If this is a Nightmare, horror fans won’t want to wake up.
Closely-watched Nightmares Film Festival has outdone even its most legendary stuffed-to-bursting programs with 2019’s lineup, which will pack 190 of the world’s best features and shorts from around the world into this year’s four-day event, Oct. 24 to 27.
“We are so honored the world’s best genre creators trust us to present their work,” said co-founder and programmer Jason Tostevin. “This year, we have assembled more ‘better horror’ for our Nightmares audience than ever before.”
Leading the lineup are 24 features from both beloved horror filmmakers and important new voices in genre film. Included are Hammer Films’s The Lodge, from the makers of Goodnight Mommy; Daniel Isn’t Real, from the producers of Mandy and The Greasy Strangler; VFW, from the director of Almost Human; Eat Brains Love, adapted from the popular novel; and closing night film Z, from the creators of It Stains the Sand Red and Still/Born.
The fest will also present a screening of Jörg Buttgereit‘s infamously banned necrophilic exploitation film Nekromantik … brand new horror comedy anthology Scare Package … She Never Died, the sequel to the 2015 Henry Rollins action-horror film He Never Died … the Carpenter Brut-scored Blood Machines … the world premiere of FX artist Marcus Koch (We Are Still Here)’s doc on the history of extreme cinema, Beyond Horror … and the world premiere of Tommy Faircloth (Dollface)’s newest film, A Nun’s Curse.
One of Nightmares’s best known traditions, the Late Night Mind Fuck — called “one of the most dangerous and challenging blocks of programming at any festival” (The Film Coterie), returns this year with two world premieres. First is The Obsessed from Italian extreme director Domiziano Christopharo (previous NFF winner Torment), a body horror freak-out based on the manic descent of Bjork’s stalker. And at 2 a.m. is the dark, harrowing and sexually explicit 29 Needles.
The festival’s reputation for presenting the best curated shorts blocks on the planet continues with a lineup of 150+ horror, thriller, midnight and horror comedy short films, including dozens of world premieres. Its Recurring Nightmares blocks are also back, highlighting NFF audience favorites returning with new work, and its Ohio shorts blocks will offer up some of the best locally made films.
Nightmares has also named the 13 finalists in its short and feature screenplay contests. These screenwriters will be given the chance to connect with selected filmmakers to explore production of their scripts through the NFF FinaLIST matching service.
All selected competition films and screenplays vie for a coveted Night Mare statuette, representing the dark horses of genre. The Night Mare is sculpted and painted by renowned toy and figure creator Tony Simione (Marvel, Star Wars, Godzilla, Alien).
A complete list of features, shorts and screenplay finalists follows below.
NIGHTMARES FILM FESTIVAL 2019 PROGRAM
FEATURE FILMS
The Lodge
Swallow
The Girl on the Third Floor
VFW
Nekromantik
Eat, Brains, Love
Daniel Isn’t Real
She Never Died
Blood Machines
A Nun’s Curse
Reckoning
Antrum
1BR
To Your Last Death
Making Monsters
Z
Beyond Horror
Slaughterhouse Slumber Party
Ghost Killers vs Bloody Mary
The Obsessed
Scare Package
29 Needles
Puppet Killer
Lake Michigan Monster
SHORT SCREENPLAY FINALISTS
Bathwater – Kevin Talley
Demon Inside Me – Brandon Rutherford
Gender Reveal Party – Alison Parker
Hush Little Baby – Ricardo Bravo
Cave of Tits – Stephen Stull
Vuorwro – Ron Riekki
Boogeyman Bait – Kay Phillips
Field Test – Chris Hicks
Love as a Practice for Dying – Shayna Connellly
Mary, Dispossessed – Kristy Walsh
The Garden – Guillermo Ortiz
The Squirrels in the Attic – Rachel Thomas-Medwid
Who Wants Dessert? – Venita Ozols-Graham
FEATURE SCREENPLAY FINALISTS
Night People – Søren Budge
Mom Died – Michael Klug
The Chamber – Sergio Pinheiro
Timmy Cooke: A Cannibal Love Story – Aaron Barrocas
Persona – Jeffrey Howe
The Mothman – Jackson Murray
No Overnight Parking – Meg Swertlow
Serial Killers Anonymous – Robert Forsberg
Daughters of Virtue – Michael Escobedo, Greg Sisco
Third Date – Avishai Weinberger
He Brings The Night – Kevin Donner
Monger – David Axe
Girl Trouble – Devi Snively
HORROR SHORTS
Boo
Trust Me
Melody
In Sound, We Live Forever
The Tattooist
To Enter You Must
Off Fleek
Atomic Ed
Steve And The Dead Girl
Creaker
She Must Vanish
Inferno
Piggy
Lippy
A-Symmetry
The Burden
Destroyer of Worlds
Room 106
The Vicious
Water Horse
How To Be Alone
Night Crawl
Nest
Plainsong
Tick
Twig
Portraits of Fright
Z-GOAT: First Bleat
Asian She – Competitive Mourning
The Third Hand
She Fell
Songs My Mother Taught Me
Attention
MJ
Tagged
Ferine
A Doll Distorted
I Learned How to Drive at the End of the World
Limbo
Headcleaner
Check
The Orchestra
THRILLER SHORTS
Feeder
Nineteen Ninety Nine
Cassandra
Lili
Gaslight
The Taste of Blood
A Clown’s Tale
Man in the Corner
Prefigured
It Came Nameless in Spring
Mutiny
The Housesitters
We Die Alone
September
Maggie May
Communication is Key
Broadside
SICK
Chickens
One Bad Night
The Automaton
A Noise That Carries
Lock and Key
Buffalo & Trout
The Itch
Playtime’s over
Catfight
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
VR Food
Adams
Hot Dog
Existential Donut
Bennifer
Valerio’s Day Out
Demons
Cured
Together
Malacostraca
The Program
Herman
Mannequins
Changeling
Stucco
Little Willy
The Outsider
Farsight
Five Course Meal
The Animator
Imagine a World
Sasquatch
Breathe
The Guy
The Contract
Unholy ‘Mole
Diddie Wa Diddie
Daughter of Dismay
I See Through You
A Night Without
Dad
Jackie
HORROR COMEDY SHORTS
Killer Date
Dead Teenager Séance
Bad Fun
OverKill
Exhibit Man
NeckFace
Inflatio
Possessions
Zebra
We Got a Monkey’s Paw
Half-Cocked
We Follow You
Ghost Turd
Reunion
SHHHH
Blow Out
Scary Stories: Bloody Mary
Sleep Tight
OHIO SHORTS
Winter’s Blood
Forgive Me
Look Twice
Where The Shadows Fall
Drainage
Unknown Number
Madness’ by Black Liquid
Tea Time for Lions
Wake Up Mark
The Coffin
Benito’s Brew
The End of the World: An Update
Tethered
Weight
The Things With The Glowing Green Eyes
