By Arushi Jacob
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Copyright Signal181 The Overlook Film Festival, which specializes in the horror genre, has announced its audience and jury prize winners for its 10th annual edition. Held April 9-12, the 2026 festival welcomed 96 filmmaker guests to New Orleans and hosted 25 sold-out screenings and events with over 8,000 attendees. The feature film Audience Award, voted on by festival attendees, went to the Opening Night film, Focus Feature’s “Obsession,” director Curry Barker’s “tale of wish-fulfillment gone wrong.” The short film Audience Award was won by Hannah Alline’s “Scissors,” which told the story of a “creep who meets his match in the form of a group of queer friends on a weekend getaway.” The festival also introduced a new section, Side Shows, which featured upcoming films that, despite not falling into the strict definition of horror, felt a good fit for the festival. Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Furious,” which features a crime-fighting father looking to save his daughter, won the inaugural Audience Award in the category. The Grand Jury Prize for Feature Film was awarded to “Never After Dark” from director Dave Boyle, while the Scariest Feature Award went to Taratoa Stappard’s “Mārama.” The jury also awarded a Special Jury Mention to the performance of Midori Francis in “Saccharine.” The features jury was composed of filmmaker Vera Drew, film programer Jongsuk Thomas Nam and journalist Jen Yamato. In the shorts prizes, the Grand Jury Prize for Short Film was awarded to the sci-fi horror film “Man Eating Pussy” by Lee Lawson; Scariest Short went to “Ghoststory” from director Alex Jacobs, with an honorable mention for Best Kitty being awarded to “House Cat” star Katy Wicker; and the Doomscroll Award for Most Harrowing Digital Nightmare went to “Homemade Gatorade” by Carter Amelia Davis. The 2026 Overlook Film Festival Short Film Jury was composed of journalist and playwright Sharai Bohannon, author and film critic Payton McCarty-Simas and filmmaker Jenn Wexler. The 2026 festival also featured a special appearance from makeup artist Rick Baker, who presented a special 45th anniversary screening of “An American Werewolf in London” and received the festival’s Master of Horror Award. Also present to unveil their new film “Family Movie” were Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Travis Bacon. The new horror-comedy was made as a family, with Kevin Bacon serving as director and actor, Kyra Sedgwick acting and Travis Bacon acting and providing music for the film. Other highlights also included the Centerpiece screening of Neon’s “Leviticus” from director Adrian Chiarella; the Closing Night screening of Damian McCarthy’s “Hokum”; a 100th anniversary screening of “A Page of Madness,” the first-ever Japanese horror film; and the Boulet Brothers kicking off their new tour with “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans Tour,” amongst others. The festival is programmed by co-founders Landon Zakheim & Michael Lerman; programmer Daniel Crooke; short film programmer Katie Rife; and programming manager Cameron Asharian.
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