THE SACRAMENTO HORROR FILM FESTIVAL:

BEST OF SHORTS 2026

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October 10TH, 2027

12:00PM Doors.  12:30PM Festival Start.

11PM estimated festival end time.

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The full festival program will be released within a week or two before the film festival.

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ONE SCREEN. ALL DAY. NO MERCY.

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On October 10th, the Sacramento Horror Film Festival hijacks the Historic Colonial Theatre for a full day of the short films that absolutely killed on our screen.

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FEATURING NEARLY TWO DECADES OF SHFF SHORTS.

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THIS IS THE BEST OF SHORTS.

Award winners. Audience favorites. Beautiful disasters. Nasty little nightmares. Monsters, maniacs, bloodsuckers, weirdos, creeps, practical gore, pitch black laughs and independent filmmakers with absolutely no adult supervision.

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NO FEATURES. NO FILLER. JUST SHORT FILMS ALL DAMN DAY.

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These are the films that won trophies, pissed people off, made audiences howl, made people squirm and earned their way back onto the big screen.

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And holding the whole beautiful mess together is your host SINDIE CHOPPER, presiding over an entire day of cinematic bad behavior.

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Show up early. Stay late. Grab some popcorn. Have a drink. Make some questionable decisions.

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SACRAMENTO HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
BEST OF SHORTS

SATURDAY • OCTOBER 10, 2026  ·  12:30PM 'TIL LATE
HISTORIC COLONIAL THEATRE • SACRAMENTO

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🏆 AWARD WINNERS
💀 AUDIENCE CHOICE FILMS
🎬 FESTIVAL FAVORITES
🩸 SHORT FILMS FROM OPEN TO CLOSE

Cheap thrills. Big screen. Great fucking movies.

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1PM
SHORTS PROGRAM 1

1.
POLYBIUS  17m10s
Based on the urban legend, a teenage girl tries to convince the local Sheriff that a mysterious new game cabinet caused her brother to commit suicide.
Directed by Jimmy Kelly

2.
MAMON  5m55s
M.A.M.O.N. (Monitor Against Mexicans Over Nationwide) is a satirical fantasy sci-fi shortfilm that explores with black humor and lots of VFX the outrageous consequences of Donald Trump´s plan of banning immigration and building an enormous wall on the Mexico - US border. 
Directed by Ale Damiani

3.
Mutant Land
As the sun goes down in the dark and terrifying place that is Mutant Land, the creatures roaming this world are on the ultimate search for food.
Directed by Phil Tippett

4.  
Toys For Lonely Men  3m56s
Bill finds love in Helga, a beautiful doll who can laugh and smile. Helga finds joy in Bill, a foolish mortal who can bleed and cry.
Directed by Ian Grygotis

5.  
Crimson Harbor  8m18s
Hattie Duvall, a mysterious clairvoyant, is asked by the Crimson Harbor Police Department to help them solve a serial murder case that has shadowed the city for the past few months. Her interviewer, an experienced detective, is reluctant to Ms. Duvall's unorthodox techniques, but both will be forced to cooperate and unravel the mystery surrounding these woods.
Directed by Victor Bonafonte

6.
Torturous  6m51s
Torturous chronicles an encounter between an employment counselor and a professional torture artist, blending gore, humour and irony into a deft cinematic mix. 
Directed by Angus Swantee

7.
Point of View  8m11s
A tired coroner is stalked by the living dead — but only when she isn't looking!
Directed by Justin Harding

8.
A. Friend  4m34s
Home alone at night, a young woman is about to discover the other side of social media.
Directed by Amaury Dequé & Erwann Kerroc'h

9.
The Weaver  13m24s
A nurse goes to visit an old lady at her home. He soon realizes she has a few screws loose. And maybe she is not an old lady at all?
Directed by Øyvind Willumsen

10.
Janelle's Baby  9m58s
Janelle's desire to have a baby of her own takes a heart-wrenching turn when she finds out she's infertile. With additional worrisome blood lab results from the doctor and strange, secretive behavior, her husband's concern grows.
Directed by Michael Squid

11.
Lake Sunshine 1989   13m45s
Two best friends are on a cabin trip to Lake Sunshine. After an unexpected phone call their lives will be changed forever.
Directed by Filip Koren

12.
My New Boyfriend  3m28s
A jaded young woman in New York City puts the dating scene behind her as she enters into a romantic relationship with the 12-Foot Skeleton from Home Depot.
Directed by Anthony DiMieri

13.  Hell's Bells  14m30s
A jaded young woman in New York City puts the dating scene behind her as she enters into a romantic relationship with the 12-Foot Skeleton from Home Depot.
Directed by Anthony DiMieri

3:20PM  
SHORT FILM PROGRAM 2

1.
Bad Guy #2
One bad guy discovers that moving up in a crime ring has its downsides. Just as his new career starts, it might already be coming to an end. He'll either have to set an example or become one. This 'goredy' follows the bad guy who just got promoted to the dead end job of bad guy #2. It's the job of the guy who always gets killed by the boss in order to prove a point that the gang needs to stop messing up. Promotions are good, unless you're bad.
Directed by Chris McInroy

2.  
Catfish Killer  12m34s
Three gay besties on a camping trip are thrust into danger when one of them inadvertently catfishes a serial killer online.
Directed by Seth Harrington & Gil Hizon

3.  
Conductor  6m36s
Alexis, a sound engineer, helps an aspiring musician, Josh, win the drum machine of his dreams in a competition in a mall. She mentors him and helps him find his groove to compose the winning beat. Once he submits his creation, it triggers a chain reaction revealing the competition booth to be a gruesome contraption. Through Josh' beat and a horrific death, Alexis' creative design comes to fruition directing the macabre music she envisioned.
Directed by Alex Noyer

4. 
Dawn of Man  5m46s
AJ is jolted awake by a terrifying video call: his mother has been taken hostage. Her captor gives him a simple but bizarre ultimatum, setting in motion a deadly confrontation that reveals nothing is quite what it seems.
Directed by Victor Ridaura

5.  
Grizzly Peak  13m57m
Cody brings Kylie, her long-time crush, out to Grizzly Peak to share her new creative outlet; flying drones. They witness a horrific murder and become the target of a serial killing
madman who disables their car and traps them in the woods in a grisly contest of survival.
Directed by Jason Ragosta

6.
Invaders  6m8s
A pair of home invaders consider their potential character choices just prior to their planned invasion, which does not go as planned.
Directed by Jason Kupfer

7.
Pipe  11m57s
When Pup, a young girl living on the fringe of a bombed out town, finds a dead body washed up on the beach she brings it home to give it a proper burial. But other people have plans for the body and Pup's refusal to give it up brings hell down upon she and her father's heads.
Directed by Max Isaacson

8.  
What Killed Timmy Benson  14m8s
In a sleepy snow-covered village, a young playful Timmy Benson is being watched by a dark presence from the past. 
Directed by Nick Cremers

9.  
Sebastian's Voodoo  4m7s
A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death.
Directed by Joaquín Baldwin

10.
The Moor  11m50s
Oliver takes his daughter Heather to the moor in search of a May Day celebration. When she suddenly disappears, his desperate search draws him deeper into a strange and nightmarish landscape where nothing is quite what it seems.
Directed by James Everett

11.
Thumbsnatchers  6m52s
Officer Huckiss, a short tempered Texas Sheriff, uses his cowboy logic to recklessly defeat a race of condescending, cocoon dwelling critters.
Directed by Brad Schaffer

12.
The Parcel  8m24s
Chad’s first day on a new job takes a gut wrenching turn.
Directed by Jared Tipton

5:40PM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM 3

1.
Cadaver  7m27s
A cadaver wakes up to say a last goodbye to his wife, but discovers a truth in death that he didn't know in life.
Directed by Jonah D. Ansell

2.  
Dead Hearts
A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love.
Directed by Stephen W. Martin

3.
Humbug  9m10s
Two elderly women in a care home grapple with magical mint humbugs, setting off an absurd journey through pleasure and peril.
Directed by Cole Paviour

4.
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

5.  
Killer Kart  14m38s
The shopping cart. Four wheels, one basket, and tonight, for the closing crew of a small-town grocery store, a blood-splattered aluminum nightmare.
Directed by James Feeney

6.
Pocketman  1m54s
Careful what you put in your pocket.
Directed by Ericka Clevenger

7.  
Night of the Slasher  11m16s
A 'shot-in-one-take' slasher film about a teenage girl who must commit horror movie sins by drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and having sex in order to lure a masked killer and exact revenge.
Directed by Shant Hamassian

8.
Meridians  8m33s
An acupuncturist forms a primal bond with her female patient after years of treatment.
Directed by Blake Rice

9.  Deep Red Dandelions  10m44s
In 1928, one of America's most deranged serial killers named, Albert Fish, committed an atrocity involving a young girl that has echoed through the annals of true crime history. Deep Red Dandelions is a romanticized portrayal of the events that occurred on that day, based on excerpts by Albert Fish.
Directed by Brendan Butler

10.  
Hooves  23m49s
On his annual hunting trip to his childhood village, the skeptical Pathum learns about the tale of the Kura Raaksha, a hoofed-demon that is supposedly haunts the woods. His skepticism is soon put to the test as mysterious events occur and he realizes that some actions indeed have terrifying consequences.
Directed by Akash Sunethkumara

8:10PM
SHORT FILM PROGRAM 4

1. 
Back to Life  2m37s
Animated Frankenstein monster has a few things to say about being brought back to life. 
Directed by Mike Salva

2.
The Von Dingles in: Halloween Massacre  1m54s
When the zombie apocalypse hits, heroes Kitty and Girth must race against the clock and a ravenous horde of zombies to save the day
Directed by John Harvatine IV

3. 
My Psycho Fan  12m16s
A serial killer works in his studio. Until he's disturbed by the visit of his biggest fan. The killer wants to kill him but changes his mind by discovering his admiration. Flattered, the killer offers him to see his studio. The fan finds himself doomed to admire the killer for eternity.
Directed by Loe Certano

4.  
The Foley Artist  12m16s
Will lands his dream job in Hollywood - but to keep it, he'll need a sound plan.
Directed by Rob Aiello

5.  
Bitten  6m1s
An infected survivor must fight for her life.
Directed by John Ferrer

6.  
Cheerbleeders  11m9s
Penny and Devon, a pair of high school outcasts, are best friends in their isolation in the small town of Blackfoot, Idaho. But things take a turn for the worst when Penny inadvertently turns Devon into an unspeakable evil... the most popular boy in school.
Directed by Peter Podgursky

7.  
Video Killed the Radio Star  4m58s
Music Video for The Limousines.
Directed by David Dutton

8.  
Death Metal  4m48s
A metalhead inherits a satanic guitar that riffs to shreds. 
Directed by Chris McInroy

9.  
Game  8m24s
A terrified woman flees through the woods, trying to evade three monstrous pursuers... but maybe the game is about to change.
Directed by Josh MacDonald

10.
Smiles  13m25s
Borja is about to meet  his girlfriend´s parents. This is meant to be a tricky moment and even awkward.  However, he hasn´t even imagined what he´s going to suffer next. The best way to overcome the situation: to give smile and wait.  
Directed by Javier Chavanel

11.
The Lift  7m52s
A woman driving a ride share car gets more than she bargained for.
Directed by William Butler

12.
Ulises  7m32s
Ulysses goes to to the sea without knowing if he will ever come back to shore as he meets a mermaid who tries to capture him with her enchanting call.
Directed by Jorge Malpica

13.
Malacostraca  15m35s
A failing writer loses his grip on reality as his wife grows pregnant with their child...
Directed by Charles Pieper

14.  Foxes  15m38s
A young couple trapped in a remote neighborhood are beckoned by shrieking foxes into their twilight world.
Directed by Lorcan Finnegan 

 

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