Today, the 10th annual Brooklyn Horror Film Festival comes to a close and the Jury Winners were recently announced.

For the Dark Matter Jury Awards, Emilio Portes‘ film Don’t Leave the Kids Alone won the Best Feature Award. Portes had this to say about the win:

“On behalf of everyone at Don’t Leave the Kids Alone, we would like to thank the jury of the Dark Matter section, Matt Barone and everyone who make the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival possible and everyone who took the time to attend the screenings. Thanks for inviting the film, fighting for the theatrical experience, nurturing horror audiences, bringing together international films and colleagues of the forbidden genres. And last but not least… ¡Viva Brooklyn Horror Fest y el Cine de Terror!” 

Other winners for the section include:

• Best Director – Paolo Strippoli, The Holy Boy
• Best Performance – Olivia Taylor Dudley, Abigail Before Beatrice
• Best Screenplay – Aleksandar Radivojevic, Karmadonna
• Best Cinematography -Cristiano Di Nicola, The Holy Boy
• Best Practical FX – Mio Chiba and Tokihiko Endo, Incomplete Chairs

In the Head Trip Jury Awards, Mickey Reece‘s Every Heavy Thing won the Best Feature Film. Reece had this say:

“What an honor. It’s been my lifelong goal to buck the formula of every kind of movie so it’s galvanizing to receive this award which celebrates just that.”

Other winners in this section include:

• Best Director – Yûta Shimotsu, New Group
• Best Screenplay – Avalon Fast, CAMP
• Best Performance – Tipper Newton, Every Heavy Thing
• Best Editing – Simon Glassman, Buffet Infinity
• Best Cinematography – Eily Sprungman, CAMP
• Best Sound Design – Johnny Blerot, Buffet Infinity

In the Short Film Competition, Winnie Cheung‘s Last Call won the Best Short Film. Cheung had this to say about the win:

“I’m grateful to the festival, the jurors, and everyone who embraced the shadows of this film. This honor belongs to the cast and crew, whose artistry and devotion brought to life the strange, the unsettling, and the hauntingly beautiful metamorphosis of ‘becoming.”

Other Short Film winners include:

• Best Director – Kylie Aoibheann, The Dysphoria
• Best Performance – Nicole Elliot, Jeff
• Best Special FX – Sharp FX, The Dysphoria
• Best Screenplay – Louise Flaherty & Neil Christopher, The Gnawer of Rocks
• Best Sound Design – Jack Goodman, Eonian
• Best Art Direction – Danny Christopher & Sarah Ball, The Gnawer of Rocks
• Best Editing – Marcus Fahey, Daddy is a Hunter
• Home Invasion Award – Rebrand
• Special Jury Mention for Filmmaker to Watch – Nathan Ginter, Overgrown

Legendary filmmaker Ernest Dickerson received the 2025 Leviathan Award. The award, Brooklyn Horror’s first and only tribute award, was created in 2023 to honor the luminaries of horror and acknowledge their monstrous contributions to the genre.

Dickerson won due to his prolific career as a cinematographer and director has given horror fans a surplus of greatness on screens both big and small. With his trailblazing run of feature films and TV show episodes dating back to the 1980s and spanning to the present day, he has helped to pave the way for the likes of Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta by showing that horror cinema knows no color lines nor cultural barriers.

The jury members included:

2025 Brooklyn Horror Jury

Features, Dark Matter

• Greg Newman (Executive Vice President, MPI Media)
• Kimberly Leszak (Community and Content Manager, Fangoria)
• Alison Foreman (Features Writer, IndieWire)

Features, Head Trip

• James-Michael Fleites (Editor in Chief, Horror Press)
• Justin LaLiberty (Director of Operations, OCN Distribution; Archivist, Vinegar Syndrome)

Gigi Murakami (Horror Mangaka Creator)

Shorts 

• Shannon Wiedemeyer (Programmer, Head of Social Channel Ops at Alter)
• Katie Rife (Critic, Shorts Programmer for Overlook Film Festival)
• Kailey Marsh (Literary Manager, Producer, Brillstein Entertainment Partners)

For more information, go to http://brooklynhorrorfest.com/ and a major Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s awards.