Film Festivals

Horror film festivals worldwide — lineups, awards and the titles that break out of the festival circuit.

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Hammer Films Teams Up with Liquid Death for the Download Festival

Get ready for a headbanging good time with a side of chills! This year’s Liquid Death Presents Download Festival is about to get even more exciting thanks to a new partnership with Hammer Films, the legendary horror movie studio. For the first time, Hammer Films will bring its iconic horror to the Download Festival, the ultimate celebration of rock and metal music and now horror, with screenings of Hammer classics. This unholy matrimony extends beyond the screen. A commemorative, limited-edition T-shirt will be available exclusively at the festival, a must-have for any horror and metal fan. And for those who genuinely want to take a piece of the experience home, Old Sarum Tattoo, celebrating its 11th year at Download, will offer exclusive Hammer horror flash tattoo designs. Each tattoo comes with a co-branded sticker, making it a truly unique memento. Hammer Films’ COO, Jonathan Lack, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration. He sees it as a perfect way to connect

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Jun 4, 2024

DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsShort FilmsThriller

Horror Fuel’s Highly Recommended Fright Fare for Tribeca 2024

New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival is renowned for showcasing incredible films from around the world, created by established filmmakers and new voices alike. Horror and related genre fare are always in strong supply at the fest, as evidenced by its presentation of two of my absolute favorite films of last year, The Seeding and You’ll Never Find Me, along with many other great features and short films. This year’s edition, which runs June 5–16, promises more incredible cinema of the fearful and the fantastic. I was privileged to get an early look at the following chillers and thrillers before the fest, and though I can’t publish reviews until after the films make their Tribeca premieres — watch for my thoughts here on Horror Fuel soon after that — I can, at this time, highly recommend them to fright-fare aficionados as must-see viewing! Read on for press release descriptions for each film — in alphabetical order, by genre — with

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Joseph Perry

Jun 3, 2024

Film FestivalsMoviesNews

First Look Washes Ashore for the Chilling Thriller ‘Beacon’

From Emmy-nominated director Roxy Shih comes the upcoming chilling thriller Beacon. The first image has surfaced, featuring Acadamy Award nominee Demián Bichir and Julia Goldani Telle. In Beacon, Emily (Telles) finds herself shipwrecked and badly injured on a remote island. Emily is rescued by Ismael (Bichir), the island’s isolated lighthouse operator. As she slowly heals, Ismael begins to act increasingly erratic, and Emily begins to suspect he may have intentionally entrapped her. But Ismael has his suspicions about his guest and what brought her there. Beacon was written by Julio Rojas and was produced by Neil Elman, Taralee Gerhard, and Andrew C. Erin. Executive producers include Fernando Szew, Tony Vassiliadis, Alex Zito, and Demián Bichir. Director Roxy Shih was nominated for “Best Directing” at the Daytime Emmys in 2020 for her work on “Dark/Web.” In 2016, Shih made her feature film with the post-apocalyptic thriller The Tribe. It was followed in 2019 by her horror thriller Painkillers. Shih is also

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

May 29, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Romford Film Festival Spoiler-Free Film Reviews: “Kill Your Lover,” “Ill Fares the Land,” and “Have a Good Day”

Kill Your Lover (U.K.; 2023) The fractured relationship between former rock musician Dakota (Paige Gilmour) and her manipulative, much more conservative boyfriend Axel (Shane Quigley-Murphy) is toxic in more ways than one in codirectors/cowriters Alix Austin’s and Keir Siewert’s feature Kill Your Lover, winner of Romford Film Festival’s Best British Feature Film award. Just as Dakota is ready to finally break things off with Axel, he develops a contagious condition that causes him to develop strange markings on his skin, vomit, and cause acidic burns to anyone he touches. Flashbacks show the relationship from its beginnings to yellow and red flags developing to the horrific present. Gilmour and Quigley-Murphy give super performances as two very different people who somehow found themselves in a relationship that both probably should have known better than to start. The body horror is as strong as the psychological torture on display, for which Hair & Makeup Designer/Prosthetics Designer/Special Effects Makeup Artist Rebecca Wheeler and her

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Joseph Perry

May 29, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Film Maudit 2.0 Reveals Its 2024 Fifth Edition Lineup

If you are a cinephile seeking the uncommon, the unexpected, and the out-there, you will be interested in Los Angeles’s Film Maudit 2.0 festival, taking place this June. Following is the official press announcement. The 5th edition of Film Maudit 2.0, Highways’ showcase and celebration of outré films, runs June 12-16, 2024. A re-imagining of French artist Jean Cocteau’s 1949 one-time only festival, Film Maudit 2.0 features a range of narrative, documentary and experimental films that are deliberately bold, extreme, confrontational and unusual. The 2024 edition of the festival returns with a new range of works of cinema from 20+ countries addressing socio-political issues and taboo subject matter that challenge conventional artistic assumptions and sexual mores, and includes: The World Premiere of Molly Wurwand and Ryan McGlade’s MyImaginary Life for Someone(Narrative; Mockumentary/Dark Comedy, 2023), an uncanny tour through a labyrinth of mysterious linked Los Angeles McMansions circa Y2K, provides a dreamlike glimpse into the lives of unique women who live

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Joseph Perry

May 27, 2024

BooksComic Books/Graphic NovelsEventsFilm FestivalsNews

Unveiling “The God List”: The New Graphic Novel from Steve Niles

This summer, prepare to be transported into a world filled with a captivating blend of action, mystery, and globe-trotting adventure in the new graphic novel “The God List.” Writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, The October Faction) and the artistic duo of Scott Hampton (writer/artist) and colorist Jennifer Lange (American Gods) join forces with Storm King Comics to deliver an original graphic novel unlike any other. The story begins in a dusty New York bookstore, where William, a book dealer, stumbles upon a mysterious volume. This prized possession becomes the target of a sinister, otherworldly organization, forcing William on a desperate quest. Aided by the enigmatic Lydia, he embarks on a whirlwind tour of Europe, seeking the world’s leading experts to decipher the book’s secrets. However, their pursuers are relentless, resorting to violence and supernatural threats to achieve their goals. While Italy and Germany provide a thrilling backdrop for the initial chase, “The God List” holds even more surprises.

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

May 23, 2024

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsThriller

Fantasia’s 2024 First Wave Announcement: From the Horrifying to the Hilarious

Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival brings a drool-worthy feast of genre cinema to Montreal every year, and the first wave announcement for the fest’s 2024 edition — set for July 18 through August 4 — boasts a buffet of amazing features. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but this past Thursday, Fantasia exclusively revealed its first seventeen titles and a first look at its 2024 poster art. Please find the information below. The festival’s 2024 poster art, created by Montreal visual artist Donald Caron, brings back two of the festival’s most-beloved characters from earlier editions, returning

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Joseph Perry

May 17, 2024

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsTrailers

A24 Adapting Hit Short Horror ‘The Looming’ For A Feature Film

Fresh off the success of Talk to Me, A24 is reuniting with Causeway Films and Square Peg (Hereditary) to bring Masha Ko‘s Sundance short film darling, The Looming, to the big screen as a feature film. Ko, an acclaimed director and artist known for championing underrepresented voices, will write and direct the feature-length adaptation. Her original short film, which premiered in the Sundance Midnight Short Film Program, follows Chester (Joseph Lopez), an elderly man experiencing strange and terrifying noises in and around his home. It’s not dementia, as Chester initially fears; it’s something worse. When his virtual assistant, Luna, picks up on the sounds, too, a terrifying new reality sets in that the noises are very real. With an unsettling premise, the short film is described by Sundance jurors as “terrifyingly beautiful,” leaving audiences deeply unsettled. The chilling concept resonated with A24, echoing 2020’s Relic, another A24 horror hit exploring the unsettling intersection of aging and the unknown. A24 will

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

May 10, 2024

Film FestivalsParanormalReviewsStreaming TV

Spoiler-Free Review: “Department of Paranormal Affairs” (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

If you’re in the mood for a brisk supernatural comedy, you need look no further than the new Canadian six-part episodic short-form series Department of Paranormal Affairs. The series boasts highly likable characters in decidedly irregular situations. In the world of Department of Paranormal Affairs, ghosts, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night are real. This branch of the government deals with them in a different way than usual in series and movies. Rather than hunting them down to dispose of such entities, this agency looks to help them fit in positively with human society. The department’s civil servants consist of Director Greg LeGrow (Donovan Workun), who does as little as possible; Scott Power (David Feehan), the straight-laced rule follower of the bunch; and new hire Jenny Hicks (Nancy Ngo), who initially would rather punch a ghost than read a book about how to properly deal with one. Series creator Feehan, who shares screenwriting credits with Jessy

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Joseph Perry

Apr 29, 2024

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesParanormalReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: “Loch Ness: They Created a Monster” (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Director John MacLaverty’s terrific documentary Loch Ness: They Created a Monster looks at the personalities involved in the search for Nessie, the legendary monster of Scotland’s Loch Ness, during the heyday of that searching, the 1970s and early 1980s. It’s a fascinating look at the men and women who devoted large parts of their lives to try and discover solid proof of the famous cryptid’s existence. The documentary illustrates the difference in attitudes between then and now, when scientific researchers, businesspeople, photographers, and other professionals had a more open-minded view toward high strangeness including the probability of a large, undiscovered beast living in the lake than today. That was a time when imagination felt stronger than cynicism, and skepticism was not quite as prevalent as it is now. Among the personalities featured in Loch Ness: They Created a Monster — through archival footage and interviews, and modern interviews with family members and colleagues, as well as surviving explorers — are

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Joseph Perry

Apr 25, 2024

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