The 2025 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards will be back on Shudder this year, and the hosts will be joined by a most excellent selection of presenters. The awards go back more than 30 years, but Fangoria itself has been diving into horror and giving us horror lovers something to read and enjoy since 1979.
Hosting this year will be Josh Ruben, who brought us Heart Eyes, Werewolves Within and Scare Me, alongside horror icon Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Jakob’s Wife). The two will be participating in an homage to space-horror on the big night.
The 2025 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards will be premiering on Shudder Sunday, October 19 at 9:00 p.m. ET, and will be available to watch on demand shortly afterwards.
Canadian actress Debbie Rochon (Tromeo and Juliet, Death House) will be narrating the awards show, and the list of presenters is massive. Presenters will include everyone’s favorite killer clown David Howard Thornton (Terrifier), shock rock band GWAR, Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), Bill Moseley (House of 1,000 Corpses), Biqtch Puddin (The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula), The Boulet Brothers themselves, Dee Snider (Strangeland), Joe Bob Briggs (The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs), Julie Benz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter), Fangoria’s Editor-in-Chief Phil Nobile, Jr., Tina Romero (writer-director of Queens of the Dead, and daughter of horror legend George A. Romero) and many more horror icons.
The Chainsaw Award nominees were selected by a group of over 150 industry professionals and creators, and all nominated films, creators and actors were involved in some of the biggest and best horror projects between July of 2024 and June of 2025. After the nominee selection was complete, fans were given the opportunity to vote for their favorites, and that’s how the winners were decided. According to the press release, nearly one million fans voted online this year.
Categories for the Chainsaw Awards include Best Kill, Best Limited Release, Best First Feature, Best Non-Fiction TV Series or Miniseries, Best Video Game, and Best Public Domain Resurrection. Of course, there are also awards for best actor, cinematography, etc.
The nominees include the likes of Nicolas Cage (Longlegs), Demi Moore (The Substance), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), and Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu), but there are also plenty of indie favorites, such as Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo) and Willa Fitzgerald (Strange Darling).
The Best Director category is stacked this year, with Danny Boyle (28 Years Later), Robert Eggers (Nosferatu), Ryan Coogler (Sinners) and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) competing with one another.