Brooklyn Horror Film Festival to spotlight new horror films from around the world as well as a Friday the 13th marathon
The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is returning to New York City October 12th till the 15th, bringing with it more ghouls and ghosts than ever before. BHFF will present more than twice as many feature films as last year and has just announced the first wave of the line-up, which boasts exciting films, dynamic events and more venues, expanding the festival’s activities. “This year we’ve grown to a four-day festival and are very excited to be extending our reach to audiences beyond North Brooklyn, into Downtown Brooklyn and Crown Heights,” says fest director Justin Timms. “Starting with our opening night at the new Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Brooklyn we’ve also added Nitehawk Cinema, LIU Kumble Theater, Film Noir Cinema & Video Revival this year to go along with our key theaters from last year Wythe Hotel Cinema, Videology Bar & Cinema and Spectacle Theater.”
“If our debut year’s program in 2016 focused on trying to push horror’s boundaries and challenge the genre’s preconceptions, then our 2017 edition is that mission both amplified and perfected,” says senior programmer Matt Barone. “We looked all around the globe for the most unique and boldest horror, and what we’ve assembled proves that the genre is in an incredible place right now. Some films, like the hilarious millennial takedown Tragedy Girls and Germany’s hypnotic and complex Hagazussa, cleverly subvert the familiar genre tropes; others, like Argentina’s powerful Clementina and Portugal’s Haneke-like The Forest of Lost Souls, are amazingly singular. This year’s program is really something special.”
Opening the festival is the North American Premiere of Housewife, the newest film (pictured above) from director Can Evrenol (Baskin). The film tells the tale of a woman – haunted by a horrific childhood incident – who struggles with separating her nightmares from reality after she meets a charismatic psychic with a secret agenda. Also on the bill is the North American Premiere of horror anthology follow-up Mexico Barbaro 2. If you thought Mexico Barbaro was gnarly, wait until you get a load of this crazier and wonderfully unhinged follow-up, helmed by an all-new line-up of on-the-rise Mexican horror voices and touching on cannibalism, porn, and historical demons. Also in the block is the US Premiere of Veronica, the erotically charged mystery with echoes of early Polanski by directors Carlos Algara & Alejandro Martinez Beltran in which a twisted battle for psychological dominance ensues between a retired psychologist and her patient whom she treats in her isolated home in the woods.Not to be missed is the East Coast Premiere of Victor Dryere’s genuinely unnerving found footage film 1974 which reveals the bizarre and terrifying fate of a missing young couple through a collection of 8 mm tapes and home movies.
BHFF have also announced an additional five competition features, starting with Tyler MacIntyre’s highly acclaimed Tragedy Girls, co-presented by Nitehawk CinemStatus obsession has a body count when BFFs Sadie and McKayla capture a serial murderer whose exploits they’ve been chronicling on their blog. How do they keep the slaughter spree going so they have more to report on? The answers are both giggly and grisly. Actor Graham Skipper makes his directorial debut with Sequence Break, a surreal, absorbing homage to the body-horror cinema and video games of the ’80s. Chase Williamson plays an arcade-game repairman who finds love with a customer (Fabianne Therese) and terror from a mysterious game with a lot more powering it than pixels. Surrounded by heightened paranoia and superstition, an evil presence threatens a mother and her infant child in the Alps of 15th century Austria in Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse. Is this ancient malevolence an outside force or a product of her psychosis? With stunningly gorgeous photography and atmosphere for days, Lukas Fiegelfeld’s gothic horror fever dream illustrates the dangers associated with dark beliefs and the infestation of fear. A young woman traumatized by a savage attack from her husband begins to hear voices in her apartment. Clementina, Jimena Monteoliva’s solo directorial debut expertly builds tension, maintaining a sense of unease from the start that creeps higher until the frightening and suffocating shocker of a third act. Cecilia Cartasegna delivers with a classically terrifying portrait of a woman on the edge. Take a stroll into despair with the East Coast Premiere of José Pedro Lopes The Forest of Lost Souls, as two suicidal strangers explore the dark woods together, looking for the best spot to commit suicide all the while debating, what’s the best way to kill yourself? It soon becomes clear that one person isn’t who they say they are. This Portuguese black-and-white-shot nightmare is a unique and disturbing modern take on the slasher film.
Also! Clear your calendars of all satanic rituals and ghosts summoning this Friday the 13th, cause BHFF has you covered with a Friday the 13th Mini-Marathon at Videology! Take a trip to Camp Crystal Lake and enjoy films one through four of the series in all their cutting, gutting, hacking and whacking glory while sipping themed “Crystal Lake” cocktails.
For more on BHFF 2017, including the live panels and shorts and features (and the NYC release of iconic author Kier-La Janisse’s new book Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin) go to brooklynhorrorfest.com See you there!