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

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A Stalker Behaves Strangely In The New Clip From 'Jethica'

A Stalker Behaves Strangely In The New Clip From ‘Jethica’

A new clip from the supernatural horror comedy Jethica is here ahead of its World Premiere at this month’s SXSW. In the clip two friends argue over the identity of a man behaving strangely. Is it Kevin? In the film, hiding out in New Mexico after a freak accident, Elena runs into Jessica, an old friend from high school. When Jessica’s stalker suddenly shows up at their door, they must seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him, for good. The film marks the third feature from Pete Ohs, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2013 ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film’ and co-director of the award-winning Julia Garner lead sci-fi fable Everything Beautiful Is Far Away. It stars Austin-raised actress Callie Hernandez (The Flight Attendant, Blair Witch [2016]), Will Madden (Beast Beast, The Wolf Of Snow Hollow), Ashley Denise Robinson (Taking Stock), and Andy Faulkner (Youngstown). Jethica was shot in New Mexico in January 2021, in the midst

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 12, 2022
Shudder Acquires Aussie Horror-Comedy 'Sissy' Ahead OF SXSW

Shudder Acquires Aussie Horror-Comedy ‘Sissy’ Ahead OF SXSW

Shudder continues to add impressive films to its ever-growing library. The streaming service for horror and thrillers has just acquired the exclusive rights to the SXSW Midnighters Sissy ahead of its world premiere, from Arcadia, DEMS Entertainment, and Freedom Films. Written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, the Aussie horror-comedy stars Aisha Dee and Barlow as Cecilia and Emma, who had been tween-age BFFs who were never going to let anything come between them — until Alex (Emily De Margheriti) arrived on the scene. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer living the dream of an independent, modern millennial woman, until she runs into Emma for the first time in over a decade. After reconnecting, Emmy invites Cecilia on her bachelorette weekend to a remote cabin in the mountains, where Alex proceeds to make Cecilia’s weekend a living hell. Daniel Monks, Yerin Ha, Lucy Barrett, Shaun Martindale, Amelia Lule, April Blasdell, and Camille Cumpston also

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 12, 2022
As Funny As It Is Frightening: 'Deadstream' Scores New Trailer Before Shudder Premiere

Shudder Acquires Horror Comedy ‘Deadstream’ Ahead Of SXSW Premiere

With SXSW happening this month you can expect to see a lot of news coming your way. One of the films set to make its premiere at the film festival is the horror-comedy Deadstream, which has just been acquired by Shudder. Deadline reports that “The deal, which covers North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, comes as the pic gears up for its world premiere Friday at SXSW, where it is playing in the Midnighters section.” “Deadstream centers on a “disgraced and demonetized Internet personality (Joseph Winter) who tries to win back his fans by live-streaming himself spending a night alone in an abandoned haunted house. When he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit, his big comeback event becomes a real-time fight for his life (and social relevance) as he faces off with the sinister spirit of the house and her own powerful following.” The husband-wife filmmaking team of Joseph and Venessa Winter directed Deadstream that stars Melanie Stone

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 11, 2022
Movie Review: Hatching Is Impressive & Gruesome In So Many Ways

Boston Underground Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This Month

Aficionados of odd, eerie, and out-there cinema will be thrilled to learn that Boston Underground Film Festival is back for its first physical edition since 2019 later this month! Fine horror features from around the world are scheduled to screen along with science fiction, fantasy, and other genre-related films from March 23rd through the 27th. Following is the official press announcement. New England cinephiles, rejoice! Spring festival season kicks off in a few short weeks as the 22nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square, bringing with it five days of sublime cinervana to the Brattle Theatre from March 23rd through the 27th. This year’s program marks BUFF’s first physical festival since 2019 and promises a cinematic feast full of fierce folk horror, nordic nightmares, killer cockroaches, terrifying girl cults, psychological thrillers, and telekinetic chillers: All killer, no filler for the Northeast’s genre cinephiles. Fresh off its world premiere at Sundance, BUFF is honoured to host the New

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Mar 10, 2022
Blumhouse Thriller 'Soft & Quiet' Premiering At SXSW

Blumhouse Thriller ‘Soft & Quiet’ Premiering At SXSW

Blumhouse has come on board Beth de Araújo’s feature film debut Soft & Quiet, a Blumhouse feature which is making its festival debut on Saturday, March 12, at SXSW. “The thriller, which plays out in real-time, follows a single afternoon in the life of an elementary school teacher as she organizes a mixer of like-minded women. When the group heads home, the teacher encounters a woman from her past, leading to a volatile chain of events.” “I’m thrilled Jason and the Blumhouse team responded so strongly to Soft & Quiet. They are such a recognizable and trusted brand for audiences. Blumhouse has consistently put out films that are daring and resonate with viewers. As a filmmaker, I’m very excited for the road ahead with them,” said writer/director/producer Beth de Araújo.” “Beth’s film kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way through. It made me uncomfortable, tense, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I first watched

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 9, 2022
Short-Film Reviews: The Strange Monster at the Rivera House, Pare, Into the Silver Ether, and Crazy Mel’s Auto Emporium (Nitehawk Shorts Festival 2022)

Short-Film Reviews: The Strange Monster at the Rivera House, Pare, Into the Silver Ether, and Crazy Mel’s Auto Emporium (Nitehawk Shorts Festival 2022)

The Strange Monster at the Rivera House In this Puerto Rican horror short, neighbors of a woman (Aidita Encarnación) are desperate to communicate with — or through — a mysterious presence in her garage. Writer/director Estaban Bailey has crafted a chilling work that takes place during a hot summer day — not a usual setting for a horror tale, but this enigmatic short is no usual tale. Well acted and eerie, The Strange Monster at the Rivera House (El Extraño en La Casa Rivera) is a nifty slice of short-shock cinema Pare Writer/director Lauren Sick’s Pare is a terrific Christmas-set chiller in which a young woman (Dana Drori) comes across a blood-stained jacket that looks suspiciously like one that belongs to her husband. Matters only get stranger — and decidedly creepier — from there. Sick builds the mystery and tension masterfully, assisted by a superb performance from Dori, whose facial expressions are fantastic. This short is open to interpretation, and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Mar 6, 2022
San Francisco's Unnamed Footage Festival Announces Full Program for 5th Edition

San Francisco’s Unnamed Footage Festival Announces Full Program for 5th Edition

Found footage and POV horror and science fiction aficionados, take note! The fifth edition of the Unnamed Footage Festival is chock full of intriguing entries in the subgenre, from alien encounters to demonic terror to slasher attacks and beyond. The festival takes place from March 17-20 in San Francisco. Following is the official press announcement. After a year in cyber captivity, the Unnamed Footage Festival is returning to theaters of San Francisco for four days of found footage horror, faux documentary, and first person POV programming from March 17th through March 20th. Opening night will be held at the screening room of the Mission District gallery Artist’s Television Access, followed by a late-night screening at the Roxie Theatre on Friday, and culminating at the historic Balboa Theater for two full days of shorts and features. Following the success of last year’s virtual event, UFF has brought on Dread Central as the official media sponsor for the 2022 festival. Dread Central

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Feb 23, 2022
Wisconsin's MidWest WeirdFest Invites You to Experience Monsters, Mayhem, and the Mysterious

Wisconsin’s MidWest WeirdFest Invites You to Experience Monsters, Mayhem, and the Mysterious

If you have a cinematic taste for the odd, the unusual, and the frightening, Wisconsin’s MidWest WeirdFest has just what you are craving! The film festival has announced the full lineup for its March 4-6 run this year, and it’s fantastic! Along with two films previously reviewed on Horror Fuel — Night Caller and Crabs! — the fest serves up a smorgasbord of cinematic strangeness. The official press announcement follows. MidWest WeirdFest announces its full program for 2022 today. The 6th annual film festival – a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, paranormal, and just plain weird – takes place March 4-6, 2022 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Among the fest’s fantastic line-up of horror, sci-fi, underground and documentary cinema, are a number of films world premiering at the event. One of these is HAIR-TRIGGER, a genre-bending crime caper come rural horror movie. “HAIR-TRIGGER is truly a product of the region,” says the feature

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Feb 16, 2022
Haunting South African Horror 'Good Madam' Is Heading To Shudder

Haunting South African Horror ‘Good Madam’ Is Heading To Shudder

L Shudder has just announced that it has acquired the haunting South African psychological horror Good Madam which will premiere on the streaming service later this year following its screening at the Glasgow Film Festival. It is also an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, AFI Fest, and Gothenburg Film Festival. The film, from writer-director Jenna Cato Bass (Flatland, High Fantasy) and co-writer Babalwa Baartman, centers on Tsidi, a single mother, who is forced to move in with her estranged mother Mavis, a live-in domestic worker caring obsessively for her catatonic white ‘Madam’ in an affluent Cape Town suburb. As Tsidi tries to heal her family however, a sinister specter begins to stir. “Jenna Cato Bass delivers a sensationally fresh take on the haunted house story while layering in cutting social satire about the lingering horrors of apartheid,” said Shudder General Manager, Craig Engler. “Horror audiences are probably the most enthusiastic and open-minded I’ve encountered, so

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 10, 2022
Film Mode Makes A Deal With 'dEVIL' Ahead Of Premiere

Film Mode Makes A Deal With ‘dEVIL’ Ahead Of Premiere

Film Mode Entertainment has made a deal with dEVIL, the new spine-tingling horror feature film from director Nathan Frankowski, ahead of its premiere at the Berlin World Market. In the film, “the hottest biotech company in the world has discovered they can clone history’s most influential people from the dead. Now, they are auctioning clones of Michelangelo, Galileo, Vivaldi, and others for tens of millions of dollars to the world’s ultra-rich. But when they steal the Shroud of Turin and clone the DNA of Jesus Christ, all hell breaks loose. Lucifer finds a way out of Hell and fights to possess it. Our only hope is Archangel Michael, to stop him before it’s too late.” dEVIL features an impressive ensemble cast that includes Alice Orr-Ewing (The Theory of Everything, The Courier, Atonement), Joe Doyle (Salem, Raw), Eveline Hall (Whiskey Cavalier, Euphoria), Peter Mensah (Spartacus, Avatar, 300), Joe Anderson (Hangman, The Grey, Across The Universe), Spencer Wilding (Rogue One: A Star

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 10, 2022

More from Film Festivals

A Stalker Behaves Strangely In The New Clip From 'Jethica'

A Stalker Behaves Strangely In The New Clip From ‘Jethica’

A new clip from the supernatural horror comedy Jethica is here ahead of its World Premiere at this month’s SXSW. In the clip two friends argue over the identity of a man behaving strangely. Is it Kevin? In the film, hiding out in New Mexico after a freak accident, Elena runs into Jessica, an old friend from high school. When Jessica’s stalker suddenly shows up at their door, they must seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him, for good. The film marks the third feature from Pete Ohs, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2013 ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film’ and co-director of the award-winning Julia Garner lead sci-fi fable Everything Beautiful Is Far Away. It stars Austin-raised actress Callie Hernandez (The Flight Attendant, Blair Witch [2016]), Will Madden (Beast Beast, The Wolf Of Snow Hollow), Ashley Denise Robinson (Taking Stock), and Andy Faulkner (Youngstown). Jethica was shot in New Mexico in January 2021, in the midst

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 12, 2022
Shudder Acquires Aussie Horror-Comedy 'Sissy' Ahead OF SXSW

Shudder Acquires Aussie Horror-Comedy ‘Sissy’ Ahead OF SXSW

Shudder continues to add impressive films to its ever-growing library. The streaming service for horror and thrillers has just acquired the exclusive rights to the SXSW Midnighters Sissy ahead of its world premiere, from Arcadia, DEMS Entertainment, and Freedom Films. Written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, the Aussie horror-comedy stars Aisha Dee and Barlow as Cecilia and Emma, who had been tween-age BFFs who were never going to let anything come between them — until Alex (Emily De Margheriti) arrived on the scene. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer living the dream of an independent, modern millennial woman, until she runs into Emma for the first time in over a decade. After reconnecting, Emmy invites Cecilia on her bachelorette weekend to a remote cabin in the mountains, where Alex proceeds to make Cecilia’s weekend a living hell. Daniel Monks, Yerin Ha, Lucy Barrett, Shaun Martindale, Amelia Lule, April Blasdell, and Camille Cumpston also

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 12, 2022
As Funny As It Is Frightening: 'Deadstream' Scores New Trailer Before Shudder Premiere

Shudder Acquires Horror Comedy ‘Deadstream’ Ahead Of SXSW Premiere

With SXSW happening this month you can expect to see a lot of news coming your way. One of the films set to make its premiere at the film festival is the horror-comedy Deadstream, which has just been acquired by Shudder. Deadline reports that “The deal, which covers North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, comes as the pic gears up for its world premiere Friday at SXSW, where it is playing in the Midnighters section.” “Deadstream centers on a “disgraced and demonetized Internet personality (Joseph Winter) who tries to win back his fans by live-streaming himself spending a night alone in an abandoned haunted house. When he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit, his big comeback event becomes a real-time fight for his life (and social relevance) as he faces off with the sinister spirit of the house and her own powerful following.” The husband-wife filmmaking team of Joseph and Venessa Winter directed Deadstream that stars Melanie Stone

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 11, 2022
Movie Review: Hatching Is Impressive & Gruesome In So Many Ways

Boston Underground Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This Month

Aficionados of odd, eerie, and out-there cinema will be thrilled to learn that Boston Underground Film Festival is back for its first physical edition since 2019 later this month! Fine horror features from around the world are scheduled to screen along with science fiction, fantasy, and other genre-related films from March 23rd through the 27th. Following is the official press announcement. New England cinephiles, rejoice! Spring festival season kicks off in a few short weeks as the 22nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square, bringing with it five days of sublime cinervana to the Brattle Theatre from March 23rd through the 27th. This year’s program marks BUFF’s first physical festival since 2019 and promises a cinematic feast full of fierce folk horror, nordic nightmares, killer cockroaches, terrifying girl cults, psychological thrillers, and telekinetic chillers: All killer, no filler for the Northeast’s genre cinephiles. Fresh off its world premiere at Sundance, BUFF is honoured to host the New

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Mar 10, 2022
Blumhouse Thriller 'Soft & Quiet' Premiering At SXSW

Blumhouse Thriller ‘Soft & Quiet’ Premiering At SXSW

Blumhouse has come on board Beth de Araújo’s feature film debut Soft & Quiet, a Blumhouse feature which is making its festival debut on Saturday, March 12, at SXSW. “The thriller, which plays out in real-time, follows a single afternoon in the life of an elementary school teacher as she organizes a mixer of like-minded women. When the group heads home, the teacher encounters a woman from her past, leading to a volatile chain of events.” “I’m thrilled Jason and the Blumhouse team responded so strongly to Soft & Quiet. They are such a recognizable and trusted brand for audiences. Blumhouse has consistently put out films that are daring and resonate with viewers. As a filmmaker, I’m very excited for the road ahead with them,” said writer/director/producer Beth de Araújo.” “Beth’s film kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way through. It made me uncomfortable, tense, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I first watched

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Mar 9, 2022
Short-Film Reviews: The Strange Monster at the Rivera House, Pare, Into the Silver Ether, and Crazy Mel’s Auto Emporium (Nitehawk Shorts Festival 2022)

Short-Film Reviews: The Strange Monster at the Rivera House, Pare, Into the Silver Ether, and Crazy Mel’s Auto Emporium (Nitehawk Shorts Festival 2022)

The Strange Monster at the Rivera House In this Puerto Rican horror short, neighbors of a woman (Aidita Encarnación) are desperate to communicate with — or through — a mysterious presence in her garage. Writer/director Estaban Bailey has crafted a chilling work that takes place during a hot summer day — not a usual setting for a horror tale, but this enigmatic short is no usual tale. Well acted and eerie, The Strange Monster at the Rivera House (El Extraño en La Casa Rivera) is a nifty slice of short-shock cinema Pare Writer/director Lauren Sick’s Pare is a terrific Christmas-set chiller in which a young woman (Dana Drori) comes across a blood-stained jacket that looks suspiciously like one that belongs to her husband. Matters only get stranger — and decidedly creepier — from there. Sick builds the mystery and tension masterfully, assisted by a superb performance from Dori, whose facial expressions are fantastic. This short is open to interpretation, and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Mar 6, 2022
San Francisco's Unnamed Footage Festival Announces Full Program for 5th Edition

San Francisco’s Unnamed Footage Festival Announces Full Program for 5th Edition

Found footage and POV horror and science fiction aficionados, take note! The fifth edition of the Unnamed Footage Festival is chock full of intriguing entries in the subgenre, from alien encounters to demonic terror to slasher attacks and beyond. The festival takes place from March 17-20 in San Francisco. Following is the official press announcement. After a year in cyber captivity, the Unnamed Footage Festival is returning to theaters of San Francisco for four days of found footage horror, faux documentary, and first person POV programming from March 17th through March 20th. Opening night will be held at the screening room of the Mission District gallery Artist’s Television Access, followed by a late-night screening at the Roxie Theatre on Friday, and culminating at the historic Balboa Theater for two full days of shorts and features. Following the success of last year’s virtual event, UFF has brought on Dread Central as the official media sponsor for the 2022 festival. Dread Central

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Feb 23, 2022
Wisconsin's MidWest WeirdFest Invites You to Experience Monsters, Mayhem, and the Mysterious

Wisconsin’s MidWest WeirdFest Invites You to Experience Monsters, Mayhem, and the Mysterious

If you have a cinematic taste for the odd, the unusual, and the frightening, Wisconsin’s MidWest WeirdFest has just what you are craving! The film festival has announced the full lineup for its March 4-6 run this year, and it’s fantastic! Along with two films previously reviewed on Horror Fuel — Night Caller and Crabs! — the fest serves up a smorgasbord of cinematic strangeness. The official press announcement follows. MidWest WeirdFest announces its full program for 2022 today. The 6th annual film festival – a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, paranormal, and just plain weird – takes place March 4-6, 2022 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Among the fest’s fantastic line-up of horror, sci-fi, underground and documentary cinema, are a number of films world premiering at the event. One of these is HAIR-TRIGGER, a genre-bending crime caper come rural horror movie. “HAIR-TRIGGER is truly a product of the region,” says the feature

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Feb 16, 2022
Haunting South African Horror 'Good Madam' Is Heading To Shudder

Haunting South African Horror ‘Good Madam’ Is Heading To Shudder

L Shudder has just announced that it has acquired the haunting South African psychological horror Good Madam which will premiere on the streaming service later this year following its screening at the Glasgow Film Festival. It is also an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, AFI Fest, and Gothenburg Film Festival. The film, from writer-director Jenna Cato Bass (Flatland, High Fantasy) and co-writer Babalwa Baartman, centers on Tsidi, a single mother, who is forced to move in with her estranged mother Mavis, a live-in domestic worker caring obsessively for her catatonic white ‘Madam’ in an affluent Cape Town suburb. As Tsidi tries to heal her family however, a sinister specter begins to stir. “Jenna Cato Bass delivers a sensationally fresh take on the haunted house story while layering in cutting social satire about the lingering horrors of apartheid,” said Shudder General Manager, Craig Engler. “Horror audiences are probably the most enthusiastic and open-minded I’ve encountered, so

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 10, 2022
Film Mode Makes A Deal With 'dEVIL' Ahead Of Premiere

Film Mode Makes A Deal With ‘dEVIL’ Ahead Of Premiere

Film Mode Entertainment has made a deal with dEVIL, the new spine-tingling horror feature film from director Nathan Frankowski, ahead of its premiere at the Berlin World Market. In the film, “the hottest biotech company in the world has discovered they can clone history’s most influential people from the dead. Now, they are auctioning clones of Michelangelo, Galileo, Vivaldi, and others for tens of millions of dollars to the world’s ultra-rich. But when they steal the Shroud of Turin and clone the DNA of Jesus Christ, all hell breaks loose. Lucifer finds a way out of Hell and fights to possess it. Our only hope is Archangel Michael, to stop him before it’s too late.” dEVIL features an impressive ensemble cast that includes Alice Orr-Ewing (The Theory of Everything, The Courier, Atonement), Joe Doyle (Salem, Raw), Eveline Hall (Whiskey Cavalier, Euphoria), Peter Mensah (Spartacus, Avatar, 300), Joe Anderson (Hangman, The Grey, Across The Universe), Spencer Wilding (Rogue One: A Star

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Feb 10, 2022
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