The inaugural Dark Nights Film Fest takes place in Sydney, Australia in October, with a droolworthy lineup of fright fare scheduled. From creature features to crime shockers, there’s something for horror aficionados of every stripe. Following is the official press announcement.
With fangs bared and bloodshot eyes watering with feverish intent, Sydney’s new ritualistic celebration of independent horror and dark genre cinema, Dark Nights Film Fest, throws down the gauntlet and invites the hungry hordes to come and devour its inaugural program.
“Themes of ‘family’ — the bonds that tie us together and can be torn apart — are present in many of the films in our first program, yet it has tickled our dark fancy that much of Volume One is made up of classic monsters,” explains festival director, Bryn Tilly. “We’ve got zombies, vampires, ghosts, demons, psychos, each representation with its own twist, its own bite, its own terrifying cackle.”
Nine features and eighteen short films, including five World Premieres, three International Premieres, and nine Australian Premieres, from all across Europe, the Americas, and down under, will be screened at Ritz Cinemas, Friday, October 11 to Sunday, October 13.
Isaac Ezban’s latest and greatest, PÁRVULOS, opens the festival, an epic tale of three young Mexican brothers caught up in the wilderness of the zombie apocalypse; while vampirism is portrayed most brutal in Kasper Juhl’s Danish shocker, BLOODSUCKER — think PUSHER meets THE ADDICTION, with lots of blood.
Elric Kane’s first narrative feature, THE DEAD THING, from the US, is a darkly sensual, haunting parable on the perils of modern dating with a mesmerising performance from Blu Hunt; while Turkey delivers the savage tour-de-force that is SAYARA, the latest from BASKIN director Can Evrenol – if you like your revenge dishes served cold, this one will ice you.
Ludwig Gür’s debut feature, GUDSTJÄNST, is a gripping and disturbing Swedish crime thriller, where a troubled and desperate priest falls foul of unholy and devastating influences; while the nightmarish and Fulciesque 1978, from Argentinean brothers Luciano & Nicolás Onetti, sees Hell on Earth erupt in a remote detention centre; and the insidious shadows of history rear their heads in SOLVENT, from Austrian Johannes Gerzfurthner, a faux-doco tapping deep into existential paranoia and body-horror.
Closing Night session is the festival’s awards presentation followed by WITHIN THE PINES, a taut, nail-biting thriller from South Australian Paul Evans Thomas, that does for forests what JAWS did for the ocean.
Capping off the killer program is a special presentation of two landmark New Zealand films; the 35th anniversary of Alison Maclean’s brilliant, monochromatic nightmare short KITCHEN SINK, followed by the 40th anniversary of David Blyth’s insane, splatterpunk feature DEATH WARMED UP in all its uncut, deep trash glory.
Premiering with all the new features are a selection of the best new international short films from New Zealand, Canada, Germany, France, and the US; and a dedicated showcase of ten of the best new Australian shorts is hosted in a special gala session where the audience votes for their favourite.
For the perfect before, after, and session in-betweener, the Dark Nights Movie Boutique will be set up on the Ritz mezzanine, Saturday and Sunday, with stallholders flashing their high art and deep trash horror & dark genre merchandise for the collectors and the curious; Blu-rays, DVDs, books, magazines, posters, and much more for sale.
“It’s a mad world outside,” Tilly says. “Escape into the dark comfort of the Ritz Cinemas, under our Dark Nights, where nightmares are dreams perverted, and the mirror is gloriously black.”
TICKETS NOW ON SALE:
https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au/festivals/dark-nights-film-fest-2024
Dark Nights Film Fest
Dates: 11th to 13th October 2024
Location: Ritz Cinemas, 45 St. Pauls Street, Randwick 2031
Tickets: $17.50 – $24.50
View the full program:
https://darknightsfilmfest.com
