We publish below the winners of the fifth edition of the DarkVeins Horror Fest, international event dedicated to horror, dark, gothic and extreme genre cinematography curated by theDark Circle Cultural Association.
Our heartfelt thanks go to all the participants who sent us their posters, trailers, features and shorts, and also to the jurors who shared this experience with us by viewing and voting on all the material in the competition of the DarkVeins Horror Fest 2021.
We therefore thank all the members of the jury who are: Erica Salvatore and Tara Jabul of the cinema page Celluloid Nightmares along with David D'Andrea and Caroline Darko by Horror Über Alles, community dedicated to horror cinema.
Congratulations to the winners!
The winners of DarkVeins Horror Fest 2021:
- BEST HORROR FEATURE FILM:
Duyster (Belgium - 2021) by Thomas Vanbrabant and Jordi Ostir; - BEST FEATURE FILM:
Trans (South Korea - 2021) by Naeri Do; - BEST HORROR SHORT FILM:
Oh, Baby (Ireland - 2021) by Stephen McKeon; - BEST SHORT FILM:
Strange Attraction (Russia - 2021) by Svyatoslav Denisov; - BEST EXTREME SHORT FILM:
Asmodeus (Canada - 2021) by Eric Falardeau; - BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM:
Crappy Christmas - Operation Christmas Child (Germany - 2019) by Jürgen Kling; - SPECIAL MENTION:
Void (Australia - 2020) by Claire Marshall; - BEST TRAILER:
Slayoffs (USA - 2020) by Jared Tipton; - BEST POSTER:
Severe (Canada - 2021) - Poster art created by C. Blake Evernden.
Below is more info on the winning films:
Duyster (Belgium - 2021) is a found footage horror film directed by Thomas Vanbrabant and Jordi Ostir.
The cast includes Maïmouna Badjie, Tristan FeytenKey, Charles De Meester, Louise Bergez, Sven De Ridder and Stefaan Degand.
The screenplay is by Thomas Vanbrabant himself.
Plot: students Nora, Bas and Milan are making a documentary for school about Johannes Duyster, the former executioner of the city of Antwerp. Learning about some aspects of his dark life, the children will come across strange incidents.
Trans (South Korea - 2021) is written and directed by Naeri Do. It stars Jeongin Hwang, Kyungho Yoon, and Taeyoung Kim, Trans is a science fiction film about the structure of the human brain and some effects unleashed on it with the use of a tesla coil.
Plot: Minyoung Go is a bullied teenager who dreams of becoming a transhuman to get revenge on a group of boys who bully and humiliate her on a daily basis. After a high-voltage electric shock, the transhuman girl attempts a journey through time and space using the tesla coil to find out who killed a student at her school.
Written and directed by Irish composer Stephen McKeon, Oh, Baby (Ireland - 2021) is a horror film starring Tara Lee. Running time: 15 min. 39 sec.
Stephen McKeon has scored the soundtrack for more than 80 films including. Pilgrimage and Hole - The Abyss.
Plot: a young woman is awakened at night by the crying of a baby. Is she a prisoner or is something diabolical happening?
Void (Australia - 2020) is a hypnotic experimental short film, a film in which dance opens up a dimension of anguish. 15 minutes in length, Void is directed by Claire Marshall and stars Erin O'Rourke.
Plot: a lone figure, dancer Erin O'Rourke, looks down, slips stealthily, sinks, twirls, stops, twists, traversing an ancient labyrinthine staircase as a metaphor for her psyche, for the "psychological entrapment" of women.
Asmodeus (Canada - 2021), extreme black-and-white experimental film written, directed and starring Eric Falardeau (Thanatomorphose). Duration: 10 min. 30 sec.
Also in the cast are Juliette Pottier Plaziat, Stéphanie Cadieux and Annaëlle Winand. Special effects are by Nina Anton while cinematography is by Luc Desjardins.
Asmodeus has been described by the director as a "gory self-portrait, a journey to enlightenment." In addition, the film is inspired by the American avant-garde (Anger, Brakhage, Deren), silent cinema, transgressive art, and occult authors (Crowley, Lévi, LaVey).
The film is loaded with occult imagery in which a man conjures and meets three different female incarnations of the lustful demon.
Crappy Christmas - Operation Christmas Child (Germany - 2019), a Christmas-themed stop motion horror film written and directed by Jürgen Kling, who made the puppets in collaboration with Barbara Dehm. Running time: 6 min.
Plot: Kid is kidnapped only to be held captive in a small cell located in the basement of a church where he is raped by three priests. On Christmas night, a mysterious visitor leaves him a sack full of presents.
Written and directed by Svyatoslav Denisov, Strange Attraction (Russia - 2021) is a 20-minute short film starring Snejana Samokhina, Lyubov Kokovina and Arseny Alexandrov.
Plot: In Sofia's man's apartment, his ex-girlfriend still lives. He is unable to make a choice causing a conflict to arise between the two girls....
Severe (Canada - 2021): poster art created by C. Blake Evernden (Living Proof, Prairie Dog), a Canadian filmmaker, makeup and visual artist.
The winning poster:
