NOLA Horror Film Fest Serves Up Aliens, Vampires, and Witches for Its 2020 Online Virtual Experience

September 21, 2020

Written by Joseph Perry

Joseph Perry is the Film Festival Editor for Horror Fuel; all film festival related queries and announcements should be sent to him at josephperry@gmail.com. He is a contributing writer for the "Phantom of the Movies VideoScope" and “Drive-In Asylum” print magazines and the websites Gruesome Magazine, Diabolique Magazine, The Scariest Things, B&S About Movies, and When It Was Cool. He is a co-host of the "Uphill Both Ways" pop culture nostalgia podcast and also writes for its website. Joseph occasionally proudly co-writes articles with his son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right. A former northern Californian and Oregonian, Joseph has been teaching, writing, and living in South Korea since 2008.

This month, NOLA Horror Film Fest celebrates its 10th year with a real-time virtual online festival chock-full of fear-fare delights. The superb new occult feature The Reckoning from director Neil Marshall, the mind-blowing sophomore feature Sister Tempest from director Joe Badon of The God Inside My Ear fame, and U.K. supernatural outing The Unfamilar are just a few of the outstanding feature-length and short films on tap for the festival. Following is the official press release from NOLA Horror Film Fest.

In its tenth year, NOLA Horror Film Fest will be a virtual online festival experience  hosted live in real time when presented Central Standard Time on September 25-27, 2020. This year’s official selections include 54 films and 50 screenplay finalists from all over the world, chosen from 865 national and international submissions exclusively through FilmFreeway.  

Through three days of the best horror & sci-fi programs (Features & Film Shorts Screenings and Zoom  Panel Discussions) the NOLA Horror Film Fest will be a virtual weekend to remember!

Opening, Closing and Notable Feature Films and Shorts  

Opening Night Feature Film:  

The Unfamiliar 

Feature Film  

United Kingdom  

A British Army doctor comes back from a war, thinking that she has PTSD, only to discover that there is a more daunting malevolence at work, making the life that she knew, unfamiliar.  

Closing Night Feature Film:  

The Reckoning 

Feature Film  

United Kingdom  

The Reckoning is directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Game of Thrones).  A woman is falsely accused of witchcraft in England in 1665, the year of the Great Plague. While enduring a brutal trial in which she is tormented by demons both real and spiritual, her persecutors  attempt to break her will , while she plots violent revenge against them. 

Other Notable Features: 

Sister Tempest 

Feature Film  

United States – Louisiana  

Anne Hutchinson’s troubled relationship with her missing sister is under alien tribunal. Meanwhile, her  new roommate’s mysterious illness causes her to go on a cannibalistic killing spree.  

Hawk & Rev: Vampire Slayers 

Feature Film  

United States  

Philip “HAWK” Hawkins doesn’t just dream about killing vampires . . . He eats, sleeps, drinks and freakin’  breathes it! But when blood-sucking vampires actually do appear, Hawk enlists the help of the one person  who kind of believes him . . . Revson “REV” McCabe, a dimwitted, vegan-pacifist groundskeeper. Together  they join forces to save the whole freakin’ world! Well . . .  At least their hometown anyway. 

Notable Shorts:  

Love Bite 

Film Short 

United States 

Taking refuge in an abandoned cargo truck during the Zombie Apocalypse, a dysfunctional couple (and  their dog) find their lives on the line when they make a deadly bet over how the undead virus spreads. Is  a simple love bite now a death sentence? And how far will someone go to be proven right? 

Smiley Death Face 

Film Short 

United States 

A young girl stumbles into a text message conversation with an anonymous person that communicates entirely in Emojis.  

Azrahel 

Film Short 

United States 

When Dr. Lopez brings Vivian to the morgue to identify her son, she learns that there is no limit to what  a mother will do — and no force she will not turn to — to bring back her child.   

Changeling 

Film Short 

United Kingdom 

A new mother becomes increasingly mesmerized and appalled by the strange transformations  happening around her baby. She instinctively hides them, unaware they are building towards a final  metamorphosis — hers.  

$trip 

Film Short 

United States 

It’s Penny’s first night stripping at an underground club. Will she go all the way? And what happens to  her if she doesn’t?  

Exit 

Film Short 

Russian Federation 

A trio of construction workers discovers an impossible spatial anomaly in the house they’re renovating: a  regular closet has turned into a hallway into the darkest unknown. Led by its foreman, who isn’t the  sharpest tool in the shed, the team decides to brave the anomaly on their own: a choice that spirals the  status quo out of control and straight into the realm of the bizarre.  

Morbus 

Film Short 

Canada 

Written by composer Mark Korven (The Witch, The Lighthouse) and directed by Kerim Banka (Into the  Other-Side) the film follows a young couple traveling down an isolated road where a hidden evil  threatens to contaminate them.  

Polybius 

Film Short 

United States 

Polybius stars Tom Atkins (The Fog, Night of the Creeps, Halloween III: Season of the Witch) Based on the urban legend, a teenage girl tries to convince the local Sheriff that a mysterious new game  cabinet caused her brother to commit suicide. 

Cybolica 

Film Short 

United States 

In the dystopian 1970’s world of “superpredators,” the United States votes to reform the juvenile justice  system by using young troubled males (mostly of color) as part of a plan to create a new type of weapon  to aid the military. In the world’s most volatile penitentiary, three inmates work together to escape their  chains and fight the lethal creature on the loose.  

Wererock 

Film Short 

United States 

Wererock stars Noah Segan (Knives Out, Looper, Brick) 

A troubled but handsome German man, Victor, reveals to his true love, Monique, a horrible secret, that  on a full moon he turns into a werewolf.  Only she knows the painful truth, that the monster inside him is  only a rock.  

The Hand of the Devil 

Film Short 

United States 

A desperate man disobeys a mysterious fortune teller and becomes possessed by the devil as he  attempts to win back the love of his life. It’s got milk chugging! Knife throwing! Diaper flying! It’s  everything you’re looking for, plus a bunch of stuff you’ll wish you’d never seen!  

OverKill 

Film Short 

United States 

OverKill is a film with a comedic take on a familiar setup: when too-woke-for-their-own-good college  kids are terrorized by an unstoppable masked killer, the final girl must outsmart him to survive. Only in  this movie, the killer literally cannot be stopped (or killed). 

Single screening tickets, day passes and full weekend passes are available for purchase online at: haps://nolahff.com/ 2020-buy-passes/ 

Full Weekend Pass: $60 ($36 savings)  

Friday Day Pass: $18  

Saturday Day Pass: $30  

Sunday Day Pass: $24  

5 Ticket Pack: $30  

Single Tickets: $8  

To keep up to date with the NOLA Horror Film Fest, please visit our website at nolahff.com.  Follow us on Facebook (haps://www.facebook.com/nohff/), Twitter (@NOLAHorrorFF), and Instagram  (@NOLAHorrorFF). Join the conversation about this year’s event by using this hashtag #nolahff  #embracethemadness  

Facebook Event Link: haps://www.facebook.com/events/317579842650868 

Film Guide: haps://nolahff.com/2020-film-guide/ 

About NOLA Horror Film Fest 

The NOLA Horror Film Fest is a festival created by horror filmmakers for horror fans. It’s no small wonder  – and no great surprise – that so many of today’s top directors got their start in “low budget horror”. With  determination and imagination, these artists have created some truly memorable work that has  encouraged and inspired a new generation of filmmakers. Our goal is the promotion of Genre  Filmmaking in Louisiana, as well as nationally and internationally. The NOHFF is committed to celebrating the craft and advancing the art form of Genre Films. 

2020 NOLA Horror Film Fest Schedule 

Friday, September 25, 2020  

6:00pm  

Shorts Block: Horror Shorts One  

Succor (USA) 

Toe (USA) 

AnYque (Norway) 

Insania (Spain) 

Seven Levels Deep (Germany) 

Love Bite (USA) 

The Fourth Wall (France) 

Dissonance (USA) 

Suspense (USA) 

Smiley Death Face (USA)

8:30pm  

Feature Film: The Unfamiliar (UK)  

11:00pm  

Feature Film: Sister Tempest (USA – Louisiana)  

Saturday, September 26, 2020 

11:30am  

Shorts Block: Long Form Shorts  

Limerence (USA) 

Mr. Sam (USA) 

Exhibit Man (Canada) 

2:00pm   

Feature Film: Goodbye Honey (USA) 

4:30pm 

PANEL DISCUSSION  

6:00pm 

Shorts Block: Sci-Fi Shorts  

Oxygen (Belgium) 

Sentris (USA) 

The MalfuncYon (USA) 

Horizon (Italy) 

Jeff Drives You (USA) 

Polybius (USA) 

Cybolica (USA) 

8:30pm   

Feature Film: Hawk & Rev: Vampire Slayers (USA)  

11:00pm 

Shorts Block: Horror Comedy Shorts  

Live Forever (Sweden) 

Connor Is Dead Right? (USA) 

Unholy ‘Mole (USA) 

Flick (USA) 

Grave Sight (Canada) 

Wererock (USA) 

Washed (USA) 

Livin’ After Midnight (USA) 

Imagine a World (Canada) 

The Hand of the Devil (USA) 

OverKill (USA)

Sunday, September 27, 2020  

11:30am  

Shorts Block: Horror Shorts Two  

Azrahel (USA) 

A Burial (USA) 

The Farmhouse (UK) 

The Rougarou (USA – Louisiana) 

Butterfly (USA) 

Ferine (Italy) 

Eyes of Eidolon (USA) 

Keep Mum (UK) 

Changeling (UK) 

2:00pm 

Feature Film: Parable (South Africa) 

4:30pm 

PANEL DISCUSSION  

6:00pm  

Shorts Block: Horror Shorts Three  

Malakout (Iran) 

Deathyard (USA) 

Night Crawl (USA) 

$trip (USA) 

Bloodshed (Canada) 

The History of Monsters (USA) 

Exit (Russia) 

Morbus (Canada) 

8:30pm 

Feature Film: The Reckoning (UK)

 

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