We here at ECHG are excited to bring you the list of nominees for the only award worthy of being named “Night Mare”.
Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 19 to 22 at Columbus’s Gateway Film Center) just announced nominees for its 2017 Night Mares, giving tapped filmmakers a thrill and festival attendees a list of films to watch for among the already stacked “#BetterHorror” lineup, as the festival bills it.
Each year the festival’s jury identifies films it believes are worthy of consideration for a “Night Mare,” the fest’s highly sought-after statuette. The Night Mare, sculpted and hand painted by renowned figure and toy designer Tony Simione (Star Wars, Marvel, The Walking Dead) depicts a fiery, furious hell-horse in exquisite detail.
“For us, the NFF Night Mare represents our commitment to honoring and elevating genre creatives, who sometimes find themselves viewed as the dark horses of filmmaking,” said festival co-founder and programmer Jason Tostevin.
The festival typically awards 24 of the statuettes across all selected screenplays and films – this year numbering about 180 total projects – but “reserves the right to award a Night Mare out of the standard categories, for work or spirit we think exceptionally represents ‘better horror’,” said co-founder Chris Hamel, referring to the festival’s rallying cry.
New this year, Nightmares sponsor and horror media outlet iHorror will also bestow its Horror Standout award to one film its representatives identify as exceptional.
“Recognition at Nightmares can make a real difference in the trajectory of a film or screenplay,” said 2016 Night Mare winner for best feature director, Brooklyn Ewing. “But even more valuable is the networking and the community of support you get from the festival. Being a part of it last year directly contributed to making my follow-up feature this year, which I’m world premiering at NFF.”
Press from around the country attends the festival to cover the films, and distributors are on-site to scout. Also new this year, World of Death, Bloody Disgusting’s online short film showcase, will be inviting selected shorts to debut online with them.
Winners will be named during the festival’s awards gathering on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 5:15 p.m. The awards gathering is free to the public. Individual tickets to screenings are on sale now here.
Nightmares Film Festival 17 Award Nominees
BEST HORROR FEATURE
3 Dead Trick or Treaters
Capture, Kill, Release
Found Footage 3D
Ruin Me
Unnuyayuk
BEST THRILLER FEATURE
Midnighters
Rock, Paper, Dead
Scars of Xavier
She Was So Pretty 2
2 Pigeons
BEST MIDNIGHT FEATURE
Flesh of the Void
Le Accelerator
House Shark
Torment
I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday
BEST DIRECTOR – FEATURE
Bong of the Living Dead – Max Groah
Capture, Kill, Release – Nick McAnulty
Unnuyayuk – Kirby Light
Flesh of the Void – James Quinn
Ruin Me – Preston DeFrancis
Torment – Adam Ford
BEST OHIO FEATURE
Bong of the Living Dead
Primordial
Blood Ride
Don’t Fuck in the Woods
BEST HORROR COMEDY FEATURE
Bong of the Living Dead
House Shark
Two Pigeons
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY FEATURE
Scars of Xavier
Flesh of the Void
Le Accelerator
She Was So Pretty 2
Found Footage 3D
BEST SCREENPLAY FEATURE
Rock, Paper, Dead
Romeo’s Distress
Midnighters
2 Pigeons
Found Footage 3D
BEST ACTOR – FEATURE
Bong of the Living Dead – Dan Kiely
Le Accelerator – David Sakurai
Kirby Light – Unnuyayuk
House Shark – Jonathan Straiton
Torment – Rikky Fiore
BEST ACTRESS – FEATURE
I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday – Hope Bikle
Hostile – Brittany Ashworth
Blood Ride – Pollyanna McIntosh
Capture, Kill, Release – Jennifer Fraser
Primordial – Marylee Osborne
BEST HORROR SHORT
Admonition
Creswick
The Daughters of Virtue
aMorfe
Husk
Pigskin
Sol
Spotlight
Banshee
BEST THRILLER SHORT
Alice and David
High & Tight
Too Fast, Paris
The Devil’s Gun
Pickup
The Devil’s Due
Night Runners
BEST MIDNIGHT SHORT
Deep Thing
Doll
Machine Baby
I Want Candy
The Cure
The Sunken Convent
Vanita
BEST DIRECTOR – SHORT
A Nearly Perfect Blue Sky – Quarxx
La Sirena – Rosita Muvdi
Creswick – Natalie James
The Sunken Convent – Michael Panduro
The Daughters of Virtue – Michael Escobedo
Cry Wolf – Gabriel Allard
Caravan – Nathan Lacey
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – SHORT
Sol
Teddy Bears Picnic
I Like It Better When You Do It
Pigskin
Admonition
Tethered
Used Body Parts
The Cure
BEST SCREENPLAY – SHORT
I Baked Him a Cake
Nasty Robin Goodfellow
The Son, The Father
The Fainting Room
The Dollmaker
Brown Evil
Thump
BEST ACTOR – SHORT
Cry It Out – Timmy Barron
Vexed – Baker Chase Powell
Tethered – Jared Cook
Hush – Luke Bedsole
The Son, The Father – Lukas Hassel
Creeper – Harry Piaggio
Compulsion – Andrew Roy Drury
BEST ACTRESS – SHORT
Jax In Love – Rakefet Abergel
Haematophilia – Lara Dudek
Getting Ready for a Lunch Date – Jessica Pontes
Hush – Rachel Barker
Cry Wolf – Amber Goldfarb
The Sound of Fear – Sandra Mae Frank
Pickup – Mandy Evans
BEST OHIO SHORT
Bride of Frankie
The Childish Thing
Mother’s Milk
The Creature of Stark Hills
The Dark of the Night
Tales from the Blood Fairies
BEST HORROR COMEDY SHORT
Blood Shed
Girl #2
Lunch Ladies
We Summoned a Demon
Meow
What’s for Dinner?
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