If you thought that genre movie festivals were just for October then think again, as Soho Horror Festival is here to ensure that the long dark nights of November will remain just as frightening. After spending most of the last year online, the Soho Horror Film Festival will run from 26th-28th November at its new home of Whirled Cinema in Brixton, London. Those that can’t make it down to London shouldn’t be disheartened though as they’ll also have the opportunity to join in with a separate online event running from 3rd to 5th December. That’s right, Soho Horror Festival is also looking to add some spooky vibes to the festive period too.
Whilst the event may still be in its infancy when compared to some of the heavy weights on the circuit, the festival has lined up some very juicy titles. The titles for the virtual event are still being kept under wraps until later this week, but the line-up for the physical festival has been revealed and it is a good one. Highlights include We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie, the UK premiere of Danishka Esterhazy’s slasher reboot Slumber Party Massacre, and the spectacular Hellbender.
For details on all the other films screening, and information about how to get a hold of one of the hottest tickets in town, read the official press release below:
This Winter, no screen is safe as the Soho Horror Film Festival returns! Finding both a new home on the big screen at the Whirled Cinema in South London, and then taking over the airways and invading your homes for it’s seventh virtual edition since the onset of the pandemic. Two weekends and two unique film lineups, bringing you 25 fearsome features and over 45 shorts of the very best in independent genre cinema.
With a nod to everyone’s past 18 months being imprisoned on their computers, the festival’s opening night gala finds its focus on the horrors of the internet; beginning with Jane Schoenbrun’s transgressive and terrifying We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Prepare to laugh while jumping out of your seat when two film editors find that the video files of their romantic comedy are haunted by a vengeful spirit in the European Premiere of Seong Yoon Hong’s screen-life spookfest Digital Video Editing with Premier Pro. Celebrity worship becomes trending when a serial killer gets mistaken for a local hero in Carlos Conceicao’s neo-giallo Portuguese beauty Name Above Title. And clickbait clip show craziness is abound in the late night International Premiere of What Happens Next Will Scare You from the creators of the cult hit WNUF Halloween Special. But if you’re done with the digital lately, let us take you to the West End and retrace one of the theatrical classics of the genre – albeit with some novel tricks up its sleeve- in the European premiere of Alex Galvin’s shiver-inducing The Turn of the Screw.
Making its London bow will be one of the year’s most controversial titles, the post-Epstein Polanskian The Scary of Sixty First from provoc-auteur Dasha Nekrasova. And sharing in femme fury but through a familial lens is the witchy wonder Hellbender from the equally wonderful Adams family; a future cult classic, and the Josie and the Pussycats meets Blood on Satan’s Claw crossover you never knew you needed! From their setting in the Catskill Mountains of New York all the way to the black forest of Germany, folk horror casts its roots in adolescence with the grinding tension coming-of-rage Arboretum, joining us for its UK Premiere; and so too to the darkest woods of England in Charlie Steed’s medieval werewolf epic: Silver Blade.
But if all that sounds too serious and it’s a theatre full of horror-heads laughing at a disembowelling you’ve missed, prepare your livers as Soho Horror Fest is ready to bring you a triple shot of fun. Supernatural slacker hijinks in William Bagley’s The Murder Podcast, the most feel good and loveable documentary you will see all year in Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie and you may just get horny, as everyone’s favourite unicorn assassin returns in the insane Caroushell The 2nd; all of which will be joining us for their International Premieres.
Finally, since this is a horror film festival, why settle with one massacre when you can have two! See just how deep the rabbit hole goes in the exploitation exploration of online conspiracy theorists in John Valley’s The Pizzagate Massacre. And from the director of The Banana Splits Movie, Danishka Esterhazy, drilling its way into your favourite slasher list is the English Premiere of the subversive and splatter filled Slumber Party Massacre to close the festival with a bang.
The lineup for the virtual festival – so special it deserves it’s own announcement- will be revealed on 14th October! Tickets for both the physical event and virtual event are on sale now! The Soho Horror Film Festival will run from 26th-28th November at the Whirled Cinema in Brixton, London. The virtual Sohome Horror Film Festival will run from 3rd-5th December and will require internet access and a Facebook account to access. Information, full details on all the films on show and tickets can be found at www.sohohorrorfest.com
