Monday, March 9, 2026

The Tabloid Witch Sees a Sharp Rise in AI Generated Film Submissions

In June 2024, I received a spam email with a link for At the Mountains of Madness, a five minute AI generated film from Turkey. It was the first AI film ever "submitted" (however unofficially) to the Tabloid Witch Awards horror film contest. During the 2024 season, I received a total of three AI film submissions. 

For the 2025 season, the number of AI films submissions rose to 14. And now, only a few months into the 2026 season, AI film submissions are up to 19 -- with over five months to go.

From what I've seen, AI films aren't quite there yet. There's something creepy about them (and not in a good way). Their "actors" are too artificial to portray convincingly human characters, with the distinctive personas and emotional depth that human actors convey. Yet AI "actors" are too realistic to allow that playful suspension of disbelief that animation allows.

Even so, AI films are getting better. I recently -- and for the first time -- had a short film submission that fooled me. I thought the actors were real human beings.

I think we'll see some amazing and powerful works emerge from AI as the technology advances and AI "filmmakers" improve their craft.

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