Final Frame Film Competition


If there’s one thing that unites us, it is darkness.

Horror cinema has long been a medium used to explore the most savage sides of society and expose our collective paranoias and fears. It is within that darkness that we seek out those flickers of light, some hope or understanding, and it becomes even more exciting when we explore it together.

What started as a small reprieve from the hustle of convention life, a communal gathering to enjoy our horrors in visual form, the Final Frame Short Horror Film Competition instantly became one of the must-attend events of StokerCon. Culled from an international array of short films, Final Frame presents two hours of films as diverse in its subject matter as its creators.

As Final Frame is an awarded competition, we have been honored to include some of the greatest minds in the genre, hailing from all sides of the culture, to bestow their expertise in judging the night’s selections. Our previous judges include:

Mike Flanagan (director of Gerald’s Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil and The Haunting of Hill House); Ryan Turek (VP, Development/Producer, Blumhouse Productions); Rebekah McKendry (editor-in-chief of Blumhouse Productions); Tony Timpone (former editor of Fangoria); Craig Engler (GM, Shudder/Co-Creator, Z Nation); Lisa Morton (author and president of Horror Writers Association); Tony Wash (Creator, World of Death/Contributing Writer, Bloody-Disgusting); Monica S. Kuebler (former managing editor, Rue Morgue magazine); Daniel Knauf (creator of HBO’s Carnivale and writer/producer of Blacklist); Grady Hendrix (author, Paperbacks From Hell, My Best Friend’s Exorcism), Michael Gingold (writer/editor, Fangoria, Rue Morgue), Lynne Hansen (filmmaker, Chomp); John Skipp (director of Tales of Halloween and pioneering horror author); Mike McCarty (special effects industry expert, formerly of KNB EFX Group, currently at Autonomous FX Inc.); and Mark Allan Miller (VP at Seraphim Films).

It thrills us every year to to continue bringing the StokerCon audience the terrifying visions of these talented visual artists and their collaborators.

JONATHAN LEES, Final Frame Director


Previous competition winners have included:

2016

QUENOTTES (PEARLIES)

Directors: Pascal Thiebaux, Gil Pinheiro

A story about a little mouse, but not just any mouse.  It is THE little mouse, or tooth fairy, of your childhood.  If a tooth is missing, it simply must be replaced. By any means necessary…

2017

WHEN SUSURRUS STIRS

Director: Anthony Cousins

A body horror tale like no other. The story of one man’s bond with a parasitic creature that could result in the end of us all.

Based on the short story by Jeremy Robert Johnson

2018

GREAT CHOICE

Director: Robin Comisar

An uproarious and horrifying account of a woman who gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial.


Hope you join us in 2019 at StokerCon for Final Frame and, as always, we’ll see you in the dark.

Jonathan Lees
Director of Film Programming, StokerCon
Organizer, Final Frame

OUR 2019 JUDGES:

ANTONIO D’INTINO is a Literary Manager at the management/production company Circle of Confusion. His clients have been recognized by numerous organizations and festivals including The Nicholl Fellowship, The Oscars, Sundance and The Black List.

LYNNE HANSEN is a horror artist who specializes in book covers. Clients include Cemetery Dance, Bloodshot Books, Jeff Strand, Christopher Golden, Rick Hautala, Amber Benson, James A. Moore, and more. See her portfolio at http://www.LynneHansenArt.com. Lynne is a returning Final Frame judge

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times bestselling author, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, and comic book writer. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-Wars, is in production as a Netflix original series, starring Ian Somerhalder (Lost, Vampire Diaries) and will debut in late 2019.

JOSH MALERMAN is the author of the books Bird Box, A House at the Bottom of a Lake, Black Mad Wheel, Goblin, and Unbury Carol. He’s also the singer/songwriter of the High Strung, whose song “The Luck You Got” can be heard as the theme song to the hit Showtime show “Shameless.” He lives in Michigan with Allison Laakko.

LISA MORTON is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and award-winning prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening”.  She is the author of four novels and more than 130 short stories, a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, and a world-class Halloween expert. Lisa is a returning Final Frame judge.

JOHN SKIPP is a bestselling author, filmmaker, editor, and one of the seminal splatterpunk authors. He is a returning Final Frame judge.

OUR 2019 FINALISTS:

AV CLUB

7 min. 37 sec. / 2018 / UNITED STATES

Director: Nicholas Markart

Writer: Nicholas Markart

As a high-school A.V. club faces the absurdity of egomania, tensions flare between the director and lead actress.

BEAUTIFIED

9 min. 15 sec. / 2018 / UNITED KINGDOM

Director: Emily Haigh

Writer: Emily Haigh

Three girls are immersed in beautiful surroundings. What is hidden beneath all this beauty and perfection?

BLACK EYED CHILD

9 min. / 2018 / SPAIN

Director: Tony Morales

Writer: Tony Morales

Since 1998, the appearance of the Black Eyed Child has been constant and the consequences of looking directly into their eyes has been irreversible.

CHERRY

6 min. 24 sec. / 2018 / UNITED KINGDOM

Director: Paul Holbrook

Writer: Jaleelah Galbraith

A sensual fantasist recounts her first time.

CREAKER

4 min. / 2019 / NORWAY

Director: Vidar T. Aune

Writer: Vidar T. Aune

A girls wakes up at night when her bedroom door creaks open.

KNOCK KNOCK

13 min. / 2018 / UNITED STATES

Director: Kennikki Jones

Writer: Kennikki Jones

Sinia does the best she can to help the kids next door, however when they are in danger, she does nothing.

MOTHER RABBIT

11 min. 33 sec. / 2018 / SWEDEN

Director: Emma Skoog

Writer: Emma Skoog

As a child, Ylva visits her mum in secret. Her mum sort of looks like a rabbit.

SALT

2 min. / 2017 / UNITED KINGDOM

Director: Rob Savage

Writer: Jed Shepard & Rob Savage

A woman protects her dying child from a demonic force.

STANDBY

9 min. 14 sec. / 2018 / UNITED KINGDOM

Director: Ethan Evans & Sean Toshach

Writer: Ethan Evans & Sean Toshach

A secluded young boy discovers a darker truth to the happy facade within the magical world on his television.

THE BLIZZARD

12 min. / 2018 / ANDORRA

Director: Alvaro Rodriguez

Writer: Alvaro Rodriguez

Marie, a French refugee of WWII, wakes up wounded and disoriented in the middle of a blizzard. Her daughter is missing.

THE RAT

13 min. / 2019 / UNITED STATES

Director: Carlen May-Mann

Writer: Carlen May-Mann

It’s Halloween night and 18-year-old Renee is madly in love with her boyfriend Jim. They’ve made plans to go to a frat party but after he picks her up he takes a detour. Renee will be forced to confront a terrifying situation and come face to face with the thing, deep down, she’s most afraid of.

YES

6 min. / 2018 / ISRAEL

Director: Oren Rehany

Writer: Oren Rehany

A female surgeon takes justice into her own hands.