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Thursday
october
21
6:00 PM
We’re All Going To The World’s Fair (2021) with short film What We Do With Witches (2021)
We’re All Going To The World’s Fair (2021)
Midwest Premiere. Alone in her attic bedroom, teenager Casey becomes immersed in an online role-playing horror game, wherein she begins to document the changes that may or may not be happening to her.
What We Do With Witches (2021)
Two teenage girls set a trap for their high school bully.
2021 Horror Shorts Block D
The Cruise | Run Time: 8 min. | On Halloween night, a gay couple takes a drive into haunted woods to summon an urban legend.
The Night Courier | Run Time: 20.5 min. | When a woman paid to feed people to monsters has her prey escape, one night becomes a hellish cat and mouse chase.
They’re Here | Run Time: 12 min. | A young girl sets out to convince her father that her grandmother is not who she seems.
Poor Glenna | Run Time: 17 min. | When her mutant son develops a taste for human flesh, a timid mother must find a victim to satisfy his ravenous appetite.
The Last Scan | Run Time: 4 min. | Just because you’re by yourself, doesn’t mean you’re alone.
Deep Red Dandelions | Run Time: 10.5 min. | A deranged serial killer abducts a young girl and takes her out to a field of flowers to meet a brutal end.
Processing | Run Time: 16 min. | The truth won’t always set you free.
8:00 PM
The Whooper Returns (2021) with short film Pastiche (2021)
The Whooper Returns (2021)
Ohio Premiere. Following the death of their mother, four estranged siblings find themselves fighting for their inheritance and for their lives when an eccentric stranger arrives, claiming their famous haunted childhood home was left to her.
Pastiche (2021)
After a home invasion, a depressed father must save his family before they become prime time news.
2021 Horror Comedy Shorts Block A
Sitting Duck | Run time: 8.5 min. | A wife spends her days plotting her oafish husband’s demise.
Sins of a Werewolf | Run time: 22 min. | When a seasoned parish priest is bitten by a mysterious animal, he begins transforming into a werewolf every full moon.
Wich | Run time: 4.5 min. | It was an ordinary day. Until it wasn’t.
Good Head | Run time: 30 min. | All this Hollywood star wants is for this movie to have a “happy ending.”
Miss Blueberry | Run time: 11.75 min. | Three finalists navigate the twists and turns of a pageant with a sinister secret.
Follow Me, Please | Run time: 16.5 min. | A struggling photographer stricken with comparison anxiety is visited by a poltergeist who promises him social media success.
10:00 PM
Ninja Badass (2021)
Ohio Premiere. The Ninja VIP Super Club is doing a slow drag across the American Midwest, culminating in female sacrifice. When they kidnap a super hot babe Rex has his eyes on – it’s up to him to become a ninja to steal her from them.
2021 Midnight Shorts Block C
A Machine for Boredom | Run time: 3.25 min. | Isolation drives a man to rethink his position within a capitalistic society.
My Dinner with Werner | Run time: 18 min. |Inspired by the real-life “friendship” between Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski. A wildly bizarre story about a 1987 dinner date with a murder plot as the main dish.
#MEOWTOO | Run time: 6 min. |In the neon-drenched near future, anthropomorphic feline heroine Meow meets a sleazy film producer who intends to have her at any cost.
Squish | Run time: 20 min. | Left to take care of their son while his husband goes on a work trip, Tom takes a wrong turn behind the wheel.
Kiss the Cook | Run time: 2 min. | A disturbed man prepares a gourmet feast.
My Brother Jeffery | Run time: 10 min. | Duke fights ghosts, witches, demons and depression in order to avenge his brother Jeffrey’s death.
Fruit Loops | Run time: 9.25 min. |An exploration of deep desire.
Dystopia | Run time: 6.75 min. | A young girl’s fantasy becomes the playground for a gang of women set to create the perfect man, one limb at a time.
Deep Learning | Run time: 14. 5 min. | There’s something wrong with Moira’s videos.
FRIDAY
october
22
2:00 PM
The Scary of Sixty-First (2021) with short film Kill Them With Kindness (2021)
The Scary of Sixty-First (2021)
Midwest Premiere. Two roommates discover and relive the murky secrets of their new Upper East Side apartment that belonged to pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
Kill Them With Kindness (2021)
Bullied Aubrey resolves to kill her enemies with kindness.
2021 Recurring Nightmares Shorts Block A
He Left Instructions | Run time: 13 min. | Death brings family together.
Watcher | Run time: 6.75 min. | Hoping for a quiet night in, an older woman encounters an unwelcome intruder.
Kiara | Run time: 11.5 min. | Von returns home to visit his sick sister, where he begins to suspect something dark has taken hold of her.
In the Company of Crows | Run time: 19.25 min. | When a naïve autistic girl is victimized by her degenerate neighbor and classmate, she turns to the offerings of crows she’s befriended to save herself.
Ghost Note | Run time: 5 min. | What a man will do to see his lost loved one.
The Baby Next Door | Run time: 25.75 min. | The cries of a baby drive a man going through a breakup into drug-fueled madness.
Tapehead | Run time: 8.75 min. | Someone has taken their love of VHS horror one step too far!
4:00 PM
Extraneous Matter (2021)
Extraneous Matter (2021)
North American Premiere. A woman suffering in a sexless relationship is visited by a strange creature.
2021 Documentary Short Block
Bloody Sun | Run time: 35 min. | Independent Aussie horror filmmaker Chris Sun embarks on his next cinematic adventure “Boar,” a creature feature about a giant killer bush pig gone wild.
Three Ways to Dine Well | Run time: 23 min. | Horror’s relationship to eating, examined through more than seventy horror films made by women in the last century.
6:00 PM
The Woman With The Leopard Shoes (2021) with short film Breach
The Woman With The Leopard Shoes (2021)
Eastern United States Premiere. A thief is trapped in a home when dozens of people arrive mid-break-in for a party.
Breach (2021)
Following a confrontation with her husband about his infidelity, a distraught wife pursues the woman complicit in his crime.
2021 Horror Shorts Block B
#NOFILTER | Run time: 13.25 min. | An insecure twenty-something begins to question true beauty when she becomes obsessed with an insidious filter.
The Lake | Run time: 5.75 min. | When a young man takes his girlfriend out on the lake to propose, they are faced with the dark spirits beneath the surface.
Myosotis | Run time: 26.5 min. | After a beekeeper accidentally kills his wife, then buries her in the vegetable patch, strange things begin to happen in the garden.
The Gloom | Run time: 13.25 min. | When a young man takes his girlfriend out on the lake to propose, they are faced with the dark spirits beneath the surface.
I’ll Be Back Tomorrow | Run time: 5 min. | A women and her partner unravel the eerie connections related to the nightmare that has awoken her in the middle of the night.
Fractures | Run time: 12.75 min. | When her daughter disappears, a mother broken by grief and her mysterious partner take justice into their own hands.
Sink | Run time: 16.25 min. | After a horrific attack, a man begins to fall apart, as seen entirely from above the bathroom sink.
8:00 PM
The Howling (1981) 4k Restoration
The Howling (1981) 4K Restoration
Midwest Premiere – 40th Anniversary Screening. After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.
2021 Midnight Shorts Block A
Son of La Llorna | Run time: 7.5 min. | An encounter between a woman possessed by the spirit of La Llorona and a man who claims to be the son she once drowned.
The Fuzzies | Run time: 7.75 min. | A man wakes up locked in a strange bathroom where something is lurking behind the walls.
290 Words Per Minute | Run time: 2.5 min. The world record holder for most words typed per minute shares the secret to his success.|
The Provider | Run time: 20 min. | A short course in agricultural economy.
Everything Go Round | Run time: 5 min. |Part three of an irreverent horror-comedy triptych shot entirely in isolation.
License & Registration | Run time: 10 min. | Elliott Nelson, a cop impersonator with good intentions, makes his first traffic stop.
Serratus | Run time: 2.75 min. | Figure skater Nastassia chooses a pact with a dark force to achieve the impossible.
Call for Me | Run time: 13.5 min. | A young woman trying to join a secret Hollywood society struggles with her skeptical boyfriend to pass the final test.
Womb | Run time: 10 min. | During her third trimester, a soon-to-be single mother is forced to face her anxiety and fears in her own personal hot pink hellscape.
Get Up and Eat | Run time: 12 min. | An unnamed priest, exiled in wilderness, struggles to rid himself of an ancient evil
10:00 PM
Take Back The Night (2021) with short film The Two Missing Hours (2021)
Take Back The Night (2021)
Ohio Premiere. Fronted by an all-female cast, this tale of terror and death is an allegorical telling of the dangers of victim blaming wrapped in a classic monster movie.
Two Missing Hours (2021)
Lisa has lost two hours. If she find her lipstick, she’ll find her missing time.
2021 Horror Shorts Block A
Household Demons | Run time: 9.25 min. | A troubled young boy must confront the demon who possesses his mother.
$trip | Run time: 11 min. | On her first night stripping in a secret underground club, Penny must decide whether to go all the way.
Don’t Touch | Run time: 3.5 min. | When Nina removes her neighbor’s laundry without permission, she finds herself in a load of trouble.
BOSSBABES | Run time: 13.75 min. | When one woman realizes the “perfect” life promised to her is actually all a cruel pyramid scheme, she seeks vengeance.
Crock Pot | Run time: 8.5 min. | Terror awaits a young couple as they fight over going to the young man’s parents’ house the next day for thanksgiving.
The Taste of Hunger | Run time: 21 min. | Seulgi can’t eat alone.
The Expected | Run time: 14.5 min. | After his partner miscarries, a father-to-be ends up in a feverish nightmare when a strange entity seems to be growing in the mother’s blood.
Hang Up | Run time: 3 min. | A late night phone call gets a little complicated.
Minimally Invasive | Run time: 10 min. | An anxious patient fears that his concerns are being ignored when his routine operation yields unexpected findings.
12:00 AM
FUKT (2021) with short film Midnight Snack (2021)
FUKT (2021)
World Premiere. Six directors diving into the most depraved corners of the mind in a specific genre that is currently underpopulated by women.
Midnight Snack (2021)
At the stroke of midnight, a woman compulsively seeks out late night munchies only to become hypnotized by the Biblical dronings of a possessed television.
2021 Thriller Shorts Block A
Chaperone | Run time: 15 min. | As a mysterious pair settle into an austere rental house in the country, the details of their arrangement become disturbingly clear.
Believers | Run time: 9 min. | A woman interviews for her dream job, but the company needs her to be more than just an employee.
Body of the Mined | Run time: 15 min. | A reserved new tenant meets a reclusive engineer next door who is at the brink of completing a bizarre, extraordinary machine.
Cricket | Run time: 16 min. | A man wakes from a nightmare, only to be haunted by the sounds that inhabit his dreams.
Meet Cute | Run time: 10.5 min. | Unusual times create unusual ways of finding connection.
Upstairs | Run time: 17.25 min. | Jennifer Saint is adamant a sinister family secret resulted in her father’s death, but will anyone heed her warning?
Anniversary | Run time: 6.5 min. | Just married, it was supposed to be the best day of their lives.
SATURDAY
october
23
12:00 PM
Bloodshot Heart (2021) with short film The Truth About Hastings (2021)
Bloodshot Heart (2021)
Midwest Premiere. A mild-mannered driving instructor living with his manipulative and jealous mother descends into obsession and psychosis when a tenant half his age moves in.
The Truth About Hastings (2021)
Strange things are afoot in a small Nebraska community.
12:00 PM
Panel Discussion: Social Progress Through Horror. Moderated by NFF Co-Founder Jason Tostevin
1:00 PM
Panel Discussion: The New Distribution. Moderated by NFF Co-Founder Chris Hamel
2:00 PM
Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes (2021) with short film Killjoy (2021)
Dawn Breaks Behind (2021)
Midwest Premiere. Having just inherited a run down castle, a dispirited woman and her ill-tempered husband decide to spend the night, as time and reality slowly starts to shift around them.
Killjoy (2021)
At a party celebrating the restraining order against her ex, a woman becomes convinced he has found her.
2021 Recurring Nightmares Shorts Block B
Pinky’s Dream | Run time: 9.75 min. | A traveling specialist who helps people relive memories stumbles on a couple’s dark secret.
Witches Midnight | Run time: 9 min. | A babysitter’s phone sex is interrupted when she notices something unusual on the baby monitor.
Venus | Run time: 2.25 min. | A stranger stops to help a woman stranded on the side of the road, but nothing is what it first appears.
Forgive Us | Run time: 14 min. | After years of estrangement, an embittered young man uncovers sinister threats when returning home with his boyfriend for Christmas.
Strange with Cats | Run time: 2 min. | Two lovely cats require a cat-sitter, and find just the stranger to care for them.
YouBuddy | Run time: 9 min. | Alone on her birthday, Christine searches the internet for connection.
Distance | Run time: 10.5 min. | In the near future, Peter and Amy’s relationship remains distant due to a virus that prevents human touch.
Posture | Run time: 3.25 min. | A young man has a transformative experience through his addiction to technology.
3:00 PM
Fright Club Podcast: Live Recording
Join us for a live recording of the award-winning Fright Club podcast hosted by George Wolf and Hope Madden.
4:00 PM
2021 Musical Horror Shorts Block: Dance Till You’re Dead
After Party | Run time: 9 min. | In the 1970s, a couple driving home from a party encounters a group of escaped mental patients and joins them in the dance number of their lives.
Macabre Night | Run time: 20 min. | A young couple caught amidst a prison break fights to return safely home throughout a bizarre night.
Possessed | Run time: 8 min. | An unhinged woman shows up at her virtual spinning instructor’s home unannounced.
Ad Lib | Run time: 11 min. | A dark drama in the world of karaoke.
Ivory Wave (2021) on 35mm w/ live musical accompaniment
Ivory Wave (2021)
World Premiere. Presented on 35mm film with a live score. After a terrible discovery, a man on bath salts finds an ominous ventriloquist doll.
5:00 PM
2021 Nightmares Film Festival Awards Ceremony
6:00 PM
Peppergrass (2021) with short film Strayed (2021)
Strayed (2021)
There are things you can’t run away from.
2021 Horror Comedy Shorts Block B
Guts | Run time: 8 min. | A guy with his guts on the outside of his body really wants a promotion.
Afterlife | Run time: 14.75 min. | A dead man wakes to discover he’s a vampire, only to struggle to follow through with his dreams of escape.
Bitch, You Thirsty | Run time: 9.75 min. | A girl will do anything in order to be a part of a small vampire clique.
Peter the Penguin | Run time: 9 min. | Nigel is on his way to meet his partner’s daughter Emily for the first time and he hopes to make a big impression.
The Curse of Pizza Mike | Run time: 16.25 min. | After a couple refuses a pizza they didn’t order, Pizza Mike uses his dark magic to terrorize them.
Lethalogica | Run time: 6 min. | Relationships can be killer, but the best advice for a successful one is patience and a short memory.
The Tip of the Spear | Run time: 11.25 min. | Starting a family in their new home, a couple discovers their neighbors are goat-sacrificing occultists after their unborn child.
Special Delivery | Run time: 3 min. | A delivery driver struggles with one simple direction: DO. NOT. OPEN.
Visitors | Run time: 16.25 min. | Three friends visit their bandmate at home after he loses contact with them. But his behavior is a little strange.
8:00 PM
Apps (2021) with short film Movie Night (2021)
APPS (2021)
Northern United States Premiere. A horror anthology that tells four stories about mobile apps from hell.
Movie Night (2021)
A couple on their first date watch a bootleg movie.
2021 Midnight Shorts Block B
Bobby Pinwheel |Run time: 3 min. |Birthday boy Reginald has a special visitor: the mime, mimic and maniac, Bobby Pinwheel!
Sweet Mary, Where Did You Go | Run time: 16 min. | An escaped convict lost in 1803 Australia encounters two immortal time travelers from our future, on a journey to understand mortality.
Thumb | Run time: 10.5 min. | The daughter of a controversial performance artist inherits her late mother’s home final piece.
Red Cap F30.2 | Run time: 13.5 min. | When we bury our ambitions, we are just surviving.
Death Valley | Run time: 11 min. | On New Years’ Eve 2080, a new age radiologist travels from outer space to practice yoga on an uninhabited Earth.
Bug Bites | Run time: 8 min. | Some house guests are a real pain in the ass.
Oh, For a Pack of Gum | Run time: 7.25 min. | A couple’s first date grows increasingly bizarre.
Eye Exam | Run time: 3 min. | A woman attending a free eye exam starts to suspect the optometrist has nefarious motives.
In the Soil | Run time: 15 min. | Karoline’s life is turned upside down when her father, Kjeld, manically starts digging a pit in their backyard.
Eat Me! | Run time: 3.25 min. | To feed her hunger, a hag tries different methods to lure children into her belly.
10:00 PM
The FP 3: Escape from Bako (2021) with short film Hell Hole (2021)
The FP 3: Escape from Bako (2021)
World Premiere. A calamity from the Wastes threatens to wipe humanity off the face of the Earf and only one family has what it takes to Beat it off.
Hell Hole (2021)
A maintenance worker at the gate to Hell has a bad day.
2021 Thriller Shorts Block B
Parricide | Run time: 7.5 min. | Just a routine sleepover at Jeffrey’s house.
Feed Your Muse | Run time: 16.75 min. | An aspiring novelist purchases the “muse” of a famous dead author at a garage sale. But what does the muse want in return?
Marked | Run time: 12. 5 min. | A tattoo artist is forced to confront his past when a client knows the true meaning behind his tattoos.
Movin Day | Run time: 4 min. | When a newly engaged couple moves in together, they quickly discover some skeletons should remain in the closet.
The Other Side of Fear | Run time: 20.25 min. | An excitable woman with a rare brain condition participates in a series of bizarre experiments with two ethically compromised neurologists.
Hazel | Run time: 17.5 min. | When her partner fails to support her, a new mother’s postpartum anxiety develops into a dangerous psychosis.
A Good Couple | Run time: 13 min. | After a blowout fight, Julia’s boyfriend is perfect but eerily unrecognizable.
12:00 AM
Masking Threshold (2021) with short film Weee Wooo (2021)
Masking Threshold (2021)
Northern United States Premiere. Try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.
Wee Woo (2021)
A woman who awakens in a silent world hears a mysterious call that draws her deep into the dark woods.
2021 Horror Shorts Block C
Smile | Run time: 6.75 min. | When a young woman struggles to smile, her depression becomes something truly monstrous.
Hannya | Run time: 28.5 min. | Ana enjoys finally meeting her lover’s social group, until his childhood friend Marie arrives.
Lake Forest Road | Run time: 7.5 min. | On their way home from a party, four friends find trouble in the woods.
I Call Upon Thee | Run time: 14.5 min. | Sisters from a broken family face irreversible consequences when they try to improve their lives with a summoning ritual.
An Uninvited Guest | Run time: 3.25 min. | When a Black man is assaulted by police, all but one guest at a dinner party consider the attack unremarkable.
Button Man | Run time: 24 min. | Inspired by true events. Sisters on a hiking trip in the Victorian High Country realize they aren’t alone.
Wrightwood | Run time: 9.75 min. | In desperate need of a relaxing weekend, Scott instead finds his friends exhibiting bizarre behavior that is either an endless prank or something more disturbing.
Sunday
october
24
12:00 PM
2021 Thriller Shorts Block C
Trust | Run time: 23.25 min. | Some books you just can’t put down.
Second | Run time: 11 min. | Twin sisters try to come to terms with their differences only to discover a haunting supernatural tragedy.
Snake Dick | Run time: 7.75 min. | Jill’s got the snake. Julia’s got the flute. Alone, they have nothing. But together, they have a secret weapon to fight the darkness.
Now That You’re Mine | Run time: 37 min. | An idyllic cabin trip turns into a nightmare as a suppressed memory, jealousy and paranoia turn three young women against each other.
Reklaw | Run time: 12 min. | A rogue prosecutor and his talented criminal team who destroy evidence to keep people from prison have their convictions tested when the killer returns during their crime scene clean-up.
12:00 PM
SyFy’s Day of the Dead (2021) Episodes 1 and 2
SyFy’s Day of the Dead (2021), Episodes 1 and 2
The first two episodes of SyFy’s new Romero-inspired series — the intense story of six strangers trying to survive the first 24 hours of an undead invasion — followed by a live Q&A with co-showrunners and executive producers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas.
2:00 PM
Black Friday! (2021)
Black Friday! (2021) Midwest Premiere. A group of toy store employees must protect each other from a horde of parasite infected shoppers.
2:00 PM
2021 Ohio Shorts Block
1Drink/2Drink | Run time: 19.5 min. | Trapped in a new world together with nothing but impending doom and a bottle of tequila, an unlikely duo must work together to stay alive, but not sober.
Surprise! | Run time: 10 min. | A surprise party drags when the guest of honor is late, until a creepy pizza delivery guy shows up with strangely intimate knowledge of the guests.
Block Universe | Run time: 5 min. | After a bout of insomnia, a man has trouble deciphering what is real and what isn’t.
The Lost Clan of Bold Maneuvering | Run time: 4.5 min. | An innocent in a strange world is lured by the god-moon to find and release an ancient power.
Triangle | Run time: 24.5 min. | I don’t want to be the last man on earth.
My Monster and Me | Run time: 11 min. | A match made in haste.
Le Carceri Uncanny | Run time: 5. 75 min. | A repressed human powers a machine in a forgotten underground space where a light above becomes hope for escape.
4:00 PM
The Humans (2021)
The Humans (2021)
Midwest Premiere. Erik Blake has gathered three generations of his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare.
4:00 PM
Terror Trips (2021)
Terror Trips (2021)
Ohio Premiere. Six friends providing guided tours to famous horror film shooting locations discover the one spot where the terror is real.
6:00 PM
Save Me From Everything (2021) with short film The Fox (2021)
Save Me From Everything (2021)
North American Premiere. Emmy travels to Ireland in hope of finding the stranger who may be responsible for a family curse that has turned all her relatives dangerously insane.
The Fox (2021)
A family moves into a dead relative’s home, only to discover that they are not alone.
PANEL
discussions
Sat 12:00 PM
Panel Discussion: Social Progress Through Horror
Moderated by Nightmares Film Festival Co-Founder, Jason Tostevin
2021 marks the return of NFF’s influential annual panels. Join us for a discussion on the new distribution.
Sat 1:00 PM
Panel Discussion: The New Distribution
Moderated by Nightmares Film Festival Co-Founder, Chris Hamel
2021 marks the return of NFF’s influential annual panels. Join us for a discussion on the new distribution.