Dark House Nabs Top Honors at 2009 Shriekfest Film Festival

Heather Wixson |

Oct 7, 2009

This past weekend the independent spirit of horror filmmaking descended on Los Angeles in the form of the Shriekfest Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival. Now in its ninth year, the festival offered up plenty of scares with both the full-length features that played as well as a collection of fantastic short films.

Taking top honors this year is director Darin Scott’s fun haunted house flick Dark House. Starring Jeffrey Combs, the film centers around a group of young actors who take a job at a local haunted attraction. The job turns out to be a lot more than they bargained for when they have to start fighting for their lives against an angry spirit that still roams the house.

Here’s a look at the other winners from the fest:

Best Fantasy Feature Film:
“Spike”
directed by Robert Beaucage

Best Horror Short Film:
“Death in Charge”
directed by Devi Snively

Best Sci-Fi Short Film:
“Enigma”
directed by The Shumway Brothers

Best Super Short Film:
“Rift”
directed by Andrew Huang

Best Horror Feature Screenplay:
“Dead After Tomorrow”
written by Benjamin Pollack

Best Sci-Fi Feature Screenplay:
“Upgrade”
written by Louis Rosenberg

Best Short Screenplay:
“Seekers”
written by L.C. Cruell

The Pretty/Scary Award:
“Death in Charge”
directed by Devi Snively

Best Acting Performance:
Dameon Clarke in
“How to Be a Serial Killer”

Audience Choice Award:
“Lo”
directed by Travis Betz

Best Under 18 Film/Screenplay:
“Lock (ed) In”
directed by Lea McMahan
and written by Peter Jones, McKenzie Cupp, Molly Morgan, Katie Herbst, Ali Gianutsos, Jean Jamison

Below you can take a look at some of the pictures from the awards ceremony that closed out the festival on Sunday evening, and keep tuned to Dread Central as we will be providing reviews this week for a selection of the films that played Shriekfest.