Below are the Top 10 Finalists of the 2026 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition. Selected from over 1,000 submissions, these screenplays and short stories represent the small percentage of entries advancing after multiple rounds of evaluation.
Congratulations to the writers moving forward, and thank you to every creator who trusted us with their work.
Winners will be announced April 27th. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter for official updates.
Season 8 is now open with our new First Wave Deadline on June 5, available exclusively on FilmFreeway. This advance entry window offers the lowest submission fee of the season and allows writers to submit early with the option to update their script later.
† The Scream List — Reader Recommended
Scripts marked with † received a Recommend rating from Killer Shorts coverage readers.
Season 7 Finalists
Jump to a category:
• Main Category Finalists
• 1-Page Finalists
• Short Story Finalists
Main Category Finalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| LUCY FOSTER | ANSWER MAN |
| BENJAMIN LUK | Buttons † |
| ELAINE FROST | By Yourself |
| JOSHUA DAVID MATTHEWS | Grim |
| MICHAEL CLIFTON | Lyla’s Last Dance |
| MICHAEL PISATURO | No Faces |
| SEBASTIAN WATSON | No Fishing |
| TAYLOR SHOFNER | The Cockatrice |
| SHANE THOMPSON | Welcome to Our Cabin |
| SAM DAS | What Remains |
Honorable Mentions
Deerest Darling — Eislinn Gracen
How Was Your Day? † — Sapphire Sandalo
Riding with the King — Salvatore Liuzzi
Super Absolutely — Francesca Pazniokas
We’ll Be In Touch — Andrew Maron
The finalists will now be reviewed by our panel of judges, who will select a Top 3 and the overall winner. All Top 10 finalists will receive prizes including Final Draft 13, consultations with Seed & Spark, memberships to Shudder and We Make Movies, script coverage from Stage 32, and more.
The winner will also receive industry circulation, access to Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series, and the Skull Typewriter Trophy designed by Tyler Green FX Studio.
Next: 1-Page Finalists ↓
1-Page Finalists
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| GIOVANNA UMPIERREZ | Blackberry |
| LIAM FITZPATRICK | Guess Again |
| PAUL STARKEY | Loose Lips |
| COLBY HELTON | Nothing Yet |
| OLIVIA LOCCISANO | ProtoTyke |
| ROSE VATEL | School Shopping |
| INÊS REIS | The Homebody |
| MAUREEN TRINH | The License Plate Game |
| JOSE CRUZ | The Shaft † |
| TJ BERRY | Weakness Leaving the Body † |
Honorable Mentions
Amma — Andrew Dunstan
Beaming — Cass Cooper
PARTY BLOB — James Allen
Peeping Tom — Justin Burford
What Big Muscles You Have! — Stephen Chen
The 1-Page Grand Prize winner will receive $500 cash, Final Draft 13, a QWERKYWRITER mechanical keyboard, a membership to We Make Movies, and a one-year all-access subscription to Stan Winston School of Character Arts.
Next: Short Story (Prose) Finalists ↓
Short Story (Prose) Finalists:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| NICHOLAS THOMAS | A.Eye |
| ARIC HARRISON | Alligator Boy |
| AUSTIN LANGLEY | Apple Tree |
| AKUORKOR ALLOTEY | Doggy in the Window |
| MARK RENSHAW | Fungi |
| TOM BROWNGARDT | Gravestone Concussion |
| MIKE AD | Hulled Out |
| MARTIN DELANEY | Nothing Is Scary Any More |
| SHANNON WESTON | Rendered Speechless |
| BROOKE SOLOMON | Texas Tea |
Honorable Mentions
Harold aka Fed by Pain — Millie Price
The Lamb — Travis Williams
Things That Came Through With the Baby — TJ Berry
To Reach New Horizons — Gabriel Cofield
Yesforatu — C Lenz
All Top 10 authors will receive a copy of Scrivener writing software.
The 1st Place winner will receive publication on the Killer Shorts website and a 30-minute consultation with #KillerAlum Chris Hicks, author of I Am Not Alone, along with the Skull Typewriter Trophy from Tyler Green FX Studio.
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Thank You to our Partners & Sponsors
Big thanks to our sponsors Shudder, Final Draft, Rue Morgue, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, 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 Nightmares Film Festival, 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.
