The International Horror Hotel Film Festival and Convention is held every June in Northeast Ohio (near Cleveland). We have open competitions for films, scripts and music videos in the following genres: documentary (film only), experimental (film only), fantasy, horror, horror-comedy, slasher, sci-fi and suspense-thriller. Competitions also open for our horror film scoring competition (submissions through our website). At the event, we also have scream king/scream queen and FX makeup competitions.

The event features four days of film screenings, two days of panel discussions and lectures, a convention, special guests, networking parties, live competitions and more. The 2019 festival will tentatively be held June 6th-9th - location TBA.

Awards & Prizes

Genre awards in each category - 1st through 4th place, plus honorable mention awards, for qualifying projects.

For attending winners, awards include trophies, plaques and certificates. Non-attending winners receive e-certificates.

Grand champion belts to: Best Overall Film, Best Overall Script, and Viewer's Choice Award.

Additional film awards and nominations such as acting, cinematography, directing, editing, and Ohio film awards.

Additional sponsored awards TBA.

Rules & Terms

***PLEASE READ ALL RULES/TERMS BEFORE SUBMITTING***

When submitting your project, be sure to e-mail us at kristina@worldeonline.com with your selected genre: documentary (film only); experimental (film only); fantasy; horror; horror-comedy; sci-fi; slasher; suspense-thriller. Filmmakers, please also note if your film is a student project and/or a foreign (non-English) film. Please include your project name and tracking number in the e-mail.

There are NO restrictions as to when your film or script was completed or where it has been released. Anyone may enter the competition. All entries must receive an average score of 85 or above in the judging process to qualify for award placement.

Filmmakers - Please check BOTH copies of your DVD or Blu-Ray before mailing to make sure they play. Each DVD or Blu-Ray should have your film title, total run time and FF tracking number. It is recommended that you check your DVDs or Blu-Rays on more than one DVD/Blu-Ray player (computers don't count) to ensure they play, as this is a common issue with submissions. We do NOT accept files, file discs, or any other format - NO EXCEPTIONS.

Hard copies are NOT returned, unless you clear this with the festival administration from the beginning. In order to have your disc(s) or script(s) returned to you (after the festival) you MUST send an SASE along with your disc(s) OR script(s) - not separately or after.

IF YOU SUBMIT VIA SECURE ONLINE SCREENER AND YOUR FILM IS SELECTED TO SCREEN, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO SEND A HARD COPY (DVD / BLU-RAY) OF YOUR FILM FOR SCREENING. ANY SELECTED FILM NOT RECEIVED BY A GIVEN DEADLINE WILL BE REPLACED IN THE LINEUP - NO EXCEPTIONS.

We do not grant submission fee waivers under any circumstance. We do not pay screening fees.

Please note, if your project qualifies for an award, you or a direct representative from your project must be in attendance at the festival in order to receive any physical awards. Non-attending winners will be e-mailed award certificates after the event.

All submissions - whether accepted or not - come with ONE complimentary 4-day event pass to the festival. No additional passes will be comped. Any additional passes must be purchased in advance or at the door.

If you have a film in competition which can no longer be considered for screening, you may withdraw it from screening consideration but still leave it in competition for award placement. Please e-mail kristina@worldeonline.com if you need to withdraw from consideration for screening.

You may withdraw your submission at any time, but there are no refunds on submissions.
43 Reviews
Overall Rating
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  • Leonard Varasano

    Thank you International Horror Hotel for recognizing my script,
    Father Knight, as a Finalist in the Short Fantasy Category!

    June 2019
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  • Giancarlo Orellana

    I had a great time at the Horror Hotel! This is a great festival for networking and opportunity to watch amazing horror films from all around the world. Thank you to this fest for screening my film and awarding it 2nd Place in the Suspense Thriller Shorts category.

    June 2019
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  • Taryn Hough

    This is a fun festival! The co director of our short film attended the 2019 Horror Hotel festival and had a great time. He said that the film lineup was entertaining and the events were structured in a way that made it really easy to network with other filmmakers. You could watch films, visit the vendor room, or check out one of the panel discussions. We will definitely be submitting future projects here. Highly recommended!

    June 2019
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  • Nate Carroll

    Great folks. I appreciated the follow-up during the entire process. We are very happy to receive an award for their Micro-Horror category!

    June 2019
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  • JoeBert Entertainment

    Horror Hotel has a great community behind it that puts an emphasis on independent filmmaking. The weekend included filmmaking panels along with several networking opportunities in addition to the film screenings. All of the events took place in the same venue which made everything very convenient for the attendees.

    June 2019
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