A Night of Horror and Fantastic Planet are pleased to announce the finalists and winners of both festivals' short and feature length 2017 screenplay competitions.
A Night of Horror Feature Screenplay Competition
Finalists (alphabetical order):
CLARITY by Ariana Kenny
As Olivia is held captive by her unhinged mother, their deepest secrets and fears emerge, with the only solution being that one or both of them will have to die.
DEAD STRAYS by Neil Chase
Four fugitives hole up in a seemingly deserted house in the middle of nowhere, only to find themselves at the mercy of two eccentric sisters and their reclusive mother.
FEAR ITSELF by Dan Golden
Held captive, a young psychology student's life hangs in the balance as she engages in a battle of will and wits with a legendary serial killer not heard from in decades.
FRIDAY NIGHT FRENZY by Richard Stringham
A survivalist teenager discovers just how seedy the underbelly of his small town is when he follows his big brother out one wild Friday night. Before dawn, he will deal with teen bullies, crazed meth-heads, a murderous girl, and a backwoods madman who just might hold the power of life and death in his hands.
FUNNY DEVILS by Jerry Cavallaro
Genre conventions are broken when a self-aware comedy troupe realizes they are trapped in a horror film scenario and must use their improv skills to survive against the legend of the Jersey Devil.
GO TO SLEEP by Diana Djurcinovska
A police officer takes on a serial kidnapping case that is closely tied to his own sister’s disappearance thirty years prior.
HIMALAYAN GIANT by Jess Grant
In her quest to rid the property of blackberries, Belle digs out the Mother of all root-balls, whom she nicknames Medusa. The tentacled monster comes alive to wreak revenge on Belle and her family, trapping them inside their house where it begins to pick them off, one by one.
IN THE BASEMENT by Todd Scott
When the neighborhood kids go trespassing in an abandoned house, they accidentally open a door to Hell and have to battle a crazed demon horde to close it back before the Devil escapes.
ONE GOOD SCARE by Brian Smith and Vincent Viñas
Four small-town teens encounter the supernatural after a dare on one of their peers goes awry at a local house believed to be haunted.
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT by Greg Sisco
A lesbian couple and a pair of murderesses, all fleeing sadistic men from their pasts, run afoul of each other when they become stranded in the desert. But the four must band together following the appearance of a mysterious man more sadistic than anything they could have imagined.
THE SURGE by Yusuf Gad
An American soldier and her team get trapped in an old Arab castle in Afghanistan. They can't escape it because terrorists surround them and they can't stay because ghosts haunt it.
SELF STORAGE by Tracy Morse and Matthew Currie Holmes
A ragtag group of unlikely heroes find themselves fighting for their lives in the labyrinthine corridors of a creepy self storage facility after discovering an ancient vampire and his minions have broken out their storage-container prisons desperate to escape once the sun goes down.
STRAPPADO by Robert J. Rogers
Millennial's develop a project that backfires horribly. As a blood moon approaches, they discover the souls of vicious, angry, witches, and inadvertently bring them back to life.
Y2K FM by Ryan M. Andrews
It's December 24th, 1999 and the fear of Y2K and thoughts of the end of the world are in the forefront of the minds of conspiracy theorists everywhere. This is something that "shock jock" DJ, Dez Huffman, knows and exploits daily on his radio show. But after one too many jabs at a religious "doomsday" cult, members of the congregation break into the radio station and take everyone hostage, so their leader can sit down with Dez and go one on one with him, live on air.
WINNERS
Winner: FRIDAY NIGHT FRENZY by Richard Stringham
1st Runner-up: DEAD STRAYS by Neil Chase
2nd Runner-up: CLARITY by Ariana Kenny
Fantastic Planet Feature Screenplay Competition
Finalists (alphabetical order):
f7/f2 by Ana Ziegle Loes
A Spec Script for the Netflix original series "Stranger Things". Upon the first day of school, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair and Will Byers are thrust once again into the world of The Upside-Down, with the hopes of finding their long, lost friend Eleven.
IRIS by Neil Chase
When a timid girl gains exceptional powers, she must face an army of vampires to find out not only what happened to her, but who she really is.
JOSEPH by Ian Davies
A ragtag battalion of Polish soldiers must dig in around the home of Joseph, a mysterious old man with supernatural powers as they await the onslaught of the fearsome Nazi SS in the earliest days of World War 2.
NOT EVEN PASSED by Jeffrey Howe
When an ancient race of intelligent dinosaurs reappears in the half-thawed Antarctic of 2267, a rogue dinosaur scientist and a teenage human girl must overcome their mutual suspicion to keep their species from blundering into Armageddon.
ORBIT by Sean Buckley
In the near future, Conrad Voss, a scavenger on a waste-disposal satellite in Earth's orbit, finds himself questioning his reality when he discovers that his memories don't line up with the world around him.
STORMCATCHERS by Mike Donald
After corrupt climate engineering triggers global devastation, a fleet of “Stormcatchers” battle to protect mankind from the violent Superstorms that threaten the planet, while one ship’s Captain believes his missing father holds the key to saving the world and will risk everything to find him.
LUCY MILLION by Tina Steffan
Lucy, one of millions of factory workers in China, starts an online romance with Matt. When a hacker leaks his private videos and ruins his career, Lucy investigates and discovers she isn’t human, but an Artificial Intelligence.
THE WILD WILD WITCH by Greg Hill and Walt Griggs
In 1872, a young, idealistic English witch with fledgling powers together with a ruthless bounty hunter turned preacher must travel to legendary Superstition Mountain to retrieve a powerful ancient relic from the notorious Wild Wild Witch or be banished from America forever.
THROUGH THE LAND OF ILLUSION by Gunnar E Garret Jr.
Siblings fight over a magical land, until the return of one young girl causes the final battle to ensue.
TRANSCARLET by James Ross
Centuries into the future, a spaceship run by a dedicated human crew is tasked with making contact with a human civilization on a planet previously unknown to them: Earth. Once there, things are not all that they seem.
WINNERS:
Winner: TRANSCARLET by James Ross
1st Runner-up: STORMCATCHERS by Mike Donald
2nd Runner-up: f7/f2 by Ana Ziegle Loes
A Night of Horror Short Screenplay Competition
Finalists (alphabetical order):
BACK SEAT DRIVER by Jack Dignan
A lawyer rushing to get home late at night uncovers a dark, violent presence awaiting him on an abandoned country road.
CANNIBAL MOTHER by Jacob Schefer
A mother of one deals with a strange affliction while trying to remain present and normal for her young daughter.
DEAD SPRINT by Jason Tostevin
The last surviving members of a rescue team must outrace a horrifying plague of monsters -- and outlast treachery in their own ranks -- to give humanity one last chance at a cure.
EMBER PARADISE by Dene Stark and Kim Mustac
A group of horror fans travel through the Nevada desert only to be greeted by a mysterious Amusement park named Ember Paradise.
HOME IS THE SAFEST PLACE by Damien Grealy
An anxious woman is forced to overcome self-doubt when her life becomes the target of a friend who gets possessed.
LOST MAN by Guy Harvey
Unemployed and divorced; Ricky Kenton has traveled far to take a new job, but what he thinks is the start of a new life may be the end of it.
ROADKILL by Noah Pfister
A group of road-tripping female friends encounter a hideous evil in the outback.
SHADED by Chris Moore
On a carefree day, a young woman (Louise) witnesses something disturbing. She soon realises that horrific killings are happening to people around her, which scares and confuses her. This pushes her to breaking point when it involves her boyfriend. Louise meets someone who may be able to help her solve the mysterious problem.
THE DOLL MAKER by Dene Stark
A disturbed professor believes he can bring dead children back to life.
THE WOMAN IN THE WOOD by B Maddox
A grieving writer meets a woman in the woods and discovers eternal love is a double-edged sword.
THE TELL-TALE ART by Evan Baughfman
After coming across a creepy portrait, a teenage boy is tormented by the ghost of his school's old Art teacher--a man who once moonlit as a serial-killing clown.
TRAVELER'S NIGHTMARE by Brian Hauser
A first-time business traveler suffers a common travel mishap with uncommon results.
WINNERS:
Winner: LOST MAN by Guy Harvey
1st Runner-up: ROADKILL by Noah Pfister
2nd Runner-up: CANNIBAL MOTHER by Jacob Schefer
Fantastic Planet Short Screenplay Competition
Finalists (alphabetical order):
A VICTIMLESS CRIME by Ella Roby and Zahid Gamieldien
A young woman and her inter-dimensional housemate try to do the right thing when their unwelcome guest refuses to honour his Tinder obligations.
AN IRON SHELL OF RITUAL by Jeff Racho
An "AutoMech" intelligent fighting robot from the U.S. Army is captured while fighting a terrorist organization. It is rescued by its mechanical platoon mates, but begins to exhibit strange "thoughts" when it returns to the Army.
JACK RABBIT Daniel Earney and Dio Traverso
A mute young boy must fight off Death before the specter takes his grandmother.
LADY DEATH by Augusto Mak
Across the street, in a mysterious jazz bar, a singer by the name of Lady Death is about to perform, but watch, out listening to her music may be the last thing you do!
MY STARDUST by J. J. Hillard
When a widow transits a hidden passageway in her apartment she encounters otherworldly peril... that may offer a chance to fulfill a dream long deferred.
PHANTOM BODY by Delphino S. Huang
After the sudden disappearance of his body parts, a scientist time travels again and again attempts to fix the time machine.
PRODIGALS' ROAD by Lisa Stock
A farmer must choose between the life of a refuge and the life of his land in this magic realist tale about fate.
RAY IN SPACE by John Celona
Extraterrestrials stranded on Earth live in people's pools.
TEST by María Vázquez
Captain Lia Niemi is about to finish her 2-year term mission in a planet distant 20 years light from Earth. After surviving on her own she faces a crossroads.
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH by Lachlan Marks
A troubled celebrity-turned-outlaw and an ambitious journalist lock horns in a secret, late-night interview with unexpected consequences for both parties.
THE INFINITE AND THE DIVINE by Krystyna Łoboda and Derek Weissbein
When a mad Priest's research vessel comes under threat of destruction, an obsessed young Cleric steals the spacecraft to seek out the origin of the universe.
THE PERFECT SPECIMEN by Adam Camobreco
In the near future, nothing is what it seems when the insecure reality TV star Dale Bryce seeks out cybernetic implants to improve his physique and stature.
VIRTUALLY FINE by Gil Sain
What good is living in the world of tomorrow if you're still haunted by all the problems of today? That's the question at the center of this dystopian dark comedy. But science may finally have an answer: an experimental device that can change anyone's world view, even Miller, the future's most pathetic sad-sack of a man.
WINNERS:
Winner: JACK RABBIT Daniel Earney and Dio Traverso
1st Runner-up: AN IRON SHELL OF RITUAL by Jeff Racho
2nd Runner-up: THE INFINITE AND THE DIVINE by Krystyna Łoboda and Derek Weissbein