The 20th annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival awarded their 2020 top movies, filmmakers, actors, and screenplay during the fest’s closing night on Thursday, October 15. The festival, which ran from October 6-15, 2020, is the largest and longest-running horror film festival in the United States. This year, the festival made an unprecedented move entirely to drive-in screenings with a lineup of ten back-to-back nights of fright, kicking off with Hulu’s Books of Blood at Calamigos Ranch and following with nine nights at the Regency Theaters’ The Plant Drive-In.

Staying true to their mission of steadfastly supporting filmmakers and screenwriters in the horror and science fiction genres, Screamfest was home to 91 independent filmmakers during the course of its 10-day drive-in series, including 83 short film directors, 67 short film producers, 11 feature film directors, and 13 feature film producers, including 16 female directors and 15 POC filmmakers. In addition to the full festival line-up, the festival also hosted a variety of classics programming including favorites such as Halloween, Halloween II, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Halloween 4, and Halloween 5.

Film entries are accepted in the categories of Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects, Musical Score, and more.  This year’s Best Picture and Best Director went to Adam Stovall’s imaginative paranormal romance A Ghost Waits, which also nabbed Best Actor for MacLeod Andrews. Best Actress and Best Cinematography went to the Australian psychological horror Sweet River. French film Anonymous Animals took home Best Editing and Best Musical Score, while the first-ever Icelandic gay splatter vampire flick Thirst won Best Special Effects Makeup and Best Visual Effects. Please check out the full list of awards recipients below.

Screamfest 2020 Winners

Best Picture –  A Ghost Waits

Best Director –  Adam Stovall – A Ghost Waits

Best Actor – MacLeod Andrews – A Ghost Waits

Best Actress – Lisa Kay – Sweet River

Best Cinematography – Tim Tregoning – Sweet River

Best Editing – Baptiste Rouveure – Anonymous Animals

Best Special Effects Makeup – Geir Njarðarson – Thirst

Best Visual Effects – Atli Þór Einarsson – Thirst

Best Musical Score – Damien Maurel – Anonymous Animals

Best Screenplay – Bloody Mary by Dan Ast and John C. Thursby

Best Short – Vikaari

Best Comedy Short – Kalley’s Last Review

Best Student Short – The Rule of Three