Below are the Semifinalists of the 2026 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition. Chosen from over 1,000 submissions, these screenplays and short stories remain after an increasingly competitive round of evaluation, representing the small percentage of entries that continue forward this season.
Congratulations to the writers moving ahead, and thank you to every creator who entrusted us with their work. Finalist selections will be announced in the coming weeks. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter for official updates.
Season 8 of Killer Shorts opens March 2 with our new First Wave Deadline, available exclusively on FilmFreeway. This earliest ever call for entries offers our lowest entry rate and lets writers secure their spot early with the option to update their script later if needed.
Browse loglines and request to read unproduced horror short screenplays and stories in the new Killer Shorts Script Directory.
† The Scream List — Reader Recommended
Scripts marked with † received a Recommend rating from Killer Shorts coverage readers.
Here are the Main Category Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| TINO GARCIA GROSS | (Wash) Cycle of Violence |
| MICHELLE CAMPBELL | Amarillo |
| LUCY FOSTER | ANSWER MAN |
| OLIVIA LOCCISANO | Be Not Afraid |
| HELOISE CHUNG & BRANDY CARIE | Bibi |
| BENJAMIN LUK | Buttons † |
| ELAINE FROST | By Yourself |
| NOLAN LAMPSON | CAPTURE |
| MELISSA PEREZ GELT | Changing † |
| KES NAVE | Crisis |
| SEAN KENEALY | Cut |
| MATTHEW HILL | CUT! |
| EISLINN GRACEN | Deerest Darling |
| CLAUDIA BARCENAS | DEI Murders |
| JOSE CRUZ | Dress Up |
| TODD JONES | Emancipation |
| ROSS LOVELL | Feeding The Foxes † |
| RICHARD GARRY | Food Chain |
| MARISA MARTINEZ | Got Milk? |
| RYAN CURTIS | GRAVEN |
| JOSHUA DAVID MATTHEWS | Grim |
| SAPPHIRE SANDALO | How Was Your Day? † |
| KYLE HARRIS | In Recline |
| KATIE WALKER-COOK | In Sheep’s Clothing |
| SHERICE GRIFFITHS | Jinx |
| STEVEN LEE | Kathy and Jeb |
| MICHAEL SHEETZ | Keepsake |
| CATHERINE CASEY | KILLJOY |
| MATTHEW YONGUE | Limbo |
| CHRISTOPHER GUERRERO & RYAN GILMOUR | LOCUST GROVE |
| COLE MCCABE | Lovebirds |
| LEE BACON | Lure |
| MICHAEL CLIFTON | Lyla’s Last Dance |
| SANCHEZ TAYLOR | My Other Half |
| MICHAEL PISATURO | No Faces |
| SEBASTIAN WATSON | No Fishing |
| SETH KELMAN | Only You † |
| TOPE OGUNDARE | Orchid Thieves |
| MICHELLE IANNANTUONO | Recycled |
| SALVATORE LIUZZI | Riding with the King |
| TEX GRESHAM | Sara |
| MITCHELL ALAN BANKS | Shredded |
| FRANCESCA PAZNIOKAS | Super Absolutely |
| DARREN BAILEY | The Bellows |
| SCOTT A. WEISS | THE BIG DARK |
| TAYLOR SHOFNER | The Cockatrice |
| GREG KACZYNSKI | The House of Man |
| MIKE UNDERWOOD | The Last Dance of Victor Hall |
| MICHAEL HAAS | The Monster Within |
| RENUKA SINGH | The Offering |
| JESSICA MCLAUGHLIN | The Widow’s Itch |
| LEE COTMAN | There Were Signs |
| JOAN MAO | THEY STILL REMEMBER |
| JOHN BURDEAUX | This Vehicle Has Been Checked for Sleeping Children |
| BRIANNE NORD-STEWART | Tricky Me |
| CHRIS VANDERHORST | TV-MA |
| ANDREW MARON | We’ll Be In Touch |
| SHANE THOMPSON | Welcome to Our Cabin |
| SAM DAS | What Remains |
| WALKER MACDONALD | Wookalark |
Here are the 1 Page Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| P.M. RAYMOND | A Pretty Smile |
| ROSS LOVELL | Always |
| ANDREW DUNSTAN | Amma |
| WILLIAM DREW | Arke Takes the Stairs |
| CASS COOPER | Beaming |
| JOSE CRUZ | Bed and Board |
| GIOVANNA UMPIERREZ | Blackberry |
| EVAN BAUGHFMAN | Constant December |
| ANNIE WILDER | Fallen Man |
| JASON TURER | Glug Glug |
| LIAM FITZPATRICK | Guess Again |
| TOM SCHRACK | Instructions |
| PAUL STARKEY | Loose Lips |
| COLBY HELTON | Nothing Yet |
| JAMES ALLEN | PARTY BLOB |
| JUSTIN BURFORD | Peeping Tom |
| OLIVIA LOCCISANO | ProtoTyke |
| ROSE VATEL | School Shopping |
| INÊS REIS | The Homebody |
| MAUREEN TRINH | The License Plate Game |
| CYLE BROOKS | The Merging |
| JOSE CRUZ | The Shaft † |
| ILIAN MANDEV | Time’s Up |
| TJ BERRY | Weakness Leaving the Body † |
| STEPHEN CHEN | What Big Muscles You Have! |
Here are the Short Story (Prose) Semifinalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| RACHEL MCCAULLEY | A Massive Catastrophe of Epic Moral Proportions |
| NICHOLAS THOMAS | A.Eye |
| ARIC HARRISON | Alligator Boy |
| AUSTIN LANGLEY | Apple Tree |
| ANDREW NEWALL | Broken Image |
| AKUORKOR ALLOTEY | Doggy in the Window |
| TIYAN NEWMAN | Eden |
| MARK RENSHAW | Fungi |
| TOM BROWNGARDT | Gravestone Concussion |
| MILLIE PRICE | Harold aka Fed by Pain |
| MIKE AD | Hulled Out |
| SAINT LAZARE | La Jambe Rouge (The Red Leg) |
| NICK BUCHHEIT | WAKE. LOOK. DREAD. |
| MARTIN DELANEY | Nothing Is Scary Any More |
| CHARLES WILCHER | Only When It Rains |
| SHANNON WESTON | Rendered Speechless |
| P.M. RAYMOND | Rent Party |
| JULIE ANN SLABY | Ruby Writes Her Name Across the Sky |
| TRAVIS WILLIAMS | Shattered |
| BROOKE SOLOMON | Texas Tea |
| TRAVIS WILLIAMS | The Lamb |
| TJ BERRY | Things That Came Through with the Baby |
| GABRIEL COFIELD | To Reach New Horizons |
| NOA SARACEN | Withering in the Wasteland |
| C LENZ | Yesforatu |
What’s Next
Semifinalists will advance to the next stage of evaluation as we move toward finalist and honorable mention announcements later this season.
Partners & Sponsors
Big thanks to our sponsors Shudder, Final Draft, Rue Morgue, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Horror Pack, QWERKYTOYS, Seed & Spark, We Make Movies, Stage 32, Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series, Ghoulish Gary, The Script Butcher, Filmfreeway, Script Hive, ISA, Script Hop, Script Revolution, Scrivener and Fright Rags.
Thanks also to our festival partners SimplyScripts, MovieBytes, Christopher Fielden, Duotrope, 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.
