Mondo macabre! Savage frights and horrific sights from Australia and around the globe. These two shorts programs have been cherry-picked for your terrifying pleasure (and the odd dark chuckle), from the murkiest nightmare shadows to the glaring terrors of reality. The future feature scaremongers are right here, right now!

Deadhouse Presents A Night of Horror International Film Festival, 24-26 September 2020 Actors Centre Australia.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW.

Psychos, demons, witches, and vengeful spectres... A Night of Horror returns in the nightmare year that keeps on giving!

Deadhouse Presents A Night of Horror International Film Festival, 24-26 September 2020 Actors Centre Australia.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW.

Dir: Dean Yurke

US/2019/95 min/MA+15 - strong supernatural themes, coarse language, and violence

Australian Premiere

Shadowed by a haunting presence in the American redwood forest, five young hikers (Brie Mattson, Brandon Wardle, Sage Mears, Christina July Kim, and William Romano-Pugh) discover an abandoned goldmine. But after an earthquake creates a dire situation for the group, and a ghostly remnant of the Gold Rush past ratchets up the terror, the friends degenerate into conflict and then descend into madness.

Ex-pat Englishman Dean Yurke has enjoyed a successful career as an animator and digital artist for Industrial, Light & Magic, and he delivers a highly polished and frightening debut feature. No jump scares, just deep-rooted fear. Oh, and Barbara Crampton, no less!

Best Feature Film - Monsters Of Horror International Film Festival 2020

Best Feature Film, Best Cinematography & Best Visual Effects - Dickens Horror Film Festival 2019

Best Feature Film & Audience Choice Award - Montevideo Fantástico 2019

“A thrilling, visually engaging close-quarters shocker” - Screen-Space

“Masterly direction, and super performances” - Gruesome Magazine

“Spine-chilling … bubbling with tension” - The Blogging Banshee

Screens with BELOW (Dir: Chance Muehleck/US/4 min) A one-shot, first-person thriller with a twist. Join us under the bed.

MA15+ - strong horror themes, coarse language, and violence

Mondo macabre! Savage frights and horrific sights from Australia and around the globe. These twelve shorts have been cherry-picked for your terrifying pleasure (and the odd dark chuckle), from the murkiest nightmare shadows to the glaring terrors of reality. The future feature scaremongers are right here, right now!

Cut Off (Dir: Ryan Cauchi/Australia/1 min) A true millennial horror story.


Monitor (Dir: Peter Fraser/UK/5 min) A father tries to outwit his daughter in a childish game with sinister consequences.

Suspect (Dir: Josh Sambono/Australia/8 min) An Indigenous teenager is chased through the midnight streets by a relentless cop. But they are not alone …

Make a Wish (Dir: Dinh Thai/US/8 min) A light-hearted comedy about the sweetest fiancée giving her boyfriend the best birthday present ever.

Future Harvest (Dir: Carolyn Corkindale/Australia/5 min) An elderly woman enjoys her juicy fruit, and then takes pleasure in pruning the lush spring growth in her orchard.

OverKill (Dir: Alex Montilla/US/15 min) When too-woke-for-their-own-good college kids are terrorised by a seemingly unstoppable masked killer, the final girl must outsmart him to survive.

In (Dirs: Laura & John Stejskal/Australia/5 min) When a regular day of doing laundry turns into a nightmare.

Sonrisas (Smiles) (Dir: Javier Chavanel /Spain/13 min) A young man is about to meet his girlfriend’s parents. This could be awkward. Best to just smile and wait.

The Madman With Lightning In His Hands (Dir: Andrew Yeremeyev/Australia/15 min) A misanthropic man finds an unorthodox way to suppress his murderous desires.

For Him (Dir: Ian Killick/UK/9 min) A tale of home craft, seduction and cleanliness.

The Malicious (Dir: Noel Vinson/Australia/19 min) A couple in an unstable relationship become stalked by an unseen adversary who threatens the normalcy of their home life.

Nineteen Ninety Nine (Dir: Grace Uther/Australia/11 min) A young woman suspects something sinister is happening at a party on NYE 1999, but getting home safely is not going to be easy.

Dir: Malgorzata Szumowska

Ireland/Belgium/US/2019/97 min/R18+ - adult themes, violence, and sexual violence

Australian Premiere

An adolescent girl, Selah (Raffey Cassidy), born into an isolated all-female cult, The Flock, led and governed by a man, The Shepherd (Michiel Huisman), begins to question his religious teachings and her own distorted reality.

Written by Australian Catherine McMullen and helmed by seasoned Polish filmmaker Szumowska on her first English-language feature, imagine the wilderness of VIGIL coiled with the slow-burn threat of MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE. A disquieting tale of innocence torn asunder, more than just a coming-of-age, it’s a baptism by fire into womanhood and empowerment.

”Dark, angry and satisfying” - UK Film Review

”Flawlessly wrought with impeccable attention to detail … the darkly original film is a visual dream” - Cryptic Rock

”Grotesquely creepy” - Heaven Of Horror

Screens with THE OUTSIDER (Dir: Ludvig Gür/Sweden/11 min)  A desperate loner seizes his chance and makes good his escape, only to face his worst fears in the company of strangers.

Dir: Sol Moreno

Panama/2019/80 min/English subtitles/R18+ - high impact horror themes and violence

Australian Premiere

A driver and his assistant, aboard their gaudy, old school bus, are bewitched and lost in the jungle, far from the city. Along the way, they pick up a priest and two policemen, and the four of them must battle evil creatures from the lurking darkness, including the mythical, monstrous Tulivieja, and gleeful, witchy women with dark secrets.

A weird, wild and crazy misadventure made on the smell of an oily hag that merges folklore and witchcraft, think THE EVIL DEAD meets MYSTICS IN BALI. It’s Panama’s first feature-length horror movie, directed by the woman behind Sitges Film Festival’s infamous Zombie Walk!

Best Latin American Film - Montevideo Fantástico 2019

“Enough horror and fun elements … to make any horror fan happy” - Screen Anarchy

”Jaw-dropping terror sequences” - The Scariest Things

”The use of practical effects is incredible” - Daily Dead

Screens with MORBUS (Dir: Kerim Banka/Canada/10 min) A young couple is traveling down an isolated road where a hidden evil threatens to contaminate them.

MA15+ - strong horror themes, coarse language, and violence

Thirteen more of the most hair-raising (and occasionally hilarious) horror tales from Australia and around the world, under one roof! Hot new local and international blood is showcased for your nightmarish pleasure. Prepare to go “Ow!” and “Wow!”

Midnight Ride (Dir: Lexi Rose/Australia/13 min) On a dark and lonely night a man reluctantly accepts a cab ride and shares an ominous conversation.

Colder (Dir: Kenny Foo/Australia/13 min) Coming home one night, a young man is stalked by something sinister.

Judgement (Dir: Sean Healy/UK/5 min) A man accompanies his date back to her flat with high hopes. Surely it’ll all work out fine?

Prey (Dirs: Sam Price & Sean Loch/Australia/15 min) A lonely woman saves a young waitress from a creepy hotel manager and becomes the new subject of his unwanted attention.

Sleep Tight (Dir: Lewis Taylor/UK/8 min) When an invalid teen is put to bed he soon discovers that it's not the bed bugs that bite!

Twig (Dir: Adrian Nugent/Australia/5 min) A young woman desperately searches for what's been lost, leading her outside the boundaries of our world, and into the supernatural domain of Twig.

Siren (Dir: Christopher Beaubien/Canada/16 min) On a desolate road at night, two lovers are pulled over and brainwashed by a sinister police officer.

Swipe (Dir: Niels Bourgonje/Netherlands/6 min) A young woman has a match on a dating app, despite swiping him to the left moments earlier.

Night Fill (Dir: Joel Stephen Fleming/Australia/9 min) A man must face his biggest fear after being left alone in a grocery store during his night shift.

The Circle of Willis (Dir: Damian Golfinopoulos/New Zealand/11 min) When a raging maniac runs through a plate glass door, his life is changed by an odd band of surgeons and a mystic.

Rood (Dir: Falko Jakobs/Germany/7 min) A museum director tries to find out the secret of an old door.

Dark Water (Dirs: Erin Coates & Anna Nazzari/Australia/15 min) A deep-sea environment unexpectedly manifests in the walls of a grieving woman’s suburban dwelling.

Live Forever (Dir: Gustav Egerstedt/Sweden/3 min) A musical love letter and tribute to the victims in horror film history.

Dir: Sam Curtain

Australia/2020/78 min/R18+ - high impact horror themes and violence

World Premiere

A young parolee, Nathan (James Mason), begins work at a small country abattoir and is shackled with an intimidating co-worker, Box (Craig Ingham), who commands a serious bloodlust. Nathan’s girlfriend, Tracey (Kristen Condon), soon arrives, but she’s not too happy with Box hanging around their place. It isn’t long before the blokes’ unlikely alliance is out of control, and there’s human blood all over the floor.

Festival alumni Sam Curtain (BLOOD HUNT - ANOH 2016) returns with a new greasy and compelling study in very bad behaviour and small-town murder, and a ghastliness guaranteed to make you squirm. Who will you be rooting for?!

Dir: Josh Reed

Australia/2020/82 min/R18+ - high impact violence, drug use, frequent coarse language, adult themes

World Premiere

A psycho ice dealer, Anton (Lindsay Farris), and his low-life crew, including long-suffering girlfriend Effs (Stephanie King), go about their daily crawl, working towards a potentially lucrative home invasion robbery with the aid of a corrupt cop, Det. Sgt. Godfrey (John Cordukes), unaware that a rat has crept into their house and rigged it with hidden cameras.

Imagine shards of BAD LIEUTENANT, and fragments of DOGS IN SPACE; an immediate and inescapable hell. Josh (PRIMAL) Reed’s highly volatile found footage crime shocker is as raw and nerve-shredding as a nasty open wound.

PLUS: Q&A with writer/director Josh Reed, followed by Festival Awards Ceremony

Dir: Tom Botchii

US/2019/78 min/R18+ - high impact horror themes and violence

Australian Premiere

A comic book-obsessed killer, Artik (Jerry G. Angello) has a sinister plan in action, to train his young son, Colin (William Ward), as his replacement. But his evil scheme is interrupted when the boy lures a well-meaning stranger, Holton (Chase Williamson), back to their secluded farm, threatening to expose their family’s horrifying secret.

Tom Botchii’s feature debut is a highly accomplished, complex, and unique twist on serial killer tropes. Savage and intensely emotional, with powerful performances - especially Angello and Lauren Ashley Carter as Artik’s wife Flin - this tenebrous journey hunts for the hideous truth, at whatever the cost.

Best Feature & Best Director - Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival 2019

Best Feature Film - Scare Fest Horror Convention 2019

Best Score - Grimmfest 2019

“A fusion of MARTYRS and FRAILTY” - Voice From The Balcony

“Full of haunting images” - Eye For Film

“A tone poem for escapism at its brutal worst” - Mother Of Movies

Screens with HUNGRY JOE (Dirs: Paul Holbrook & Sam Dawe/UK/23 min) A single mother struggles to bond with her apathetic child; born with an insatiable and increasingly inhumane appetite.

Dir: Jeremy Kasten

US/2019/73 min/R18+ - high impact horror themes and violence

Australian Premiere

Four outcast teens, Mouse (Sarah Rose Harper), Scottie (Brandon Thane Wilson), Emily (Katie Foster), and Louis (Torey Garza), each with their own personal demons, are assigned harsh detention. But they are not alone; a macabre gang wearing guises of The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse has locked them inside the school and is hunting them through the ravaged hallways.

A smart, stylish, and surprising morality play on high school shenanigans, tackling shootings and bullying, with gory abandon. Jeremy Kasten and screenwriter Zach Chassler inject this fast-paced supernatural shocker with a cool, charismatic cast, snappy dialogue, and a great blend of practical and CGI effects.

“Impressive … Controversial … Certainly one that cannot be easily forgotten.” – Horror Fuel

“A juddery, disorienting trip into the psyche” - Rue Morgue

In the process of re-structuring the Festival program for 2020 we were forced to drop some screenings. One of the victims was a special late night retro session of William Lustig’s 1980 cult fave MANIAC, celebrating its 40th anniversary. The screening was also to be an in memoriam for one of the Festival’s original and biggest supporters, Ivy Krueger, who tragically passed away in 2019. Her passionate, independent spirit remains with the Festival, and I’m sure she would have loved THE DEAD ONES.

Rest In Peace Poisonivy, the original gore whore.

A selection of strange, striking, and spine-chilling high-end content produced specifically with online series and television series in mind.

Welcome to Helltown (Dirs: Maxwell Frey & Dominic Reno/US/21 min) Come for the lakeside view. Stay forever. Please allow the Genuine Nerd from Cleveland, Ohio, to guide you through three tales about a ghost, a local legend, and sheer madness.

Beached – Episode One (Dir: Nic Collins/US/9 min) Follow The Wail, a creature from the deep, who has come to Earth to take away humanity's pain.

Progeny (Dir: Justin Daering/US/29 min) When a blue-collar man is implanted with his alien boss's parasitic offspring, he asks his wife to help him remove the parasite, which puts their lives at risk.

Rogues Gallery: Blame it on Toby (Dir: Richard Knight, Jr./US/48 min) One of the world’s wealthiest men is never seen in public without his closest confidant – Toby – the doll that is rumored to be responsible for the deaths of dozens.

Dirs: Justin Harding & Rob Brunner

US/2019/85 min

Australian Premiere

A social media prankster, Chris (Tim Loden), and his fiancée, Allison (Alana Elmer), whom he loves to scare, are invited out to a country retreat for the weekend by an old friend. But when the friend’s arrival is held up, the couple is entertained by his fiancé, David (Jonathan Craig), and soon find themselves in a situation far, far more terrifying than any of Chris’s pranks.

The debut feature from Festival alumni Justin Harding (A NIGHT OF HORROR: VOLUME 1 - 2015, KOOKIE - ANOH 2016) and his co-director Rob Brunner is a thoroughly unnerving, unpredictable, and brutal rollercoaster ride that twists and turns like a snake impaled on a pitchfork.

“Visceral and disturbing” - The Scariest Things

“Filled with dread” - CGM Backlot Magazine

Germany/2019/115 min/English subtitles

Dir: Andreas Resch

Australian Premiere

A quiet woman Marlene (Cordula Zielonka), moves to Berlin to begin a new life and meets her, seemingly nice, but slightly odd, upstairs neighbour Flo (Thomas Clemens). After starting a job as an art restorer, she makes new friends and forgets about the insistent neighbour. But he lingers and lurks. It isn’t long before events take a disturbing turn, and Marlene soon finds herself trapped in an utterly terrifying situation.

A classic thriller scenario that transforms existing tropes into a horrifying, all-too-real nightmare. Gripping, superbly directed, and acted, MARLENE is part of an emerging European slow-burn horror movement.

Dir: Marco De Luca

UK/2019/76 min

Australian Premiere

Against her better judgement a young American student, Emily (Sarah Bradnum), agrees to a weekend camping in the English countryside with her new boyfriend, Jay (Louis Levi), and his strange cousin Julia (Jessica Chamberlain). Emily soon discovers that her new friends aren’t who they seem, and nothing can be trusted, not even her own wary mind.

With a nod to the iconic, atmospheric folk-horror of the 70s, such as THE WICKER MAN, THE BALLAD OF TAM LIN, also PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, Italian director Marco De Luca has fashioned a very eerie, contemporary Gothic tale of sinister ancient rituals that will haunt you long after the last image fades.

Dirs: Matthew Diebler and Jacob Gillman

US/2018/116 min

Australian Premiere & The Doctor’s Prescription (selected by ANOH founder, Dr. Dean Bertram)

When lesbian stoner, Marcy (Fayelyn Bilodeau), reluctantly returns to her grandparents’ - Mona (Helen Slayton-Hughes) and Archie (Richard Reihle) - home to help care for her ailing grandmother and is re-introduced to her nutty neighbour, Coco (Kiersten Warren), she discovers they are all being terrorised by a strange and malevolent force from a Victorian post-mortem photograph.

Highly original, THE INVISIBLE MOTHER glides a nightmarish, darkly colourful, and blackly humorous descent into lingering supernatural weirdness, using entirely practical tricks to startling effect.

Best Horror Film - MidWest WeirdFest

Best Feature - Philadelphia Unnamed Film Fest

Audience Award & Margeriti Award for Inventiveness & Artistry - Tohorror (Italy)

“Gorgeously detailed sets, audacious Giallo colors, lightly psychedelic imagery … a treat” - Movie Jawn

”Your eyes blaze wide-open at an endless series of unsettling “WTF” moments” - B&S About Movies

Sweden/Mexico/2018/101 min/English subtitles

Dir: Adrián Garcia Bogliano

Australian Premiere

Two Swedish siblings, Celeste (Felice Jankell), and her older sister, Isa (Erika Midfjäll), are reunited when Isa recommends listen-ing to a ‘70s hypnosis record that improves life through magnetism. But soon after Isa is ranting about a spectral doppelgänger stalking her, and now Celeste is affected too. The desperate young women must seek the record’s creator - played by cult icon Christina Lindberg - in an attempt to end the insidious manifestations and a spiraling, waking nightmare.

Festival alumni Adrián (I’LL NEVER DIE ALONE - ANOH 2009, PENUMBRA - ANOH 2012) Garcia Bogliano’s latest, and best in years, is a uniquely sensual and spellbinding blend of retro vibes, Euro-horror atmosphere, and mystical science fiction.

“Meticulously realised … Creates a fascinating universe out of a blend of esoterica, mysticism and new science” - Warped Perspective

“Top-notch psychological horror” - The Scariest Things

US/2019/90 min

Dir: Andrew Merrill

Australian Premiere

After a grad student teaching assistant, Madison (Kris Alexandrea), breaks up with her boyfriend, Jesse (Johnny Kostrey), to focus on her thesis, he becomes infected with something alien and insidious. He erupts into a murderous rampage, wreaking havoc on his former girlfriend, their friends, and, ultimately, creating some kind of apocalyptic pandemic.

Riffing on David Cronenberg’s SHIVERS, this astute, dysfunctional relationship drama takes rejection and the fear of strangers and plunges it into an alarming - and outrageously topical - scenario, with a truly shocking denouement. Indeed, the working title was “A Place Called Hell”.

“A jaw-dropping climax” - The Scariest Things

“Paints a frightening picture” - Film School Rejects