Listed below are the Semifinalists of the 2025 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition. These exceptional screenplays and short stories were selected from over 1,200 submissions. Congratulations to the writers who have made it this far and thanks to all for submitting!
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Here are the Main Category Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| TANIA LUNA | Baby Tooth |
| VINCE GATTON & ALLAN PIPER | Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed |
| JO BUDZILOWICZ | Dead Inside |
| CAMARA AARON | Dou-dou |
| NATHAN D. LUDWIG & JONATHAN STRAITON | Dover |
| JASON TOSTEVIN | Eat Me |
| COSTANTINO CIMINELLO & MITCHELL SLAN | Everything Wrong With Patrick |
| BRIAN LIEPE | Feather the Trigger |
| DEREK LADD | FLIES |
| AMY T. MARTIN | Gone Song |
| JENNIFER MILNE | HEARTWARMING HORROR SHORT |
| NISHANTH R. & NATHAN XIA | Indian in a Box |
| CHRIS MITCHELL | Inkling |
| VANESSA BLOOM | Interfaith Exorcisim |
| MARY KURYLA | Invasive Species |
| JADE JIAO | Jester’s Privilege |
| MARISA GREEN | KEGEL |
| CATHERINE CASEY | Killer Clown on Roller Skates |
| TIJUANA RICKS | Mama |
| RHITUPARNA BASU | Mark of the Ghoul |
| ANDREW WILLIAM WEAVER | Maya’s Room |
| JEREMY JACKSON | MILK AND COOKIES |
| RENUKA SINGH | No Guts, No Glory |
| AIDAN PETERSHACK | Opus |
| PHILLIP MCSWEEN | Phosphorous |
| EVA LOUISE HALL | Pluck |
| ANOOP B. SINGH | PRION |
| LUCY FOSTER & PETER STEAD | Provenance |
| TOBY MARKS | Quiet Minds |
| TOVA WEINBERGER | Raccoon Seance (or, The One True Vegan) |
| TYLER BLOMSTROM-MOORE | Raven Feeder |
| CALEB GEORGE | Secrets, Secrets |
| HYTEN DAVIDSON | She Looks Just Like You |
| CHARLIE AINSWORTH | She Who Hears Monsters |
| ZOE KERR | Shock Collar |
| MATTHEW YONGUE | Sleigh |
| SAM FOWLER & KRIS CARR | SPREAD THE WORM |
| EVAN SCHULLERY | Squeak |
| DUSTIN MOORE | Still Echoes |
| JASON SHEEDY | Tapestry |
| TANIA LUNA | Teeth |
| ANWEN BULL & LUCA FANGEAUX | The Bunyip |
| BEN RAMSAY | THE FINAL TEN |
| BRIANA COX | The Good Neighbors |
| LELA CERMIN | The Hatred |
| SIMON TATUM | THE NIGHT ROAD |
| JOSHUA POTTER | The Sixth Passenger |
| CHRIS MURPHY | Time Based Coding |
| TANIA LUNA | Travelers |
| WALKER MACDONALD | Twice Shy |
| ANNA XIQUES | Under the Bed |
| WILL EMUSS | UNDYING LOVE |
| DARRELL LAKE | We are not safe |
| WARREN MYERS | White Light / White Heat |
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Here are the 1 Page Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| KIMBERLY DIVAD | A GAME |
| TANNER CALL | Afterdeath |
| JULIA DIDDY | Aqua Tofana |
| THOMAS SCHRACK | Baby Monitor |
| SHAUN O’LOUGHLIN | Carved |
| ANOOP B. SINGH | CHOP CHOP |
| SARAH RICHARDSON | Deliverer |
| WILL DEFRANGESCO | Doll House |
| EILIDH SMITH | DON’T FORGET TO SCREAM |
| MOSES NEBRASKA | doorslash |
| CALLUM HENDERSON | Execution |
| AMY T. MARTIN | Fallen Man |
| JONATHAN CLARK | FRACTURED |
| STEPHEN CHEN | Hanzo’s Hideout |
| ADRIAN KENNEDY | Home Birth |
| SHAUN BALAND | Killer Jorts |
| IAN BAASKE | Kiss Her Once for Me |
| JAMES FERDA | Michael and his Monster |
| JONNY WRIGHT | Night Bus |
| AZZURRA NOX | Resting Bitch Face |
| MOSES NEBRASKA | Retraction |
| BRITTNEY COON | SCREAMS & LAUGHTER |
| DESIREE MIDDLETON | Stall Me |
| LISA JAY | Submerged |
| PHILLIP DISHON | Surprise, Surprise |
| JASON TURER | The Red-Eye Effect |
| MILES R. | Three on a Roof |
| SHAUN BALAND | Two Little Pigs |
| JEREMY JACKSON | Uninterrupted Sleep |
| CALEB DILLON | Viral |
Here are the Short Story (Prose) Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| MICHAEL KEENER | …within a dream |
| JASON TOSTEVIN | A Lullaby for Night |
| JEREMIAH BLACKMAN | All That’s Left |
| GABRIEL SERRANO DENIS | Behemoth |
| J.J. HILLARD | Bug Boy |
| MONTSERRAT LUNA-BALLANTYNE | Dear Nora |
| ROB ULITSKI | Decay |
| P.M. RAYMOND | Don’t Drink the Water |
| JULIE ANN SLABY | Erasmus Book One: First of May |
| ANDY FARRANT | False Idol |
| JERRY J SAMPSON | God’s Future Soldiers |
| ASH DURAI | HER |
| ANDY FARRANT | Hotline to Heaven |
| KAMARIA WILLIAMS | Hypnagogic |
| CALEB DILLON | Identity Theft |
| TERESA HAINO | Jezebel in Hell |
| ANDY FARRANT | Jinglewood Junction |
| ALLIE NELSON | Last Seen |
| JACKIE FENN | Nurture |
| AKUORKOR ALLOTEY | Quis ut Deus |
| ROBERT CREEKMORE | Sole Survivor |
| ANDY FARRANT | The Best Coffee in the World |
| ARIC HARRISON | The Far Side of the Veil: In the Quiet Depths of Glass |
| CARTER FRIEND | THE NUT CRACKER |
| FREYA JENSEN-BRANDT | The Red Glove |
| C.T. ROEMER | The Sacrifice |
| CK LOVE | THE SILENCE OF WAR |
| MATTHEW JACKSON | The Stream |
| BRIAN BRENNAN | The Whole Truth |
| P.M. RAYMOND | Things Are as They Should Be |
Big thanks to our sponsors Final Draft, Rue Morgue, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Horror Pack, QWERKYTOYS, Seed & Spark, We Make Movies, Book Brush, Stage 32, Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series, Ghoulish Gary, The Script Butcher, Coverfly, Filmfreeway, Script Hive, ISA, Script Hop, Script Revolution, Scrivener and Fright Rags.
Thanks also to our festival partners, and the following Womxn & BIPOC organizations: The Write or Die Chicks, Women Make Movies, Ladima Foundation, NYWIFT, African American Women in Cinema, The Light Leaks, Hedgebrook, Rianne Pictures, Alliance of Women Directors, LIFTT, Black Screenwriters, and Indigenous Australian Filmmakers.
