Vertical Horror · Film Festivals
Horror that fits
in your pocket.
Reel Fear brings curated vertical horror and fantastic film to festivals worldwide — a dedicated section designed for the way we watch now.
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Vertical Horror · Film Festivals
Reel Fear brings curated vertical horror and fantastic film to festivals worldwide — a dedicated section designed for the way we watch now.
Reel Fear is a plug-in curatorial section for film festivals. We install a vertical screen, a corner of dark puffs and Bluetooth headphones, and a carefully curated selection of horror and fantastic short films and series — all in portrait format, the way a new generation of filmmakers shoots and watches.
Festival-goers scan a QR code, sink into a puff, put on headphones, and discover stories that were made to be watched exactly like this — close, vertical, alone in a crowd.
Every edition features a hand-picked lineup of vertical horror and fantastic films. Quality over volume. Each title earns its place.
A dedicated zone within the festival space — vertical screen, dark puffs, Bluetooth headphones. An atmosphere, not just a screening room.
Visitors vote in real time. The Premio Reel Fear Audience Award is decided by the public of each festival — honest, democratic, live.
A corner of the festival transformed: dark puffs, a wine-red carpet, a vertical 55" screen looping trailers from the selected films and series. You know you're somewhere different.
Each title in the selection has its own QR code. Scan with your phone — no app, no login. The film opens directly. The screen stays on. You disappear.
Bluetooth, fully charged, always on. Sound is everything in horror. The headphones close the world out. You're in it now.
Vertical format, portrait screen, built for how we hold a phone. Up to 3 chapters per series — enough to know if you're hooked. If you want to keep going, that's a conversation worth having.
After watching, vote. Simple, live, on your phone. Your vote joins the festival's audience count. At closing night, the Premio Reel Fear Audience Award goes to the title the public chose.
Complete a series and you receive something. We're not going to tell you what it is. Complete a series and find out.
For our launching edition, Reel Fear will showcase a selected number of curated vertical horror and fantastic short films and series. We're not looking for volume. We're looking for the work that belongs here.
Open Call — Vertical Horror / Thriller
Not a platform. Not a feed. Not content. A real-world horror experience. Audiences step into a dedicated space inside the festival, put on headphones, hold their phones — and experience vertical horror the way it was designed to be felt: close, intimate, unsettling.
Submit your filmBy submitting you agree to the Submission Terms. Questions? Write to content@reelfear.tv
Reel Fear is a travelling section. We bring the installation, the content, and the atmosphere to partner festivals around the world. Each edition is co-branded with the host festival — one experience, one audience, one award.
Are you a festival interested in hosting a Reel Fear section? We'd love to talk. Write to us at dontlookback@reelfear.tv and let's build something together.
Reel Fear is a curated vertical horror section that installs inside film festivals. We bring a 55" portrait screen, dark puffs, Bluetooth headphones, and a selection of vertical horror and fantastic films and series. Festival-goers watch on their phones, vote for their favourite, and the winning title receives the Premio Reel Fear Audience Award at closing night.
Strictly 9:16 vertical format. The Reel Fear experience is built around portrait screens — the way most of us already hold our phones. Your film must have been shot or adapted for vertical. We do not reformat horizontal content.
Horror and fantastic — broadly interpreted. Folk horror, body horror, psychological, supernatural, surreal, dark fantasy. If it belongs in the dark, it belongs in Reel Fear. We do not programme action, comedy, or drama unless they cross into genre territory in a significant way.
Short films: under 20 minutes. Series: we programme up to 3 chapters, approximately 5 minutes each. The format is the constraint — short, vertical, high quality. Work within it and the results can be extraordinary.
Yes. We welcome submissions from filmmakers worldwide. Language is not a barrier — horror crosses every border. Subtitles are accepted and encouraged where needed.
The call is open now. Submit your film here. Read the Submission Terms before you do. Any questions, write to content@reelfear.tv.
After watching a film, festival visitors vote on their phone in real time. Votes accumulate over the duration of the festival. At closing night, the Premio Reel Fear Audience Award is announced — decided entirely by the public of that festival, not a jury.
Yes — that's exactly what we're building toward. Reel Fear is designed to travel. If you programme horror or fantastic cinema and have a space for the installation, write to us at dontlookback@reelfear.tv and let's talk.