Film Festivals

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

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Spoiler-Free Reviews: TOUCHED BY ETERNITY and HEAVIER TRIP (Fantastic Fest)

Touched by Eternity Writer/director Mārcis Lācis serves up an intriguing, amusing feature with his Latvian philosophical horror dramedy Touched by Eternity. Fatso (Andris Keišs) longs for immortality, though why he desires that isn’t clearly evident, as he pretty much keeps to himself in his trailer, listening to broadcasts about seeking eternal life. When vampires Egons (Ivars Krasts) and Carlos (Edgars Samītis) come calling, seemingly offering him what he pursues, his simple lifestyle is upended and he is suddenly faced with existential questions about mortality. Lācis blends the thoughtful, the horrific, and the humorous quite nicely, and Keišs leads a solid cast as a simple everyman who dreams of the unattainable until his dream is offered to him as a reality — though quite a different, blood-spattered one than he had originally imagined. Thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining, Touched by Eternity is a unique slice of genre cinema well worth seeking out. Heavier Trip Finnish/German/Norwegian/Lithuanian coproduction Heavier Trip — the sequel to

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Joseph Perry

Oct 7, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsSci-Fi

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween 2024 Lineup: From Time Travel to Serial Killers and Beyond

London’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween film festival is the place to be for fright-fare fanatics! The event features horror and science fiction features with world, international, and U.K. premieres aplenty. Following is the official press announcement. Following the success of its spectacular 25th Anniversary August five-day event, the UK’s most popular genre film festival returns to the Odeon Luxe West End in Leicester Square. Taking over both screens on Friday 1st November and Saturday 2nd November, the Halloween special will feature nine premiere titles from six countries, spanning Europe, North America, South America and Asia, making it a truly spine-chilling display of global talent. Each film will be screened twice. Tickets Opening the event is the UK premiere of Sam Yates’s MAGPIE, a darkly intense psychological thriller which thrives in its classic neo-noir atmosphere, eliciting tension that is seconds away from permanently snapping. Daisy Ridley delivers a tour de force performance as a neglected wife on the edge, and will

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Joseph Perry

Oct 4, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: THE SEVERED SUN (Fantastic Fest)

Writer/director Dean Puckett’s The Severed Sun (U.K., 2024) is an engrossing work that takes folk horror elements and sets them in an ambiguous time period — the story could be taking place in the past but a couple of items suggest that it could also be set in an isolated rural area in the present day. The Pastor (Toby Stephens) leads a village of followers who must adhere to his religious moral code. The upstanding reputations of the men of the village must be upheld, even if it means covering up or ignoring their physical and mental abuse toward family members. When the pastor’s daughter Magpie (Emma Appleton) decides to no longer take such abuse from her husband toward his sons and her, she kills him, and some of the other flock members are suspicious of her claims of the death being an accident. Magpie grows further away from the strict religious regiment demanded of the Pastor’s followers to the

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Joseph Perry

Sep 30, 2024

Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films

Spoiler-Free Reviews: WHAT HAPPENED TO DOROTHY BELL? and FACES (Fantastic Fest)

What Happened to Dorothy Bell? An interesting investigation of familial trauma and mental illness through a horror lens, What Happened to Dorothy Bell? uses a combination of vintage-style footage (not found footage, to clarify, although the approach is similar) and present-day proceedings. Protagonist Ozzie (Asya Meadows) was attacked when she was a child by her titular grandmother (Arlene Arnone Bibbs). Now a young adult, Ozzie searches for answers to why that happened and also about her grandmother’s disappearance. As might be expected with a family as the focus in a horror film, skeletons lurk in the closet and the supernatural may well be at play. What Happened to Dorothy Bell? has the feel of a gateway horror film, with its surprises and shocks not approaching very scary levels nor reveling in gory effects work. Lingering shots of rooms in which something may or may not happen in the background and noises from other rooms make for most of the suspenseful

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Joseph Perry

Sep 27, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Screamfest Announces a Lineup Worth Shrieking About

Los Angeles’s Screamfest has announced its second wave lineup, so its full slate of chillers and thrillers for its October 8–17 run is now available for fright-fare fanatics to drool over. Following is the official press announcement. Screamfest® Horror Film Festival, the largest and longest-running horror film festival in the United States, is excited to announce its opening and closing night events as well as additional features. Taking place from October 8 to 17, 2024, at the TCL Chinese Theater, Screamfest® will kick off the festival with award-winning filmmaker Joseph Kahn’s (Bodied), sci-fi/horror satire ICK, which will have its West Coast premiere with a red-carpet gala screening on Tuesday, October 8. ICK follows ex-jock turned science teacher Hank (Brandon Routh) who is stuck in his hometown, dreaming of a life as a professional athlete. While teaching chemistry, he reconnects with his high school crush’s daughter, Grace (Malina Weissman). When a mysterious substance called the “Ick” begins to spread through Eastbrook,

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Joseph Perry

Sep 26, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Nightmares Film Festival Announces Its Full 2024 Lineup

Nightmares Film Festival has unveiled its complete lineup for its 2024 edition! The fest, running in Columbus, Ohio from October 17–20, is chock full of tantalizing horror cinema selections and incredible events. Following is the official press announcement. Nightmares Film Festival, FilmFreeway’s #1-ranked genre fest, today revealed its 2024 program of #BetterHorror, including one-of-a-kind live experiences and workshops alongside its heralded film and screenplay slate. The four-day Nightmare program once again delivers a must-see feature lineup collected from new and beloved genre voices around the world, with highlights including the genre-smashing martial arts/horror-revenge actioner Sayara from Can Evrenol (Baskin); gruesome remote-town thriller The Soul Eater from Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Inside, Leatherface); the world premiere of Jason Trost (The FP)’s The Waves of Madness, the first-ever side-scrolling horror film; the North American premiere of attendee favorite Johannes Grenzfurthner’s POV nightmare Solvent; and the world premiere of Ohio-made body horror feature Replicator from Mark Hamer (Helen Hunt-starrer I See You).

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Joseph Perry

Sep 26, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsNews

Albuquerque’s Dark Red Film Festival Announces Its 2024 Lineup

New Mexico’s Dark Red Film Festival is set to send shivers down the spines of fear-fare aficionados when it hits multiple screens in Albuquerque from October 25–27, 2024. The fest features dozens of horror shorts that run the gamut from the supernatural to the super shocking. Following is the official press announcement. The Dark Red Film Festival, New Mexico’s premier international horror film festival, is set to return to Albuquerque from October 25-27, 2024. Recognized as one of Movie Maker Magazine’s top 5 “Best Places to Live and Work as a MovieMaker” for the last six years, Albuquerque provides a dynamic backdrop for this celebration of independent horror cinema. Recommended as one of New York Film Academy’s “Top Film Festivals to Submit To,” Dark Red Film Festival is dedicated to elevating the horror genre. Crafted by filmmakers, the festival will unite a vibrant community of filmmakers and horror enthusiasts over the course of three days at two iconic Albuquerque venues.

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Joseph Perry

Sep 19, 2024

"Work of Art:" Ice Nine Kills and Terrifier 3 Team Up for 7-Minute Short Film

Film FestivalsMoviesMusicNewsTrailers

Ice Nine Kills Unleashing New ‘Terrifier 3’ Single at Fantastic Fest

Horror metal band Ice Nine Kills has announced a chilling collaboration with the iconic horror franchise Terrifier. “A Work of Art,” their new single, is a tribute to the franchise and will be featured in the sequel Terrifier 3. The collaboration was revealed at Ice Nine Kills‘ third annual fan convention, Silver Scream Con. Terrifier star David Howard Thornton, who plays the role of Art the Clown, was in attendence. “The Terrifier franchise gave us Art the Clown, the greatest new horror icon in decades,” said frontman Spencer Charnas. “We are beyond honored to be a part of the viciously delightful universe Damien Leone and his incredible team have created.” The video for “A Work of Art,” directed by Jensen Noen, will premiere at Fantastic Fest September 19th, following the world premiere of Terrifier 3. Terrifier 3 sees Art the Clown return five years after his last bloody attack on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County. They peacefully drift off

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Sep 18, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

L.A.’s Beyond Fest Announces Its Monstrous 12th Edition Lineup

Horror, science fiction, thrillers, and other fantastic genres of cinema, with world premieres, classic favorites, and retrospectives: Los Angeles’s Beyond Fest has it all from September 25th–October 9th for its mighty 12th edition. Following is the official press announcement. Beyond Fest, the biggest and highest-attended genre film festival in the US, is excited to announce its complete slate of 2024 programming comprising 82 features, including 16 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 1 North American Premiere, 3 US Premieres, and 25 West Coast Premieres. After entertaining over 25,000 guests in 2023, Beyond Fest returns for its 12th edition spanning September 25th – October 9th. Presented exclusively by NEON and programmed and produced in partnership with the American Cinematheque, Beyond Fest returns to the Egyptian Theatre, Aero Theatre, Los Feliz 3, and Vista Theatre with all ticket sales going to the 501(c)(3) non-profit film institution. Beyond Fest opens with the World Premiere of Gary Dauberman’s chilling adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel

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Joseph Perry

Sep 13, 2024

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers

Shudder Original ‘Daddy’s Head’ To Premiere at Fantastic Fest Before Coming Home

The Shudder Original horror Daddy’s Head, written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot (Double Date), will premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month. It will then bring chills and thrills home this October when it gets its streaming release. In the wake of his father’s untimely death, a young boy is left in the eerie solitude of a sprawling country estate. His only companion is his newly widowed stepmother. Struggling to navigate the overwhelming task of parenthood, his stepmother grows distant, leaving their fragile bond at risk of collapse. Amidst the growing tension, the boy hears unsettling sounds echoing through the corridors. He is soon haunted by the presence of a grotesque creature bearing a disturbingly familiar resemblance to his late father. As the boy’s warnings are dismissed as the imagination of a grieving child, the sinister entity tightens its grip on their crumbling lives. Daddy’s Head stars Julia Brown, Rupert Turnbull, and Charles Aitken. Nathaniel Martello-White rounds out the cast.

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Sep 12, 2024

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