October is the time for terror – at least in 5 to 10 minute bursts. So thinks the Mid-Ohio Film Association (MOFA), anyway. Their Three Weeks of Terror program salutes the best short-form horror movies local filmmakers have to offer.

This is the third year for the annual event, which kicked off September 18th. Teams of filmmakers were given three weeks to write, direct, and produce a 5 – 10 minute genre piece for the competition.

“We do the horror competition every fall, and then we also do another competition in the spring, and that kind of fluctuates between comedy or science fiction,” says MOFA Vice President Brant Jones. “But the horror one – everybody seems to get excited about that one. I would say that’s our most popular event.”

Jones says the popularity may be partly due to the legacy of independent filmmakers who got their start in horror – legends like Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg, and Peter Jackson. But it may also be the allure of the season.

“It’s a great way for everybody to get excited about the Halloween season in our own particular way,” he says. “There’s just a real desire to scare the pants off of people.”

Jones expects that the richness of experience in the MOFA community will bring a nice variety to the program of shorts.

“MOFA is an association of local filmmakers who share resource and experience, and network with each other,” he says of a membership that includes college students, veteran filmmakers, and everyone in between.

“This is a great way to get some experience under your belt, and also to meet other people,” he says. “We have a lot of seasoned professionals who make commercials and industrial videos for a living, and they also like to participate in this. It’s really great to have that breadth of experience that everybody can learn and share from. It raises the bar. It gives everybody something to aspire to.”

Local film critic Kevin Carr, a panelist for the competition, was impressed by the crop of shorts.

“As with any contest, there’s a range of ideas and stories being told, offering a perspective of different levels of experience and quality,” he says. “I was particularly impressed with the high degree of professionalism by some of the shorts, especially since these projects were put together in such a relatively short period of time. So many stars must align in the filmmaking process, presenting dozens of potential challenges that the audience isn’t even aware of. I learned long ago as an independent filmmaker that it can be a huge challenge to make even a terrible movie. It’s that much more impressive to make a quality film under such restrictions, and we’ve got some really good films in the mix this year.”

Among those in that mix is one by local filmmaker Gregory Pruden, whose movie mines a local urban legend.

“I wrote The Columbus Poltergeist film based on a fairly renowned Columbus paranormal ‘event’ from the 1980’s,” he says. “In our movie, a band of ghost hunters tracks down this original paranormal house and are ‘investigating’ it in standard ghost hunter fashion, when their usual antics are interrupted by a real ghost. Of course the part of the real ghost is fiction, but the backstory is actually from a story and photographs from the Columbus Dispatch in 1984.”

Pruden hopes to take home a prize or two this Sunday at the Gateway Film Center, when the full slate of shorts is screened. It’ll be the first time most in the audience – including Jones – will have seen the work.

“Winners will be unveiled on the 25th,” he says. “There will be a lot of celebrating, and probably some disappointment in the house, but the important thing for everybody is that, you made a movie. And that’s what the whole point of this is, to encourage people to make more movies, and maybe even to see how easy it is to make a movie in three weeks, and to make more movies that aren’t necessarily part of a big filmmaking competition.”

Pruden’s on board.

“Our group, Plastic Horses Films, plans to make many more films,” he says. “Perhaps, at some point, without the rigorous schedule of a film contest.”

The screening of all completed films will be held at the Gateway Film Center on Sunday, October 25th at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available for $10 at the door. The event is open to the public and recommended for mature audiences.

For more information, visit: www.facebook.com/TWoT2015MOFA

Read more from Hope on MADDWOLF and listen to her weekly horror podcast, FRIGHT CLUB.