"You can run, but you can't hide!"

Hello everyone! This is my first-ever entry for the contest.

When thinking of a horror theme, I wanted to avoid common tropes like ghosts or zombies. Ghosts can be creepy, but most of the time they just try to scare you without direct physical threat. Zombies are iconic, but they can be slow and predictable.

My initial idea was a dark "human slaughterhouse" concept, but I ultimately shifted gears toward something more grounded: what's more terrifying than a massive psycho killer wielding a machete, stalking campers or anyone unfortunate enough to trespass near his territory?

Software Used:

Daz Studio

Assets Used:

Environment: XI School Bus by Xivon

Characters: MSO Nelly HD for Genesis 9 Feminine by Mousso, Genesis 9 Starter Characters (Male & Female), Genesis 3 Starter Characters (Male & Female)

Props & Clothing: Halloween Hockey Masks for Genesis 9

FX & Lighting: Additional Blood Layers for Genesis 3 (Male & Female), Liquid Puddles and Splashes by SF-Design, SY Starry Sky Lights and HDRIs for Iray by Sickleyield


I noticed a lot of fellow artist are using heavy software like Photoshop for post-processing to enhance their entries. Since storage and performance are quite tight on my old laptop, installing heavy desktop apps wasn't an option. I decided to use Photopea—a free, browser-based editor that works similarly to Photoshop—to handle shadow recovery, color grading, and framing adjustments. It proved you don't need a high-end setup to give your render that final cinematic touch!

This is my very first time joining a contest here on RenderHub! I’ve been learning and practicing Daz Studio for about 5 months now. I originally came to RenderHub just browsing for free assets, but as soon as I saw the contest section, I didn't hesitate to jump in! Winning would mean a lot—it would help me upgrade to a new laptop so I can load assets and render scene-heavy Iray viewports much faster. Right now, I'm working on an old surplus laptop, so it takes a really long time just to preview characters with preset lighting in Iray, handle heavy environments, and complete a final render.

Best of luck to everyone who entered, and thank you for checking out my work!