Film Festivals

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

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Movie Reviews (Popcorn Frights 2021): “Howling Village,” “Val,” and “The Accursed”

Howling Village Japanese director Takashi Shimizu takes viewers back to the heyday of J-horror — of which he was a big part, including helming Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003), and the American reimagining The Grudge (2004) — with his 2019 effort, Howling Village. Featuring hallmarks of the director such as an ever-present sense of dread and eerie figures lurking all around, this tale sees Kanata Morita (Ayaka Miyoshi in a fine performance), a doctor at a hospital, go down a deadly rabbit hole when her teenage brother Yuma (Ryota Bando) and his girlfriend Anika (Rinko Otani) go searching for the titular location — a place of urban legend — with tragic consequences. Kanata has been seeing strange figures at the hospital where she works — or has she? When the other members of her family act strangely in different manners, and Yuma goes missing when he tries to return to Howling Village, Kanata learns that there

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Joseph Perry

Aug 18, 2021

Film Festivals

Movie Reviews (Popcorn Frights 2021): “Ditched,” “Take Back the Night,” and “Pretty Boy”

Ditched From its opening sequence to its jaw-dropping climax, writer/director Christopher Donaldson’s Canadian feature Ditched is one wild swerve after another. Paramedic Melina (Marika Sila) comes to and finds herself in an overturned ambulance with memory loss from a concussion. A man strapped to a gurney (Kris Loranger as Franson) is also awake. As Melina tries to make sense of what happened before she blacked out, she finds other people both alive and dead around the rural, isolated scene — and then something hairy and dangerous makes its presence known. Giving away more than that would be heading into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that what I have described happens very early on in the film, and plenty more is in store for viewers. Donaldson skillfully peels back layers while planting seeds for further mystery, and keeps the suspense at a hand-wringing pace. The members of the sizable cast give solid performances, especially Sila as a confused, scared,

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Joseph Perry

Aug 17, 2021

Film FestivalsIndieMoviesNewsThriller

First Look: Horror-Comedy ‘When The Screaming Starts’ Making Its World Premiere At FrightFest

Riotous Films in association with Four Plus10 Films has just announced that their new horror-comedy When the Screaming Starts will make its World Premiere later this month at FrightFest. Ahead of the premiere, we’ve got your first look at the film. The mockumentary marks the directorial debut of Conor Boru and stars “The Witcher” alum Yasen Atour, as well as Ed Hartland (“The Crown”), Octavia Gilmore (For Sale), and Jared Rogers (Killer Weekend). In the film, Aidan Mendle has a dream; he aspires to be an infamous serial killer. When a struggling journalist, Norman, is invited to follow Aidan on his journey, he believes he has finally landed his big break. But as Aidan and his newly recruited murder cult embark on a bloodsoaked rampage, will Norman’s dream of becoming a renowned filmmaker turn into a nightmare. Who will be remembered, who will be forgotten and who will be left behind chopped into little pieces? Director Conor Boru was thrilled

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Aug 15, 2021

Film Festivals

Austin’s Fantastic Fest Roars Back with a “Post-Apocalyptic” Edition

With films that shocked audiences at Cannes to cutting-edge independent fare, from blood-curdling horror to thought-provoking science fiction and just about every type of genre film in between, Austin’s famed Fantastic Fest has lined up a staggering array of cinema for its triumphant return this September 23–30. Horror Fuel is thrilled to share the fest’s official press announcement with our readers. Mechanophilia, possessed nuns, possessed children, hallucinations, ghostly hauntings, time travel, exorcism, cerebral expansion, heavy metal, friendship, yakuza, canine trauma, multiple serial killers, coprophagia, cannibalism, tender embraces, vampires, copious bodily fluids, superheroes, warm laughs, disco-dancing firemen and more, more, more! Yes, this can only mean one thing: Fantastic Fest is back. After 18 months of isolation and uncertainty, this year’s “Post-Apocalyptic” edition of Fantastic Fest is here to remind us of the joy of cinema, community, and weird and wonderful movies. The first wave of films is headlined by the truly extraordinary 2021 Palme D’Or winner TITANE from PARASITE distributor

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Joseph Perry

Aug 10, 2021

Film Festivals

Vampires, Time Travelers, and Cryptids Highlight SLASH Film Festival’s First Wave Announcement

SLASH Film Festival, Vienna’s premiere event for horror and genre-film goodness, has announced its first wave of films and presented its key visual and trailer for this year’s event, set for September 23–October 3, 2021. Horror Fuel has all of this for you below, from the official press announcement. Vienna’s SLASH Film Festival is opening its doors for the twelfth time from September 23 through October 3, 2021. Counting more than 15,000 visitors each year, SLASH is the second-best-attended Viennese film festival after Viennale and the biggest community event for Fantastic Cinema in Austria. In 2021, SLASH is conjuring a brimming, hissing, bloody, ornery, mystical, preposterous brew of fantastic film highlights, a fabulous concoction of all things fantastique served piping hot and ice-cold in domestic theaters. From horror to science fiction, from award-winning productions to outlandish splatter orgies, from highly anticipated genre gems to celebrated classics, from hopelessly bleak to deliciously humorous—we have something for every taste, whether you’re a

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Joseph Perry

Aug 8, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsTrailers

‘King Knight’ Conjures A New Trailer Ahead Of Fantasia Premiere

Double double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Writer-director Richard Bates Jr’s King Knight makes its world premiere this weekend at the Fantasia Film Festival. Ahead of its debut, we’ve conjured the new trailer filled with dark humor and witchcraft. King Knight is an outsider’s outsider comedy starring “Criminal Minds” actor Matthew Gray Gubler and Angela Sarafyan as Thorn and Willow, husband-and-wife high priest and priestess of a coven of witches in a small California community. When Willow unearths a secret from Thorn’s past, their lives are thrown into turmoil in this kooky, clever film. Andy Milonakis, Kate Comer, Johnny Pemberton, Josh Fadem, Nelson Franklin, Emily Chang, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Swati Kapila, Shane Brady, AnnaLynne McCord, Alice Glass, Aubrey Plaza, with Barbara Crampton, and Ray Wise also star. As soon as a release date is announced we’ll let you know.

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Aug 7, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsShudderStreaming TV

Shudder Claims The Horror ‘Hellbender’ Ahead Of Fantasia

Shudder has acquired the occult horror feature Hellbender ahead of its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival. Shudder will release the film, which is written and directed by Toby Poser, John Adams, and Zelda Adams, in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand in early 2022. In Hellbender, 16-year-old Izzy (Zelda Adams) suffers from a rare illness that has kept her isolated on a mountaintop with her mother (Toby Poser) her whole life. As Izzy begins to question her sickness, she pushes back against her confinement and secretly befriends Amber (Lulu Adams), another girl living on the mountain, but her newfound happiness is derailed after she eats a live worm as part of a juvenile game and finds an insatiable and violent hunger awakened within her. To understand the hunger, Izzy must learn the dark secrets of her family’s past and the ancient power in her bloodline. We are thrilled to bring this family-focused folk nightmare

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Aug 5, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsThrillerTrailers

The Star-Studded Horror ‘The Retaliators’ Making Its World Premiere At FrightFest

Better Noise Films’ (The Dirt, Sno Babies) latest production, The Retaliators, will make its World Premiere at London’s Arrow Video’s FrightFest on August 30, 2021. The rock and roll gorefest follows a broken pastor as unimaginable grief leads him to depths of depravity he never imagined. Directed by Bridget Smith and Samuel Gonzalez, Jr., the screenplay was written by Darren Geare and Jeff Allen Geare. The all-star cast includes Michael Lombardi (“Rescue Me”), Marc Menchaca (“Ozark”), and Joseph Gatt (“Game of Thrones”), as well as Jacoby Shaddix, frontman of Papa Roach, making his acting debut. The Retaliators features cameos and music by Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, The Hu, Ice Nine Kills, Escape The Fate, and many more, anchored by an original score from Emmy-winning composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (“Stranger Things”). In the film, “An upstanding pastor uncovers a dark and twisted underworld as he searches for answers surrounding his daughter’s brutal murder.

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Aug 4, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsThriller

A First Look At The Occult Thriller ‘The Last Thing Mary Saw’

Ahead of its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival this August, we’ve got the first look at writer-director Edoardo Vitaletti‘s feature debut, the occult thriller The Last Thing Mary Saw, set in an isolated farmhouse during the winter of 1843, the film centers on a young woman who is under investigation following the mysterious death of her family’s matriarch. Soon it becomes clear that dark forces are at play. Stefanie Scott (Insidious: Chapter 3) stars alongside Rory Culkin (Scream 4), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Shane Coffey (“Pretty Little Liars”), Carolyn McCormick (“Law & Order”). and Judith Roberts (Dead Silence). “Southold, New York, 1843: Young Mary (Stefanie Scott), blood trickling from behind the blindfold tied around her eyes, is interrogated about the events surrounding her grandmother’s death. As the story jumps back in time, we witness Mary, raised in a repressively religious household, finding fleeting happiness in the arms of Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman), the home’s maid. Her family, who believe they are

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Aug 1, 2021

Film Festivals

Arrow Video FrightFest 2021’s Second Wave of Films Features Amazing Fright Fare from Around the Globe

Arrow Video FrightFest 2021 — the U.K.’s premiere event for fear-fare films and the fanatics and cinephiles who love them — has taken things to a new level with its second-wave announcement of features slated for its August 26–30 theatrical run. Following is the official press announcement. It’s Full Scream ahead as Arrow Video FrightFest 2021 announces its second wave of hugely anticipated Discovery Screen and First Blood titles — a summer collection of provocative, edgy and transgressive entertainment to die for. There are fourteen World and ten European/ International premieres amongst the thirty-four films on offer. Eleven countries are represented, with titles ranging from Canadian entries BLOODTHIRSTY, Amelia Moses’ simmering LGBQT+ werewolf movie and sinister isolation thriller MOTHERLY to Francesco Erba’s AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH, a stunning Italian blend of live action and Gothic puppet animation. Then there’s Péter Bergendy’s sumptuous POST MORTEM, an epic Hungarian ghost story, Frida Kempff’s Swedish entry KNOCKING, a breakout Sundance sensation,

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Joseph Perry

Jul 22, 2021

Film Festivals

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