Thomas Edward Seymour — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Tom Seymour is best known for the New York Times-celebrated VHS Massacre documentaries (NBC/Universal Peacock). Across his career, he has earned over 90 independent film awards, including five Telly Awards, a National Board of Review student nomination, and shared Emmy and YouTube Award nominations as part of the Black20 Studios team (net_work). His films have screened at Canadian Screen Award qualifying festivals and British Independent Film Award qualifying festivals such as Spirit of Independence and Northwest Film Fest, with major wins at Melbourne Underground, San Francisco IndieFest’s AHITH, Chicago Horror, Vancouver Horror Show, Arizona Underground, Tokyo Horror, WorldFest Houston and many more. In addition Tom's films have screened at top genre festivals such as Cine-Excess, Torino Underground, Boston Underground and NH Docs at Yale University. In 2025 Video Dreams: A VHS Massacre Story was praised by top Independent film festival Dances with Films calling it "profound".

Seymour’s feature film career began at the tail end of the 1990s independent film movement while he was working at CBS News. He produced and acted in John Krasinski’s first feature (A New Wave), directed Aubrey Plaza in one of her earliest digital shorts (Daddy’s Little Judge), and even appeared on The Tonight Show as part of the viral short Easter Bunny Hates You.

Despite mainstream attention, Seymour remains rooted in independent and underground filmmaking. His films have been distributed by NBCUniversal’s Peacock TV, Mubi, Netflix DVD, Troma, Screambox, Vinegar Syndrome, and Cineverse, and have been covered by major outlets including Variety, NPR, and The New York Times. With his numerous wins from top underground film festivals and institutions over the decade, Tom has slowly emerged as a top tier underground documentary filmmaker in the U.S.