FINAL FRAME, in conjunction with StokerCon™ and the Horror Writers Association, is proud to present the twelve fantastic finalists for our fifth annual horror short film competition.
This year’s program is a madcap mixtape exploring horrors from around the world, expressions of our deepest fears through unconventional and uncompromising visions.
2020 FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order)
CHANGELING
9 min. 30 sec. / 2019 / UNITED KINGDOM
Director: Faye Jackson
Writer: Faye Jackson
Producer: Faye Jackson
A new mother becomes increasingly mesmerized and appalled by the strange transformations happening around her baby. She instinctively hides them, unaware they are building towards a final metamorphosis.
DRUM WAVE
10 min. 25 sec. / 2018 / AUSTRALIA
Director: Natalie Erika James
Writer: Natalie Erika James
Producer: Emma Haarburger
A young pianist is forced to confront her fear of motherhood when she marries into a remote island community.
EJECT
8 min. 56 sec. / 2018 / UNITED KINGDOM
Director: David Yorke
Writer(s): David Yorke / Elena Saurel
Producer: David Yorke
After discovering a USB port in her wrist, Kate uncovers a world where she has the ability to change herself for the better.
FARCE
10 min. 55 sec. / 2019 / NORWAY
Director: Robin Jensen
Writer: Robin Jensen
Producer: Lise Fearnley
A man, a woman, and a meat grinder. Love is messy.
THE GLOWING (DE GLOEIIGE)
9 min. / 2019 / NETHERLANDS
Director: Justus Van Den Elsen
Writer(s): Justus Van Den Elsen / Bart Verhoeven
After lying to his grandparents, a young farmhand awakens an ancient evil on the heathlands between the Netherlands and Belgium.
IN A FOREIGN TOWN
9 min. 35 sec. / 2018 / UNITED STATES
Director: Michael Shlain
Writer: Michael Shlain
Producer(s): Michael Shlain / Jason B. Milligan / Travis Stevens
Based on the stories of acclaimed horror author, Thomas Ligotti. A troubled man recounts a strange childhood journey to a town with no name.
LILI
8 min. 35 sec. / 2019 / NETHERLANDS
Director: Yfke van Berckelaer
Writer: Yfke van Berckelaer
Producer(s): Jörgen van Dongen / Steven Willems
Lili (Lisa Smit – Netflix’s Ares) knows she has to nail this audition. The Man (Derek de Lint – Soldier of Orange/The Unbearable Lightness of Being) she auditions for, knows this too. Thus starts an uncomfortable cat and mouse game in this single-shot power trip.
THE OBLITERATION OF THE CHICKENS
3 min. 19 sec. / 2019 / UNITED STATES
Director: Izzy Lee
Writer: Izzy Lee
Producer: Izzy Lee
The universe does not care. The abyss is stupid. Narrated by author Bracken MacLeod, this Herzog-inspired fever dream uses 100% stock footage to reflect on the banality of existence.
SWIPE
5 min. 48 sec. / 2019 / NETHERLANDS / UNITED STATES
Director: Niels Bourgonje
Writer(s): Niels Bourgonje / Paul Bontenbal
Producer: Steffie van Rhee
A girl finds out that she has a match on a dating app with a stranger, despite swiping him to the left moments ago.
THE THREE MEN YOU MEET AT NIGHT
12 min. 8 sec. / 2020 / UNITED STATES
Director: Beck Kitsis
Writer: Beck Kitsis
Producer: Carlen May-Mann
A teen girl’s walk home turns into a surreal nightmare.
UNMADE
10 min. / 2019 / UNITED KINGDOM
Director: Steven Sheil
Writer: Steven Sheil
Producer: Emmeline Kellie
A young woman visits a spiritualist medium in order to contact her dead husband for one final goodbye.
WITHER
3 min. 32 sec. / 2019 / UNITED KINGDOM
Director: Ethan Evans
Writer: Ethan Evans & Jess Bartlett
Producer: Jess Bartlett
In a town acclaimed for honouring ancient folklore, a young girl finds herself vulnerable after failing to contribute to the annual tradition.
The Horror Writers Association announces the fifth annual short film competition held in conjunction with StokerCon UK at the Royal and Grand Hotel, Scarborough, on Friday, August 7th, 2020. Final Frame will celebrate the best in short horror films from around the globe and everyone is encouraged to enter the competition.
Previous judges have included Josh Malerman (Bird Box, Unbury Carol), Jonathan Maberry (creator of the bestselling Joe Ledger series, author of The Pine Deep trilogy, Mars One and more), and Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Gerald’s Game, The House on Haunted Hill). For a full list of previous winners and judges, click here.
StokerCon UK is very pleased to announce that this year’s judges are: renowned film director, Mick Garris (Hocus Pocus, The Stand, Masters of Horror, Nightmare Cinema). Joining him as judges are: Oscar-winning producer Jennifer Handorf (Prevenge); screenwriter, novelist and comic-writer M.R. Carey (The Girl With All the Gifts); author Adam L.G. Nevill (The Ritual); writer and award-winning filmmaker Frazer Lee (On Edge, Panic Button, The Lamplighters); novelist and film critic Kim Newman (Anno Dracula); novelist and screenwriter Sarah Pinborough (Behind Her Eyes, Cross Her Heart); novelist and screenwriter Lisa Morton (Ghost Stories, The Sammanach and other Halloween Treats, Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween). For more about our judges, see below:
 Mick Garris began writing fiction at the age of twelve. By the time he was in high school, he was writing music and film journalism for various local and national publications, and during college, edited and published his own pop culture magazine. Steven Spielberg hired Mick as story editor on the Amazing Stories TV series for NBC, where he wrote or co-wrote ten of the forty-four episodes. Since then, he has written or co-scripted a number of feature films and teleplays (*Batteries Not Included, The Fly II, Hocus Pocus, Critters 2 and Nightmares & Dreamscapes, amongst many others).As a director and producer, he has worked in a wide range of media, including feature films (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers, Riding the Bullet, Nightmare Cinema); made-for-TV movies (Quicksilver Highway, Virtual Obsession, Desperation); cable movies and series (Psycho IV: The Beginning, Tales from the Crypt, Pretty Little Liars and its spin-off Ravenswood, Witches of East End, Shadowhunters, Dead of Summer, Once Upon a Time); network mini-series (The Stand, The Shining, Bag of Bones); series pilots (The Others, Lost in Oz) and series (She-Wolf of London). He is also the creator and executive producer of Showtime’s Masters of Horror anthology series, as well as creator of the NBC series, Fear Itself.Mick is known for his highly-rated podcast, Post Mortem with Mick Garris, where he sits down with some of the most revered film-makers in the horror and fantasy genre for one-on-one discussions, including the likes of Stephen King, John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Walter Hill, Neil Gaiman, and many others.A Life in the Cinema, his first book, was a collection of short stories and a screenplay based on one of the included stories, published by Gauntlet Press. Mick’s first novel, Development Hell, was published by Cemetery Dance, who is also the publisher of his novellas, Snow Shadows, Tyler’s Third Act and Ugly. His new book, These Evil Things We Do: The Mick Garris Collection, features four novellas, and his second novel is titled Salome. He has also had many works of short fiction published in numerous books and magazines. A biography, Master of Horror by Abbie Bernstein, will be published later this year. |  Jennifer Handorf‘s career began in New York City, where she first produced black box theatre off-Broadway. Expanding into film work, she was soon presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the prestigious Student Academy Award for her producing work on her first shortfilm Popfoul. After receiving her Master’s Degree from USC’s Peter Stark Program and Fox in Los Angeles, Jen returned to London. Here she produced several films, including BAFTA-recognised Forna, and Ben Wheatley’s short film Precinct 13. Jen has produced scores of shorts and over a dozen feature films which have been distributed internationally and programmed at over 100 festivals worldwide, including the prestigious Venice, Toronto, London, and Sundance Film Festivals, with many of her films taking top prizes. She has also produced for television, collaborating with the National Literacy Trust and Sky Arts to bring stage performances of classical authors by Stephen Fry, Eddie Marsan, Simon Callow, Karen Gillan, and others to screen. Her first feature, The Devil’s Business, was described by critics as Pinter-esque and praised for its art house qualities as much as for its scares, with The Observer calling it “genuinely literate and scary.” Her most recently released production, The Borderlands, was met with critical and commercial success. Mark Kermode praised it in the Guardian as “properly alarming scary fair” and Peter Bradshaw called it “A very punchy, funny, scary movie… fantastically unnerving.” Jen’s features have included Native, a science fiction thriller starring Rupert Graves and Ellie Kendrick; Chamber, released by Studio Canal and starring Force Majeure star Johannes Kuhnke; Ben Wheatley exec’ed Tank 432 starring Rupert Evans and Michael Smiley; and Prevenge, the long anticipated directorial debut of Alice Lowe.Jen has most recently been expanding her work into the ‘interactive’ space, creating immersive theatre installations and Virtual Reality experiences. She is currently directing Monster in the House, a documentary which follows the world of tarantula beauty pageants. | |
 Mike Carey is a BAFTA-nominated screenwriter, novelist and comic book writer. Born in Liverpool, he worked as a teacher for fifteen years before resigning to write full-time. He wrote the movie adaptation for his novel The Girl With All the Gifts, for which he received a British Screenwriters’ Award. Produced in the UK by Warners, the movie opened the Locarno festival in 2016 and subsequently went on international release. Mike has worked extensively in the field of comic books, completing long and critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Ultimate Fantastic Four and X-Men. His comic book series The Unwritten has featured repeatedly in the New York Times’ graphic novel bestseller list. He is currently writing a series for Dynamite Entertainment featuring the sci-fi icon Barbarella. He is also the writer of the Felix Castor novels, and (along with his wife Linda and their daughter Louise) of two fantasy novels, The City Of Silk and Steel and The House Of War and Witness, published in the UK by Victor Gollancz and in America by Chizine Press. His most recent novel is Someone Like Me, a psychological thriller with a supernatural edge. |  Adam L.G. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is the author of the horror novels Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, The Ritual, Last Days, House of Small Shadows, No One Gets Out Alive, Lost Girl, Under a Watchful Eye and The Reddening. He has two collections of short stories: Some Will Not Sleep (winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection, 2017) and Hasty for the Dark.His novels, The Ritual, Last Days and No One Gets Out Alive were the winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. The Ritual and Last Days were also awarded Best in Category: Horror, by R.U.S.A. Several of his novels are currently in development for film and television, and in 2016 Imaginarium adapted The Ritual into a feature film.Adam also offers three free books to readers of horror: Cries from the Crypt, downloadable from his website, and Before You Sleep and Before You Wake, available from major online retailers.Adam lives in Devon, England. More information about the author and his books is available at: www.adamlgnevill.com | |
 Frazer Lee is a novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker. His screenplay credits include the acclaimed social networking horror/thriller feature Panic Button, and multi-award-winning short horror films On Edge, Red Lines, Simone and The Stay. Frazer’s screenwriting and story consultant engagements have included commissions for Movie Mogul, The Asylum, Mediente, eMotion, and Vanquish Alliance Entertainment.Frazer was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Gothic Filmmaker of the Year award for his film The Stay in 2018. His film and television directing credits include the multi award-winning shorts On Edge and Red Lines, and the promo campaign for the Discovery Channel series True Horror With Anthony Head.Frazer’s novel The Lamplighters was a Bram Stoker Award® Finalist for ‘Superior Achievement in a First Novel’ and his other published works include novels The Jack in the Green, The Skintaker, Hearthstone Cottage, and The Daniel Gates Adventures series of novellas.Frazer is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Brunel University London and is an active member of the Horror Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, and the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. His guest speaking engagements have included The London Screenwriters Festival and The Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass. Frazer Lee lives with his family in Buckinghamshire, England just across the cemetery from the actual Hammer House of Horror. |  Kim Newman is a movie critic, author and broadcaster. He is a contributing editor to Sight & Sound and Empire magazines. His books about film include Nightmare Movies, Millennium Movies, Kim Newman’s Video Dungeon and BFI Classics studies of Cat People, Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit. His fiction includes the Anno Dracula series, Life’s Lottery, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles, An English Ghost Story, The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School and Angels of Music. His comics include Witchfinder: The Mysteries of Unland and Anno Dracula Seven Days in Mayhem. As ‘Jack Yeovil’, he wrote the Vampire Genevieve and Dark Future novels for Games Workshop. His most recent novel is Anno Dracula 999 1Daikaiju. He has written for television (Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema), radio (Afternoon Theatre: Cry-Babies) and the theatre (The Hallowe’en Sessions), and directed a tiny film (Missing Girl). His official website is at www.johnnyalucard.com. He is on Twitter as @AnnoDracula. | |
 Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, and the author of four novels and nearly 150 short stories. See more at www.lisamorton.com. |  Sarah Pinborough is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times Number one and Internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. Her recent books include Behind Her Eyes which will be a Netflix series in 2020, and Cross Her Heart that is in development with World Productions.Sarah was the 2009 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story and also the 2010 and 2014 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and she has four times been short-listed for Best Novel. She is also a screenwriter who has written for the BBC and has several original television projects in development. |
