'Deadpool's Director Is Presiding Over the Biggest Short Film Contest Ever [Exclusive]

This time of year, as Halloween nears, it’s the horror features that get all the attention. But a short film only needs a few minutes to scare the life out of you. That’s why the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival is offering the biggest prizes ever in their new short film contest; they’ve narrowed 500 entries down to a Dirty Dozen of finalists, and Collider is proud to exclusively reveal the twelve movies vying for the top prize, the jury of industry pros who will decide the winner, and a sneak peek at what to expect from the finalists.

Over 500 filmmakers entered their horror shorts into the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival; that flood of entries was winnowed down to 50. Now, only 12 remain; the festival had planned for a top ten, but the voting was so close that it was expanded to allow two extra entries. Those 12 films will be screened on October 29 at the famous TCL Chinese Theater on October 29, in front of a live audience of ravenous horror hounds; winners will then be announced the following day, October 30. The winner will take home a $100,000 USD prize, the biggest purse ever offered in a short film competition. There’s also another $100,000 in prize money that will be awarded to the runners-up. If you can’t make it to Hollywood this week, don’t despair; all 50 entries can be viewed for free on Ripcord.film.

There are five judges on the panel. They include Tim Miller, a visual effects artist and director who helmed Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate; Jean Anne Lauer, the director of short film programming at Austin’s world-famous Fantastic Fest; Lisa Ogdie, a short film programmer for the legendary Sundance Film Festival, which has nurtured independent film for over 45 years; Neville Page, a creature concept designer who’s worked on films like Star Trek, Avatar, and Tron: Legacy, and judged the makeup competition series Face Off; and Peter Phok, a veteran producer who’s worked on a wide array of horror films, including The House of the Devil, Stake Land, and Ti West‘s X trilogy.

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.

• Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
  guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
• You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
  own head is where this does its damage.
• These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
  because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
• You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

• Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
  describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
• You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
  know that feeling from real life too.
• The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
  have met those adults.
• By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

• Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
  somebody who was at the party.
• You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
  same way you watch films.
• The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
  the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
• Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

• The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
  room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
• Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
  personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
• This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
  the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
• Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
  standing in the hallway.

What Are the Finalists for the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival?

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• Image via Ripcord Halloween Film Festival

Image via Ripcord Halloween Film Festival

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• Image via Ripcord Halloween Film Festival

Image via Ripcord Halloween Film Festival

The finalists of the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival range from trippy to terrifying, and feature everything from puppets to poltergeists to pizza. The 12 finalists, plus their loglines and directors, are as follows:

Blossom Needs a Ride Home: After defeating a bloodthirsty maniac, Blossom needs a ride home. What a hassle. Directed by Tim Schwagel.

Breeder: A woman on the fence about having kids is hunted in her home by a demonic horse-man of Filipino folklore. Directed by Sapphire Sandalo.

Dirty Fuzz: When an idealistic rookie cop accidentally shoots her corrupt partner in the slimy underbelly of Shit City, she must team up with a surprising crew of underworld characters to cover her tracks. Directed by Daniel Chimes.

Dream Creep: A couple awakens in the night to sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice. Directed by Carlos A.F. Lopez

Harold Eats Maude: An unlikely friendship between the infamous cannibal Coffin Feeder, who can’t stop eating priests, and his cannibal-curious stalker Faith. Directed by Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky.

Hour of Blood: In 1915 Texas, when ranchers mysteriously go missing, a young girl must defend her family ranch against the dark threat. Directed by Marcella Ochoa.

It Helps: Spencer, sleepless due to her brother’s eerie sleep machine, discovers it isn’t designed to soothe — but to keep an unspeakable presence at bay. Directed by J. Zachary Thurman

Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart: In the back of a Little Saigon convenience store, a young customer reanimates his dead father for one last conversation. Directed by Julian Doan.

Make Me a Pizza: BORED HOUSEWIFE seduces HOT PIZZA GUY for free pizza, but is desire worth $29.99? Directed by Talia Shea Levin.

Rat!: When a disgruntled music journalist accuses a global pop star of queerbaiting, the singer’s devoted fans descend on his remote cabin to seek retribution. Directed by Neal Suresh Mulani.

Spanked by a Ghost: Alone in her home, a woman is spanked by an unseen entity, awakening a force she cannot control. Directed by Katelyn Douglass.

Zippy’s House: Forced to attend his strange classmate’s birthday, a teen discovers he’s the only guest at a house where the host’s brother is in permanent time-out. Directed by Sophia Parella.

The winners of the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival will be announced on Friday, October 30; you can watch a teaser for the 12 finalists below. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.