Nightmares Film Festival 2024 Day Four: Never Sleep Again
There was a term coined early on in the Nightmares Film Festival’s existence for those who were present from open to close on each day of the festivities: “The Sleepless”. While Nightmares Film Festival’s hours of operation have shifted since those earlier years back in 2016 and 2017, there’s still a (welcome) measure of sleeplessness at work for those who still attend the whole thing. If you manage to wander into Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday during its annual run, you’re still likely to witness the Sleepless in action. Me included.
It’s the best kind of exhaustion; one fueled by loads of movie-watching and just as much deep genre-centric conversation. It’s that rare type of tired that one both embraces and combats in equal measure. The former is because you’ve had days of fun already. The latter because you still have one more to get through. And get through it you must, as Sunday’s lineup was just as enticing as the previous three.
More feature-centric, the final day of Nightmares Film Festival 2024 kicked off with dueling film screenings: the thriller Hunting Matthew Nichols in House 1 and the horror of The Matriarch in House 2. Both played like gangbusters to those in attendance, with each group of viewers excited to exchange recommendations with one another, urging them to seek out the feature they missed once it arrives in general release. It didn’t take much convincing on either end, given the overall quality of this year’s programming.
Block #2 pit a carefully curated cinematic mixtape of Ohio-made shorts in House 1 against our own Mary Beth McAndrews’ feature Bystanders in House 2. Once again, there was no wrong choice. The Ohio shorts block was the strongest strong to date, with some audience favorites including (but not limited to) Rabbit Season, Pluck, Silhouette, Obsolete, and From the Garden to the House and Back. As for Bystanders? It was another hit with attendees, but I don’t think I need to tell you if you read this site that you should jump at Mary Beth’s movie as soon as it arrives. You should already be planning to do that. I’ll simply say this: it contains one of the best narrative turns that I have seen this year.
Block #3 was a sad one. Not because of the programming, mind you. Attendees loved Mark Andrew Hamer’s cosmic horror opus Replicator and Can Evrenol’s jiu-jitsu dark fairytale Sayara in equal measure. No, it was sad simply because it was the final block of the 2024 Nightmares Film Festival. Once the post-screening Q&A sessions had ended and the conversations in the Festival Lounge and the speakeasy began to die down, it brought a close to four straight days of indie horror fan bliss. Hugs and handshakes were dealt out by the barrelful between friends both old and new. Final goodbyes until next year, of course. Because you can’t have a festival this amazing run nine years and not have a tenth!
Hopefully I can catch some of you there next year! Come play with us and chase your screams in 2025!
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