Very Soon Now by Jeremy Heilmeier (USA) 

Outstanding Achievement Award

A sharply constructed one-night horror thriller that uses primal fears — isolation, dead phone lines, a stranger in the house — to create a terrifying countdown. Jess, a college-age babysitter, finds herself in a secluded home surrounded by dark woods, spotty cell service, and a landline that keeps ringing with a man’s cryptic warnings: “One more hour”… “Pretty soon now”… “Very soon now.” The tension simmers through small details: a cold draft from a closed room, children’s stories about a smiling creature in the trees, and footsteps that seem too close. Dialogue is naturalistic, grounded in the babysitter’s attempt to stay calm for the kids — even as her unease grows. The final twist, that the calls were coming from inside the house and the monster has already broken in, turns the childhood game of covering your eyes (“It’s not real”) into a desperate defense against real horror. With its tight structure, efficient escalation, and cinematic ending, this is a script that understands exactly how to scare — not by showing the monster first, but by letting the audience dread his arrival until he is suddenly already there.

Strengths: Strong suspense escalation; compelling lead with emotional stakes; excellent use of setting and pacing; a villain both specific and archetypal; punchy, chilling final reveal.

Weaknesses: Some familiar horror beats (babysitter tropes, “calls from inside the house”); children’s emotional journeys could deepen further; dialogue could trim slightly for even sharper tension.

Comparable to: When a Stranger Calls, The Babadook, It Follows (for dread logic)

Dog Person by James Palombo (USA)

Honorable Mention

A darkly comic vigilante thriller about rage, trauma, and the absurdities of suburban pet culture. Max, a polite but deeply bottled-up closet installer — and former soldier — spends his days being bitten, barked at, and ignored by careless dog owners. At night, he becomes something far stranger: an assassin of dogs, hired by frustrated neighbors through a website on the dark web. His secret trophies — collars neatly displayed like medals — reveal a psyche broken long before act one. Flashbacks to a horrifying childhood accident explain why “Princess” isn’t just a memory… she’s the root of his war. The tone walks a tightrope between satire and psychopathology: scenes of deadpan humor (a drone-lured pack into a garbage truck, a dog leaping off a bridge after a tennis ball) coexist with genuine pathos as Max finally allows a small puppy — unexpected, unwanted — to choose him. His arc bends toward mercy, toward connection, toward healing… just not fully resolved. The script lands as both a wicked genre ride and a surprisingly heartfelt character study: a story about a man learning that the world’s noise doesn’t always equal threat, and that love can arrive wrapped in teeth.

Strengths: Bold, original premise; entertaining tonal blend; developing emotional core; strong character arc; inventive set-pieces; clear cinematic potential for action and dark humor.

Weaknesses: Pacing is long for a short film; supporting characters are caricatured at times; tonal shifts could land more smoothly; police subplot feels under-explored relative to runtime.

Comparable to: American Psycho meets John Wick meets A Boy and His Dog (with a softer heart)

Gators by Linda Kampley (USA)

Nominee

A witty and deceptively unsettling slice of Southern hospitality, Gators plays like an elegant drawing-room comedy slowly mutating into a missing-person mystery. On a warm New Orleans evening, Alicia hosts her anxious cousin Joan, who has recently fled an “emotional disturbance” up North. Their banter — breezy, judgmental, full of local pride and gentle sniping — is charming in that distinctly Southern way. But as Joan recounts her swamp-tour experience, her awe becomes fixation. She describes the alligators’ glowing eyes with reverence, even beauty, while Alicia dismisses the danger with cocktails and denial. What begins as gossip and hospitality gradually reveals a darker undercurrent: Joan is not just fascinated — she is drawn. The final revelation that Joan has vanished into the night, perhaps returning to the creatures who “watched her,” lands like a quiet, eerie turn of the screw. This is a story about repression — about how genteel manners can smooth over even the most alarming truths — and how nature still calls to those who feel more seen in the dark than at a polite party.

Strengths: Razor-sharp comedic dialogue; vivid social satire; strong character voices; subtle escalation of tension beneath politeness; flexible producibility and strong performance showcase.

Weaknesses: Heavy dependence on dialogue over visual storytelling; suspense remains mostly reported rather than experienced; the ending could sharpen the emotional stakes with one more cinematic beat.

Comparable to: The Skeleton Key, Steel Magnolias, Grey Gardens (tonal fringe)

Cal Film Festival 2023-2025 © All Rights Reserved