[HollywoodInvestigator.com] For the 22nd year in a row, the Hollywood Investigator is happy to announce the winners of its Tabloid Witch Awards horror film contest. Winning films came from Australia, Columbia, Italy, Japan, Romania, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States (those last three nations always make an appearance).

A total of 237 films were entered this year, with a little over 7% winning an award. In selecting winners, films were assessed for originality, technical mastery, acting, thematic depth, aesthetics (how well the technical aspects supported the film's story, characters, and themes), and entertainment value.

This year we received lots of religious and supernatural horror, and a surprisingly large number of films about postmortem photography (three of which won).

And now are 2025's Tabloid Witch Award winning films:

* Best Horror Feature: The Photographer

In the year 1950, an exorcism goes horribly wrong in a Spanish orphanage. Both Father Carlos (Alberto Tierrez) and the possessed, a young girl named Alejandra (Noah Casas), are killed. Well, as least Alejandra is finally at peace. Or the orphanage hopes.

The orphanage hires Inna (Daniela Casas) to photograph Alejandra's corpse, in the belief that this will exorcise any lingering evil. Father Carlos died before Alejandra's demon was expelled, so her corpse might still be possessed. Kinda like the Annabelle doll.

That's not an offhand comparison. The Photographer borrows heavily from The Conjuring universe. Inna even finds an Annabelle doll in her room. One might call The Photographer a fan film. Its end credits play over documentary footage of exorcisms, much like in The Conjuring films. (Whether The Photographer's documentary footage is authentic or parodic, I don't know, but its looks as real as in The Conjuring.)

The Photographer is a strange film. Alejandra and Inna are portrayed by the Casas sisters. They look almost identical, making the film difficult to follow at times. Are we watching Inna or Alejandra? Adding to the confusion, while Noah was nine when the film was shot (appropriate for her role of Alejandra), Daniela was barely in her teens. Inna looks like a child, yet is supposed to be an adult.

Writer/director Carlos Marban Torres confronts this issue by having Inna several times tell people that she's older than she looks. Even so, she looks like a child. I'm not sure what he was going for here.

Inna also tells people that she learned her trade from her mother. I'm guessing that Inna is also an orphan and still a child. But, not wanting to go to an orphanage herself, she assumed her mother's business and is passing herself off as an adult. If so, it's an interesting conceit.

Despite borrowing heavily from The Conjuring universe, there's also much that's unusual about The Photographer, infusing it with originality. Apart casting minor sisters, one of whom claims to be an adult, Alberto Tierrez is cast against type as Father Carlos. His bald head and jutting, naked brows give him the sinister look of Michael Berryman in The Hills Have Eyes. I expected Father Carlos to be yet another stereotypically evil Catholic clergyman. But he was refreshingly pious, despite his appearance.

And so things are not what they appear in The Photographer. The sinister looking priest is holy. The child photographer is an adult. And the dead girl isn't quite dead.

For a fan film (if it can be considered such), The Photographer is extremely slick. Production values are first rate. The cinematography boasts arresting compositions and appropriate color tones. The dark brown hues, like an old sepia toned photo, are oppressively Gothic while also emphasizing the film's period setting. Sound design, demonic make-up effects, the spider visual effects, are obviously the work of professionals who've mastered their craft

Like much of the story, the ending is unusual. Inna's actions are especially surprising. So too that, 75 years later, no one seems aware of what she had done.

On top of it all, at under 72 minutes, The Photographer is tightly edited to create a fast-paced, entertaining "roller coaster ride" of demonic horror.

* Best Horror Documentary: Smile for the Dead

William H. Mumler was the most celebrated "spirit photographer" of the 1860s. Working in Boston, and for $10 a pop, he would photograph a client sitting in a chair. When the photo was developed, a ghostly image of the client's dead relative could be seen standing nearby. Mumler had a gift for attracting and photographing ghosts on demand. Also, his secretary and eventual wife, Hannah Green, was a spirit medium. So that helped.

To this day, no one knows how Mumler got away with it. Photographing fake ghosts is easy. The tricky part is faking it under the scrutiny of skeptics and photographic experts. Several came to debunk Mumler, but none succeeded.

In Smile for the Dead, Hamilton Young Ward investigates Mumler's life history, and the moral and technical aspects of his work. Ward's interview subjects include paranormal investigators, clergy, and grief experts. Their consensus is that either Mumler's clients suspected a trick but wanted to be fooled, or at the very least, they benefited by being fooled. Seeing fake ghosts of their deceased loved ones was for them "part of the grieving process." I'm not convinced.

It's also speculated that Helen Stuart, who owned the studio, and Hannah Green were the same woman. Again, I'm not convinced. Stuart had been a prolific photographer. When a client came to Mumler, Stuart allegedly gave Mumler a photo of the client's "dead relative," taken years before by Stuart while the relative was still alive. Yet wouldn't the client recognize Green (who worked with Mumler) as being the self same Stuart?

But the high point of the film is photographer Mark Osterman. Working with vintage equipment, Osterman takes us through the process of 19th century photography, step-by-step, demonstrating how Mumler might have created his "spirit photos," while also using sleight of hand to avoid detection by the debunkers in the studio. I think Osterman gets it right.

Overall, Smile for the Dead is an intriguing piece of historical detective work. I agree with some of Ward's subjects, some not. Ward himself is undecided about several matters. I suppose his intent is to provoke speculation, but leave us with questions.

Apart from its content, Smile for the Dead is also beautifully shot (also by Ward), and supported by a gently lyrical musical score by Sam Nobles.

* Best Dramatic Horror Short: Immortal Reflections

Lisa (Marta Manzoni) is interviewing Elira (Bianca Topor), a postmortem photographer. Elira confesses to being afraid of death. But she is also enamored with the beauty of death. And with a certain chair that someone used to commit suicide with, centuries ago.

Immortal Reflections is a Victorian ghost story set in modern times. Its ghosts are not scary, but quiet, dignified, and melancholy. A somber atmosphere pervades the film. The sumptuous production design supports its Victorian ambiance. Colors are vivid but subdued, emphasizing shades of green (the color of growth and life?). The cinematography's soft focus contributes to the film's subdued atmosphere.

Everything about Immortal Reflections softens against painful reality. Elira tries to soften death for her clients by preserving their loved ones' memories. She tries to prepare and soften Lisa against some bad news. The film's aesthetics soften its dark "surprise ending" for the viewer. Death and its ghosts are not to be feared, but sadly embraced when met.

Immortal Reflections is a horror art film. A slow burn, old fashioned ghost story, beautifully presented, moody and memorable.

* Best Comedic Horror Short: Arson

The only thing sadder than an aging rock band that never made it big is an aging boy band that never made it big. This appears to be the fate of Actual Size, whose four members are reduced to performing in pizza places to indifferent diners. And so these desperate singers take desperate measures. They conjure a demon.

Ms. Black, the demon, remakes them into Arson. "You're death metal now," she tells them. And oh yes, there's a catch. Which is what? "You'll figure it out."

Films about rock musicians who sell their souls for fame have a long tradition in horror. Arson borrows from that tradition, its underlying concept most closely resembling Shock 'Em Dead.

Still, Arson is its own thing, a comedic gem. All the actors are talented and funny, creating pathetically sympathetic characters, much like Spinal Tap. The cinematography is polished, incorporating the usual Argento influenced nondiegetic colored lights. Make-up for the demon and singers (how the latter look after selling their souls) is distinctive and creepy, without stifling the actors' humor and personalities. Editing is well paced, quickly moving the story so we are never bored.

Music is especially important in a rock horror film, and Arson doesn't disappoint. "The Devil Made Me Do It" is a great tune, performed in the satirically over-the-top style of Spinal Tap. Arson is hilariously entertaining even after repeat viewing.

* Best Avant-Garde Horror Film: Girls Just Wanna Have Kill

Sean Kurosawa's work has been described as trash and underground. Avant-garde also works. Girls Just Wanna Have Kill is less a story than a collage of discordant images and sound bites. They coalesce into a sort of story, but overall the film is a surreal puzzle with pieces missing, replaced with pieces from other puzzles.

Early in the film, a scientist rants and raves about time travel, Jason Vorhees, and other paranormal conspiracy stuff. Then a documentary filmmaker and pop star "splatter heroine" time travel 30 years into the past, to where a coach and two young joggers were murdered. There's some discussion of such places being "stigmatized" (kinda like in Ju-On). At times we see the women jogging, at times the aftermath of their deaths. Other weird things happen.

In telling his sorta story, Kurosawa uses every available cinematic technique seemingly because they're available. An experimental playfulness infuses his film. Split screens and multiple screens abound. Aspect ratios, color palettes, screen resolutions, and sound quality are always changing. Despite the story's darkness, the action is often sped up for comical effect. Editing shifts about from long takes, to choppy, to bizarro insert shots.

Kurosawa also plays with background music, which sometimes supports, sometimes contradicts the events on screen, alternating from ominous to frivolous tunes with wild abandon. Peppy renditions of "London Bridge" and "Yankee Doodle" are favorite motifs.

Girls Just Wanna Have Kill draws from both Western and Japanese pop culture, its very title an homage to Cindi Lauper's hit single. The film blends these Western icons with Japanese legends and anime images. The anime is excessively saccharine and brightly colored one moment, then morbidly (and comically) gruesome the next. (Be sure to sit through the end credits and see what becomes of the giddily jogging anime girls.)

One is advised not to try and make sense of Girls Just Wanna Have Kill. Rather, let it wash over you. Accept its sounds and images like a crazy nightmare while suffering from indigestion. Or a particularly twisted acid trip while vacationing in Japan.

* Best Animated Horror Film: Transitus S.E. 2025

A young woman awakes inside a coffin. We assume she's been buried alive. She likely thinks so too. But when she breaks free, she finds herself hanging from the coffin in a black void. From which she is attacked by a flying ... demon?

So she was dead after all! And now she's in Hell. Or more likely in Transitus, seeing as the film is called Transitus 2025 S.E. According to Wikipedia, "In Western Christianity, the Transitus (translation from Ecclesiastical Latin: crossing) refers to 'the time of passage through death to life'." And judging from the film, it's not too pleasant a place. It might as well be Hell.

Transitus 2025 S.E. portrays the woman's continuing struggles with demons or monsters. Despite their malevolence, their stop-motion animation embodies an old-fashioned innocence, reminiscent of the Italian "sword and sandals" movies of over 60 years ago.

Transitus 2025 S.E. (I still haven't figured out what the S.E. stands for) is a striking mix of animation and live action, creating visuals that are both gruesome yet whimsical, darkly surreal yet charming.

This short film keeps its story moving at a brisk pace. The woman's struggles never pause, as she overcomes one peril after another. The inconclusive ending leaves us wondering just what awaits her ... and us ... when we die?

* Best Trash Horror Film: Head

Clarence is just a normal young guy who works at a hardware store, pines for a girlfriend, and has a "brain that excretes waste." A giant pimple on his forehead periodically explodes, shooting geysers of green goo into the faces of customers and pretty girls. That tends to drive them away, putting both his job and his love life at risk.

But there must be a pretty girl somewhere out there whose brain also excretes waste. Clarence's mom tells him so. He just has to find her.

Head is mondo bizarro body horror, sporting the crude look and sound of a VHS production shot in the 1990s. Images are low resolution and glitchy, colors are washed-out and faded, sound appears dubbed and out-of-sync. (Despite the fact that production stills indicate that Head was shot on film with sync sound). All this crudeness aesthetically supports the film's crazy, trashy premise.

The make-up effects are similarly crude, trashy, and aesthetically appropriate. The green goo is disgusting, vile, and excessively over-the-top. The sort of effects that combine the meticulous realism of Herschell Gordon Lewis with the refined good taste of John Waters. The images of the brain's interior (if that's what we're looking at) add an extra note of Eraserhead style surrealism.

Yet despite suffering from history's worst case of zits, Clarence is a nice guy who exudes optimism and good humor in his search for the perfect mate. We like and support him in his quest.

The music is also well-chosen. A sort of upbeat techno-pop muzak, conveying a frivolous light-heartedness that supports Head's crazy humor.

Overall, Head is deliriously disgusting, hilariously entertaining, and delightfully trashy.

* Best Horror Music Video: Walk With Me Through the Fire

More than a simple music video, Walk With Me Through the Fire is a short film that tells a tall tale in under six minutes. A group of skeletons time-travel to the Old West to retrieve an "artifact" that turns out to be a glowing (supernatural?) guitar. Along they way they engage in a gunfight, stop by a salon for some whiskey, then pluck the strings on their new find.

The images and visual effects are excellent, beautifully recreating a sepia-toned Old Western frontier town. Some of the images seem AI generated, yet most of the actors appear too realistic for AI. They lack that plastic, robotic "AI look." If this video was created entirely by AI, it's the best we've seen.

K.K. Hammond's slow haunting melody nicely complements her video (which she also directed). The action flows like smooth molasses, matching the languid pace of Hammond's singing and strumming. Add a bit of surrealism and dark humor, and you have what Hammond calls a "Spaghetti Western meets horror music video from slide blues guitarist and friends."

We call it the Best Horror Music Video of 2025.

* Honorable Mention

The Honorable Mention prizes, like the "Best ... Film" prizes, are shared by the film's writer and director.

Honorable Mentions go to films that didn't win in any specific category, but still deserve attention. We keep them few in number, so winning one is a rare honor.

* Dead Weight

Jessica (Gabriella Torta) has a long list of complaints about her roommate, Kim (Brittany Hickey), and is about to evict her. But Kim pleads that everything Jessica blames her for -- from running over her cat to eating her peanut butter -- were the misdeeds of a ghost. Kim convinces Jessica to hold a seance with an Ouija board. Maybe the ghost will confess?

The ghost does respond to the girls' summons. But its answers are not what Kim expected.

Dead Weight is a delightful little film. The setup is common to ghost films, but the outcome is unexpected. The tale is funny and entertaining, with an amusingly spooky atmosphere. (Light-heartedly eerie, as in The Frighteners.) Production values are slick. Pacing is excellent. We dive right into the story, with brisk editing that permits no dull moments. The film ends leaving us wanting to see more of these girls, rather than having grown weary of their company.

Despite the film's short length (under five minutes), Torta and Hickey create rich characters united by an abrasive chemistry. They make a believable odd couple, Jessica being the fussy Felix to Kim's flaky Oscar. Overall, Dead Weight is a comedic gem.

* Stop Taking Pictures

A photographer, Aaron (Joseph Groth), loses his wife, Lilly, in a subway accident. In the throes of a drug-fueled depression, he wanders the streets and subways late at night, taking random photos. Then he sees Lilly in one of his photos, gazing back at him.

Like Immortal Reflections, Stop Taking Pictures is a horror art film. Resplendent black & white cinematography captures striking compositions of local architecture, contributing to the film's emphasis on atmosphere and insinuation. Heavy use of brief insert shots (e.g., eyes, worms, tombstones) and ethereal classical music furthers the story's darkening, other-otherworldly mood.

It appears that Lilly (Lina Romero) might have been a witch -- not the loving wife that Aaron thought her to be. While the two tales differ, Stop Taking Pictures has the feel of Fritz Lieber's "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes." Its use of classical music amid urban architecture also evokes Lost Souls.

Stop Taking Pictures makes admirable use of pragmatic aesthetics. The film opens with Lilly walking in the subway while we hear Aaron's phone conversation with a police officer, informing him of Lilly's death. That's much cheaper than filming Romero getting crushed along the train tracks. But it also plays into the film's conceit that Lilly might not actually be dead. (Can a witch die?)

Stop Taking Pictures is a beautiful film, well-paced, with an engaging lead character, a strong sense of mystery and intrigue, plus a dash of the supernatural. An excellent effort.

* Horror Spell

Haven (Elena Flores) is deeply depressed because she blames her carelessness for her roommate's death. Even at a Halloween party, Haven can't forget her guilt and grief. She hides away in a bedroom to cry. Where she finds a grimoire. (That's convenient, seeing that she's already dressed as a witch for the party.)

And so Haven casts a spell to "change reality," hoping it will mean her roommate never died. But the change is far bigger. Haven and all the party goers are swept into a string of classic horror film subgenres.

The concept of people trapped in classic horror films is not new. The characters in Waxwork II: Lost in Time journeyed through several horror films. In Daniel Ziegler's Horror Spell, Haven and friends confront slashers, zombies, a 1930s vampire, and silent film monsters.

Horror Spell is horror fun. Low on logic, high on entertainment, and a great Halloween treat.

* Chompy's Burgers

Manager Dave says the workers and customers at Chompy's Burgers are family. Chompy agrees. Chompy is mascot for Chompy's Burgers. He wants everyone in his fast food family to love and eat his burgers. Every morsel. He'll know if you don't...

Chompy's Burgers is a silly tale. Although funny and entertaining, its strongest asset is not its paranormal story, but the talented ensemble cast that brings this comedy of the absurd to life. That includes the vegetarian employee (Katie Clark), the "Karen" customer (Addie Holman), Manager Dave (Ryan Farrington), and Chompy's first victim (Jemmyn Buchanan).

Although not a mocumentary, Chompy's Burgers has the feel of a Twilight Zone episode directed by Christopher Guest. The tale of a burger franchise with film franchise potential. Or at least a web series.

* Additional Winners

Every year we see some bad actors, some mediocre actors, and some talented actors who do a professional job. Among the latter are those few who leave an impression. Who go beyond the job and create a character that lingers in our minds. This last quality is often the crucial difference between the winners and the merely talented.

Another consideration is aesthetics. Many films are technically slick. They are nicely lit, the sound clearly recorded. But if a film's technical choices also aesthetically support its story, characters, and themes, then so much the better.

Anya discovers that the mirror in her room is a portal into the future. She enters the mirror and emerges in the same room (well, it was reflected in the mirror), but three years hence. And the Anya on this side of the mirror is none too pleased to see a new Anya in her room.

Broken Reality can be categorized as both quantum physics horror (e.g., Coherence) and doppelganger horror (e.g., The Broken). The film implies that Anya has entered her future, but I think she might also be in a parallel universe. "Future Anya" is very different from "past Anya." She seems not merely changed, but fundamentally evil.

Maria Folomeeva portrays these two Anyas at war with each other. Each regards the other as a threat at first sight. Neither speaks or tries to reason with the other. Broken Reality has little dialog. The Anyas reveal their thoughts and emotions solely through actions and facial expressions.

And Folomeeva relies on facial expressions and posture alone (Evil Anya slouches) to create two distinct characters, both of whom are compelling to watch. This technique was used to identify the evil doppelgangers in The Broken and the Antichrist in Lost Souls. Folomeeva applies it to admirable and memorable effect in Broken Reality.

Maria Folomeeva wins for Best Dramatic Actress.

In The Eternal Footman we follow the Grim Reaper as he goes about collecting dead souls to transport to the afterlife. Overall this is a difficult film to categorize. If it is a comedy (as some have called it), it's a very dark comedy. The sort of dry humor that characterizes much of British satire. There are scenes of levity and absurdity. But there is also much despair, resignation, and poignancy. It all depends on how the person died, and his or her reaction to being dead.

But there's nothing funny about Mark Hindman Smith's performance. His Grim Reaper is, well, grim. At times suprised, often sardonic, but always serious. Smith's slow measured tones as he explains the situation to his ... clients? ... infuses his Grim Reaper with the sort of gravitas that the Messenger of Death deserves.

The Eternal Footman is a roughly made film, but Bob Jordan's script is full of insightful observations. It's more sad than funny. And Smith's performance is more dramatic than comedic. It's also one of the most memorable performances of the year. His Grim Reaper will haunt you long after you've seen the film.

Mark Hindman Smith wins for Best Dramatic Actor.

Satan can't be everywhere and so he has sales reps. In Arson, that would be Ms. Black. She's the one who handles the paperwork when the members of Actual Size decide to sell their souls for fame.

Despite her face being obscured by demonic make-up, Ms. Black coveys a strong and distinctive personality thanks to Olivia Peck. Peck's swaying body, gleeful eyes, sinister smiles, and carefully measured verbal intonations create a trickster who's funny, mischievous, and memorable.

She's not the usual demon with laryngitis. Nor your typical sultry-toned succubus. Ms. Black is her own unique creation. That is to say, Peck's creation.

Olivia Peck wins for Best Comedic Actress.

Pete's flippant remark about reincarnation confuses his office co-workers. When Pete says he was only joking, they grow more confused. But it's Pete's turn to be confused when he realizes that not only his coworkers, but the entire world, believes in reincarnation. And that everyone, except him, remembers their past lives.

In Grace Hague's Incarnation, Christopher DeSantis plays Pete as a wide-eyed innocent. Which he is, considering that he is only on his first life. There hasn't been a "first born" since Bismark.

DeSantis infuses Pete with a naive, childlike quality appropriate to the role. A guileless glee that grows increasingly anxious, then crest-fallen, as he learns just how low he resides on the karmic wheel of life.

Yet through it all, Pete remains sympathetic, entertaining, and funny.

Christopher DeSantis wins for Best Comedic Actor.

A bully eats a little boy's candy. But the little boy has a friend. Not exactly a guardian angel, but a guardian monster.

Be Nice tells an old horror story with visually dazzling flourish. The use of Dario Argento-inspired nondiegetic colored lights has become a cliche in horror films. Every other filmmaker uses them. But Caitlin Brown uses them with creativity and care.

Brown's use of lighting, together with shadows and silhouettes, odd camera angles and points of view, plus the occasional wide angle lens, infuse a child's ordinary bedroom with the supernatural presence of an approaching monster (before we actually see it).

Brown's cinematography creates an emotional tone that's a balance between scary and comedic. It's that same frightfully funny mix seen in such works as Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside.

Brown's work in Be Nice is aesthetically appropriate to the story, and a visual feast to behold.

Catilin Brown wins for Best Cinematography.

Girls Just Wanna Have Kill is a kaleidoscope of cinematic visual tricks and conventions. The film is constantly changing color palettes, screen resolutions, recording devices, and aspect ratios. The content of those images is similarly disparate: a man screaming on a beach, women calmly jogging, a conspiracy theorist ranting about time traveling serial killers, a bizarrely made up Japanese pop star, axes buried in people's heads which are geysering blood, too cute anime girls, and ... well, you get the picture.

Shock editing juxtaposes these incongruent images into a rising crescendo of chaos. Yet as Nietzsche said, "From chaos comes order." From amid this crazy clash of sights and sounds there emerges some sort of story. Or at least the hazy outlines of a method to this madness.

That's due to its editing, which brings it all together. For all its surface confusion, Girls Just Wanna Have Kill is a meticulously crafted film. The result is mesmerizing.

Sean Kurosawa wins for Best Editing.

Reflections directed by Urrutia Rojas Not only is Javier hired to fix a spooky old mansion, but he's required to live in it -- all by his lonesome -- until he completes the project. Coincidentally, it's also the same mansion his mother died in 33 years ago. And now he's having nightmares and visions about a dead woman who, presumably, wants him to somehow reach back into time to save her.

Reflections (aka Reflejos) has all the usual gothic ghost story elements. A wealthy family fallen on hard times, their dilapidated mansion, a protagonist with a troubled past, a beautiful ghost in need of rescue or redemption, and great visual effects.

Ghost films often rely on visual effects, but rarely offer anything new (e.g., the rapidly shaking head in Jacob's Ladder, the herky-jerky ghost crawl in The Grudge, the facial jump cuts in Insidious). Reflections is filled with visual effects that are innovative, imaginative, elaborately and beautifully executed, and aesthetically appropriate. These aren't the same-old, same old. Nor any cheap CGI. Nor simply effects for the sake of effects; they flow naturally from the story's premises.

Luis Miguel Henao and Gabriel A. Patron Herrera win for Best Visual Effects.

When the demoness Ms. Black transforms the four band members of Actual Size into hideous creatures, each is given his own specific look. Together with Ms. Black, that makes five ugly mugs.

Not only ugly, but funny, distinctive, and memorable. Make-up crafted so as to allow each actor's unique personality to shine through. Not so little pancake as to remain believably mortal, but not so much as to bury the actors' performances.

Several films this year boasted professional and original monster make-up. But only Arson did it fives times over. Plus there are the usual blood and gore effects. (It wouldn't be a Satanically rooted, zombie rock & roll flick without it, n'est-ce pas?)

Kaleb Lewis and Isa Salazar win for Best Make-Up Effects.

Smile for the Dead is a documentary about 19th century spirit photographer William H. Mumler. But rather than opt for period music, the film features an original composition from Sam Nobles.

Nobles's simple, gently lyrical score for piano and strings evokes nostalgia, sentimentality, plus a hint of sadness. It conveys a slower-paced, 19th century ambiance appropriate to the film's historical setting. His score is also respectful of the subject matter: people seeking comfort as they mourn their deceased.

But apart from aesthetically supporting the setting and topic, Nobles's composition is also a lovely piece of music.

Sam Nobles wins for Best Music Soundtrack.

* The Final Tally

* Best Horror Feature Film ........................... Carlos Marban Torres (The Photographer)

* Best Horror Documentary .......................... Hamilton Young Ward (Smile for the Dead)

* Best Dramatic Horror Short Film ................ Andrea R. Ciobanu (Immortal Reflections)

* Best Comedic Horror Short Film ................ Erin Broussard, Donny Broussard (Arson)

* Best Animated Horror Film ........................ Alceo Fx Positano, Elisa Siboldi (Transitus S.E. 2025)

* Best Avant-Garde Horror Film ................... Sean Kurosawa (Girls Just Wanna Have Kill)

* Best Trash Horror Film .............................. Keith Ruggiero (Head)

* Best Horror Music Video ........................... K.K. Hammond (Walk With Me Through the Fire)

* Best Dramatic Actress .............................. Maria Folomeeva (Broken Reality)

* Best Dramatic Actor .................................. Mark Hindman Smith (The Eternal Footman)

* Best Comedic Actress ............................... Olivia Peck (Arson)

* Best Comedic Actor .................................. Christopher DeSantis (Incarnation)

* Best Cinematography ................................ Caitlin Brown (Be Nice)

* Best Editing ................................................ Sean Kurosawa (Girls Just Wanna Have Kill)

* Best Visual Effects ..................................... Luis Miguel Henao, Gabriel A. Patron Herrera (Reflections)

* Best Make-Up Effects ................................ Kaleb Lewis, Isa Salazar (Arson)

* Best Music Soundtrack .............................. Sam Nobles (Smile for the Dead)

* Honorable Mention ..................................... Joseph Harding, Kate McGee, Dane McDowell (Dead Weight)

* Honorable Mention ..................................... Arlin Godwin, Trevor Taylor (Stop Taking Pictures)

* Honorable Mention ..................................... Daniel Ziegler (Horror Spell)

* Honorable Mention ..................................... The Farrington Bros (Chompy's Burgers)

2025 TABLOID WITCH AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

* Best Horror Feature: The Photographer

* Best Horror Documentary: Smile for the Dead

* Honorable Mention