Nightmares Film Festival 2024 Bares Its Full Lineup
Nightmares Film Festival has unveiled its 2024 program of #BetterHorror, which once again includes one-of-a-kind live experiences and workshops alongside its heralded film roster. The festivities will run Thursday, October 17 through Sunday, October 20 at Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The four-day Nightmare program will once more deliver a must-see lineup of features harvested from genre voices old and new from around the globe.
Highlights include…
- Sayara: a genre-smashing martial arts/horror-revenge actioner from madman Can Evrenol (Baskin, Housewife).
- The Waves of Madness, a groundbreaking side-scrolling horror film born of the crazed mind of Jason Trost (The FP series), making its world premiere.
- The Soul Eater: a gruesome remote-town thriller from Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Inside, Livid, Among the Living).
- Replicator: an Ohio-made body horror feature from Mark Hamer (I See You), making its world premiere.
- Solvent, a POV nightmare descent into madness from Johannes Grenzfurthner (Masking Threshold, Razzennest), making its North American premiere.
- Bystanders, a subversive take on the rape-revenge genre which marks the directorial debut of Dread Central’s own Mary Beth McAndrews.
Dread Central’s Billie Walker already exalted Bustillo and Maury’s The Soul Eater out of FrightFest Glasglow this spring. I’ll do the same right now for Evranol’s Sayara, which is a soul-crushing and punishing new embodiment of the maxim “He who seeks revenge digs two graves.” It’s a jiu-jitsu fueled descent into darkness that’s sure to leave a mark on those who witness it.
All horror fans love to celebrate the old as well as the new, and Nightmares is no different. This year’s fest will also host anniversary screenings of two brutal baby-horror classics: a 50th anniversary 4K restoration screening of Larry Cohen’s bizarro creature feature masterpiece It’s Alive, and a 10th anniversary cast-and-crew reunion screening of Zack Parker’s Proxy. Parker’s brand new short, Barista, will be presented on 16mm film ahead of the latter.
In all, the 2024 edition of NFF will present 19 feature films and more than 135 shorts that span the horror, thriller, midnight movie, horror comedy, and documentary genres. Many of these shorts will be housed within themed blocks, like the horrors-of-writing shorts hour Paper Cuts and the annual alumni Recurring Nightmares blocks. Additionally, 26 feature and short screenplay finalists will be honored and the festival’s ever-anticipated annual interactive panel, The New Distribution, will also make its return.
NFF co-founders Jason Tostevin and Chris Hamel said,
“Nightmares is a celebration of the most exciting genre work in the world. But we think the best part [of our film program] is the experience, which someone told us feels like a combination of Christmas morning and summer camp for horror fans, and we wanted to give people even more presents to open.”
That includes continuing Nightmares’ tradition as “the best festival networking opportunity for filmmakers, bar none” (The Film Coterie) with talkbacks and workshops with leading genre auteurs. Attending live to share new work and insights on the industry are Jenn Wexler (The Ranger), Joe Swanberg (V/H/S) presenting a 15-minute first-look preview of his feature Kenneled, Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Skin), and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jeff Strand, who will pull back the curtain on screenwriting for studios and adaptations.
Live experiences also include a screening of L’Inferno (1913), likely the first horror feature ever released and one of the last surviving horror movies of its era, which will be accompanied by a creepy, immersive live score by Montopolis. Last, but certainly not least among the live experiences will be a live taping of the award-winning horror podcast Fright Club.
All NFF live experiences are free to badge holders. A complete initial schedule (subject to minor changes) and list of selections and screenplays are available here, and a complete program list with individual tickets lives on the Gateway Film Center website.
Competition films and screenplays vie for a coveted Night Mare statuette, representing the dark horses of genre. The Night Mare is sculpted and painted by renowned toy and figure creator Tony Simione (Marvel, Star Wars, Godzilla, Alien).
A limited set of VIP badges is now available for purchase through Gateway Film Center’s website while they last. Are you attending NFF 2024? Dread Central will be present for the entire duration of the film festival, so if you’re coming, be sure to say “Hi!” when you’re not mainlining indie & foreign horror all weekend like a kid in a candy store!
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