At the fifth annual WorldFilmGeek Awards, three specific films stood out among the 160 films viewed for contention with only one becoming the big winner!

The sci-fi adaptation of George Orwell’s novel 1984, from Finnish filmmaker Diana Ringo, narrowly bested Terrifier 3 and Life After Fighting to earn the top award of Best Overall Film. The film showed how a virtual crew of one (Ringo) can accomplish making a film by serving as director, producer, editor, visual effects artist, doing the score, and even act in the film. Ringo would also go on to win more WorldFilmGeek Awards for Best Director and Best Editing.

As for Terrifier 3, it would win the Best Horror Film Award as well as earning the Best Special FX Awards for its insane kill scenes and make-up involving the characters of Art the Clown and Victoria Heyes, played respectively by David Howard Thornton (who was nominated for Best Supporting Male Performance) and Samantha Scaffidi.

Life After Fighting was definitely one of the biggest highlights of 2024 thanks to the brilliant choreography of Australian martial arts ace Bren Foster, who was nominated for Best New Director. While Foster didn’t win that award, losing narrowly to Brande Roderick for Wineville, the film would win Best Action Film and Best Action & Stunts for Foster’s fighting on screen.

As for the other Film Awards, Yujiro Seki‘s film on Japanese wood-carving, Carving the Divine won Best Documentary. The Magician’s Raincoat, based on the children’s novel by Nick Pollack, won the Best Family Film. Paul Dale won his second Best WTF Award after 2022’s Sewer Gators with the hilarious Murdaritaville. WFG Hall of Famer Julia Marchese‘s adaptation of Stephen King‘s short story I Know What You Need won the Best Short Film Award. Place of Bones, starring Heather Graham and Corin Nemec, won Best Western. The crime caper Murder & Cocktails won Best Comedy Film. Another top contender for Best Action Film, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, won Best Foreign Language Film while the King of the Monsters won Best Sci-Fi Film with Godzilla Minus One. Finally, the Indian film A Place of Our Own, the story of two transgendered woman trying to find a new place to live, won the Best LGBTQ+ Film.

As for the acting and technical awards, Oscar Partridge‘s work on Ganymede earned him the Best Cinematography Award. Scott Chambers, who also was the 2024 Breakout Star, won Best Lead Male Performance for his role as Christopher Robin in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II while the iconic Lynn Lowry won the Best Lead Female Performance for her role as an insane housewife and mother in A Halloween Feast. David Koechner‘s against type performance as a pastor earned him the Best Supporting Male Performance with the amazing Jamie Bernadette also going against type to play a deadly villain in Cold Blows the Wind to earn the Best Supporting Female Performance.

Horror actress and producer Sarah French and martial arts actor and filmmaker Franklin Correa have been chosen as the first two inductees of the 2025 WorldFilmGeek Hall of Fame and the late great legendary Tony Todd wins the first Film Geekdom Award, our version of the “Lifetime Achievement Awards”.

WINNERS:

Best Overall Film: 1984
Best Horror Film: Terrifier 3
Best Action Film: Life After Fighting
Best Comedy Film: Murder & Cocktails
Best Drama Film: Miller’s Girl
Best Western Film: Place of Bones
Best Sci-Fi Film: Godzilla Minus One
Best Documentary Film: Carving the Divine
Best LGBTQ+ Film: A Place of Our Own
Best Foreign Language Film: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong)
Best ‘WTF’ Film: Murdaritaville
Best Family Film: The Magician’s Raincoat
Best Short Film: I Know What You Need
Best Lead Female Performance: Lynn Lowry, A Halloween Feast
Best Lead Male Performance: Scott Chambers, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II
Best Supporting Female Performance: Jamie Bernadette, Cold Blows the Wind
Best Supporting Male Performance: David Koechner, Ganymede
Best Cinematography: Oscar Partridge, Ganymede
Best Editing: Diana Ringo, 1984
Best Director: Diana Ringo, 1984
Best New Director: Brande Roderick, Wineville
Best Action/Stunts: Bren Foster, Life After Fighting
Best Special FX: Jason Baker and Team, Terrifier 3
Breakout Star of 2024: Scott Chambers
The Film Geekdom Award: Tony Todd
2025 WorldFilmGeek Hall of Fame Inductees: Sarah French & Franklin Correa

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of this year’s WorldFilmGeek Awards! Let’s hope next year’s competition is as fierce as this year’s because this was a tough one!

On December 18, I will be doing an end-of-year recap podcast episode on the WorldFilmGeek Spotify channel! Then it’s time to take a much needed break to celebrate the holidays and get pumped up for 2025!!!

Thumbnail photo: WorldFilmGeek Award nominee Aleksei Shamayev in 1984