Utah-based HorrorFest International Film Festival 2022 announces lineup of films and events for this month’s fest
The Film and Media Alliance of Southern Utah (FMASU) announced official selections for the upcoming HorrorFest International Film Festival (October 19-22). With Southern Utah’s historic Electric Theater serving as the primary venue for the event, Adrian Langley’s Bunker is the Opening Night selection, with Joseph and Vanessa Winter’s Deadstream takes the Closing Night slot.
This year’s edition will screen 67 films (6 features and 61 shorts) representing 16 countries. In addition, 26 feature-length scrips and 22 scripts for short films will also participate in the film festival’s script competition over the four-day fright-filled event. Additionally, HorrorFest International 2022 will host its always anticipated secret screening, filmmaker and horror-themed panels, its traditional trivia event, a live script read of a beloved horror classic, a costume contest, and more as part of its 20th Anniversary celebration.
Recognized as one of the top horror festivals in the world and taking place in beautiful St. George, Utah, HorrorFest International FF not only has the benefit of utilizing one of the truly historic theaters in the United States as its festival hub, but it is also surrounded by some of the most breathtaking scenic locales in the U.S. including Zion National Park, Pine Valley, and Snow Canyon.
HorrorFest International Film Festival Co-Founders and Senior Programmers, Adam Mast, John Pugh, and Jeff Sanders, said, “We could not be more excited to roll out this lineup of films and events as we celebrate our 20th year. We have seen this film festival grow over the past two decades to become a truly special film festival that is a stalwart on the international scene, while highlighting the filmmaking accomplishments in our home state of Utah – and yet, never losing the warmth and camaraderie our filmmakers and film fans enjoy here at the Electric Theater in St. George.”
On Wednesday, October 19, Adam Langley’s Bunker will screen as the Opening Night selection. The Blue Fox Entertainment release is set during World War I, where a group of soldiers discover their greatest enemy may not be firing on them while holed up in their bunker, but rather an evil presence that is down there with them. Producers James and Michael Huntsman will participate in a post-screening Q&A. On Saturday, October 22, Joseph and Vanessa Winter’s horror-comedy Deadstream screens as the Closing Night selection. The Shudder title, shot in Utah, focuses on an internet personality trying to win his fans back after having been “cancelled”. His stunt is to livestream one night alone in a haunted house. However, he tempts fate by angering of a vengeful spirit, setting him up for a real-time fight for his life. Husband and wife filmmaking team, Joseph and Vanessa Winter, will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A. Preceding the screening will be Dylan Arnow’s comic take on the slasher genre, Nightmare at Camp Bloodbath.
Rounding out the highly curated list of features are Jamie Hooper’s British horror film, The Creeping is about a woman forced to return home after several years to look after her grandmother, who is suffering with dementia. Soon after, she finds herself in a nightmarish fight for life against a malevolent presence and her grandmother’s fading memories could be the key to hem both surviving the nightmare. Rob York’s Curse of Crom: The Legend of Halloween is another local Utah production being highlighted by HorrorFest International this year. In the film, high school teenagers accidentally unleash an ancient and malevolent Irish entity and have until midnight on Halloween to stop it. From XYZ Films is Adam Leader and Richard Oakes’ Feed Me,a harrowing and darkly comedic tale of an emotionally broken man who finds himself in the home of a deranged cannibal. Mike Schiff’s documentary The History of Metal and Horror is a cinematic love letter which explores the history of heavy metal and horror, and how the two genres merged over time.
Among the short film selections, Utah-produced shorts include J. Manso’s Lupeabout an immigrant mother and priest facing dark unknowns as she tries to protect her daughter, Alan Seawright’s Moonstruck about a mother trying to figure out what is happening to her family when she’s woken by a terrifying emergency alert, and Paul Amstone’s Quietus, which focuses on a man faced with a peculiar situation after accidentally killing a woman.
Highlights among the international short film selections include Frank van den Bogaart film out of Belgium, Darker, about a girl who goes into the woods to seek out out a mythological creature believed to collect the stories of dying beings. Michael Jones and Paddy Jessop’s Australian film, Hairsucker, is about a creature that feeds at night on those who are asleep. David A. Roncone’s Italian film, Stuck, is about a young woman who accidentally lets a demonic entity loose while moving to her new house. Fabio Colonna’s Mexican film, Unheimlich tells a story about the eternal fight between the conscious and unconscious.
Among the special guests that have been a hallmark of HorrorFest International Film Festival, will include the return of horror filmmaking mainstay Frank Dietz (Beast Wishes). Dietz will be on hand with his nonprofit Scripts Gone Wild to do a live reading of the 80’s horror classic Creepshow with a team of local talent during the opening night after party.
To purchase festival passes or to find more information about the HorrorFest International Film Festival, please go to: https://www.fmasu.com/horrorfest.
2022 Horror Fest International Official Selections
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
Bunker
Director: Adrian Langley
Country: U.S., Running Time: 108 min
Trapped in a bunker during World War I, a group of soldiers are faced with an ungodly presence that slowly turns them against each other.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
Deadstream
Directors: Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter
Country: U.S., Running Time: 87 min
A disgraced internet personality attempts to win back his followers by livestreaming one night alone in a haunted house. But when he accidentally pisses off a vengeful spirit, his big comeback event becomes a real-time fight for his life.
FEATURE FILMS
The Creeping
Director: Jamie Hooper
Country: UK, Running Time: 94 min
Due to a traumatic childhood experience Anna hasn’t returned home for many years. With her ailing grandmother, Lucy, suffering with worsening symptoms of dementia, Anna moves home to look after her. Soon after, strange things begin happening. Though benign at first, events soon escalate into a nightmarish fight for life against a malevolent presence. She discovers the ordeal is linked to a dark family secret, a tragic past that’s haunted Anna her whole life… and Lucy’s fading memories could be the key to solving the mystery and surviving the nightmare.
Curse of Crom: The Legend of Halloween
Director: Rob York
Country: U.S., Running Time: 92 min
High school teenagers accidentally unleash an ancient Irish entity on their hometown and must stop it before midnight on Halloween.
Feed Me
Directors: Adam Leader, Richard Oakes
Country: UK, Running Time: 96 min
Following the death of his wife, a broken man spirals into an abyss of night tremors and depression and finds himself in the home of a deranged cannibal who convinces him to take his own life in the most horrific way imaginable.
The History of Metal and Horror
Director: Mike Schiff
Country: U.S., Running Time: 101 min
A documentary that explores the history of heavy metal and horror, and how the two genres merged over time. Hosted by Michael Berryman, and featuring Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Kirk Hammett, John Carpenter, Tom Savini, Dave Mustaine, Jonathan Davis, Corey Taylor, and many more.
SHORT FILMS
A Really Bad Place
Director: Otto Vihanto
Country: Finland, Running Time: 1 min
A businessman in serious trouble hopes he could have one last call with his wife.
All You Can Eat
Director: Kieran Reed
Country: UK, Running Time: 13 min
A young waitress at a fast-food diner has a bad feeling about things going on behind the chrome and neon facade of the diner. She finally believes she has the proof she needs to bring this secret to light, but unseen evil forces are unleashed in a blood thirsty attempt to stop her.
The Applicant
Director: Benjamin L. Brown
Country: U.S., Running Time: 3 min
This job is GORE than they asked for! Is perception reality? Or is there something else going on? That’s the question for a nervous corporate stiff and an awkward applicant in this twisted comedy short.
The Baby Next Door
Director: Alec Gibbons
Country: U.S., Running Time: 22 min
A spitfire, fast, fever dream of a short. A man stressed out by his job, his recent breakup, and insomnia-inducing cries of a baby next door struggles to keep it together while self-medicating with drugs as a grisly secret is slowly revealed.
Beacon
Director: Andrew Stadler
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9:30 min
After a freak accident in space, a mechanic crash lands on a barren ice planet unaware his ordeal is only just beginning.
Bean Feasa
Director: Daniel Butler
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 17 min
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.
Black Zombie Movie
Director: Choni Francis
Country: U.S., Running Time: 11 min
Don is having a perfect day until a determined realtor finds her way to the backyard of his property; his best friend George isn’t having the best day with his son. Kenya, Don’s sister, suggests therapy to both while in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. All they have to do is survive. “It’s always good in the hood, just not today.”
Bug Bites
Director: Daniel DelPurgatorio
Country: U.S., Running Time: 8 min
Some house guests are a real pain in the ass.
The Businessman
Director: Nathan Ginter
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9 min
On the way home from school, a young girl runs into a mysterious salesman who looks to instill the fear of financial insecurity and coerce her into selling fashion magazines for him.
Caregiver
Director: Rafael De Leon
Country: U.S., Running Time: 5 min
A graduate student interviews a young volunteer caregiver for his class project, but something isn’t quite right.
Catch Your Breath
Director: Matt Sears
Country: UK, Running Time: 9 min
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, if Andrew holds his breath, he is safe from The Lady Beneath. But how long can Andrew hold his breath.
Chimera
Director: Dayan D. Qualid
Country: France, Running Time: 28 min
Michael lives with his dog Réno in the parisian suburbs. One morning, Michael is struck by sudden deafness. This trauma will push him to plunge back into past experiments to its darkest entrenchments.
Cicada: I Was a Teenage Horror Movie!
Director: Keil Orion Troisi
Country: U.S., Running Time: 13:30 min
In 1997, awkward pre-teens with a VHS camera struggle to make an ambitious vampire movie, each playing multiple roles, spilling dime store blood in a slew of murder scenes, and testing testicular limits with a homemade zip-line set piece. Now edited as a comedy, it is at once a bloody twist on vampire lore and an endearing portrait of young filmmakers coming of “rage.”
Creeper
Directors: Melissa Scrivner, David Love
Country: U.S., Running Time: 15 min
To survive the night, a teenage boy from a broken home must uncover the mystery behind his silent stalker.
Darker
Director: Frank van den Bogaart
Country: Belgium, 16 min
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.
The Devoted
Director: Gabrielle Paciorek
Country: U.S., Running Time: 3 min
An internet predator meets his match and can no longer hide behind his computer.
Diptera
Director: Anna Harestad
Country: Canada, Running Time: 3 mins
A passenger traveling alone on a train is haunted by something decaying just beyond her sight, as well as visions of her past sins.
Escalation
Director: Christian Bachini
Country: Italy, Running Time: 16 min
In the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Chris, a paranoid and self-centered man, is happily avoiding all human contact, preferring to escape from reality in whatever’s on TV. When a friend reaches out to him to confront him about his past promises, Chris must decide what kind of person he is inside, or it may just eat him…alive.
Everything is Burning
Director: Marie-Claude Bechard
Country: Canada, Running Time: 11:30 min
When Ophelia visits her mother, she finds that her mother still has a strong addiction to cigarettes and that it is making her very ill. Troubled by the thought that she might lose her, Ophelia decides to stay and help her quit, but eventually realizes that cigarettes are not the only thing that is causing her pain.
Finger
Director: Joe Lueben
Country: U.S., Running Time: 12 min
A mysterious woman appears at a young father’s home seeking recompense for a long-buried transgression. But she doesn’t want money—she wants one of his fingers.
From Where it Hides
Director: Quinn Halleck
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9:30 min
In his last weeks of life, a man embarks into the deep forest to face death. What he finds in the depths of an abandoned mineshaft may be more than he was looking for.
The Gift
Director: Farbod Ardebili
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6 min
No one knows why the aliens came or why they never made contact. But when their true intentions are revealed, an unspeakable tragedy unfolds.
Hairsucker
Directors: Michael Jones, Paddy Jessop
Country: Australia, Running Time: 4 min
At night when you sleep, it comes to eat.
House of the Unholy
Director: Daniel Merlot
Country: U.S., Running Time: 15 min
A bloodthirsty Princess hunts down the last of the Indigo Elders tribe.
She seeks the magical elixir inside his heart that will grant her the powers to reign over the Kingdom for an Eternity!
Incubus
Director: Tito Fernandes
Country: UK, Running Time: 17 min
Trapped on a boat, a woman is haunted by fear itself.
In the Path of Shadows
Director: Taylor Doose
Country: U.S., Running Time: 3 mins
The night is black, the moon is full, a sense of terror hangs in the air. A young woman finds herself in a perilous situation, but the real danger is hiding in the shadows, waiting for the moonlight.
Ivi Elv
Director: Luigi Scarpa
Country: Italy, Running Time: 11:30 min
A man regains consciousness somewhere unknown and claustrophobic. Dazed and confused, he begins to wander its dark corridors, but a series of visions will force him to deal with a far worse reality…
Last Orders
Director: Jon James Smith
Country: UK, Running Time: 21 min
A pub landlord with a dark past gets an unsettling visit one evening.
Lethalogica
Director: Tony Reames
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6 min
Relationships can be killer, but the best advice for a successful one, is patience and a short memory.
Lupe
Director: J. Manzo
Country: U.S., Running Time: 12:30 min
With a sick daughter hidden in an abandoned church, an immigrant mother seeks help from a priest. When faced with dark unknowns, they both question their faith.
Mickey Dogface
Director: Zach Fleming
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9:30 min
Halloween night, three friends high in a van, and an urban legend surrounding a cult singer’s mysterious death in a fire – what could go wrong?
Milo
Director: Sarah de Groot
Country: U.S., Running Time: 5 min
A young man must confront the personification of his worst fears in order to survive a bad acid trip.
Moonstruck
Director: Alan Seawright
Country: U.S., Running Time: 13 min
A mother tries to figure out what is happening to her family when she’s woken by a terrifying emergency alert.
Nevermore
Director: Sheida Sheikhha
Country: Czech Republic, Running Time: 7:30 min
After the accidental death of her 4-year-old son, a mother battles with her inner fears and demons as she comes to terms with the fact that her older son is responsible for this tragedy.
Nite Flirt
Director: Samuel Gonzalez Jr.
Country: U.S., Running Time: 18 min
Tammy Wright, a young woman with a case of cabin fever, takes a job as a phone sex operator to pass the time. But a strange caller has other intentions.
Nightmare at Camp Bloodbath
Director: Dylan Arnow
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6 min
After discovering their lodge totaled by a neighboring camp, two counselors are stalked and prayed upon by the local legend Terrance Fisher in his slapstick parody.
On the Inside
Director: Pal Gustavsen
Country: Norway, Running Time: 6 min
A young man leaves his house to go for a walk in the quiet and sunny neighborhood. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, people start running after him, with fierce determination.
Paranoia!
Director: Stanislava Doležalová
Country: Czech Republic, Running Time: 3 min
Harold has always been anxious about natural disasters. But what happens if paranoia sends him over the edge, and makes him spiral down to the rock bottom?
The Pey
Director: Ramone Menon
Country: U.S., Running Time: 10 min
A social media obsessed teenager is haunted by a terrifying monster after posting a mysterious GIF online.
Potatohead
Director: Joel B. Harlow
Country: U.S., Running Time: 16:30 min
Meet Marti. Nothing special about him. He is just one of millions sequestered at home under a mandatory lockdown. With no human interaction for months, loneliness has a way of seeping into all of us. But fear not citizens, companionship is on the way, …in the form of an innocent looking children’s toy finding its way to doorsteps across the country. A new best friend …known as POTATOHEAD.
Pox
Director: Simon Young
Country: Austria, Running Time: 4 min
In a burned-out shack in the great American dust bowl, a pox rages through a pioneer family.
Quietus
Director: Paul Amstone
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6 min
A man finds himself in a peculiar situation after he accidentally kills a woman.
Ringworms
Directed by Will Lee
Country: U.S., Running Time: 14 min
After discovering her boyfriend’s plan to propose on their weekend vacation, a young girl undergoes a crisis of commitment which attracts the attention of a sinister local cult.
Salvar
Director: Sangwook Ahn
Country: Republic of Korea, Running Time: 29 min
Soo-hyeong, who visited the shrine after asking around to find his missing mother, meets Grandmother Shin, a shaman. She says he was possessed by an evil, so he needs a salpuri (exorcism). When he faces his deep wounds as if he is possessed by something, he faces an unbelievable reality.
Sleep
Director: Alexandra Pechman
Country: U.S., Running Time: 4 min
“Wake up! I heard something. I think someone’s here.” A woman struggles with her lifelong fear of home invasion.
Sleepwalker
Director: Nathan Alan Bunker
Country: U.S., Running Time: 8 min
A husband’s attempt to keep his sleepwalking wife from injuring herself descends into chaos as he discovers she may be in the grips of mind control.
The Soliloquy of the Chaos Barbarian
Directors: Patrick Harley, John Hein
Country: U.S., Running Time: 5 min
The Last Chaos Barbarian, after vanquishing the inhabitants of an entire planet, shares his inner dialogue in the form of a Shakespearean soliloquy. We witness his self-doubt, reflection,
boast of conquests, and of course his rage. A cosmic storm approaches, sweeping him to his next destination: the Earthly realm.
Static
Director: Tom W. Metz III
Country: U.S., Running Time: 13 min
Trapped in his strangely unnatural house, time, and reality blur for Max as he desperately unravels the mystery of his missing family.
Stuck
Director: David A. Roncone
Country: Italy, Running Time: 8:30 min
Sophia, a fearful young woman, accidentally lets a demonic entity loose while moving to her new house. She must face the entity who reflects her personal struggle with insecurity.
Teratoma
Director: Jano Pita
Country: Spain, Running Time: 9 min
Two young people, a girl, and a boy, will have to face a venereal disease after having sexual relations.
They’re Here
Director: Ty Jones
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6 min
A couple on a hike learn more about than they wanted to know.
Tony and the Tree
Director: Pacey Hansen
Country: U.S., Running Time: 6:30 min
A young boy living with his estranged mother finds the comfort he craves in his relationship with a tree. However, this tree believes in revenge.
Tundra
Director: Jose Luis Aparicio
Country: Cuba, Running Time: 30 min
Walfrido Larduet, a lonely electrical inspector, dreams of the Red Woman, whose image persists and becomes an obsession. Something tells him she is near. Over the course of a day, Walfrido will follow her trail as he travels through the suburbs of an infested city.
The Unlocking
Director: Thomas Matthew Brush
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9:30 min
Elliot struggles with OCD, locking his door all night, every night. One night he decides to not lock the door and is horrified when he encounters a strange intruder.
Unheimlich
Director: Fabio Colonna
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 15:30 min
The eternal fight between the conscious and unconscious.
Upstairs
Director: Phillip Trow
Country: UK, Running Time: 17 min
Finally breaking through her medicated haze, Jennifer Saint is determined to prove that she’s not delusional and her family’s dark sinister secret is actually the disturbing truth.
Virgil
Director: Christopher Stevens
Country: U.S., Running Time: 9 min
A lonely preteen stumbles onto an antique PC in the attic of his new home, and begins chatting with another boy named Virgil. However, our young hero soon begins to suspect his new friend may have dark designs.
We Wanted Children
Director: Tim O’Connor
Country: U.S., Running Time: 15 min
After a marital crisis, Ginny grows concerned with her husband’s increasingly disturbing behavior.
Who Goes There
Director: Matthew Fackrell
Country: U.S., Running Time: 16 min
A woman battles for survival against a faceless but all-too-familiar enemy in her own home.
The Wilds
Director: Grieg Johnson
Country: UK, Running Time: 15 min
Anna receives an urgent phone call from her desperate-sounding and somewhat estranged mother, Helen. Anna’s troubled brother has returned to the family home; Helen needs Anna’s help, and it must be right now – definitely before tonight. The Wilds tells the story of the day Anna Wild finally reconnects with her family; all thanks to a lycanthropy-based emergency.
You Promised
Director: Matthew Hersh
Country: U.S., Running Time: 19:30 min
After a series of terrible decisions, a young man struggling from the loss of his wife is haunted by an unkept promise.
SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
FEATURE LENGTH SCREENPLAYS (SEMI-FINALISTS)
A NICE PLACE TO VISIT
Written by John Munn
(U.S.)
ADVENTURES IN SERIAL KILLING
Written by John Munn
(U.S.)
APOCRYPHAL
Written by Hudson Henry Franzoni
(U.S.)
AT BAY
Written by Matin Kalanda
(U.S.)
BITTER HARVEST
Written by John Munn
(U.S.)
CIZIN
Written by James Croke
(Australia)
COMMITTEE AGAINST SPIRITS POLTERGEISTS AND REVENANTS
Written by Maxwell P. Leabo
(U.S.)
THE COMMUNITY
Written by Brenna Kelly
(U.S.)
THE DEAD PARADE
Written by Kimberly Saunders
(U.S.)
DEMONICON
Written by Sean Whitley and Shane Whitley
(U.S.)
EMERALD LAGOON
Written by Joseph Jesus Murillo
(U.S.)
HARLECH GROVE
Written by Darren Westwood
(U.S.)
JUNKIES, LOVE & VAMPIRES
Written by Anita Gupta, David Munroe, and Sam Munroe
(Canada)
JURASSIC GHOST
Written by Matthew Walsh
(U.S.)
LIKE, COMMENT, AND DIE!
Written by Riley Fullerton and Jack Honer
(U.S.)
THE MINE
Written by David Mark Grother II
(U.S.)
OF THE FOREST
Written by Bryant Karnes
(U.S.)
PICK-A-PART
Written by Tracy L. Morse and Sophia Porter
(U.S.)
QUIET NOISE
Written by Greg Basiev
(U.S.)
SACRED SUN
Written by Michael Louis Gould
(UK)
SAMHAIN
Written by Matthew Walsh
(U.S.)
THE SLEEPOVER
Written by Brad McHargue
(U.S.)
SOON
Written by Anthony Catalano
(U.S.)
SPERMBOY
Written by Mark Dollard
(Ireland)
VODUN
Written by Michael Sedge
(Italy)
THE WINDIGO
Written by Joseph Jesus Murillo
(U.S.)
SHORT SCREENPLAYS (SEMI-FINALISTS)
ANCA’S NIGHTMARE
Written by Khadir Cade
BAD WORDS
Written by Stuart Alan Creque
(U.S.)
CHASEN
Written by Michael Richard Wiest
(U.S.)
DEATH IMMINENT
Written by Kevin Hosey
(U.S.)
El DIBUJO (THE DROWNING)
Written by Michael Diego Nunoz
(U.S.)
HALLOWEEN: KINDRED SIN
Written by Brett Howard Nelson
(U.S.)
THE HARVEST
Written by EJ Dahm
(U.S.)
HELLO CHESTER
Written by Australia Kincannon
(U.S.)
HOUSE OF WOLVES
Written by Andrew Yeremeyev
(Australia)
LAB PARTNERS
Written by Tommy Britt
(U.S.)
LADY MIDDAY
Written by Ben Woodiwiss
(U.S.)
LET’S PLAY A GAME
Written by Shane Thompson
(U.S.)
MERMAID
Written by Jerry D. Ochoa
(U.S.)
MUCH VOODOO ABOUT NOTHING
Written by Matthew Nicholson
(U.S.)
THE QUEENS GOLD
Written by Kristen Humphrey-Taylor and John Vaughan
(Ireland)
SECONDHAND CRYSTAL
Written by Christine Makepiece
(U.S.)
SITTING LARRY
Written by Maryellen De Vito
(U.S.)
STALKERS
Written by Ben Alexander Erwin
(U.S.)
STRAY
Written by Jason G. Rice
(U.S.)
TALL MAN SHORT MAN
Written by Larry E. Coleman
(U.S.)
WATER WASHES DEATH
Written by Mithcell V. Slan
(U.S.)
YOU’D BETTER PUT IT OUT OF ITS MISERY
Written by B. Bill Randal
(U.S.)
