Featuring a post-screening discussion with Ernest Dickerson. Leviathan Award presentation, 30th anniversary screening.

It’s truly the night from Hell inside a seedy New Mexico boarding house. Mysterious drifter Frank Brayker (William Sadler) has just checked in and brought with him the wrath of a charming and sadistic demon known as The Collector (Billy Zane) and his horde of ghoulish minions, putting Frank’s life, as well as the lives of the house’s colorful crew of inhabitants (including Jada Pinkett and Thomas Haden Church), in mortal danger.

The first theatrical TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS film, the wild and gruesome DEMON KNIGHT cemented director Ernest Dickerson as a horror powerhouse, adding to his already decorated resume as a veteran cinematographer (with credits that include Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING and MALCOM X) and feature filmmaker (having first turned heads with his excellent 1992 directorial debut, the Tupac-Shakur-led drama JUICE). The Newark, New Jersey, native and NYU grad has also blessed the horror genre with countless gems post-DEMON KNIGHT: the underrated Blaxploitation throwback BONES (2001), the MASTERS OF HORROR episode “The V Word,” and several critically acclaimed episodes of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, among other works. To salute his great contributions to the genre we all love, Brooklyn Horror is privileged to welcome Dickerson to the festival for this special 30th anniversary screening of DEMON KNIGHT, which will include the presentation of our Leviathan Award and a post-film Q&A. —Matt Barone