AUS/ALB/2017/82 min

Dir: Steven Kastrissios

Sydney Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

A traditional family struggle to make their way in modern Albania. The parents are under financial stress while the teenage children wrestle with the traditional pathway set by their father. When a witch and her mysterious clan come to prey on the family, it leads to a violent confrontation that is all too familiar in the Balkans. A blood feud is declared and the family must unite to survive.

Steven Kastrissios (whose stunning debut feature THE HORSEMAN won four major awards at A Night of Horror in 2010), returns to the festival with BLOODLANDS, his highly anticipated sophomore film: a dark tale dripping with mythology, atmosphere and palpable dread. Which - from Frightfest to Sitges - is already a hit on the international festival circuit.

Plus: drink on arrival from 6:30pm!

Plus: Q&A with film's writer/director: Steven Kastrissios.

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

The future of Australian horror is here in this terrifying showcase of the nation's best and bloodiest short films!

Walk the blood red carpet with the filmmakers. Enjoy a complimentary drink on arrival. Then settle into your seat and feast your startled eyes on this terrifying crop of cinema, freshly reaped from Australia's darkest soils.

DAEMONRUNNER

Dir: Kiah Roache-Turner/5 min

Demon hunters track down and subdue a possessed girl. They use brutal force and killer technology to exorcise the demon and blow it back to Hell.

RED HANDED

Dir: Tony Tilse/6 min

Lily wants to go about her day in peace, but a familiar voice calls her again and the police won’t help. In order to remove herself from any further danger, she must do what it takes to protect herself. Justice now lies in her hands.

I'M SORRY MUMMY

Dir: Sonja Steyn/8 min

A single Mother tries her best to create a safe home for herself and her daughter, Anna. When Anna starts acting out in the middle of the night, her Mother is desperate to pacify the young girl and get her back to sleep. Anna blames the strange behaviour on her imaginary friend, Axa, which frustrates her sleep-deprived mother, but is there more to what Anna is trying to say?

THE VEILED

Dir: Joshua Long/13 min

As a daughter grinds away as caretaker for her father she discovers some memories are best left hidden under the veil of dementia.

WANDERING SOUL

Dir: Josh Tanner/13 min

A Viet Cong soldier stationed in the claustrophobic tunnels of Cu Chi during the Vietnam War finds himself haunted by the ghost of a fallen comrade after the burial ceremony is compromised.

SETACEOUS

Dir: Tel Benjamin/11 min

An incessant car alarm lures a small group of neighbours to a mysterious car, seemingly abandoned in their suburban cul-de-sac. Slowly the group begin to realise the car may not be as abandoned as first perceived, and holds something far darker in store for them.

CARAVAN

Dir: Nathan Lacey/10 min

Caravan is a cautionary tale which follows a young family on a road-trip. As night falls the family pull in for a routine rest-stop where their caravan is invaded by a malevolent intruder.

THE MORNING AFTER

Dir: Leanne Mangan/7 min

A backpacker awakes at dawn in a rice paddy field outside Siem Reap...with no knowledge of how he got there, what happened the night before - or where his girlfriend is.

CURT MANOR - ADELPHI HOTEL NIGHTMARE

Dir: Samuel Bright/3 min

Official Video for 'Adelphi Hotel Nightmare' by Australian artist Curt Manor. This track is taken from the debut EP called 'When the Sun is Low'.

RELEASE

Dir: Daniel J. Phillips/15 min

Karla is a doctor determined to save her brother, Blake, from a horrible illness that has left him in a coma. It’s clear to everyone but her however, that Blake cannot be saved and it’s time to let him go. Unwilling to give into the notion of letting her brother die, Karla ventures into an abandoned part of the hospital to retrieve a drug that will keep him in his vegetative state, when she encounters something in the darkness that will force her to change.

CREEPER

Dir: Drew Macdonald/12 min

After a night out, a young woman is unknowingly followed into her home by her "ride-share" driver - resulting in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that explores the lengths people will go to connect in the modern world.

HELMINTH

Dir: Merinda Staubli /7 min

Helminth is an exploration of beauty ideals and the innate abject, grotesque nature of the human body. 

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD

Dir: Hussein Khoder/5 min

A tale of Love, Sex and Death.

PETREL

Dir: Charles Broad/12 min

In the middle of rural Australia, Dan, a mysterious young man is driving away from a life he doesn't want. But upon driving into a local petrol station that is possessed by a supernatural force, chance and circumstance collide and Dan is forced to either confront his past or be stuck in the bowels of this mysterious place forever...

THE FOURTH WALL

Dir: Shahane Bekarian/1min

A director gets more than he bargained for when he starts hearing voices on set at the end of a long day.

RED ROOM

Dir: Omar Fodda/13 min

25 year old William Young, finds himself under Police investigation by Detectives Suarez and Greenberg, after discovering the horror and the truth about the Deep Web. After witnessing a murder carried out by a secret society known as The Horsemen who run an underground torture called Red Room. William realises some shadows are best kept in the dark.

GIRT BY FEAR: I WAS A TEENAGE CHOGMOG

Dir: Yiani Andrikidis/10 min

Chas is always down for a punt. It's the Australian way. And when an old bloke down at the pub challenges him to a game of two up, he can't resist. It's only a game, right? One night. One city. Young and Free. Girt by Fear.

SPECIAL: Red carpet event + drink on arrival + audience votes for A Night of Horror's “Best Australian Short Film.”

FRA/2017/83 min

Dir: Mathieu Turi

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Xavier Gens (FRONTIER(S), THE DIVIDE, HITMAN) presents this post-apocalyptic chiller grounded in character and an emotionally compelling story.

Lone survivor Juliette (Brittany Ashworth) fights to survive against hunger, thirst, a broken leg and disturbing creatures that only come out at night: all the while haunted by memories of the most important relationship from her past.

Imagine PITCH BLACK meets I AM LEGEND mixed with a dash of TV's LOST, and you have an idea of the tone of this film's terrifying imagined future, and its very real and contemporary heart.

Screens with animated shorts:

KANSAY'S GLORIOUS DEATH

Dir: Chris Sagovac /USA/1 min

Kansay the Spider faces the demigod Tesshin at the Iron Gate. The
Spider is one of 99 assassins sent to unleash Hell upon Earth from
beyond the grave. "Kansay's Glorious Death" is the first chapter in
Kansay's quest for power and revenge.

Hell 99 follows the separate stories of 99 assassins. Each negotiate a
variety of terms to perish from their mortal existence and descend
into the many hells to seek out a target so big that it may unravel
reality as we know it.

FIERCE

Dir: Izu Troin/FRA/15 min

A young corporate executive is kidnapped from his apartment. He wakes up in the middle of a forest only to be stalked by a mysterious hunter.

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

On this fantastic planet, hurtling through the vortex of space, some of the most fantastic films of all lift off from our own backyard. See this year's choice pick of sci-fi and fantasy shorts from Australians imbued with the right stuff! A stellar crew of local filmmakers will pilot your cinematic journey from Dendy Cinmeas Newtown to worlds and futures beyond!

VETUS

Dir: Alan Chen/3 min

Rosa, a mysterious woman, has prophetic dream of her homeland Wallachia. She returns to find her former lover Vlad Dracula battling against fearsome enemies.

SAFETY FIRST

Dir: Kyle McComb/5 min

A car thief gets much more than he bargains for when he discovers the car is sentient.

BOXHEAD

Dir: Alexander Bennett/10 min

A lonely box-headed man spends his days creating googly eyed creatures and spends his nights haunted by suicidal dreams. Faced with growing persecution from a fantasy world full of blind, broken objects, he innocently continues his obsession to his demise.

FIREFLIES IN THE NIGHT

Dir: Augusto MaK/9 min

Antoine is waiting for Aurora on a garden under the moonlight; he has something in a jar that will change Aurora’s life perspective forever.

SPARE ROOM

Dir: David Todd/7 min

Jake's new housemate hasn't surfaced from his room for the whole first month of his tenancy. Strange things start happening in the house and it becomes clear that it's time to see what's inside the spare room.

BLEEDING BACKS

Dir: Matthew C. Vella/14min
Synopsis: A bodyguard with inner demons must rescue his client, after a deal he made backfires and puts her in danger.
 

LIMERENCE

Dir: Adam Ciancio /10 min

Over two different time periods we watch Fallon and Lana meet in one laundromat and then years later break up in another laundromat. All this under the cloud of a drug that keeps people in the honeymoon period - Limerence.

MAN IN THE MOON

Dir: Monique Mulcahy/13 min

When an under appreciated single mother intercepts a strange transmission on her pocket radio she suspects that it may be linked to her teenage sons mysterious homemade gaming headset.

ANIMUS

Dir: Gabrielle Jeffery/11 min

Bennett is a brilliant young scientist, working in the midst of unprecedented advances in biotechnology. But, after a horrific car accident takes the life of his soulmate, Kiyomi, Bennett struggles to let he go.

WISHING YOU WELL

Dir: Carolyn Corkindale/10 min

An orphan child is left with his grandfather. An overgrown well awakes his interest in his new home. He makes a wish, receives a reply.

STEVE KILBEY AND MARTIN KENNEDY - GLOW AND FADE

Dir: Clint Lewis/4 min

Musical collaboration between Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Martin Kennedy (All India Radio) captures two dancers as they mirror a relationship both glowing and fading.

CONVERGENCE

Dir: Bryce Kraehenbuehl/7 min

Upon waking at his desk, a computer scientist discovers that he has developed a sentient computer. As the scientist realizes the computer is not yet fully functional, it begins to ask for more than he expected.

TANGLEWOOD

Dir: Jordan Prosser/14 min

A mysterious plague has forced Sarah and Zach to flee the city and make a new life in the depths of the forest. Years of isolation make Sarah hard and controlling, while Zach becomes depressed and fatalistic. As they drift further apart, the monstrous beings in the forest draw closer, threatening their tenuous existence.

2AM

Dir: Huseyin Hassan/16 min

A middle aged man Alex awakens in his quarters to find a white rabbit beside his bed who then suddenly hops through a closed door. Scared and fascinated by how the rabbit got into his room and out through a closed door Alex gets up and leaves his room to follow the rabbit. Once he opens the door and steps out into the hallways of the asylum very unusual and supernatural events begin to unfold right in front of OUR eyes.

DIRT TIN

Dir: James Fraser/9 min

Set in 2020, on the night of his crush Sydnï's 21st birthday, Paul wants nothing more than to get into Dirt Tin, the last decent club in Sydney, and everyone wants in. Makes sense? Except the place is a dump. No seriously, it's a dump. A literal dumpster.

SPECIAL: Red carpet event + drink on arrival + audience votes for Fantastic Planet's “Best Australian Short Film.”

AUS/2017/85 mins

Dir: Roger Scott

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Dr Pria Ana (Dafna Kronental) is a deeply committed university researcher negotiating a high-pressure work environment and fighting to save her beloved marshland ecosystem, but time is not on her side. The future of her research and the marshland depend on her last field trip. To complete the research Pria takes her rival, Ben (Mathew Cooper), and assistant, Will (Sam Delich), out into the remote marshes; at first Pria is certain she has control of the world around her, however, in an environment where fears begin to overwhelm, tensions mount and control becomes elusive. Doggedly she continues until her fear becomes manifest in the form of a horrifying evil and the small team must abandon science and focus on survival.

A Night of Horror is delighted to present the Australian premiere of this pulse-charging, clever, and timely addition to the annals of Australian outback horror.

Plus Q&A with writer/director Roger Scott

DEU/CAN/2017/101 min

Dir: Norbert Keil

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Young and beautiful Kira (Rebecca Forsythe) is afflicted with a strange disease: her skin starts to age rapidly, dry out and crumble away. When she discovers that she can replace her own skin with somebody else's, she has to choose: watch her own body wither and die - or give in to temptation - whatever the price.

Genre favourite Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR, WE ARE STILL HERE, YOU'RE NEXT) captivates in her most disturbing role to date in this gorgeously repulsive addition to the body horror subgenre (co-written by Richard Stanley HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL, THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU).

Screens with music video and animated short:

MUUY BIIEN - MORAL COMPASS

Dir: Benjamin Roberds/USA/4min

Dominar Film's music video for Athens band, Muuy Biien, visually puts the viewer in the shoes of a soon-to-be-husband heading off to marry his future wife: the bands lead singer, au Nosferatu-ale, in a gown and makeup. All goes well (and weird), until an unexpected guest strikes just after the first kiss.

PRISMA

Dir: Coop Cooper/USA/10 min

A corporate promotional VHS tape from 1984 conceals a brain-altering signal which is said to grant increased health, longevity and psychic powers to those who watch it. View at your own risk...

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

If you like your horror in bite-sized, blood-soaked pieces then you do not want to pass over this brutal buffet of the juiciest horror cuts from around the planet. The dwellers of the darkside and their hapless victims are served up for you in this gore-dripping plethora of fright inducing shorts to satiate your hunger for cinematic terror!

STEREOSCOPE

Dir: Alexander Babaev/USA/4 min

An old box with an unusual View Master toy arrives on the doorstep of a young mother.  The box also contains a cryptic message: "enjoy the company". Then things get really scary.

STUDDED NIGHTMARE

Dir: Jean-Claude Leblanc/CAN/9 min

When J.-F. is inexplicably drawn to the chair in which a man committed suicide, style isn’t the only thing the leather antique brings to his home. Suddenly overcome by fantasies both nightmarish and erotic, he gets rid of the chair immediately, only to have it claimed by his friend Aly, who soon finds herself spellbound by shocking visions of her own violent death. As the horror escalates, it’s up to J.-F. to save his friend before she is driven to a very gruesome fate.

LEVEL

Dir: Andrew Hunt/USA/19 min

Trapped in a never ending nightmare, a cat and mouse game plays out between a Man and a hellish beast lurking in the shadows. 19 min

WE SUMMONED A DEMON

Dir: Chris McInroy/USA/6 min

They just wanted to be cool. Instead, they got a demon.

UNDRESS ME

Dir: Amelia Moses/CAN/14 min

A socially awkward college freshman begins to experience a mysterious and gruesome physical deterioration after a chance encounter at a frat party.

WHISPERS

Dir: Murad Peret/USA/14 min

A haunting psychological thriller that surrounds Jason, a 13 year-old-boy living with his younger brother (Tommy) and single mom (Rachel), after the introduction of a new stepfather (Phil). Jason, unwilling to accept a new father in his life, begins to experience a supernatural presence the stronger Phil's relationship becomes with his mom. Is it paranoia or is Phil evil? Mystery surrounds Phil until one day Tommy goes missing.

IN THE DARK, DARK WOODS

Dir: Jason Bognacki/USA/4 min

The woods hold a dark secret...

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT

Dir: Jason Rostovsky/USA/15 min

A mysterious supernatural force helps a teen girl find the strength to fight back against a group of vicious bullies and a dark creature that haunts her at night. This dark psychological drama takes the form of a chilling horror tale, examining the reality bending trauma of abuse, bullying, and what really makes someone a monster.

LUNCH LADIES

Dir: J. M. Logan/USA/19 min

For the past twenty years, obsessed Johnny Depp fans and fraternal twin sisters, Seretta and LouAnne Burr, have shared a miserable existence as high school lunch ladies serving up rubbery chicken parts, ammonia-treated government meat and whatever else the cash-strapped national lunch program sends their way.

This year is going to be different: The twin’s Cheesy Burger Bites recipe is the Grand Prize Winner of Johnny Depp's Cook for Kid's Charity Event!
Convinced this is their ticket out of high school hell town and that 'The Depper' will hire them to be his very own Personal Chefs, their dreams are shattered after a snotty head cheerleader pushes them one step too far. This forces the Lunch Ladies to ask themselves... WWJD? What would Johnny do?

UK/2017/97 min

Dir: Tom Large

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

After serious money troubles, a married couple agree to take part in a bizarre medical experiment. As the days go by, and the experiment's challenges become increasingly sinister, the couple are forced to make some disturbing decisions as they slowly uncover the horrifying truth behind what is really going on at the strange facility... soon the experiment is no longer about money... It's about staying alive. Immersive and claustrophobic, BODIES is a twisting sci-fi thriller that will have you as unbalanced and shocked as the film's protagonists.

The film's strong cast includes Joseph Baker (THE HEX), Lisa Ronaghan (HUMANS) and Paul Hurstfield (DEAD MAN'S SHOES). Director and festival alumnus Tom Large (BEYOND, ARCADIA, WOUNDED) has created a tense and atmospheric film that will leave you asking the big question: What would you do? Fans of smart sci-fi (think PRIMER meets GATTACA) will get their speculative fix from this thought provoking gem.

Screens with music video:

A LOVE LIKE PI - JACK AND THE GIANT

Dir: Kim Pimmel/USA/4 min

Follow the story of a solitary circle through wonder, struggle and celebration. Shot entirely with analog fx, this video for Jack and the Giant combines abstract storytelling with lush visuals.

BRA/2017/93 min

Dir: Samuel Galli

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

A shocking and utterly original film, which tracks the extreme deeds a man with spiritualist powers will commit to protect his daughter's soul from the demonic entity destined to consume her: including employing a serial killer from the dark web.

Whether you're a fan of brutal cinema or of terrifying supernatural tales, this film delights all morbid appetites.

Screens with short:

EMMA AN AMERICAN ALPTRAUM IN AUSTRIA

Dir: Daniel Limmer/AUT/8 min

The story of a female documentary filmmaker who's revealing the mystery of her husband's idiosyncratic birthplace, Muhr in Austria, where a giant wooden totem called “The Samson”, brings death to the inhabitants and also threatens her unborn daughter, Emma.

UK/2017/82 min

Dir: James Bushe

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

A ragtag group of carpet layers are sent on a job to an old English country house in the middle of nowhere. They soon discover it's a trap set up by a savage cannibalistic family. The carpet fitters must fight for their lives or risk ending up as the evening's dinner.

Horrific delights abound in this gore filled dish of a horror comedy, that tastes like a wickedly decadent blend of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

Screens with music video and short film:

RAW

Dir: Iannis Aliferis/UK/4 min

RAW is the story of a career soldier who returns to his loving and empathic fiancée after a two week special training program, only for her to start to feel that something bad has happened to him and to fear that he is slowly changing into a zombie. It features the progressive metal band Persona Non Grata.
 

SHE CAME FROM THE WOODS

Dir: Erik Bloomquist/USA/12 min

A campfire story comes to life for a group of counselors on the last day of the summer at Camp Briarbrook.

AUS/2017/77 min

Dir: Dwayne Labbé

Sydney Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

The beautiful and obsessive Bambi (Jacinta Stapleton) blows her dough buying the car of her dreams, a lipstick-red, 1968 Dodge Phoenix. When she can't afford to run it she cooks up a harebrained scheme to bring her car to life. Using ancient Voodoo incantations, the blood of drunkards, and an ox heart, we discover that a girl can love her car too much. This live action film - with dollops of gorgeous and gory animated comic-paneled transitions from director and animator Dwayne Labbé (THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW, ALADDIN, THE JUNGLE BOOK 2) - is a bloody hilarious ride, and the best unabashedly Ozploitation flick the festival's programmers have seen in years.

Don't miss MUSCLECAR: shot in Sydney's Inner West, in the very neighbourhoods surrounding A Night of Horror Film Festival!

Followed by Q&A with writer/director/animator Dwayne Labbé, producer Aaran Creece, and star Tai Scrivener.

CAN/2017/83 min

Dir: Neil Mackay

International Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Jack Darcy (Robert Nolan), a mild mannered construction worker come doomsday prepper, decides to spend New Year's Eve 1999 alone. But before the world enters into the new millennium, he finds himself starring on a bizarre game show that kills its contestants. As they hijack his television and electronic devices, Jack has just sixty minutes in order to survive this perverse game, or die trying. With a group of heavily armed men descending on his farmhouse, every second counts.

Come join us for for the fest's special late night screening, starting at sixty minutes to midnight, of... SIXTY MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT! This film, fresh from its raved about World Premiere at Toronto After Dark, is loaded with the type of action that harkens back to the best of Cannon Films and other high octane, high body count classics of the 80s and 90s. Prepare to be blown away!

Screens with shorts:

DONJON LEGACY

Dir: Olivier Ziel/FRA/3 min

Jon, a decent man, sets out on a quest for his mysterious yet promising legacy inside the ruins of a vast and eerie dungeon.

END UNSUNG

Dir: Rolf Lindblom/FIN/9min

One man's journey through chaos, time, and space to find his son.

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Liftoff in 3... 2... 1... Grab some popcorn and strap yourself in as we take off on another journey to this year's Fantastic Planet! From distant voices of the past to horrifying predictions of the future, through broken fairy tales of both the young and old, to phone apps that both annihilate and reanimate; be prepared to visit your god or monster as we showcase the best of international shorts from the most accomplished and inventive filmmakers around our solar system!

iMEDIUM

Dir: Alfonso García/TUR/7min

Luz has lost all hope of finding his missing daughter alive. He decides to subscribe to i-Medium, an app that connects you directly with dead people.

WHEN DEMONS DIE

Dir: Daniel Ruebesam/DEU/EST/19min

8-year old Joshua has never left his home for dangerous creatures live outside their isolated farmhouse - the Gorgers. But when his father Aaron mysteriously disappears Joshua is forced to go outside. A decision that will change his life forever for something is closing in on the little boy. Fast.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Dir:Eddy Fifield/NZ/6min

A trio of flatmates inadvertently kickstart the apocalypse by abusing a new Facebook feature.

CORKY

Dir: Ty Primosch/USA/6min

A corkscrew with a screw loose battles a giant glass bottle to uncork seven magical lightning bugs trapped inside.

REM

Dir: April Phillips/NZ/13min

Gail Morris is lonely. She lost her husband in a tragic work accident a year ago and now she’s in a solitary job working as a security guard. When she comes across Joseph, a homeless man scribbling madness on the cold, concrete walls of a bunker she thinks nothing of it. But Gail soon learns that Joseph wasn’t always a broken, tormented man. He used to be a neuro scientist trying to save the lives of those doomed with Alzheimers. But his rogue experiments led to his downfall and afflicted him with an unbearable curse. His scribblings are recollections of the nightmarish predictions he sees in his sleep. Gail sets out to help him and to turn his curse into a gift that will save lives. But not all lives can be saved. And not all dreams are free.

PROGRESS

Dir: Nickon C. Hemati/USA/9 min

As Harold and Cameron prepare for an important meeting, they seem to return to arguing over the merits of the latest personal technology - The Chip. The decisions that Harold and Cameron make during the course of their conversation will seal their respective fates.

FLAME ON

Dir: Benjamin Pollack/USA/3 min

Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, Love And Rockets, Poptone) burns up the electric guitar in this heavy metal tune that brings to life a silver robot woman who rocks the screen with her electric energy.

TOOTH FAIRY

Dir: Owyn Stephens/UK/12min

Tooth Fairy crashes into Billy's room one night, only to be followed by Pete. Pete quickly sees in Billy, a child yearning for escape and to be wanted. Pete offers Billy a dark way out. Can Tooth Fairy stop him?

PURPLE DREAMS

Dir:Murat Sayginer/TUR/2min

A short animated film about the transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius.

THE NAUGHTY LIST

Dir: Paul Campion/UK/9min

On Christmas Eve, two American mobsters come face to face with Santa Claus, and discover what it really takes to get on the Naughty or Nice list.

KRIS

Dir: Raško Miljković/SRB/MNE/19 min

A wandering man searches for food and shelter during the aftermath of an Apocalypse. His only companion is his wife, with whom he can communicate via radio.

UK/2017/70min

Dir: Ashley Thorpe

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

BORLEY RECTORY tells a real life story and chronicles what came to be known as “The most haunted house in England”. The legends attached to the rectory at Borley and famed paranormal investigator Harry Price's subsequent investigations of them, caught the public's imagination during the late 20's in time becoming one of the world's most notorious ghost stories. BORLEY RECTORY examines the legend, the controversial investigations, and a ghost story that may well reveal more about what might have been missing from Borley rather than what might have been invading it.

Narrated by Julian Sands (WARLOCK, GOTHIC, LEAVING LAS VEGAS), and starring Reece Shearsmith (THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) this hauntingly unique film painstakingly captures the most chilling location of turn of the century, through 1930s, England. With a stunning combination of live action, animated photographs from the period, and haunting effects, it is unlike any film you have seen before. Be prepared to be mesmerised and chilled in equal portions.

Accompanied by terrifying shorts based on the writings of cult horror author H. P. Lovecraft:

ELDRITCH CODE

Dir: Ivan Radovic/SWE /10 min

A dedicated IT-guy must stop a computer virus from spreading, unaware about the cosmic horrors he is about to release.

SOUND FROM THE DEEP

Dir: Antti Laakso, Joonas Allonen/FIN/29 min

An international research group is searching natural resources from the Arctic Ocean. They pick up a strange underwater sound from far north, and start to follow it to the uncharted waters. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

USA/2017/86min

Dir: Elias

Australian Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Haunted for years by the unexplained death of his four-year-old sister Ayla, Elton's (Nicholas Wilder) days and nights are inhabited by the presence of a mysterious woman. As his obsession with the woman grows, he becomes convinced she's his sister, returned from the grave as an adult. Resolving to find her at all costs, Elton plunges further down a rabbit hole forged by his own loneliness and desire, but who or what will emerge?

Starring genre royalty Dee Wallace (E.T., CUJO, THE HOWLING), and Tristan Risk (AMERICAN MARY, FATHER'S DAY, MANIA), this movie mixes eroticism with repulsion and familial love with terrifying obsession. Director Elias (GUT, THE HORROR OF H. P. LOVECRAFT) has crafted a haunting chiller which is both genuinely moving and deeply disturbing.

Screens with shorts:

THE LEGEND OF RASPUTIN (Dir: Jamie Shannon/CAN/13 min)

The Legend of Rasputin presents the amazing last days of Russia's Mad Monk, Gregori Rasputin, who was as infamous for his debaucherous lifestyle, as his talents as a prophet and a healer. A simple peasant, who’s visions lead him from poverty to the high court of the Romanov Empire, in this twisted short film chronicling the debauchery and violence behind the Legend of Rasputin as you’ve never seen it before... with puppets.

IT GROWS DARK

Dir: Benjamin Capps/USA/9 mins

Deke Lape considers the demented, cyclopean teddy bear drawn on the scrap of paper clutched in his hand. He looks up to scan the faded, peeling pornographic adverts and thoughtless graffiti lining the Tele-C booth. The same drawing is there, adhered to the panel in front of him with a phone number. He blindly dials. He waits. Click. There is an awful voice on the other end. It repeats. It repeats.

He will heed what it tells him and wield its horrid power. Deke Lape does not like to lose. He will stop at nothing, for he knows that Hell is but a word away.

UGA/2016/65 min

Dir: Nabwana I.G.G.

Sydney Premiere

Tickets available from Dendy Cinemas Newtown here.

Get ready Commandos! The most original and surprising hit of the festival season is invading Sydney! BAD BLACK is a thrill-packed, laugh-filled, self-deprecating action epic, made with no budget in Wakaliwood: Uganda's answer to Hollywood. It tells the tale of a mild-mannered western doctor (Alan Hofmanis), who is trained in the art of ass-kicking commando vengeance by a no-nonsense ghetto kid named Wesley Snipes!

And at a time when an endless string of studio produced spectacles leave one feeling numb, this film overflows with a fresh infectious energy that reminds even the most jaded cinephile why they fell in love with movies in the first place. Whether you've yet to experience the insane delights of Wakaliwood, or you're craving your latest fix, here is your chance for Supa Action!

Followed by awards ceremony and after party.

Plus drink on arrival.