Keep an eye on Nashville, because the Nashville Horror Film Festival is having a moment. Year one: new fest. Year two: a sponsor shows up and a winner gets a streaming deal. Year three, running October 2–4 at Regal Green Hills: submissions have roughly TRIPLED, and Screamify just confirmed it's back as sponsor for a second straight year. Here's why the internet's indie-horror corner is paying attention.

Festival co-founders Wolf Turner and Chuckie Fuoco at Screamify’s Micro Horrors premiere party. (Video: Screamify / Pillarbox Media)

1. The submissions number is real. Straight from co-founder Chuckie Fuoco, on camera at Screamify's premiere party July 11 (the clip is in the press kit): “We have probably tripled the submissions that we had last year, and so it's going to be a deep dive into these films.” Tripled. Year over year. For a festival founded in 2024.

Why Everyone in Indie Horror Is Suddenly Talking About Nashville: Submissions Just TRIPLED

2. Winning here can actually change your life. Last year Trent Duncan's Axes and Os won BOTH Best Overall Feature and Best Director. Screamify licensed the movie (streaming now), then greenlit Game Night: Survive the Slasher — a 32-episode Micro Horrors series from Duncan that premiered July 11, 2026 with a red-carpet party at Sidecar Bar in Nashville. Festival trophy → streaming deal → your own series, in under a year.

3. The founders are hyped, and it's contagious. Co-founder Wolf Turner on the entries: “I feel like every year, everyone just steps it up. … The gore, the love, the horror, the effects. It's unbelievable.” And when he was asked if this year will be bigger: “Oh, without a doubt. A hundred percent.”

Regal Cinemas logo
The festival’s home: Regal Green Hills in Nashville.

4. Opening night is a party, literally. The fest kicks off Friday, October 2 with the Screamify VIP Party before three days of screenings. Regal Green Hills, real theater, real crowd. And if the July premiere was the preview — red carpet, the Game Night cast (Aubrey Nicole Plummer, Connor Sherman, Erin Taylor), founders on the mic — October's version is only getting louder.

5. The window is still open. The festival is on FilmFreeway — and with triple the entries, the competition for those trophies is going to be feral.

Homework before October: Axes and Os and Game Night: Survive the Slasher are both streaming on Screamify right now. Watch the pipeline work in real time.

Photos: Jeremy Harris / Screamify images; interview still: Screamify / Pillarbox Media.