Halloween International Film Festival 2019 Award Winners Announced

The 4th Annual Halloween International Film Festival returned to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, October 3-5, 2019 with over 40 independent films from around the world, including many premieres and over a dozen special guest filmmakers in attendance.

The 2019 award winning films have been announced.

HALLOWEEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2019 AWARD WINNERS

Best Feature Film – STRAIGHT EDGE KEGGER (dir. Jason Zink)

Best Short Film – FINLEY (dir. John Zachary Thurman)

Best Halloween Film – DEAD AIR (dir. Matt Sullivan)

Best International Film – NIGHT OWLS (aka NOCTAMBULOS) (dir. Romen Rivero)

Best North Carolina Film – BELLADONNA (dir. Brett Mullen)

Best Actress – JENNIFER SUTER (Game Over)

Best Actor – J.D. MALLORY (Maere)

Breakthrough Filmmaker – JOSH QUILLIN (Epic Home Haunts)

Scariest Film – NOCTURNE (dir. Mike Trainotti)

This year’s lineup included a total of 36 Official Selections from eight different countries, about a third of which were filmed in North Carolina, as well as six invitational Showcase Selections.

In the feature film category, writer/director Christine Parker’s monster movie Blood of the Mummy was filmed entirely in North Carolina and partly on the Outer Banks, and the punk-fueled thriller Straight Edge Kegger, the horror anthology from Peru Cuentos de la Bruja (Witch Tales), and the documentary Epic Home Haunts will each had their North Carolina Premiere during the festival.

The Halloween section included the retro thriller Lane 9, the heavy metal-infused Dead Air (pictured above), the animated Halloween Cat, the Italian nightmare Mirror Midnight, the Queen of Screams Malvolia’s Halloween Special.

Other highlights among the short films included Polybius starring genre icon Tom Atkins (The Fog, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Creepshow, Escape From New York), the World Premiere of She Summoned Him from the U.K., the horror comedy Once Bitten… starring Lauren Ashley Carter (Imitation Girl), the sci-fi action shooter Violet Rain, the twisted morality tale Belladonna, an many more.

In addition to the Official Selections, this year’s special invitational Showcase Selections, included the documentary short Beyond the Scream, filmed partly on the Outer Banks, the World Premiere of the segment A Samhain Liturgy from the upcoming sequel 10/31 Part II, the World Premiere of the first three episodes of the new Halloween anthology series Sharp Candy with creator/director Dylan R. Nix in attendance, and the new feature film Candy Corn, starring P.J. Soles (Halloween, Carrie), Tony Todd (Candyman, Final Destination), and Courtney Gaines (Children of the Corn).

Founded in 2016, the Halloween International Film Festival is a Gold-ranked festival on the world’s leading film festival submission platform, FilmFreeway.

Previous Official Selections include The Barn (2016 Best Halloween Film and Best Feature Film Award Winner), 3 Dead Trick or Treaters, 10/31, The Haunt (2017 Best Halloween Film Award Winner), and Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2018 Best Halloween Film Award Winner).

This event was sponsored by Halloween Daily News, The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Larry Hobbs, and OBX Entertainment.

You can see photos from HIFF 2019 on the Orange Carpet in the gallery below, and watch the Q&As on the Halloween Daily News YouTube channel.

(Click an image to enlarge.)

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