RevengeFest Audience Choice Award

RevengeFest 2020 (Spooky Edition) had two awards this year: the Jurors’ Choice and the Audience Choice award. After tallying votes from our ticketholders, we are pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Audience Choice award is “Grave Sight” by Walter Forsyth, Craig Gunn, Pamela Segger, and Angus Swantee.

We’re thrilled about all of the films that were in this year’s lineup, and want to offer special congratulations to Grave Sight for its uniquely humorous approach to Horror and great special effects.

RevengeFest Juror’s Choice Award

RevengeFest (Spooky Edition) took place on October 30th and offered two prizes this year, an Audience Choice and a Jurors’ Choice award. We were thrilled to show 13 short horror films by filmmakers from a variety of backgrounds. Through these shorts we showcased a wide variety of Horror, each more skillfully brought to the screen than the last.

It has been an honor to show each and every film as part of this year’s lineup.

With great pride, it is our pleasure to announce that the Jurors’ Choice award winner this year is “Little Brother”, directed by Dikega Hadnot and written by Spencer Mandel. Starring Hattie Winston, Jon Lafferty, Deniro Farrar, and King Roubleau, the film provides a perfect critique wrapped in fantastically produced classic Horror cinema.

October 30th: RevengeFest 2020

Tomorrow begins RevengeFest 2020 (Spooky Edition), a 2 hour film block of short Horror films. We have a spooky lineup of 13 films this year, with a Jurors’ Choice and Audience Choice prize to give away.

Tickets are available through EventBrite, and only ticketholders will be able to vote for the Audience Choice award. We’re donation-only, with a suggested donation of $5. Ticketholders also have access to view the films at their leisure for 24 hours after the festival on Vimeo.

Tune in at 8 PM Central Time to watch the premiere on our Facebook and Youtube pages.

In the meantime, check out some trailers on Youtube:

And more on Vimeo:

Photo by Intricate Explorer on Unsplash

RevengeFest 2020 Jurors

Filmmakers for RevengeFest’s Spooky Edition are eligible for a $100 Jurors’ Prize. We’ve selected a fantastic jury of film critics, filmmakers, Horror aficionados, and all-around great people to make the decision of who will be taking home the prize!

RevengeFest will take place on October 30th at 8 PM Central Time this year through Facebook Live and Youtube. We have 13 films in a block of Horror shorts running 2 hours.

To get links to the fest’s streams, view this year’s films, and vote for the Audience Choice award, buy your tickets on EventBrite.

Monika Estrella Negra is a queer, Black punk/goth hybrid of mystery. Her first short titled “Flesh” is about a Black femme serial killer navigating the Chicago DIY punk scene (of which was included in the ‘Horror Noire’ syllabus). She has directed three additional shorts, ‘They Will Know You By Your Fruit’, ‘Succubus’, and the in production ‘Bitten, A Tragedy’. A writer, a nomadic priestess, spiritual gangster and all around rabblerouser – Monika has written essays for Black Girl Nerds, Grimm Magazine, Black Girls Create, Black Youth Project, Rue Morgue, Fangoria and is the author of a zine series (Tales From My Crypt). In addition, she is the creator of Audre’s Revenge Film and Black and Brown Punk Show Chicago, a GRRL Haus Cinema Resident Filmmaker (2019) and is aspiring to become a Meme Lord. Hailing from the Midwest, she now resides in Philadelphia.

Website: AudresRevenge.com

Sara Century is a horror writer, critic, filmmaker, and more. She got her start as a writer making zines and now has a resume that is too long to sum up in a short bio, but she’s one of the co-editors of the Decoded Pride anthology and has placed short stories in anthologies like The New Flesh, Fiend in the Furrows, and Pluto in Furs. You can find links to her work at www.saracentury.com

Raul Benitez is a Latinx Film programmer based in Chicago. He is currently the lead Film programmer for Comfort Station Logan Square and Full Spectrum Features and programs for the Nightingale Cinema. He has also been on staff with the Chicago Underground Film Festival for over 11 years. Raul has been named by New City Chicago as a Film Gem for 2015,2017 and 2019. Raul has been on the jury for Cinematic Arts Depaul Experimental Film Showcase and the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival in 2019 and 2020.
With Full Spectrum Features Raul was part of a grant award from the MacArthur foundation for an International Connections grant in 2019. The result of the grant was the Chicago Cinema Exchange where filmmakers from Chicago and Mexico City exhibited films programmed by Raul. In December of 2019 Raul in partnership with Permanencia Voluntaria Archivo Cinematográfico and Viviana García Besne screened  the first two films of El Santo restored by Besne at the Musicbox Theater. 

Website: raulito.net

Clint Worthington is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Spool. He is also a Senior Writer at Consequence of Sound, as well as the co-host/producer of Travolta/Cage. You can also find his freelance work at Vulture, IndieWire, UPROXX, Syfy Wire, The Takeout, and Crooked Marquee. 

Mack Bates majored in film and film studies at UWM’s Peck School of the Arts. He’s a published writer having freelanced for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for 16 years. He freelanced for Milwaukee Magazine for seven years and won three Milwaukee Press Club Awards along the way. He’s previously served as a juror on the Milwaukee 48-Hour Film Project, the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival and the Splice Film Festival. He’s also acted onstage in productions of  Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County,” Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds – The 1938 Radio Script,” David Javerbaum’s “An Act of God,” and will next be seen in Waukesha Civic Theatre’s December 2020 production of Joe Landry’s “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

Hailing from NYC, Merritt Evelyn Christensen is a jack-of-all-trades who really gets off covering actors in blood and then ordering them lunch. In other words, she’s a costume designer/special FX artist/art director-turned-producer that works heavily with unique color patterns and organized chaos to bring saturated and complex worlds to life in the subconscious mind. Her most recent passion projects include The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and Slashening: The Final Beginning. Oh, yeah, and she wrestles, too!

Featured photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

RevengeFest 2020 Lineup!

Our films are chosen and ready to show on October 30th at 8 PM Central Standard! The order is subject to change, but check out the lineup of Horror films below. Be sure to grab your tickets at EventBrite to make sure you get a link the night of to join the terror.

Our total run time will be 1 hour 40 minutes.

Make a Wish

Directed by: Dinh Thai
Written by: Ivan Tsang & Dinh Thai
Starring: Edward Hong, Jason Chang, & Roman Moretti

A “light-hearted” comedy about the sweetest fiancé giving her boyfriend the best birthday present ever, Make A Wish has currently been accepted in 80+ film festivals, with the most notable ones being HollyShorts, Nightmares, FilmQuest, Screamfest, NYC Horror, and A Night Of Horror International! Awards-wise, the short film has recently won Best Actress (Josephine Chang) from HorrorHound, Something Wicked, and Sick ‘n’ Wrong along with numerous other wins & nominations from Horrible Imaginings, Buffalo Dreams Fantastic, and many more.

Spike

Directed by: Dick Grunert
Written by: Dick Grunert
Starring: Allison Lobel & Strummer McKendry

Beware of Spike!

Hexercise

Directed by: Matt Cannon
Written by: Matt Cannon & Quinn Arlington Waters
Starring: Kelly Kriegshauer, Brock Vickers, Jeanette Pacifico, & Luke DeMaine

A semi-silent synth filled short set in the late 80s, surrounding a normal day in the life of aerobic instructor, Kelly Gold, consists of leading classes, dealing with her sleazy boss and fighting off demonic forces that’s inhabiting a boombox.

Affliction

Directed by: Christina Raia
Written by: Kelsey Rauber
Starring: Nabil Vinas & Briana Swann

Two coworkers contemplate the aftermath of an encounter.

Dante: A Replication

Directed by: Diego Andaluz
Written by: Diego Andaluz
Starring: Dante Andaluz

Inspired by the unconventional structure of Parasite, the surreal works of David Lynch, and the unilateral production techniques of PRIMER (as well as elements of Jordan Peele’s Us), Dante: A Replication is about a young man who attempts to discover the source of a mysterious phone call, leading him towards a terrifying discovery of replication as his reality begins to unravel.

Hinterland Zoo, Episode 1

Directed by: Eric Shapiro
Written by: Comika Hartford
Starring: Comika Hartford, Rhoda Jordan Shapiro, & Richard Caines

This first installment of the Hinterland Zoo anthology created by Comika Hartford revolves around a shy suburban couple who invites a beautiful woman over for a threesome but the night takes a sinister turn.

There’s Something in the Woods

Directed by:Jerry S. Gonzalez
Written by: Jerry S. Gonzalez & Sydney Gernrnaat (Story)
Starring: Danielle Malenock & Patrick Deal

A husband and wife must venture into a monster-infested forest to save their child from a witch.

Don’t Listen

Directed by: Vi Angeli Z. Lanot & Jheia Codoy
Written by: Vi Angeli Z. Lanot
Starring: Vi Angeli Z. Lanot

A film from inside a woman’s thoughts and trauma.

Sweet Nothings

Directed by: Sarah Falkiner
Written by: Sarah Falkiner
Starring: Julie Ramos, Sara Anne Tomczak, & Rasheeda Denise

Three single women commiserate about their bad Tinder dates until one takes it into her own hands with horrific results.

Little Brother

Directed by: Dikega Hadnot
Written by: Spencer Mandel
Starring: Hattie Winston, Jon Lafferty, Deniro Farrar, & King Roubleau

You can’t be woke in a nightmare.
A white teacher goes to a strange South L.A. block to investigate a gifted student’s absence from school, but underestimates the boy’s powerful grandmother.

Secret

Directed by: Madison Crabill

Who says documentary can’t be scary? “Secret” is an experimental documentary exploring the ever-present urge to pry into the lives of others as well as the equally-strong urge to keep our own secrets carefully guarded. The film features a series of interviews intercut with experimental sequences that aren’t for the faint of heart…

Grave Sight

Directed by: Walter Forsyth & Angus Swantee
Written by: Walter Forsyth, Craig Gunn, Pamela Segger, & Angus Swantee
Starring: Holly Stevens, Craig Gunn, & Dale Bellefontaine

Grave-robbing Tanya, with her precious hubby Preston in tow, unearths a cursed ring and unleashes a powerful demon hellbent on revenge by any means necessary.

Buy In

Directed by: Bri Castellini
Written by: Bri Castellini, Colin Hinckley
Starring: Colin Hinckely, Marshall Taylor Thurman, Mae Mitchell

Buy In is a psychological horror film about lies, desperation, and multi level marketing schemes that follows a charming young salesman and a strange, lonely traveler who find themselves locked in a struggle for control over their own destinies.

Photo by Julien Andrieux on Unsplash

RevengeFest Tickets Open!

We’ve received a number of fantastic film entries, so now it’s time to open up tickets to our audience! Join us at 8 PM Central Time on October 30th.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be releasing more information about our Horror short films. In the mean time, you can grab your tickets on EventBrite and RSVP on the Facebook event for this year’s fest.

A link for online viewing will be sent with the purchase of a ticket on the day of the event, which is donation-only. Grab yours today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/revengefest-spooky-edition-tickets-123462619017

Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash.

Sponsor Highlight: Crumbling Keep

Thanks to our generous sponsor, RevengeFest will be increasing the prizes for this year’s Spooky Edition film festival! Horror short films selected for the fest will be automatically entered to win a Jurors’ Choice prize of $100 and an Audience Choice prize of the same amount.

Crumbling Keep provides Game Master services, play modules, and advice for every aspect of the Table Top Role Playing realm. Their

Be sure to check out our call for films to enter your short to show on October 30th!

_{Photo by David Menidrey on Unsplash}

Call for Entries: Short Horror Films

Filmmakers: Send us your horror movie! RevengeFest announces Spooky Edition, a mini film festival of shorts on October, 30th, 2020. We are seeking submissions of short films in the Horror (loosely defined) genre. The film festival will take place completely online with one 1.5-2 hour block of short films.

To submit a film, please send your information to us (instructions below) by 11:59 PM October 3rd, 2020. Films must be under 20 minutes. Selections will be informed by October 15th. Preference will be given to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, NonBinary, and Female filmmakers.

To submit: Email info@revenge-fest.com. All submissions must have “FILM SUBMISSION:” followed by the title of your film as the subject line or the email will not be opened. In the body of the email, please include:

• A brief description of your film.
• The length of your film.
• A link to where we can stream your film and if there are any passwords required to view it. (Vimeo, Youtube, DropBox, etc.) Please do not email your film as an attachment.
• Anything else you would like us to know.

Judges will be announced soon! Email with any questions.