Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister, a warped, sinister spin on the Cinderella story has won the feature film Audience Award at the 2025 Overlook Film Festival.

“It was an honor to be at the Overlook Film Festival,” said Emilie Blichfeldt. “This fest has such great audiences and I loved eavesdropping on their reactions. Thank you to those audiences for appreciating my film.”

For the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film the jury awarded Touch Me from director Addison Heimann, stating “smart, hilarious, unpredictable, gory and emotionally authentic, Touch Me is a film that perfectly represents The Overlook Film Festival – and genre itself. Also, who knew Lou Taylor Pucci had that dawg in him?”

“I was over the moon to be invited back to the Overlook Film Festival this year and to receive this award is just the bees knees,” said Addison Heimann. “Thanks to Landon, Mike and the whole team for having me and thanks to the jury for recognizing this weird little tentacle movie. Make movies with friends! It’s just the best.”

The jury awarded the Scariest Feature Award to Yûta Shimotsu’s Best Wishes to All, declaring that “with its unrelenting dread in broad daylight, a tableau in which the familiar becomes terrifying, and a social theme that would make George Romero, Bong Joon Ho and Jordan Peele proud, Best Wishes To All gets under your skin and stays there.”

“I am honored to have been selected for the “scariest feature” amongst all the wonderful entries,” said Yûta Shimotsu. “The word “fear” can be defined in many ways as there are many different kinds of fear. With this award, I will continue to work hard so that you can feel a new sense of fear that you have never felt before. Thank you very much!”

Complete list of the 2025 Overlook Film Festival award-winning films

Audience Awards

Winner — Feature Film

The Ugly Stepsister
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Cast: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger
Norway, 2024

In this warped, sinister spin on a Cinderella story, the lens shifts to plain-faced Elvira, who is willing to do whatever it takes to compete with her enchantingly beautiful stepsister Agnes, and win the prince’s heart. No procedure is too gruesome, too bloody, or too painful to achieve her happily ever after, in this visceral body horror from Norway.

Honorable Mention — Feature Film

It Ends
Director: Alexander Ullom
Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
United States, 2024

Four recent college grads, out for an innocent late night drive, find themselves trapped in a seemingly never-ending hellscape where they are being haunted by mysterious forces. Questions of friendship and existentialism are explored in director Alexander Ullom’s genre-bending first feature, equal parts terrifying and thought-provoking.

Winner — Short Film

The Traveler & The Troll, Dir. Adam Murray, United States, WORLD PREMIERE
A traveler stops to rest in a clearing of a haunted forest. Son, they learn they have stumbled upon the lair of a terrifying troll who demands gifts for passage.

Honorable Mention — Short Film

Last to Leave, Dir. Mary Elizabeth Ellis, United States, 2023
Last to Leave addresses the pandemic of loneliness, our primal need as humans for connection, and a reckoning with the way we treat our home planet.

Juried Awards

Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film

Touch Me
Directors: Addison Heimann
Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jordan Gavaris, Marlene Forte, Paget Brewster
United States, 2024

In Addison Heimann’s (Hypochondriac, Overlook ‘22) wild and absurd new feature, intergalactic polyamory and one very codependent friendship collide when stoner roommates Craig and Joey have to suddenly move out of their apartment and decide to shack up with Joey’s toxic ex who happens to be a horny, narcissistic alien from outer space. Tale as old as time.

Honorable Mention for Best Feature Film

Redux Redux
Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus

Cast: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings, Grace Van Dien, Taylor Misiak, Dendrie Taylor
United States, 2025

Revenge is hard. Doing it again and again is harder. Emmy nominated brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus (American Vandal, Cobra Kai) present a gritty sci-fi thriller that follows a mother on a warpath through parallel universes in a desperate attempt to quench her desire for vengeance.

Scariest Feature Film Award

Best Wishes to All
Director: Yûta Shimotsu
Cast: Kotone Furukawa
Japan, 2024

A young nursing student gets an unexpectedly twisted dose of reality when she visits her grandparents in the countryside, only to uncover the secrets to their exceedingly happy life. Director Yûta Shimotsu’s unsettling debut draws from classics like Audition and The Wicker Man to create a wholly unique vision.

Honorable Mention for Scariest Feature Film

Good Boy
Director: Ben Leonberg
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Hunter Goetz, Max
United States, 2024

Indy is a good boy; a faithful dog, he is always by his human Todd’s side. When Todd seeks quiet in an empty family home in the countryside, Indy finds there is a strange, malevolent presence lurking in the shadows — an evil that only he can sense. Shot entirely from Indy’s perspective, Ben Leonberg’s first feature balances bark with bite

Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film

Los Muchachos, Dir. Alejandro Artiles, Spain, 2025, WORLD PREMIERE
Through a mobile phone and isolated in the La Palma observatory, Fran must face the last thing any parent wants to hear.

Honorable Mention for Creature Design

The Traveler & The Troll, Dir. Adam Murray, United States, WORLD PREMIERE
A traveler stops to rest in a clearing of a haunted forest. Son, they learn they have stumbled upon the lair of a terrifying troll who demands gifts for passage.

Scariest Short Film Award

Cruelty, Dir. Sam Das, United States, 2024
A young trans woman is chased into a junkyard while being followed home late at night. There, she must outwit her predator and summon the strength of a goddess.

Honorable Mention for Production Design

Easybake, Dir. Sasha Duncan, Canada, 2024
After consuming a clay sculpture, an insecure teen wakes with the ability to sculpt her own body, leading to an obsessive pursuit of “perfection.”