Listed below are the Quarterfinalists of the 2023 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition. These exceptional screenplays were selected from over 1,033 submissions. Congratulations to the writers who have made it this far and thanks to all for submitting!
Stay tuned for future announcements here and on our Twitter and Facebook pages within the next few weeks! And if you’d like to receive a notification when this contest re-opens for entries, you can subscribe for updates via Coverfly.
Click here to congratulate the QF’s on Twitter!
Here are the main category Quarterfinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| SARAH WARD | ’97 |
| JUSTIN ANDREW COOK | A Man Walks In |
| ANDREW WILBUR | A Trip To The North |
| LUCAS GARBERA | Affliction |
| MARYELLEN DEVIVO | All the Rage |
| JENESSA RIVERA | Amor de Mi Vida |
| LIA BERGER | Beware Of Dog |
| JACK CAREY | Blood Trench |
| JAMES MAZZULLO | Bright Eyes |
| DANNY ROGERS | Buck’s Big Break |
| ARRAN CRAWLEY | Burn Slowly, Black Gloves |
| JAMES PATRICK FURLONG | Clean Kill |
| DANNY WEIR | Cockney Ghost Smashers |
| FRANCESCO GIACOMARRA | Coffee Pot |
| JULIA DIDDY | Cooking Lessons with Baba Yaga |
| ROBERTO ALVARENGA | Dead Man’s Party |
| MICHAEL CASTALDO | Desolation’s Edge |
| FREDERIK EHRHARDT | Devil’s Instrument |
| RACHEL CYLIE GROSS & STANLEY SWINDLING | Dispose |
| BRIAN BARNES | Do Not Open |
| PHILLIP WALTON | Don’t Eat From The Machine |
| MICHAEL ROGERS | Don’t Sleep |
| SHAUN O’LOUGHLIN | Drinkwater |
| KARELINE CASTOR | Dust |
| TIYAN NEWMAN | Eden |
| GARISON PIATT | Family Man |
| JEREMY WEINER | Get It! |
| DEE MICK | Gully |
| ANDREW MENA | Hairasite |
| CHARLENE CLARKE-TODORUK | Heads |
| COLE MCCABE | Henrietta’s Egg |
| RODOLFO SALAS | Hunger Pains |
| STEPHANIE NOEL | Hypnopompia |
| VICTOR RIDAURA | Identidad Raza |
| JOSH SCHENKKAN AND MICHAEL MOUNT | Incognito Mode |
| REBECCA MORET | Inside These Walls |
| RICHARD H. MOON | Interruption |
| MAYANKA GOEL | Is Your Husband Home? |
| BRIAN MENZ | It’s OK. He’s Friendly. |
| LANCE ELIOT ADAMS | Jelly Doughnut of Evil |
| JON PLATT | Just the Three of Me |
| MJ FARBER-RAY | Knife Twist |
| BEN WOODIWISS | Lady Midday |
| ARIEL MCCLEESE | Lady Parts |
| ALAN MENDEZ | Leave |
| PHILLIP WALTON | Little Blessings |
| DYLAN JAMES AMICK | Long Face |
| PATRICK LEHE | Look Away |
| JORDAN SYMES | Love Yourself |
| LUCY FOSTER | Lovely Girl |
| GEORGINA BOWLEY-MORIARTY | Mami |
| JOSHUA DAVID MATTHEWS | Memories of a House |
| ALEXANDER SELTZER | Merrow |
| ERIC ROBINSON | MUSKREALM.JPG |
| LEE BACON | New Dog |
| CHRISTIAN GREEN | Night Of The Living Vacuum |
| MARK LEE | Night Watcher |
| GWENDOLYN HULET | Nothing’s Final |
| DEREK LADD | Oil Change |
| CHIGOZIE ONYEAKA | Onoura |
| PHILLIP DISHON | Patrimony |
| ADAM SANTA CRUZ | People Die |
| BRITT ALEXANDRIA | Please Forward |
| BRITTA BARRETT | Price Slashers |
| MELINDA-CATHERINE GROSS | Redbeard’s Reunion |
| SIMON DOYLE | Retrograde |
| TOMMIE BROWN | Rising Gas Prices |
| ALEXANDRA YORK | Road Trip |
| ERIC WARREN | Sampson & Delilah |
| JACKIE PEREZ & ELISE SALOMON | Self Image |
| D. WESTFALL | Separated |
| MIYAKO FUQUA | Shelf Life |
| JOHAN SPIROLAZZI | Sing The Fucking Song |
| APRIL ROUVEYROL | Starlight |
| JOSEPH X CASILLAS | Stock Photo |
| JASON RICE | Stray |
| JED WOODS | Stud Muffin |
| JUSTIN MORITZ & PARKER FOREMAN | Take 177 |
| BRITTANY BOOKBINDER | Teetering On The Edge |
| LIA BERGER | Teller |
| BRYCE CARLISLE | The Bone Shift |
| JESS C WHEATLEY | The Call Out |
| KARELINE CASTOR | The Devil’s Doorman |
| ALEXANDER SELTZER | The Door |
| DOMINIC HART | The Night Runner |
| JERRY JENAE SAMPSON | The Safety Games |
| JAI BRANDON | The Stranger I Used To Know |
| MELANIE HAYWARD | The Unexpected End Of The Outback Races |
| PATRICK MEDIATE & AARON MCLANE | The Unwrapping |
| DANIEL ALAN KIELY | The Whisper Tree |
| YVETTE ROSS | There’s A Monster in My Room |
| GLENN FORBES | To Live Again a Butterfly |
| PATRICK LOVELAND | Too Many Eyes |
| COLLEEN KELLY | Truth or Dare |
| RANDY PARKER | Vaccine |
| ALIA ZEID | Wacky Otter’s Waterpark |
| JEFF KALLET | We’re Here to Kill it |
| ASH LAZER | White Noise |
| ZOE BULLOCK | Witch Hunt |
| JOSHUA HEATON | You’re on Mute |
Here are the 1 Page Quarterfinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| PATTY PAPAGEORGIOU | #milk |
| PHILLIP DISHON | #UnaliveYourself |
| JOSHUA HEATON | A Confession |
| WENZLER POWERS | A Little Prick |
| JEFF JAMES | A Soft Earth |
| CHELSEA SPIRITO | After the Storm |
| CHRISTIAN CURRY AKUNA | Bookworm |
| ANDREW WILCZAK | Bubbles |
| RENE CLAVEAU | Cluck Cluck |
| JESS BARTLETT | Duck Duck Goose |
| ADAM PAVLOVIC | Excrements |
| CHRIS VANDERHORST | Followers |
| BRADLEY AUSTIN | Garden of the Grafted |
| CC MCLOUGHLIN | Gourmandise |
| EVAN BAUGHFMAN | Killer in Tent |
| KATHERINE COX & MATT MCCARTHY | Kitty’s Like… |
| BEN GERRIOR | Light’s On |
| STEPHEN CHEN | Look Ma, I Made It! |
| YVETTE ROSS | Love Is in the Air |
| JULIETTE GILLIES | Lychnobite |
| DAVE THORPE | Mommy Is Here |
| SANDRA WADE | MRI |
| SANCHEZ TAYLOR | No Life Detected |
| JULIE ROSING | Offbeat |
| TRACI LOPER | Pastime |
| ALISON PRINGLE | Phantom Crying |
| CHRISTIAN GREEN | Pizza Perry |
| JOSEPH X CASILLAS | Plateau |
| EVAN BAUGHFMAN | Pop! |
| STEPHEN CHEN | Security |
| CODY SOUSA | Shadow Puppet |
| SPIKE BLACK | Snip |
| AR UGAS | Storage Room |
| JACKIE PEREZ | The Ballerina |
| WHITNEY HAMILTON | The Confession |
| ERIC BROWN | The Food Chain |
| KEVIN TALLEY | The Last Valentine |
| KEVIN MANN | Unsightly |
| ARRAN CRAWLEY | Watch My Baby, Please |
| DONAIDH ALLEN | What Do Any Of Them Want? |
Big thanks to our sponsors Shudder, Final Draft, Rue Morgue, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Horror Pack, QWERKYTOYS, Stage 32, Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series, Ghoulish Gary, The Script Butcher, Coverfly, Filmfreeway, Script Hive, ISA, Script Hop, Script Revolution 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, Screen Queens, Rianne Pictures, Alliance of Women Directors, LIFTT, Black Screenwriters, Ms. In the Biz, and Indigenous Australian Filmmakers.
