Dark Nights Film Fest

28/05/2026

I'll just leave this here.

'Obsession' proves horror fans are still way ahead of Hollywood, which continues to ignore the genre until the box office forces it to pay attention.

21/05/2026

Filmmakers, creatives, mates of either ... a wee nudge, one month 'til our Regular Deadline.

Dead easy to submit via FilmFreeway.com/darknightsfilmfest

04/05/2026

We are very excited to announce the guest jury selection for Dark Nights Film Fest - V.3, 2026.

Judging the short film selection will be WINTER WILLIAMS, BARRY WATTERSON, and URSULA DABROWSKY.

Judging the unproduced screenplays will be SHAYNE ARMSTRONG, MARGARET M. MCDONALD, and MARTYN ROBERTS.

With ROBBIE MILES returning as our esteemed Unproduced Screenplay Competition winners' mentor.

Please check out our guest jury's credentials via the festival website link below.

The call for entries is open and hungry. Next deadline is our Regular, June 21st. See website for submission details.

Dark Nights Film Fest's guest jury for 2026 is made up of three short film judges, and three unproduced screenplay judges.

04/05/2026

We'll be announcing our darkly delightful guest Jury selection for 2026 tomorrow! Keep your eyes peeled.

29/04/2026

Just over 48 hours left until our Earlybird Deadline!

But don’t fear the reaper, there are three more deadlines (Regular, Late, and Final).

24/04/2026

Dark Nights’ nightmare warriors representing at Fantastic Film Festival Australia’s opening night.

21/04/2026

A wee reminder for those with completed films and screenplays burning holes in home computers...

21/04/2026

Thanks to Horror Fuel for the shout out!

Dark Nights Film Fest call for entries

15/04/2026

Our mates Fantastic Film Festival Australia have a program bursting at the seams this year, threatening to tear the fabric of time and space.

Two highlights of the program are the dual weekend mini-programs of cult classic nightmare cinema: vampires and J-horror.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND - a weekend packed with bloodsucking freaks from 1 - 3 May

Stake your seat at one or all of the undead cult favourites that each take a stab at the popular culture and ancient tales that surround the forever horror icons that are, vampires.

FFFA's retrospective covers all kinds of fetid ghoulishness from mannered 70s poetry through to the hardened romantic 90s.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008) // MARTIN (1977) // NEAR DARK (1987) // NOSFERATU (1979) // THE ADDICTION (1995) // THE LOST BOYS (1987) // TWILIGHT (2008)

FLESH//GHOST//MACHINE: JAPANESE NIGHTMARES - a weekend packed with J-horror classics from 8 - 10 May.

Through twisted cyberpunk mayhem, haunted samurai fables, and serial killer carnage that mine the folkloric and phantasmagorical myths of Japan, Japanese cinema has proven fecund territory for surveying the limits of genre filmmaking.

FFFA's retrospective delves into J-horror's distinctive legacy and impact through its finest moments from the 1960s to the new millennium.

DARK WATER (2000) // DEMONS (1971) // ICHI THE KILLER (2001) // ONIBABA (1964) // SU***DE CLUB (2001) // TESTUO: THE IRON MAN (1989) // UZUMAKI (1998)

Tickets for individual Melbourne and Sydney sessions here:
🎟 fantasticfilmfestival.com.au/theme/japanese-nightmares

07/04/2026

Calling all nightmare warriors!

Australia’s darkest film festival returns for 2026, to herald the new blood shining in the pale moonlight.

DARK NIGHTS FILM FEST
V.3

Saturday 10 October.

Reservoir Cinema, Surry Hills, Sydney.

THE CALL FOR ENTRIES IS NOW OPEN!

We want to see the freakiest and creepiest SHORT FILMS from all over the world.

Horror, thriller, fantasy, noir, science fiction, action, western, war.

Be it high-brow, low-brow, elevated, underground, arthouse, exploitation, animated, or maybe a mutant mix of dark genres.

We want them wild and we want them wicked.

We want them unhinged and scary as hell.

You can find all the necessary details on our website, or go directly to

Dark Nights Film Fest - included in Dread Central's "90 Best Genre Film Festivals on Earth" (2025) and Adrian Tofei's definitive industry list of "Top 110 Ge...