CategoryEvents
Horror events, screenings and experiences — premieres, festivals and one-night-only shows.
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Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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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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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films
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
Continue reading →
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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,
Continue reading →
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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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EventsHalloweenMoviesNews
Horror fans are in for a real treat this October! Peacock has announced “OVERNIGHTMARE” at The Stanley Hotel, the infamous landmark featured in The Shining. In partnership with Blumhouse, Peacock will take over The Stanley Hotel from Friday, October 18, to Sunday, October 20. Rooms will be themed to one of four Blumhouse films: Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, and Freaky. The thrilling experience starts with check-in, where a concise-scare-ge will greet guests. Visitors will encounter various characters and frights throughout the space. That includes the Teacup Room, a spooky salon that will take guests inside the world of the new series. There’s also the Blumhouse Bar, a haven for horror fans to play the company’s upcoming video game, Fear the Spotlight. Come sundown, things will quite literally go bump in the night. Each evening will feature an after-dark experience. Guests are pulled from their rooms for one of four rooms inspired by each Blumhouse film. The event features
Continue reading →
EventsGamingIndieNewsParanormalProductTrailers
Today Blumhouse Games announced the release date for the publisher’s first game Fear the Spotlight at the PlayStation State of Play. Along with the news comes a brand-new gameplay trailer. In Fear the Spotlight players take on the role of Vivian, who enters the deserted corridors of Sunnyside High School for a seance with her rebellious friend Amy. The pair become separated leaving Vivian alone and at the mercy of the monster who wanders the halls. Vivian must avoid its gaze, find her friend, and uncover the disturbing, murderous truth of a decades-old tragedy. Fear the Spotlight is a creepy love letter to classic 90s horror experiences by Cozy Game Pals and is set to be released October 22nd for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Continue reading →
EventsHalloweenMoviesNews
This Fall, Six Flags Fright Fest will bring iconic horror franchises to life to delight every horror fanatic and Halloween fiend, including “Stranger Things.“ Guests are invited to journey to Hawkins and enter the “Stranger Things” world, where students have created a Haunted House for the community. Although just a little innocent, Halloween fun soon gets turned upside down! What starts as a fun school haunt with homemade decorations quickly becomes a deadly labyrinth of thrills and scares. Rifts sweep guests into a disorienting journey of terrifying locations while being hunted by the supernatural monsters. Guests will navigate the world of the Netflix smash hit. They will come face to face with demogorgons, demodogs, demobats, the “Mind Flayer,” and finally, Vecna himself! During this year’s Fright Fest, guests will also be transported into the eerie realms of Netflix’s Army of the Dead, Warner Bros./New Line’s Conjuring Universe, Legendary Entertainment’s Trick ‘r Treat, Lionsgate, and Twisted Pictures’ SAW‘ and an experience
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsNews
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.
Continue reading →
More from Events
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsSci-Fi
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films
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
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
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,
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
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).
Continue reading →
EventsHalloweenMoviesNews
Horror fans are in for a real treat this October! Peacock has announced “OVERNIGHTMARE” at The Stanley Hotel, the infamous landmark featured in The Shining. In partnership with Blumhouse, Peacock will take over The Stanley Hotel from Friday, October 18, to Sunday, October 20. Rooms will be themed to one of four Blumhouse films: Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, and Freaky. The thrilling experience starts with check-in, where a concise-scare-ge will greet guests. Visitors will encounter various characters and frights throughout the space. That includes the Teacup Room, a spooky salon that will take guests inside the world of the new series. There’s also the Blumhouse Bar, a haven for horror fans to play the company’s upcoming video game, Fear the Spotlight. Come sundown, things will quite literally go bump in the night. Each evening will feature an after-dark experience. Guests are pulled from their rooms for one of four rooms inspired by each Blumhouse film. The event features
Continue reading →
EventsGamingIndieNewsParanormalProductTrailers
Today Blumhouse Games announced the release date for the publisher’s first game Fear the Spotlight at the PlayStation State of Play. Along with the news comes a brand-new gameplay trailer. In Fear the Spotlight players take on the role of Vivian, who enters the deserted corridors of Sunnyside High School for a seance with her rebellious friend Amy. The pair become separated leaving Vivian alone and at the mercy of the monster who wanders the halls. Vivian must avoid its gaze, find her friend, and uncover the disturbing, murderous truth of a decades-old tragedy. Fear the Spotlight is a creepy love letter to classic 90s horror experiences by Cozy Game Pals and is set to be released October 22nd for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Continue reading →
EventsHalloweenMoviesNews
This Fall, Six Flags Fright Fest will bring iconic horror franchises to life to delight every horror fanatic and Halloween fiend, including “Stranger Things.“ Guests are invited to journey to Hawkins and enter the “Stranger Things” world, where students have created a Haunted House for the community. Although just a little innocent, Halloween fun soon gets turned upside down! What starts as a fun school haunt with homemade decorations quickly becomes a deadly labyrinth of thrills and scares. Rifts sweep guests into a disorienting journey of terrifying locations while being hunted by the supernatural monsters. Guests will navigate the world of the Netflix smash hit. They will come face to face with demogorgons, demodogs, demobats, the “Mind Flayer,” and finally, Vecna himself! During this year’s Fright Fest, guests will also be transported into the eerie realms of Netflix’s Army of the Dead, Warner Bros./New Line’s Conjuring Universe, Legendary Entertainment’s Trick ‘r Treat, Lionsgate, and Twisted Pictures’ SAW‘ and an experience
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsNews
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.
Continue reading →
