THANK YOU!
Thank you all for 13 wonderful years of Indie Horror Film Festival.  Please keep making movies that KILL!

The 2023 Indie Horror Film Festival took place on Saturday, August 26th at Cinema Chatham in Chicago, Illinois.  The festival was hosted by Count Gregula and marked the festival finale, as Breaking Fate Entertainment official retired the festival for what is expected to be a permanent basis.  

The event featured horror films from around the world across two theaters in both short and feature length.  

Count Gregula is a veteran vampire personality seen in various forms of media for 25 years and COUNTing. His numerous credentials include horror host, director, producer, actor, interviewer, emcee, photographer, makeup artist, and classic monster  cosplayer. Also, previous credits include former Mancow in-studio guest and ChicagoNow  (Tribune Media Group) entertainment blogger for 10 years. 

For more info, visit his website at: www.Count-Gregula.com

BEST FILM
ROOM TONE
SALLY'S LULLABY
SHADOW PUPPETS
SINS OF THE FATHER
OLD TIME RADIO: YOUR MOVE

BEST DIRECTOR
LEVI AUSTIN MORRIS - PARALYSIS
VANESSA M. H. POWERS - SINS OF THE FATHER
PENN PAULETICH - SHADOW PUPPETS
JOEL HARLOW - OLD TIME RADIO: YOUR MOVE
JOHATHAN COOK - SALLY'S LULLABY

BEST STORY
GORDON BRESSACK - MURDER, ANYONE?
HARRISON DEMCHICK - THE FARMHOUSE
JONATHAN COOK - SALLY'S LULLABY
LAURA MEDEIROS - GOOD TIMES/BAD TIMES
ALEXANDER PEREZ - COTTONMOUTH

BEST ACTOR
TYLER LUBINUS - VAGUE SENTIMENTS
DAVID MICHAELI - SINS OF THE FATHER
PATRICK LAFFERTY - HIGHWAY TO HELL
PETER MCDERMOTT - THE SECRET LIGHT OF FLOWERS
CLARK FURLONG - THE FARMHOUSE

BEST ACTRESS
CLARA MAE FIELDS - GRBBR
OLIVIA BONITA AMES - HOME FOR X-MAS
LANAE HYNEMAN - REAL COOL TIME
NORA O'BRIEN - SINS OF THE FATHER
ALLISON LOBEL - PARALYSIS

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
SINS OF THE FATHER
VIGIL HOURS
OLD TIME RADIO: YOUR MOVE
SHADOW PUPPETS
PARALYSIS

BEST EDITING
ROOM TONE
SINS OF THE FATHER
AGATHA
SHADOW PUPPETS
VIGIL HOURS

BEST SOUND
GOOD MOURNING
SHADOW PUPPETS
ROOM TONE
SINS OF THE FATHER
QUIETUS

BEST MUSIC
THE MOON OF THE KURENT: THE RITUAL
OLD TIME RADIO: YOUR MOVIE
QUIETUS
SERENADE
ROOM TONE

SCREENPLAY FINALISTS
THIS MODERN LOVE BY NATE SOUTHARD
THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR'S ASSISTANT BY SEAN ELWOOD
BLACK DOG BY RENEE PEZZOTTA
HOUSE OF WOLVES BY ANDREW YEREMEYEV
MY BEAR HADS BY DENNIS ALLEN CHAMBERLIN

11:30AM - THE HURT TAPES (123M)

01:45PM - PARALYSIS (108M)

03:45PM - SINS OF THE FATHER (102M)

05:45PM - MURDER, ANYONE? (81M)

07:30PM - AGATHA (60M)

12:00PM - BLOCK A (2HRS)

• THE KILLDREN ARE COMING 3M
• ENTER THE ROOM 15M
• THIS IS REAL LOVE 20M
• **OPEN TIME SLOT - TO BE ANNOUNCED** 20M
• THE SECRET LIGHT OF FLOWERS 36M
• OLD TIME RADIO: YOUR MOVE 13M
• WHEN YOU'RE GONE 17M

02:30PM - BLOCK B (2HRS)

• THE FARMHOUSE 7M
• GRBBR 12M
• SERENADE 20M
• QUIETUS 8M
• HOME FOR X-MAS 12M
• TRADITION 4M
• REAL COOL TIME 25M
• GOOD TIMES/BAD TIMES 3M
• COTTONMOUTH 13M
• HIGHWAY TO HELL 18M

05:00PM - BLOCK C (2HRS)

• GOOD MOURNING 2M
• GET AWAY 15M
• VIGIL HOURS 25M
• RABBIT 11M
• TREPIDITY 39M
• FLAKKUS 7M
• BETTY AND BARNEY 8M
• **OPEN TIME SLOT - TO BE ANNOUNCED** 16M

07:30PM - BLOCK D

• ROOM TONE 10M
• WHO'S THERE 5M
• THE MOON OF THE KURENT: THE RITUAL 7M
• THE GAZELLE 11M
• VAGUE SENTIMENTS 23M
• SALLY'S LULLABY 6M
• SHADOW PUPPETS 13M
• O 14M

09:00PM - AWARDS CEREMONY 60M

Check out the 2023 Official Feature Film Selections!

A woman suffering from sleep paralysis learns her demons may be connected to a family secret.

A young woman goes deep into the Appalachian mountains in search of her father and regretfully finds him.

After the death of his father, Aden and his mother, Sarah, find themselves responsible for the sale of his family home - a place they thought they’d left behind. When Sarah’s friends arrive to help, the task seems almost manageable. However, as they clear out the house, they uncover secrets in Sarah’s past and the sinister nature of the cultivated community Aden was raised in…. And his father’s family is not so eager to let the sins of the past go unpunished.

 The film follows “The Professor”, a man suffering from a terminal disease, who by a twist of fate, witnesses an incredible event involving his mysterious neighbor Agatha. Hoping to find a cure to his sickness - he agrees to follow her on a strange and risky journey into a forgotten but not entirely deserted urban wasteland.

AGATHA is designed to evoke an unsettling mood and to leave many unanswered questions about the events taking place within the story. The passing of time and the disintegration of nature, institutions, and people all set the tone for a story.

Two playwrights tasked with creating a new “avant-garde, surrealistic, mind-bending neo-noire thriller” who find their story coming to life as they write.

Check out the 2023 Official Short Film Selections!

A prisoner finds a new and dangerous way to spark joy in his otherwise mundane life.

An exhausted sketch artist struggles to complete his newest artwork but a supernatural force blocks him at every turn.

A sweet pixie dream girl decorates her living room wall with pictures of the best moments of her life…but what is that strange muffled noise coming from the inside of her closet?

An old caretaker reads a poem about the legend of the Killdren, not knowing that he is soon to become part of their grisly lore.

Funeral home owner Daniel is invited to attend the Vigil with a highly unusual request – to photograph the Vigil and the deceased. Driven by a material incentive, Daniel agrees to an unusual request. Upon arrival, he discovers that his present relatives are also unusual individuals who want to respect their traditional customs originating from the Vlach region... He meets the host Anestin and his wife Bianca, who, as a result of her clumsiness, get wet Daniel with the water she used to wash the deceased. While Daniel is left alone to photograph the deceased in bed, Bianca performs a ritual in another room and makes coffee with the water that she uses to wash the corpse. While Anestin and his assistant move the body of the deceased to another room to begin with the Vigil, Daniel drinks coffee with Bianca in the living room. Entering the new room and photographing the deceased with his relatives, Daniel notices unusual mystical symbols appearing in the photographs. During a photo session in which the main models are the deceased, Anestin and Bianca, Daniel starts getting dizzy. Anestin tells him that he drank something that Vlach calls the ’Cadavers’ water and that his body will serve as a vessel for the soul of his deceased brother. Daniel manages to escape from them and locks himself in one of the rooms where he discovers two bodies. They are dead, yet alive. Living souls entombed in dead flesh. He finds a Grimoire in which the ritual of transitioning from one body to another is described in detail. In addition to the Grimoire, he also finds a photo album dating back a hundred years. While trying to escape, Daniel gets overpowered. The deceased brother's soul passes into Daniel's body and the participants of the ritual leave the place while the body of the old deceased remains in the coffin. The body opens the eyes. Daniel's soul is trapped in dead flesh.

"This Is Real Love" is a non-linear dark comedy. The central events revolve around a casual gathering between two male painters and their female acquaintance, Amanda. Although the gathering begins innocuously enough, tension gradually builds beneath the surface, creating a sense of discomfort. During the conversation, a few lines trigger one of the nameless painter's descent into a claustrophobic and increasingly abstract nightmare. The painter becomes irrationally angry with his roommate (painter 2), accusing him of trying to see his secret painting, without permission. As the painter's narcissistic rampage reaches its psychedelic climax, it becomes clear that his anger stems from more than just a desire to protect his art.

A stubborn, unwelcome journalist’s late-night visit to the home of a haunted musician reveals dark secrets and whets deadly appetites.

During her Christmas break, college student Patricia Hooper is stalked by her deranged brother Russell who will stop at nothing to kill his sister.

Doting parents teach their young daughter the family Halloween tradition.

Things take a turn for the worst after a man finds a ominous note.

Serenade is a lo-fi, micro-budget short horror film about an antiques dealer who stumbles upon a mysterious music box that may hold secrets to a young woman's disappearance.

When a sound guy's attempt to capture “room tone" is constantly thwarted by the noisy antics of his coworkers, he takes extreme measures to achieve silence.

We find ourselves back in the macabre world of Old Time Radio. Riktus Grim and his half-brother, Edward Mise, have once again managed to climb their way out of their graves and make their way up to the ancestral home for a simple game of chess. What could go wrong…?

In this stinging and pitch-black social commentary, an inept serial killer captures a group of head-strong teenagers and fails to live up to their modern expectations. But when things turn from bad to worse, he finds inspiration from an unexpected source.

Eddie, a queer man with a troubled childhood, returns to his childhood home for the first time in years. There he meets Roderick, the new homeowner, who gives Eddie more than he bargained for when he invites him inside.

A chance encounter with a stranger, awakens a dormant secret that leads to a slow hunt.

After being laid off from her tech job, a young woman fights her way through the increasingly terrifying world of gig work.

A teenager finds himself stuck on a farm in a mysterious game with deadly implications

Cindy and John are expecting their first child. But when John's uncle Avery moves in, the expectant couple must unravel the secret of their guest's demonic companion before it's too late.

Jane wakes up to something she did not expect.

Mom and Dad team up with their daughter Sally to get rid of a monster in her closet.

An uninspired man attempts to impress a florist by taking up gardening, but soon experiences strange side effects after planting a mysterious bulb from an unknown sender.

A young adult (Brian) is visited by his brother, Jeremy, who needs a place to stay as he settles into his new city. The two polar opposite personalities begin to clash as Jeremy's presence poses a threat to Brian's way of life. Brian's uptight personality and unreasonable living standards rub off on Jeremy, creating an incredible amount of tension. Bad blood, stemming from a traumatic past event reveals the shocking truth of the brothers' current situations, as Brian struggles to differentiate between reality and his worst nightmares.

A woman questions her marriage after finding a dying rabbit in her backyard on the night of her anniversary.

A couple undergoes hypnosis to recall a horrific alien abduction.

A former intelligence operative turned rogue scientist develops a powerful and dangerous serum under the guise of a street drug. Bent on revenge and an insatiable urge to control the masses, he kidnaps unsuspecting victims in order to carry out his experimentation and ultimately, perfect his serum. The noxious concoction is finally showing promise with Subject 13, creating the perfect amalgamation of raw fury and a primal thirst for violence. The destruction of mankind has begun.

A group of girls partying in a isolated barn decide to call on upon the urban legend of the servant of Satan. They discover that it is not an urban legend and most fight to survive until midnight.

In the midst of heartbreak and self-implosion, a lapsed writer turned party girl must learn what it truly means to face her pain when she's hunted by a subterranean mother and its brood.

"A woman sees a fist-sized hole in a brick wall. She's hypnotically drawn to it and can't focus on anything else. An increasingly morbid obsession begins, until the hole suddenly disappears..."

'O' is a surreal short film about the horrors of addiction.

The mysterious man performs a mystical pagan ritual in the name of the forgotten ancient Slavic gods. Is this a fertility ritual performed by a priest or a serial killer? The bloody moon of the Kurent has risen.

Coming Soon!

PLEASE NOTE: Films and Entertainment are subject to change without notice.  This can happen for any number of reasons including but not limited to film distribution agreements, non-delivery of film deliverables, filmmaker requests, disqualifications, etc.