THE ORIGINAL HOST OF THE SACRAMENTO HORROR FILM FESTIVAL, MR. LOBO. RETURNS!

 

The 18th Annual Sacramento Horror Film Festival 2025 Official Schedule 

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12:45PM - Festival Opening By Mr. Lobo

1PM  PROGRAM 1  (120min)

1.

Sundown Trail  13m59s

In a post-apocalyptic world where toxic mushrooms have made the air deadly to breathe, a timid boy must learn to trust a thieving bandit in order to save his dying father.

Directed by Luke Guidici

 

2.

The Red Stone  23m

In Guadalajara, 1909, Carmen, an archaeologist, returns to investigate pre-Hispanic findings sent for the Independence Day anniversary. Amid political turmoil, she is tasked with restoring certain idols and objects, rumored to be cursed. Accompanied by Leonor, the housekeeper, Carmen explores the monumental house in search of answers. A grotesque specter, composed of human limbs, lurks in the shadows as Carmen discovers a special pre-Hispanic idol. The house becomes a terrifying stage where Carmen must decipher the mystery and survive this nightmare.

Directed by Jaime Jasso

 

3. 

The Last Sundown 3m38s

The sun is leaning towards the horizon.  With the help of her dog, a woman notices eerie noises coming from the chimney...

Directed by Dennis Jacobsen

 

4.

Reunion  14m28s

When a group of old friends comes together for an evening, they’re in for a shock as their host unveils her plan: resurrecting her dead twin sister.

Directed by John Liang

 

5.

The Tunnel  19m55s

When Alfie’s Uncle Baz goes missing, friends Jay, Chloe, Alfie and Megs are tasked with cruising his narrow boat back to London. Jay sees this as an opportunity to create a unique film for a uni project, so he captures the trip on his video camera. Baz’s boat was found abandoned on the canal, so Megs believes he’s the latest victim of Alderbrook Tunnel, a tunnel rumoured to claim the life of anyone who lies within its walls. The others dismiss her fears until they enter the tunnel themselves. As the tunnel gruesomely reprimands the gang for their secrets, they realise the only way out is to own up to their lies. Will they uncover the truth about Baz’s disappearance? Or will the tunnel claim them all?

Directed by Brendan Cleaves

 

6.

Blood Orange Tree  11m57s

A conspiracy theorist believes he’s uncovered a plot where people are being systematically replaced, but the more he digs, the closer he gets to the terrifying truth.

Directed by Dennis Donovan

 

7.

A Monster In The House  14m50s

Two siblings must learn to confront their childhood trauma when their abusive father passes away. Left with a house full of bad memories, they spend the weekend clearing it out, all too eager to be rid of it.

 

8.

The Parcel  8m24s

Chad’s first day on a new job takes a gut wrenching turn.

Directed by Jared Tipton

 

9.

Gaslighter  7m53s

On a dark and stormy night, Anne arrives home to find the power out and her front door left unlocked. She asks her boyfriend, Jeff, to stay on the phone with her while she safety checks the house and gets the power back on. When she expresses her fear that she is not alone in the house and feels unsafe, Jeff tells her she is overreacting and dismisses her concerns, telling her she consumes too much true crime. Unable to find an intruder she accepts what Jeff has told her –that she is safe in the house. But is she? Or were her instincts right all along?

Directed by Virginia Powers Hendry

 

30 minute break

 

3:30PM  PROGRAM 2  (120min)

1.

The Queue  11m

An internet content moderator confronts an increasingly disturbing series of online videos that seep into his psyche.

Directed by Michael Rich

 

2.

The Roach  13m47s

ROACH is a 14 minute suburban horror film that follows, Bonnie; a 17-year old girl who shows up at the eerie house of Mr. Roach to answer a cleaning job she found in the paper. Bonnie has forged a CV in hopes of getting the job and is surprised when Mr. Roach asks when can she start. As time passes, Bonnie releases she is in way over her head as new horrors begin to unearth in the house. Bonnie stumbles upon something hidden in Mr. Roach’s abode that she shouldn’t have, and this changes the way she now sees her seemingly innocent employer...

Directed by Angelica E Gayle

 

3.  

ZTV Sympathy for the Devil  22m42s

DOUGLAS SIKES, a convicted war criminal from the American Zombie War, runs a black-market trading ring from the bowels of a walled-in quarantine zone turned for-profit prison. He and the other prisoners live under the watchful eye of the ZTV broadcasting company, and at the whim of THE PREZERVE, a capital punishment reality game show that uses zombies, and horrific devices, to torture, infect, and execute prisoners and their families on prime time network television. PAUL, and his daughter, LILY, arrive at Doug’s home to find him grief-stricken and consumed with rage after his daughter Steffie’s gruesome episode has broadcast her terrible fate for all the world to see. Paul and Lily find themselves in the cross-fire as Doug readies to unleash bloody vengeance on the institution and the vengeful woman who has oppressed him.

Directed by Jason Ragosta

 

4.

Just a Rehearsal  9min

Two sisters, seven and eleven years old, are hiding inside a closet in a house. The little sister thinks they are rehearsing for a game but the older one knows that a terrible threat lurks outside.

Directed by Hugo Sanz

 

5.  

Adelaide  16m

Haunted by guilt, Hamed revisits a funfair, only to be confronted by the visions of his deceased wife and daughter. As he faces the ghosts of his past, he must confront the choices that led to their tragic fate.

Directed by Farhad Gharibi

 

6.  Drain  7m44s

A Woman hires a handyman to fix a clogged pipe only to discover her problem may be far more sinister.

Directed by Andrew Williamson

 

7.

The Bloodshed  12m37s

Ridden with guilt after the untimely death of his wife from a rare blood disease, grief-stricken Getty turns his hobby shed into a bloody altar of worship and brutal sacrifice in his relentless search for Redemption. As he descends into madness, many will bleed...

Directed by Paolo Mancini

 

8. 

The Child 23m2s

During her pregnancy, a woman experiences terrifying symptoms that necessitate an urgent intervention by a doctor, plunging both of them into one of the darkest situations.

Directed by Bekim Vanbosche

 

 

30 minute break

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6:15PM PROGRAM 3  (90 min)

TRIBUTE TO BLOODY BETHY

VIDEO AND SPOKEN TRIBUTE BY MR. LOBO.

1.  

Medicine (Black & Blue)  3m22s

Taken prisoner and restrained in a strange room, a man comes face to face with his tormentor. Can he get out unscathed? Or will his captor take what they need from him: medicine.

Directed by Michael Bryan Hayden

 

2.

Someone Call Colin  5m11s

When his panicked friends call for help, a laid-back gamer with a knack for supernatural crises rely on his cool-headed expertise to save them before it's too late.

Directed by Dwight Taylor

 

3.

Night Feeding  5m37s

A new mother struggles through the 4am feeding time.

Exhaustion and sleep-deprivation begin to take their toll on a new mother, who struggles through the strange, dark stillness of the 4am feeding.

Directed by Sarah K Reimers

 

4. 

I Won't Be Long, Love  9m22s

Consumed by grief after the sudden death of his wife,

an elderly man, struggling with cognitive decline,

lives between two perceived realities to deal with

the loss and resorts to horrific measures to keep

their relationship alive.

Directed by James Fox

 

5.

Weight of Guilt  5m26s

Weight of Guilt is an animated horror short about the journey of a single man and his canine friend as they travel through the apocalypse of the undead and their ghosts.

Directed by Joseph Daniel Rodriguez

 

 

6.  

Dead Ringer 3m52s

After a long day at work, a man returns home to his RV to find himself amidst a terrifying phenomenon.

Directed by Sean Stewart, Hayden Namgostar
 

7.

Escape Attempt  28m44s

A soldier escaping a WWII concentration camp finds himself on an unknown planet in a distant future only to discover a frozen gulag controlled by a brutal alien race.

 

Based on the science fiction novella “Escape Attempt” by the iconic science fiction writers, the Strugatsky Brothers (1925-1991)

Directed by Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro

 

8.  

The Milk Situation  5m

In a world overrun with monsters, Pip and Po's clean up service is the only thing that stands between good and evil.

Directed by John Ferrer

 

9.  

The Night Within  8m29s

A social worker's obsession with a case plunges him into a fight for survival against malevolent forces.

Directed by Mark Lammerding

 

10.

The Banjo  14m38s

Isaac is thrilled when his friend offers him the use of his family’s cabin in the woods to lose his virginity. But when his first time goes horribly wrong, he begins to believe it may be the work of a sinister circumcision cult!

Directed by Cameron Poletti

 

30 minute break

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8:20PM  PROGRAM 4  (90m)

1.

Deliverance  9m38s

A Sikh delivery driver is asked for help by a customer, a Priest.

Directed by Kaljeven Singh Lally

 

2.

Strange Creatures  6m27s

Desperate to see her brother again, a young woman visits the site of his death.

Nicholas Payne Santos

 

3.

Inch Thick, Knee Deep  17m49s 

The heat gets turned up on a seething exchange between two women. There is Quinn, a haughty daydreamer, who is stewing over a heartbreaking situation with her soulmate; and Adrienne, the woman who’s caught his eye. Once brought to a boiling point, neither woman will leave tea time without peeling back the masks they’ve painted an inch thick and revealing who they are in the face of bitterness.

Directed by Anatasha Blakely

 

4.

Stalker  20m15s

After a vicious assault at a party, a young woman flees the scene. And as she walks back home on a gloomy and threatening Paris night, she can't shake the feeling that she's being followed. As she gets closer to her residence, the presence becomes more and more bold and aggressive. And it is only by confronting her deepest inner fears that she will be able to survive the ominous threat.

Directed by David Cholewa

 

5.

Replacement  18m

To receive a salary without having to work. To reach retirement before the age of 40 and have the rest of our lives, all our time, to do whatever we want. What would we do with the more than 350,000 free hours we have left to live? Are human beings biologically capable of enjoying life without fighting for their survival?

 

For Nicolás, one of these young early retirees, life without work no longer has any meaning. He has not left the house for years, sees no one except his wife, and has flirted with the idea of suicide.

 

Frightened, his wife has hired an emotional assistant (AN-534) to watch over her husband day and night while she works.

 

But Nicolas' deranged mind soon transforms ANN into an enemy. The assistant is to blame for his job being taken away from him. What's more, he is part of a worldwide conspiracy that wants to wipe out not only him, but the entire human race.

Delusional? Maybe. But Nicolas is not about to let a bloody robotic assistant watch over him in his own home.

Directed by Alberto Ortega

 

6.

The Red Hourglass  15m51s

Following a strange and unsettling encounter with a black widow spider, a young virgin woman finds herself inexplicably pregnant. After the birth of her child, a shadowy cult begins to gather outside her home, drawn to the child as if by dark forces.

Directed by Bradley Charles Jones