Film Festivals

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

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Movie Review: Arcadian Has a Monster Problem

New ‘Arcadian’ Trailer Sees Nicolas Cage Face a World of Horrors

The official trailer for the action-packed horror-thriller Arcadian has arrived ahead of its debut at SXSW. The film, directed by Benjamin Brewer and written by Mike Nilon, stars Nicolas Cage and is edge-of-your-seat. Arcadian is set in the near future when everyday life on Earth has been decimated. Paul and his two sons, Thomas and Joseph, have been living a half-life – tranquility by day and torment by night. Every night, after the sun sets, they face the unrelenting attacks of a mysterious and violent evil. Thomas doesn’t return home one night before sundown. Fueled by desperation, Paul is forced to leave the safety of their farm in an attempt to find his son before it’s too late. A nightmarish battle ensues, and the family is forced to execute a desperate plan to survive. Cage (Mandy) stars alongside Jaeden Martell (It, Knives Out), Maxwell Jenkins (Lost In Space), and Sadie Soverall (Saltburn). Producers include David Wulf, Braxton Pope, Nicolas Cage,

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Mar 7, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Spoiler-Free Film Reviews: “The Activated Man,” “Escalation,” and “Ron” (Romford Horror Festival)

THE ACTIVATED MAN (U.S., 2023) Writer/director Nicholas Gyeney’s feature The Activated Man is an interesting variation on the “shadow people” subgenre. The film goes all-in on its exploration of psychic power and supernatural forces. Leaning perhaps slightly more toward tugging at the heartstrings than delivering full-blown horror, the film does serve up a decidedly frightening new character in The Fedora Man (Edward Michael Scott), whose appearance should inspire cosplay and Halloween costumes aplenty. The Activated Man is loaded with ideas, perhaps almost too many for a single film, including a late reveal that I won’t spoil here. Unemployed Ors (Jamie Costa) is suffering from depression after the loss of his dog Louie to cancer, and his police detective significant other Sarah (Ivana Rojas) is supportive of him, while she herself investigates local cases of murder–suicides, an epidemic of which is sweeping the United States. Ors begins to see ghostly visions of Louie, as well as unwelcome appearances from The Fedora

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Joseph Perry

Feb 27, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

A Night of Horror International Film Festival Moves to the U.S. Next Week

After 15 goosebumps-inducing editions in Australia, A Night of Horror makes its debut run in the United States from March 1–3, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Supernatural shockers, bloody slashers, and creepy creature features are just part of the frightening lineup. Following is the official press announcement. A Night of Horror International Film Festival is taking place for the first ever time in the United States next week. Originating and operating for years in Sydney, Australia, the 16th edition of the festival will take place March 1-3, 2024 at the Micon Downtown Cinema, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This year it will be running parallel with Eau Claire’s much loved MidWest WeirdFest, with each festival having its own cinema screen at the Micon. A Night of Horror’s reputation of championing and screening the best and bloodiest new horror films continues, with another stellar line-up of feature films and shorts from around the world. Including several world, international, and US premieres. One

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Joseph Perry

Feb 22, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Spoiler-Free Short-Film Reviews: “The Foreboding: Fractured,” “Sour Milk,” and “Dolly Molly’s Playhouse” (Romford Horror Festival)

THE FOREBODING: FRACTURED (U.K., 2024) In director Kemal Yildrim’s short The Foreboding: Fractured, four university friends go camping in the woods, which is never a good idea when it comes to horror movie characters. Neither is telling scary stories by the campfire, but that happens here too. The elements are set for some forest-bound fear fare, and though I will avoid going into spoiler territory, suffice it to say that what the quartet runs afoul of is not a slasher nor a cryptid, but something of the supernatural variety. The ensemble cast — Eve Kathryn Oliver, Alexander Staunton-Hill (who also wrote the screenplay), Olivia Bennett, Peter Tilley, and Sienna Shih — all turn in fine performances playing believable characters, and Yildrim does an admirable job of setting an eerie atmosphere and building suspense. SOUR MILK (U.K., 2024) A homeless shelter offers a terrifying choice for a young woman in writer/director Joe Duncombe’s Sour Milk. Cassie’s (Molly Grainger) first night at

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Joseph Perry

Feb 22, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Villains, UFOs, and Gunfighters Descend on Wisconsin’s 2024 MidWest WeirdFest

Aficionados of the odd, the unusual, and the bizarre in cinema should find much to love in this, the full-program announcement for the 2024 edition of Wisconsin’s MidWest WeirdFest, scheduled for March 13. Following is the official press announcement. MidWest WeirdFest announces its full program for 2024 today. The 8th annual film festival — a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, paranormal, and just plain weird — takes place March 1-3, 2024 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The fest’s fantastic line-up of horror, sci-fi, underground, paranormal, and documentary cinema, kicks off at 6pm, Friday March 1, with the theatrical world premiere of the brand new, and soon to be cult hit, BLIND COP 2. “The story of getting BLIND COP 2 made is nearly as absurd and feverish as the film itself.” says the film’s director and co-writer Alec Bonk. “Our small group of highly impassioned and exceedingly motivated artists came together and forced

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Joseph Perry

Feb 21, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Dark Nights Film Fest Is Unleashed and Calls for Entries!

Bryn Tilly, who ran Australia’s A Night of Horror Film Festival for four years, has announced a new fright-fare fest for that country: Dark Nights Film Fest. The inaugural edition is scheduled for October of this year, and the call for entries is now open. Following is the official press announcement. Get ready to embrace a spine-chilling, heart-pounding experience as former director and programmer of the renowned A Night of Horror International Film Festival brings you an exhilarating new venture – Dark Nights Film Fest – set to haunt Ritz Cinemas in Sydney this coming October. With many years of festival programming experience under his belt, Dark Nights’ founder, Bryn Tilly, announces the festival’s inaugural Call for Entries and invites horror and dark genre filmmakers, screenwriters, and thrill-seekers to join this essential new journey. Tilly helmed and successfully navigated Sydney’s film festival A Night of Horror through the wilderness of a global pandemic and beyond, and promises to elevate frightful

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Joseph Perry

Feb 20, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsNews

Unnamed Footage Festival Announces First Wave Selections for Its 2024 Edition

Found footage fear-fare fans, your biggest dream and worst nightmares are about to come true! The Unnamed Footage Festival is back for its 7th edition, and its first wave selections are a highly intriguing. The festival runs March 28–31, 2024 in San Francisco. Following is the official press announcement. The Unnamed Footage Festival is excited to announce the first wave of films for the 7th edition of the Found Footage Horror, First Person POV, and Faux Doc film festival. Every year, our programmers scour the globe for the greatest, weirdest, and most obscure films in the In-World camera genre, and this year is shaping up to be our best and biggest year yet, complete with cryptids, liminal horror, possession and live streaming. UFF7 will feature two nights of pre-fest events. On Tuesday March 26th, UFF will present a 10th Anniversary screening of AS ABOVE SO BELOW at Terror Tuesday in collaboration with the Alamo Drafthouse at their New Mission location.

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Joseph Perry

Feb 15, 2024

Film FestivalsInterviews

Horror Filmmaker Federico Zampaglione Talks THE WELL Ahead of FrightFest Glasgow

The following is an interview for syndication with Italian director Federico Zampaglione. Ahead of the UK premiere of graphic and disturbing supernatural horror film THE WELL at FrightFest Glasgow 2024, director Federico Zampaglione talks about returning to hardcore horror, working with the late, great Giovanni Lombardo Radice and emerging from the shadow of Italian masters of the genre. So, Federico, THE WELL has its UK premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival, as part of the popular FrightFest event. Excited, or what? Frightfest it’ s the place where everything has started in 2009 and it’s one of the best festivals in the world. I can’ t wait to show THE WELL to the UK fans. What inspired you to make the movie? Wanting to get back on the horror horse! I deeply love this genre, because it speaks to the human soul, investigates our unknown fears and gets lost in deep darkness whilst clinging to a blade of light. THE WELL

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Joseph Perry

Feb 14, 2024

Chattanooga Film Festival Offers a Hybrid Eleventh Edition This Month

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Make Believe Seattle Film Festival’s Year Two Lineup Is a Doozy

From coming-of-age horror and science fiction offerings to darker genre offerings to offbeat documentaries, the second edition of the Make Believe Seattle Film Festival is serving up a wild and wooly array of features and shorts from around the world. Following is the official press announcement. Announcing the complete lineup of films and events for year two of the Make Believe Seattle Film Festival. Make Believe is the region’s first-ever dedicated genre film festival, shining a light on horror, science fiction, fantasy, animation, and more. The festival will screen exclusively in person at Erickson Theatre, Northwest Film Forum, and the Grand Illusion Cinema from March 21-26, 2024. Festival passes, and individual tickets are on sale now and are available at makebelieveseattle.com. The Make Believe Seattle lineup features 38 programs, including narrative features, documentaries, mid-length films, short film blocks, repertory films, live podcasts, filmmaker Q&As, special events, thematic parties, and more. Two films will make their world premieres at Make Believe

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Joseph Perry

Feb 14, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort FilmsThriller

Spoiler-Free Short-Film Reviews: “Nian,” “Days of Spring,” Mosquito Lady,” and “A Dire Strait” (Final Girls Berlin Film Festival)

Following are reviews of four of the offerings that screened as part of the 2024 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Folk Horror short-film block. Nian Short chiller Nian (U.S., 2023), finds a Chinese American schoolgirl (Lauren Mei in a delightful performance) standing up to a racist bully with the help of a Chinese demon mask and the supernatural assistance of the titular mythological punisher of naughty children. Director Michelle Krusiec delivers a crisp commentary on racism and bullying that nails its fantasy aspects, with a nice amount of heart behind it. Days of Spring Writer/director Arianne Hinz’s Days of Spring (Netherlands, 2022) is a disturbing peek into the secretive world of a small group of young Dutch girls who surrender their individual wills to the group. Eleven-year-old Roos (Anoek Neervort) has invited her friend Ella (Maeve Hickey) to join the group but begins to question herself when the demands of the girls grows increasingly extreme, including animal sacrifice. Beautifully lensed

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Joseph Perry

Feb 13, 2024

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