into a blood-soaked, pulpy mess. After falling victim to a prank by the two high-school mean girls (and wannabee tabloid photographers), a few obscene members of the high-school chess club, an over-sexed young couple, and the new kid next door follow the girls into the woods. There, they encounter three unusual boys who curse them with a supernatural virus. Suddenly simple physical contact - a touch of the hand, a pat on the head - turns their dearest friends and relatives into homicidal, murderous maniacs who suffer violent hallucinations that can only stop when they kill the person who touched them. Cheerfully packed with enough revolting treats that will satisfy even the most avid horror fan and lovably ludicrous enough for a larger audience to enjoy as well!

Blood/Water (Written by Natalie Madeline Hoffman)

A visceral account of the final three days of human life on Earth.

Boneyfiddle (written by Tayler Carter)

After being sent to live with a grandmother she barely knows, an eleven-year-old discovers that her new town has long forgotten secrets behind its worn-down storefronts, waiting to be discovered.

Cold Dead Fingers (written by John Munn)

A good man runs away from the unholy gang of desperados that he was a part of only to find himself defending an entire town from the very monster that he helped unleash - Colin "Mongoose" Musgrave and his army of The Dead. A Classic Western told with a Supernatural Twist and a Just a Dash of Dark Comedy.

Cold Snap (written by Todd Miguel Guerra)

A group of college students go away for a weekend trip to the woods and unknowingly find themselves in the crosshairs of a local legend after an unexpected blizzard blows in. Who will survive the bloodshed?

Dante (Written by Anthony Francis Cuomo)

A young man discovers that his split personality is responsible for a series of gruesome murders.

Daughter of the Moon (written by Robert Brian Kelley)

After losing the love of his life, a man is visited by an orb. What does it cost to love again?

Fishhook (written by Randy Zuniga)

The Four Of Us Are Dying (written by Jesse Dorian)

While on a road trip through the American southwest, a twenty-something fugitive-antihero and her naive, romantically-involved male partner kidnap a random male/female “couple” that the fugitive plans to include in a human sacrifice— that also includes herself and her partner, by incorporating the four of them into a single-living, fusion-based organism— in order to fulfill her lifelong quest to become sexually compatible with the extra terrestrial that abducted her when she was a small child.

God Fearing Man (written by John M. Broadhead)

While a religious young man struggles with his decision to murder his brother-in-law at the behest of the town's Reverend, his erratic behavior threatens to expose corruption and even cannibalism among the townspeople.

How To See Ghosts (written by Todd Miguel Guerra)

An interracial couple moves to the south and finds out that they're sharing their new home with a racist ghost. Will they be able to work together when one of their lives is threatened?

I See A Monster (written by Garrett Benningfield)

After her husband is switched to night shift at his work, Tracey is forced to be at home alone with her young daughter at night. In doing so, the fears of being home alone come alive as a demonic creature appears one night. From there this film escalates into a much darker tale as the monster visits come with enhanced aggression each time.

In Menstrual Frames (written by T. B. Johnson)

A young mother hurled into a treacherous alternate reality struggles to survive, escape, and recover the baby she left home alone.

Last Tour (written by Jeremy Wade Rodman)

A recently deceased rock star is taken on one last tour of the U.S. by a group of misfits. A ragtag group of true fans of the late rock star “Hugo” liberate him for a last tour of the United states. They load into the Beast, a titanic 1970s-era car, for a drug-and-alcohol-fueled trip while finding the dream of the American road. Shenanigans and hilarity ensue—from within the car, at the morgue where “Hugo” is kept, and a variety of other locations.

Along the way, “Laney” and “Ethan” find love, “Shaun” realizes the jackass driving is a good guy, and memories are made during the innocence of youth in a bygone era.

Last Easter (written by Stuart Creque)

College kids on a spring break trip to a house in the country cross paths with an axe murderer with some awful Mommy issues and an obsession with Easter.

Millions of Miles From Here (written by Catherine Clark)

In a near-future, two climate refugees find friendship, humor, and hope while each vying for a limited spot in a Mars colony aiming to preserve humanity.

Mincemeat Manor (written by Hedley Harlan)

Sometime in the Victorian age, or maybe the Victorian age on another planet, Hiram Sedgwick has just hit the pinnacle of his career with the invention of his Livestock Pulverizer. Basking in his glory with his ravishing wife, he watches investors and all walks of high society waltzing through his manor. Then he accidently waltzes his wife into his invention, blowing her into little bits. The fun begins. Two years later, he is a shell of a man with a new gold-digging wife, two snaky men running his company, and an adoring secretary. Of course, the treacherous wife and new company heads have a plot to seize the rest of his fortune. They bring in a couple of carneys to perform a séance to “resurrect the wife,” and drive Hiram mad. Inconceivably, the fraud séance is a success, and Hiram’s manor comes to life. The pets start talking, the appliances start attacking , the blackboards write their own scripts, and the zombies are singing and dancing in this horror musical.

Morituriosis (written by Jesse Dorian)

An emotionally repressed, yet complacent, thirty year-old man dying of chronic alcoholism receives a mysterious six-foot tall wooden crate at his place of residence while both his body and mind begin to fail during a 72-hour-plus period of acute alcohol withdrawal— that abruptly escalates into a psychotic, hallucinogenic nightmare of unspeakable proportions— as he refrains from reaching out for help, while desperately fighting to stay alive.

The Morrisfield Misfits and The Sword of Fate (written by John Munn)

Three students in their early teens, snowed in at their boarding school, are thrown into an epic quest spanning two worlds. The year is 1939 and the kids will find themselves facing evil magic users, diabolical traps, suspicious gangsters and power-hungry Nazis!

Nearly Immortal (written by David Gray)

Cress won’t marry MJ until he meets her family and learns their deepest secret - they are nearly immortal. Can he make peace with the fact that his apparently 27-year-old girlfriend was actually born in 1859?

Not Like Other Girls (written by Rebecca Moret, Jasper Garner Gore, Lachlan Marks)

Hunter (20s) is the brilliant and entitled designer of a new lucid dreaming app which would have changed the world if not for the fact that it keeps killing people. Hunter’s sister Louise’s (20s) dreams got put on hold when the care of their ailing mother defaulted to her. On the run from his mistakes, Hunter returns home.Then along comes Faye: who blows into Hunter’s life at just the right moment to teach him to live in the moment, like a tornado wearing overalls. But Louise has questions about this adorkable stranger who seems weirdly fascinated by her brother. And Louise is right to wonder. Because Faye is not like other girls. Faye isn't a girl at all. Faye is a monstrous supernatural parasite that feeds on human sacrifices offered by self-aggrandizing young men. Or as they're otherwise known, a fairy. Hunter and Louise are locked on a collision course: will Hunter realize that the dream girl he’s been sold – manic, pixie or otherwise – is in fact a dangerous fairy-tale? And does Louise have what it takes to fight a real monster, even if that monster turns out to be her brother?

Old Ma (written by Jonathan Maxwell Shander)

A father takes his children out on old family hunting grounds, but the children seem to believe there's something out in the woods with them.

Orson (written by Jared Egol)

QueenZ (Written by Hedley Harlan & Roosevelt Davis)

In the secluded Haitian mountains to the beat of goatskin drums, a scorned wife steals a very peculiar jar of ashes from a mischievous voodoo priestess. Back in Queens in a gross misjudgment of outsourcing, the wife hires Omar the Crackhead to douse her husband and his mistress in the soul-possessing ash as they take the Q5 bus home. Omar’s usual level of screwing up has a much more carnivorous consequence when Queens is overrun by a new breed of zombies. Luckily the locals are armed to the teeth and the bodega owner, the gun runner, the drug dealer and the Chinese restaurant owner are forced to fight together before the mayor’s office uses the situation to bring something much more sinister to the neighborhood.

Red Moon (written by Scott Kenyon Barker)

The 1880s Arizona border town of Red Moon is a booming mining community, offering the spiritual succor of a church, the financial stability of a bank, and the carnal comforts of saloons and bordellos. And for the evil in the world, something else … a place to howl in the darkness, cut helpless victims down like sheep, and make the ravines run with blood. Into this dusty “anteroom of Hell” rides Eli Whitby, a modern-day knight errant on a horse named Judgment. His only friends in town are like him, drifters with secrets — Chih Yee, a former monk whose calm is matched only by his courage, and Yukari Fujoika, a one-time governess on the run for a crime she didn’t commit. What they find in Red Moon is a world they had previously only glimpsed in their worst nightmares, beginning with a beast with the cunning and strength of 10 men who tears the residents of the town limb from limb. It will take Whitby’s blazing skill with a Peacemaker, Yee’s almost-mystical command of the healing arts, and Yukari’s well-honed knowledge of the ways of the ninja to save themselves and keep the entire population of Red Moon from winding up on Boot Hill.

Sacred Sun (written by Michael Louis Gould)

A horrific animal experiment carried out by the military at a solar energy plant in the southern deserts of North America sets off a series of strange, ominous events.

Sven (written by Jesse Dorian)

A 6-foot tall humanoid-primate from the Amazon rainforest, called a “chilamasman,” the last of its species-- and an intense, deeply troubled, mentally unstable American adult male are both held captive by a U.S. government-funded program performing a psychological experiment, forcing the two of them to live together inside a single, maximum security containment habitat— and replica— of a modern-day condominium apartment.

Welcome to GaryTown (written by Seth Adam Nelson)

Follow MATT ZELINSKI, an award winning producer and host of the popular podcast “Tangents,” a show known for abruptly changing topics... Join Matt for an extended vacation in a quirky Wisconsin lake town. He quickly reunites with a childhood friend CHARLIE NELSON and learns Charlie has a legendary half-brother GARY he discovered more than twenty years ago. Matt, curious to know more, begins asking the townsfolk about Gary, and they share bizarre and heroic stories about him, but when Matt witnesses Gary saving a boy’s life at his kids baseball game, he suspects its Charlie. As Matt’s suspicions grow, Gary pushes the prank as far as he can.

SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS 2023 (alphabetical order)

Aberration (written by Christopher H Eldridge)

A scientist, on the day of her greatest success, confronts the consequences of her research.

Ablaze (written by Jenny Goddard-Garcia)

Born into a society that punishes the different, eighteen-year-old Kalinda struggles to maintain her secret ability to breathe flames, as a chance encounter with a group of amateur fire dancers tempts her to risk living a life that burns brightly.

CandyByte (written by Diana Foronda)

A successful smart home inventor's spirit takes control of her apple-shaped like device called CANDY.

Dog Richard (written by Max Lollar)

After his car is vandalized, a paranoid man races to protect his darkest secret.

Foam der Attack (written by Art Vidger)

A foam sucks water from wherever it is. Scenario taking place in a swamp.

For Keeps (written by Dave Malone, Paulette Guerin, Derek Dowell, Isaac Protiva)

A parrot cookie jar re-appears on Catherine and Maggie's doorstep each morning, despite their best attempts to destroy it. Will they succeed in ridding themselves of it, or embrace what it has to offer?

Lance (written by Jack Braunlich)

When sea monster Lance Tallahasse has to pay his bills for the first time, he ends up getting scammed. Lance and his best friend Louis have to search the city to find the con man and get Lance's money back before it's too late and the bills are overdue.

Look up, Look in, Look out (written by Dawn Brown)

Ricky never had a chance...unloved from the beginning. Confined to his 'space', his life had no life. Rejection left him with ongoing fears that have altered his core. He becomes desperate...enough to kill someone over a misdirected kiss. Sitting in jail, he still tries to rid his horrors and connect to a feeling of love.

Mardröm (written by Brandon E. Lee)

A grieving young woman's dream takes a dark turn when her childhood toys come to life with the singular goal of tormenting her.

Midnight Thunder: X (written by Kyle Corcoran)

A space-barbarian from the future must travel back in time to kill the cowboy in order to save his race from total annihilation.

The Paranormal Prankster: Casefile 001 - Bigfoot (written by Sean Whitley)

When a notorious Internet troll appears on a live streaming video podcast to debate the existence of Sasquatch with Bigfoot believers, the fur flies when he's challenged by an ape-suited prankster claiming to be the legendary beast!

Paperplate Face (written by Chad Trudgeon)

An 80's comedy-horror about a group of college students who take an excursion to a remote cabin for Spring Break and encounter a maniacal killer donning a paper plate mask.

Reflection (written by Lisa Ovies)

A woman goes to the mountains for the weekend in an attempt to reconnect with her past and finally lay her demons to rest.

Sure (written by Cory Mescon)

A gravedigger is irritated with his co-worker, for telling ghost stories when he should be working. However, as his co-worker finishes his last tale, he realizes they were closer to reality.

Surprise Baby Shower (written by Tim Troemner)

Kim encounters a number of surprises at a surprise baby shower celebration.

Secondhand Crystal (written by Christine Makepeace)

A thrift store crystal turns out to be more expensive than anyone bargained for.

Sweet Tooth Boogeyman (written by Lance Eliot Adams)

A young girl has to have some candy despite the threat of the boogeyman.

They're in the Woods (written by Vienne Borg)

Two friends go on a camping trip in the Oregon woods, only to be met with an otherworldly creature set on replacing them.

Tom, Dick & Harry (written by John Munn)

Two clowns just trying to escape (as are we all).

What God Meant to Be Free (written by Amy Campione)

A young woman mysteriously returns home pregnant after it is believed she is abducted by aliens, only to find herself fighting for her life once again when a cult like group suspects she is carrying a religious savior.