Screamify is back in Nashville. The independent horror streamer confirms it will return as a sponsor of the Nashville Horror Film Festival for a second consecutive year, with the 2026 edition locked for October 2–4 at Regal Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee. The festival opens Friday night, October 2, with the Screamify VIP Party. The company made the announcement on its blog this week.

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

The numbers are moving fast. Now in its third year, the festival — founded in 2024 by filmmakers Wolf Turner and Chuckie Fuoco — reports submissions have roughly tripled over last year. “We have probably tripled the submissions that we had last year, and so it's going to be a deep dive into these films,” Fuoco said in an interview captured at Screamify's Micro Horrors premiere party on July 11 and published in the festival press kit.

Screamify Re-Ups as Nashville Horror Film Festival Sponsor for Year Two — October 2-4 at Regal Green Hills

The sponsorship already has a track record. At the 2025 festival, Trent Duncan's feature Axes and Os took BOTH Best Overall Feature and Best Director — and Screamify moved. The platform licensed the film, which is streaming on Screamify now, then greenlit Game Night: Survive the Slasher, a 32-episode Micro Horrors series from Duncan. That series premiered July 11, 2026 with a red-carpet party at Sidecar Bar in Nashville. Festival win to streaming deal to original series, inside twelve months. Duncan's Game Night cast — Aubrey Nicole Plummer, Connor Sherman, and Erin Taylor — walked the Sidecar Bar carpet at the July premiere alongside the festival founders.

Co-founder Wolf Turner isn't tempering expectations for October. Asked whether this year will be bigger: “Oh, without a doubt. A hundred percent.” On the field of entries: “I feel like every year, everyone just steps it up. … The gore, the love, the horror, the effects. It's unbelievable.”

Nashville Horror Film Festival official artwork
The Nashville Horror Film Festival returns October 2–4, 2026 at Regal Green Hills.

The award slate stays deep for 2026: per the festival's FilmFreeway listing, categories span features and shorts — Best Overall Feature, Best Director, Best Special Effects, Best Ensemble, Audience Choice, and the crowd-favorite Best Kill among them. The full press kit, including the founders' on-camera interview and event photography, is live at pillarboxmedia.com/nhff2026.

The wire version: dates locked, sponsor locked, submissions up threefold, and a proven pipeline from festival screen to streaming platform. Filmmakers can still find the festival on FilmFreeway; both Axes and Os and Game Night: Survive the Slasher are streaming on Screamify now. More as the festival announces its 2026 program.

Photos: Jeremy Harris / Screamify images.