The second local shorts program from Brooklyn Horror Fest will chill you to the bone with tales that fall within the realm of real-life horror including a sick game of death, a bad romance, and a therapy session gone so, so wrong.

The Cell-Tale Heart
dir. Jess Jacklin

Hazel
dir. Jordan Doig

Twin
dir. Daniel Daly

Other Bodies
dir. Alyssa Loh

Gold
dir. Gi Gonzales

Someone’s In Here
dir. Ben Kitnick

Bed
dir. Emily Bennett

Where No One Will Find Her
dir. Ahnmin Lee

Andronicus
dir. Mark H. Rapaport

Starring: Peter Mullan, David Caruso, Stephen Gevedon, Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III, Paul Guilfoyle

20th anniversary screening

Twenty years ago, director Brad Anderson and a top-notch group of character actors turned Massachusetts’ storied and creepy-as-hell Danvers State Mental Hospital into the setting for Session 9, one of the horror genre’s all-time bleakest and most psychologically terrifying films— no hyperbole at all. It’s the story of an asbestos clean-up crew’s descent into madness and destruction at the hands of the hospital’s supernatural powers, and it’s lost none of its stunning ability to burrow into its viewer’s minds— and, most importantly, scare the hell out of them.

Join Brooklyn Horror for a special 20th anniversary screening, including an exclusive virtual Q&A with director/co-writer Brad Anderson and actor/co-writer Stephen Gevedon.

Starring: Libby Ewing, Evan Dumouchel, MacLeod Andrews

U.S. premiere

Wilson Shaw (Evan Dumouchel) and his sister Daphne (Libby Ewing) have suffered through disappointment after disappointment for their entire lives. Only during the final throes of their misery do they discover a malevolent entity has been behind their misfortune all along, and the siblings set out to eradicate it from their bloodline once and for all. With his third feature, following the acclaimed They Look Like People and The Siren (BHFF 2018 Closing Night), Perry Blackshear gathers the same great core acting trio of his previous films plus the excellent Ewing to tell his darkest story yet— one of fierce love and loyalty in the face of ultimate evil.

Starring: Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale, Jake Weber

NY premiere

A mother’s death hangs over her children’s lives in this haunting, Southern Gothic tale. As the story unfolds through four chapters, we’re introduced to the vastly different lives of a group of adult siblings from the codependent relationship between Thomas and his abusive father Josiah, to the criminal life of Eli and Mary, whose main concern is adopting a child of her own. Each new section brings a shift in genre while always maintaining a dark and foreboding tone culminating in a shocking reunion at their childhood farmhouse.

Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Rory Culkin, Shane Coffey

U.S. premiere; co-presented by Newfest

In mid-1800s New York, Mary has to keep her romance with her family’s maid, Eleanor, hidden, as it goes against every belief that her intensely religious family holds dear. Despite their efforts, they’re caught, and the consequences that befall Mary go beyond just the Lord’s ways—they tap into evil as well. Ornate in its period-specific production and basking in its slow-burn creepiness, first-time filmmaker Edoardo Vitaletti’s impressive debut explores the darker sides of faith-gone-wrong fanaticism with precision and a sneakily malignant force. A Shudder Original Film.

Starring: Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, Rhodri Meilir

NY premiere

A luxurious dinner party inside a lush house in the Welsh countryside is doomed upon the arrival of the family’s mysterious new hired helper with a dark agenda of her own. Gorgeously shot and viciously cruel, award-winning director Lee Haven Jones’ transfixing knockout marries angry eco-horror with a brutal classism takedown, resulting in a first-class modern folk nightmare. It’s nirvana for arthouse horror lovers. An IFC Midnight release.

Starring: Regina Lei, Berant Zhu, Ying-Ru Chen, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Lue-Keng Huang, Wei-Hua Lan, Ralf Chiu, Emerson Tsai

East Coast premiere

In eerily prescient pandemic time Taiwan, the Alvin Virus is seemingly in retreat when it suddenly mutates and explodes. As the infected become depraved lunatics, acting out their sickest and most violent desires, a young couple caught in the infernal crossfire are hurtled into an unimaginable fight for survival. With The Sadness, director Rob Jabbaz takes a blood-and-puss-filled syringe to the zombie genre, injecting it with relentless visions of murderous carnage and sexual savagery. You’ve been warned.

Starring: Chumisa Cosa, Nosipho Mtebe, Kamvalethu Jonas Raziya, Sanda Shandu, Khanyiso Kenqa, Sizwe Ginger Lubengu, Siya Sikawuti, Peggy Tunyiswa, Chris Gxalaba

NY premiere

Tsidi, a single mother grieving over her beloved grandmother’s death, moves back into her childhood home in the well-off suburbs of Cape Town with her young daughter. It’s there where her estranged mother still lives, working diligently as the caretaker for her white, bedridden “Madam,” Diane. Tensions mount as Tsidi becomes increasingly critical of her mother’s unwavering obedience towards Madam and odd happenings begin to emanate around the house, at first mere changes in everyone’s personalities but gradually evolving into supernatural dangers. Keeping horror’s tradition as film’s great social commentary genre alive, Jenna Cato Bass examines the lingering pains and nightmares of South Africa’s apartheid through a psychological horror lens, and the results are excellent.

The stories in SHORTS: WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? prove that caring is sharing and show the immense value in listening to the people you love, or even those you’ve just met.

THE FIRST TIME
Dir. Soleil Burgess & Camille Ora-Nicole, USA, 2 mins
After dating for 6 months, Kat finally builds up the courage to tell Joey she loves her… for the first time.

I IDENTIFY AS ME
Dir. Tina Colleen & Monick Monell, USA, 3 mins
A chorus of gender-diverse women and queer, trans Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC) whose stories reflect that intersectionality is infinite.

BETWEEN US
Dir. Cailleah Scott-Grimes, Canada, 17 mins
Kei longs for a “normal life” in rural Japan. But for a transgender man facing unemployment in his hometown, getting to normal is one steep climb.

THE BEAUTY OF BEING DEAF
Dir. Chella Man, USA, 3 mins
A short film shot underwater and featuring an all-BIPOC, deaf cast performing a poem in American Sign Language.

LITTLE MX. SUNSHINE
Dir. Alessandro Nori, USA, 11 mins
Jordan, a transfemme non-binary person and Taz, a semi-closeted/figuring-it-out bi/pan dude, hash out what it might mean for them to date in public.

CLOSE UP
Dir. Benett Holgerson, USA, 15 mins
Join Moses on a three-part journey of self-reflection as he discusses sex, love, and life in New York City.

A SIGNIFICANT NAME
Dir. Diane Russo-Cheng, USA, 5 mins
The story of Ban’s journey as a child of Taiwanese immigrants raised in the American South, focused around Ban’s name.

MORE HAPPINESS
Dir. Livia Huang, USA, 13 mins
A woman asks her mother for relationship advice.

PINK & BLUE
Dir. Carmen LoBue, USA, 13 mins
After a surprise first-time pregnancy, a trans couple wrestles with the impact of the new baby on their relationship and how to raise a child in a binary world.

Awaken your imagination, travel through time and be flung into space with SHORTS: THE FUTURE IS QUEER, an eye-popping program that looks beyond the present world and places queer folks at the center of new frontiers.

WITNESS
Dir. Joie Lou Shakur, USA, 5 mins
A Black, gender-free being looks for the key to combat Black Trans erasure in order to archive the community’s history for the future.

LOVE U CUZ
Dir. Eric Pumphrey, USA, 15 mins
Two cousins bond over the course of a night on the town as their relationship is tested in more ways than one.

RED STRING OF FATE
Dir. Lovina Yavari & Lance Fernandes, USA, 10 mins
In the year 2090, a robotics engineer tries to bring her love back to life as an android.

THE FAMILIAR
Dir. Julian Quentin, Germany, 11 mins
An alien figure sees human behavior through its own eyes.

FLORA BOREALIS
Dir. Casey Friedman, USA, 10 mins
Two gay men struggle with depression in a ruined environment as a botanical glassblower mourns the loss of his wife.

FRIEND OF SOPHIA
Dir. Alden Peters, USA, 6 mins
A woman attempts a discrete encounter in a not-too-distant future where attraction to androids is punished as a crime.

JUPITER & EUROPA
Dir. Milo Ferguson, USA, 2 mins
Life on Jupiter’s moon feels stagnant for Owen until he finally breaks free of his routine with someone who makes outer space feel a little warmer.

ESCAPING THE FRAGILE PLANET
Dir. Thanasis Tsimpinis, Greece, 17 mins
A few hours before the world ends, as a strange pink fog spreads, two men have an unexpected encounter.