Inaugural horror film festival brings the Delaware scares

When husband-wife filmmakers Kurt St. Thomas and Liz Stellingworth were planning to participate in the Baltimore 48 Hour Film Project last summer, St. Thomas was sure they were “doomed.” 

They’d moved to Wilmington six months prior and didn’t have any connections to potential cast and crew members for the caffeine-fueled short film contest, which involves writing a script based on random prompts, arranging props and costumes, filming and editing in a 48-hour period. 

“It was a little bit weird because, one, you’re like, ‘Hey, do you want to be in a movie? Two, there’s no money, and three, we don’t know what the role is. We don’t even know what we’re making. We’ll let you know on Friday night,’” St. Thomas joked. 

But the couple had no trouble finding a team of Delawareans willing to volunteer the weekend to create “Magnet Brain,” a mockumentary about a billionaire named George Romero raising the dead to use as a labor source. 

The short film went on to win the Baltimore 48 Hour Film Project and will be screening at the inaugural Horror Fest Film Festival in Wilmington this weekend, Sept. 24-27.

Taking place at Theatre N and Penn Cinema, Horror Fest Film Festival will feature over 130 films from regional and international filmmakers alike. 

The roster includes a musical from the perspective of a murderer (“No More Mr. Nice Guy”), an LGBTQ+ slasher (“Meat”), a found footage flick about a livestreamer stalked by a mysterious entity (“The Waiting Man”) and more.

The film festival will also be the world premiere of “Awaken the Reaper,” which Long Island filmmaker Dave Campfield began writing almost 20 years ago. The film follows an addiction recovery group whose members are picked off one by one.

“All of us seem to know someone in an addiction recovery place at one point in their life,” Campfield said. “It was a way of grounding the story in reality and making it relatable, because we all struggle with something, whatever our compulsion might be.”

“Awaken the Reaper” features Lance Henriksen (“Aliens”) and Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr. (“An Officer and a Gentleman”) in his final film role before his death in 2024.

“(Henriksen’s) attitude, perhaps due to being in his 80s now, seemed to be like the fun guy on set, joking around, trying to keep it light,” Campfield said. “And the approach that Lou took was, ‘I am your employee. I’m going to take this really seriously.’ … I was surprised that Lou had that attitude, almost like he’s still starting out (and) he wants to impress the boss.”

The big names won’t just be on the screen at Horror Fest Film Festival; the event will also feature celebrity guests.

Wilmington-raised actor John Gallagher Jr. will reflect on some of his iconic horror roles like “Hush” in a Q&A and will play a set of his original music to close the festival. 

Filmmakers Brian Yuzna and John Penney will also participate in a panel about “Return of the Living Dead 3,” with Yuzna reflecting on his comedy horror “Bride of Re-Animator” in a separate panel.

Thursday evening will kick off the film festival with a networking event. Bill Shahan and Dave Parag from DreaMedia Productions, the organizers of the event, encouraged budding filmmakers to participate.

“You should definitely check out the films, but if you’re somebody that’s working two jobs and doesn’t have a lot of time … get to the networking event, because that’s where you’re going to be able to further your career,” Shahan said. 

In fact, it was at a networking event during the Rehoboth Beach International Film Festival where Shahan and his crew landed the post-production work for “Death on the Brandywine,” a murder mystery filmed in Delaware and released in June. 

“(Director Nick Wilkinson) was like, ‘We should get together.’ Three months later, we were filming this movie,” Shahan said. 

DreaMedia has helped organize the Rehoboth Beach International Film Festival for the past three years, bringing the roster of films from about 20 to over 100. The production company also co-founded the Newark Independent Film Festival with actor Kazy Tauginas in 2024.

“It’s happening. There’s a festival circuit. So now, ideally, as we do these events and continue to grow our platform out, we’ll get more industry folks here,” Shahan said. “Ideally, they’ll come to this state at a good time and say, ‘Could we go shoot that here?’”

Attracting filmmakers to Delaware is exactly why the state established its first film and entertainment tax credit program on July 1. The Delaware Division of Small Business began accepting applications for the $10 million program on Sept. 16.

Shahan and Parag think the future is bright for Delaware film not only because the incentive will attract out-of-state filmmakers, but because it will support the state’s existing scene.

St. Thomas and Stallingworth characterized Delaware’s film scene as much more friendly and collaborative than those of bigger cities, as they witnessed while filming “Magnet Brain.”

For example, Wilmington International Film Festival organizer Gordon DelGiorno hooked up the team with a friend’s Corvette for a split second gag.

“This guy just comes over, puts his Corvette in my driveway. He’s like, ‘I’ll be back tomorrow.’ … Left the keys in it,” St. Thomas said.

And despite the lack of pay, the cast and crew came together without a hitch. 

Actors from Bootless Stageworks’ “Evil Dead, The Musical” were more than happy to don the role of the undead again for a weekend.

And the hair and makeup team, led by Delawarean Denise Cuomo, came from haunted house Pennhurst Asylum to work on a film production for the first time. The team went on to win Best Hair & Makeup at Filmapalooza 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal.

“In Los Angeles, when I lived there, you’d ask people to do stuff, and they’d just look at you and be like, ‘No. Unless you have $3,000, I’m not coming out on a Saturday,’” St. Thomas said.

There’s no pretentiousness to Delaware’s film scene, he added — only a desire to create.