Audience Awards
Winner — Feature Film
The Ugly Stepsister
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Cast: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger
Norway, 2024
In this warped, sinister spin on a Cinderella story, the lens shifts to plain-faced Elvira, who is willing to do whatever it takes to compete with her enchantingly beautiful stepsister Agnes, and win the prince’s heart. No procedure is too gruesome, too bloody, or too painful to achieve her happily ever after, in this visceral body horror from Norway.
Honorable Mention — Feature Film
It Ends
Director: Alexander Ullom
Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
United States, 2024
Four recent college grads, out for an innocent late night drive, find themselves trapped in a seemingly never-ending hellscape where they are being haunted by mysterious forces. Questions of friendship and existentialism are explored in director Alexander Ullom’s genre-bending first feature, equal parts terrifying and thought-provoking.
Winner — Short Film
The Traveler & The Troll, Dir. Adam Murray, United States, WORLD PREMIERE
A traveler stops to rest in a clearing of a haunted forest. Son, they learn they have stumbled upon the lair of a terrifying troll who demands gifts for passage.
Honorable Mention — Short Film
Last to Leave, Dir. Mary Elizabeth Ellis, United States, 2023
Last to Leave addresses the pandemic of loneliness, our primal need as humans for connection, and a reckoning with the way we treat our home planet.
Juried Awards
TOUCH ME.
Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film
Touch Me
Directors: Addison Heimann
Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jordan Gavaris, Marlene Forte, Paget Brewster
United States, 2024
In Addison Heimann’s (Hypochondriac, Overlook ‘22) wild and absurd new feature, intergalactic polyamory and one very codependent friendship collide when stoner roommates Craig and Joey have to suddenly move out of their apartment and decide to shack up with Joey’s toxic ex who happens to be a horny, narcissistic alien from outer space. Tale as old as time.
Honorable Mention for Best Feature Film
Redux Redux
Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Cast: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings, Grace Van Dien, Taylor Misiak, Dendrie Taylor
United States, 2025
Revenge is hard. Doing it again and again is harder. Emmy nominated brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus (American Vandal, Cobra Kai) present a gritty sci-fi thriller that follows a mother on a warpath through parallel universes in a desperate attempt to quench her desire for vengeance.
Scariest Feature Film Award
Best Wishes to All
Director: Yûta Shimotsu
Cast: Kotone Furukawa
Japan, 2024
A young nursing student gets an unexpectedly twisted dose of reality when she visits her grandparents in the countryside, only to uncover the secrets to their exceedingly happy life. Director Yûta Shimotsu’s unsettling debut draws from classics like Audition and The Wicker Man to create a wholly unique vision.
Honorable Mention for Scariest Feature Film
Good Boy
Director: Ben Leonberg
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Hunter Goetz, Max
United States, 2024
Indy is a good boy; a faithful dog, he is always by his human Todd’s side. When Todd seeks quiet in an empty family home in the countryside, Indy finds there is a strange, malevolent presence lurking in the shadows — an evil that only he can sense. Shot entirely from Indy’s perspective, Ben Leonberg’s first feature balances bark with bite
Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film
Los Muchachos, Dir. Alejandro Artiles, Spain, 2025, WORLD PREMIERE
Through a mobile phone and isolated in the La Palma observatory, Fran must face the last thing any parent wants to hear.
Honorable Mention for Creature Design
The Traveler & The Troll, Dir. Adam Murray, United States, WORLD PREMIERE
A traveler stops to rest in a clearing of a haunted forest. Son, they learn they have stumbled upon the lair of a terrifying troll who demands gifts for passage.
Scariest Short Film Award
Cruelty, Dir. Sam Das, United States, 2024
A young trans woman is chased into a junkyard while being followed home late at night. There, she must outwit her predator and summon the strength of a goddess.
Honorable Mention for Production Design
Easybake, Dir. Sasha Duncan, Canada, 2024
After consuming a clay sculpture, an insecure teen wakes with the ability to sculpt her own body, leading to an obsessive pursuit of “perfection.”
Feature Film Jury
Haleigh Foutch
Haleigh Foutchis a writer, editor and critic. Currently Director of Audience at TheWrap, she has also appeared in Rotten Tomatoes, Collider, Complex and the Shudder docuseries “Behind the Monsters.” She is a member of the Television Critics Association and GALECA.
Phil Nobile Jr.
Phil Nobile Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria magazine, an Emmy-winning documentary producer, and the executive producer of the acclaimed documentary feature Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. His writing on the Dark Shadows TV series, the James Bond franchise, and the films of David Cronenberg have been published in books and other publications around the world. He’s been a loyal Overlook attendee since 2018.
Alice Waddington
Alice Waddington (born Irene Lago) is a Spanish filmmaker known for her genre-defying work blending speculative fiction, surreal humor, and social metaphor. Raised in Bilbao, she studied advertising at the University of the Basque Country before moving into fashion photography and creative direction.
She transitioned into narrative filmmaking with the high-fantasy short Disco Inferno (2015), which screened at 74 festivals including Sitges and Fantastic Fest, where she won Best Director. Her debut feature, Paradise Hills (2019), premiered at Sundance and was distributed globally by Netflix, screening at 25 additional festivals. Waddington lives in Los Angeles and is a vocal advocate for female solidarity in the arts, championing the visibility of women of color in directing roles. Her upcoming projects continue to explore horror, science fiction, and biopics as vehicles for emotional truth and sociopolitical critique.
Short Film Jury
Brooke H. Cellars
Brooke H. Cellars is an independent filmmaker with a passion for horror, authenticity, and storytelling through film. As the founder of Warped Witch Cinema and the Warped Witch Film Festival in Lafayette, Louisiana, Brooke champions underrepresented voices in the industry. Her 16mm short film Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead earned both the Audience Award and Jury Award at the Overlook Film Festival in 2023. She recently completed production on her debut feature The Cramps: A Period Piece, shot on 35mm and set for release in 2025.
Deirdre Crimmins
Deirdre Crimmins has been a professional film critic for the past 15 years. She primarily writes for Rue Morgue magazine and ThatShelf.com, and has contributed to the A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, Polygon and Birth.Movies.Death. She is a programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series, lives in Chicago with two black cats and wrote her master’s thesis on George A. Romero.
Addison Heimann
Addison Heimann is a queer genre filmmaker currently residing in Los Angeles. His first feature Hypochondriac premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival and was distributed by XYZ Films. His second feature Touch Me premiered in the Midnight section at the Sundance Film Festival. His goal is to tell queer stories that explore mental health in the genre space.
To keep up to date with The Overlook Film Festival, visit overlookfilmfest.com.
2025 Overlook Film Festival partners include OFFICIAL SPONSORS Academy of Magical Arts, American Immersion Theater, IFC Films, Shudder PREMIERE SPONSORS Bywater Wonderland, MUBI; SIGNATURE SPONSORS Dark Sky Films, Film New Orleans, SAGIndie; PATRON SPONSORS Kodak, FANGORIA, Louisiana Office of Tourism, Magnolia Pictures, Vinegar Syndrome; EVENT SPONSORS Daily Dead, Welcome Villain, University of New Orleans; VENUE SPONSORS Prytania Theatres, Toulouse Theatre, Westin New Orleans; SIGNATURE HOTEL SPONSOR International Hotel House; MEDIA SPONSORS Antigravity, Gambit, Where Y’At. Additional sponsors can be found on our website.
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