Awards night hosts Mr. He (left) and Remy Cashman (right) are pictured with HorrorBuzz founder Norm Gidney (center) – Photo by Heather Anderson

For 2021, the Midsummer Scream Screaming Room presented by Horrorbuzz, usually held at the annual Midsummer Scream convention, took place, for the first time, as a stand alone event. The festival was held at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA on July 10-11. A large crowd was on hand for the festival’s closing night awards gala, hosted by drag performer Mr. He and our own Remy Cashman, as the 14 Audience and 3 Jury Awards were announced and presented.

Here is the list of winners:

JURY AWARDS

In 2021, we were fortunate to have our largest jury yet. 14 members of the horror community including: actors, directors, producers, critics, haunters, publicists, and all four members of the Midsummer Scream executive team.

PALME D’GORE – The Screaming Room’s highest accolade. The Palme d’Gore is the award that honors the best across the board. Both quality of filmmaking and entertainment value are taken into consideration.

Palme d’Gore: KOREATOWN GHOST STORY – Directed by Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum

JACK-O-LANTERN – At its heart, Midsummer Scream is a celebration of Halloween. In keeping with that idea, the Jack-O-Lantern award honors the film that best represents the spirit of the season we all gather together to celebrate.

Jack-O-Lantern: SPELLBOUND – Directed by Amelia Parker

MARY SHELLEY – This award is for ingenuity and creativity. Much like a mad scientist building a monster of whatever they can find, the winner of this award represents creative achievement despite possible constraints of time, budget, or technology.

Mary Shelley Audience: THE RELIC – Directed by J.M. Logan

AUDIENCE AWARDS

For each block, audience members were given a ballot to select their favorite film.

Anthology of Terror: O.I. – Directed By N’cee van Heerden

Art House Horror: THIS IS NOT ACTING, THIS IS HELL! – Directed by Spider One

A Captive Audience: KOREATOWN GHOST STORY – Directed by Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum

Crimes and Passions: COLE & COLETTE – Directed by Matt Boda

Die Laughing: HORRORSCOPE – Directed by Pol Diggler

Fantastic Worlds Audience: RIP TO THE RESCUE! – Directed By Paudie Baggott

Happy Halloween: THE AXE AND THE IRON – Directed by Matthew Roseman

The Occult: FATHER TIME – Directed by Thomas Pickering

Screaming Rainbow: THE LAST LEAF – Directed by Sia Aleskovskaya

Splattertown: WHAT THE SPELL? – Directed by Krsy Fox

Spooky Stories: BEST FRIENDS FOREBEAR – Directed by Pablo Semper

Stalkers & Slashers: OVERKILL – Directed by Alex Montilla

Supernatural Scares: SWARM – Directed by Andy Chen

WTF???: A NIGHTMARE ON SESAME STREET – Directed by Matthew Rodriguez

Congratulations again to all of our winning films and thank you to everyone that was able to join us for this incredible event. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.