IFI Horrorthon returns for its’ 18th year which will run from 22nd-26th October 2015.
This year’s festival includes 33 features (23 of them Irish premieres) and two shorts programmes.
Speaking about IFI Horrorthon 2015, spokesman Mick Fox said: “This year’s festival is very possibly our most exciting yet, with iconic guests attending, terrific new films, and tributes accompanied by great retrospectives. It’s definitely a year not to be missed!”
2015 IFI Horrorthon Honours will be bestowed upon Christopher Lee and tribute will be paid also to the memory of horror maestro Wes Craven with a late-night double bill (‘The Serpent and the Rainbow’ and The People under the Stairs’) as well as a screening of ‘Scream’, which is one of his best-known classics.
This year’s special guests include award-winning director and screenwriter Richard Stanley, who will be visiting IFI Horrorthon to take part in a Q&A following his distinctive film ‘Dust Devil’ (1992), which follows a woman pursued by a mysterious shape-shifter. Stanley will also introduce a collection of rarely seen work in a specially curated Shorts Programme and will discuss his debut film ‘Hardware’ (1990), which sees a young sculptor in a post-nuclear future trapped in her apartment with a killer robot. The Festival also welcomes artist Kevin O’Neill and producer Sean Hogan who will introduce and answer questions after ‘Future Shock: The Story of 2000AD’ (2014) which looks at the history of the cult comic 2000AD, home of Judge Dredd.
Actress Caroline Munro will introduce and take part in a Q&A following ‘Dracula A.D. 1972’, screening as part of the IFI Horrorthon Honours tribute to cinematic icon, Christopher Lee (1922 – 2015).
Irish premieres include Corin Hardy’s acclaimed Irish co-production ‘The Hallow’, which is co-produced by Fantastic Films with funding from the IFB.
Other premieres at the festival include:
- ‘The Invitation’ by Karyn Kusama - a tense and unnerving thriller which sees Will and his girlfriend attend his ex-wife’s dinner party, only to realise there are ulterior motives to her kindness
- ‘Mania’ by Jessica Cameron - two lesbian lovers are forced to flee their hometown after a brutal murder changes their lives forever
- ‘Howl’ by Paul Hyett - passengers on a late-night broken down train are forced to band together as an unseen presence starts to attack them one by one;
- ‘Turbo Kid’ by François Simard - which concerns one brave Kid who stands up to an evil overlord in this homage to ‘80s action movies
- Children of the Night by Iván Noel - focusing on a remote orphanage populated by child vampires
- ‘Last Girl Standing’ by Benjamin R. Moody - follows Camryn as she tries to deal with survivor’s guilt following a massacre
- ‘Goodnight Mommy’ by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz - centres on twin boys who become convinced that the woman returned to them in facial bandages is no longer their mother
- ‘Deathgasm’ by Jason Lei Howden – an ode to heavy metal horror
- ‘The Green Inferno’ by Eli Roth - follows a group of plane crash survivors who are left at the mercy of a tribe of savage cannibals
Other premiere highlights include: ‘Jeruzalem’ which follows two young American women when the Biblical end of days begins as they tour Jerusalem; ‘Rabid Dogs’, a remake of a Mario Bava film about three criminals who take their hostages on a violent road trip; and ‘Tales of Halloween’, which sees suburban residents terrorised by supernatural creatures.
Regulars, such as the Surprise Film segment and the Short Film Showcase will feature in the line-up as well a rare 25th anniversary screening of ‘Exorcist III’ (1990).
Individual tickets for the IFI Horrorthon films are on sale now at the IFI Box Office in person, on the phone on 01 679 3477 or online at www.ifi.ie. A new special ticket deal is available this year: five films for €40 and 10 films for €75. A range of passes ranging from one to five days is also available and throughout the Festival there will also be a range of special offers in the IFI Café Bar.
