Skip to content

The Innocents

Starring: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins

Based on the Henry James story “The Turn of the Screw,” a psychological thriller about a woman who takes a governess job for two orphans in a Victorian home. She begins to see what she believes are ghosts and suspects the children’s bizarre behavior is the result of supernatural powers.

Wilder Than Her

Starring: Sunita Mani, Kate Easton, Kayla Foster, Danny Deferrari, Becca Q Co, Adam Faison

New York premiere

Struggling to cope with the sudden death of their best friend, three longtime friends decide to go on a camping trip together, as a way to heal the wounds caused by the recent tragedy. What starts off harmlessly awkward quickly descends into a mess of mistrust, revealed secrets, and the looming specter of even more tragedy.

Led by GLOW breakout Sunita Mani, writer-director Jessica Kozak’s Wilder Than Her playfully balances cringe comedy with subtle psychological horror. The result is a singular and sneakily creepy directorial debut. —Matt Barone

Where the Devil Roams

Starring: Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, John Adams

New York premiere

Things are tough in the Depression. Especially for a family of sideshow performers, who supplement their income through murdering the wealthy, then looting their homes for valuables. When teen daughter Eve steals a gruesome object from a fellow performer that seems to give eternal life, the family act draws in larger audiences than ever before. As always, however, all actions have consequences and the family gets a lot more than they bargained for. The Adams Family continue their microbudget gory artistry with this film, and give audiences a truly shocking final frame. —Caitlin Hughes

Vincent Must Die

Starring: Karin Leklou, Visalia Pons

East Coast premiere

In Stéphan Castang’s absurdist dark comedy Vincent Must Die, a bizarre assault at work ignites a sudden new nightmare reality for an average man in which people – from colleagues to strangers – suddenly attack him with murderous intent. Confused and lonely amongst the chaos that is now his life, he tries to make connections and make sense of these occurrences while also trying to survive. – Caryn Coleman

Torso

Starring: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson

With a masked killer picking off college students in Perugia, Italy, four co-eds head to a lavish countryside estate to escape the danger. Unfortunately for them, the killer has followed them there, turning their getaway villa into a slaughterhouse. Widely considered to be one of the first slasher films, this excellent and quite lurid giallo from the great Sergio Martino, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is a masterclass in both white-knuckle tension and tightly orchestrated murder set-pieces. —Matt Barone

Tiger Stripes

Starring: Zafreen Zairizal, Deena Ezral, Piqa, Shaheizy Sam

Twelve-year-old Zaffan lives her life with uber-confidence, stealing the daily show at school and being the alpha in her friend group. But when she has her first period, the young girl undergoes physical changes that may or may not be turning her into a monster and cause those around her to make her feel like some kind of freak.

Using body horror, Asian folklore, and a propulsive energy to remix the coming-of-age narrative, first-timer Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes cleverly shows how growing up can be a waking nightmare. —Matt Barone

T Blockers

Starring: Lauren Last, Lewi Dawson, Toshiro Glenn, Etcetera Etcetera, Lisa Fanto

To make an additional $10 donation to Advocates for Trans Equality, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Alice Maio Mackay gives us the transgressive, queer, meta, political and gooey horror film we need with her third feature film (at just 19!), T Blockers. When dangerous parasites begin to take over the body and minds of men, the queer community in a small Australian town must fight back…again.

Centering on filmmakers Spencer and Sophie, along with their team of bigot fighters, Mackay gets to the reality of our reality in which the queer community is repeatedly threatened with new horrors by those in power. T Blockers is low budget fun, destined to be a cult classic. – Caryn Coleman

Preceded by:
MONSTERDYKË (Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp, 2021)
A transgender sculptress who is unhappy with her experiences dating men, has a lesbian awakening when a monster sculpture she is making comes to life and rocks her world. 4 min.

Stopmotion

New York premiere

Mommy issues are only the beginning of the darkness plaguing Ella Blake (Aisling Franciosi), a stop-motion animator whose desire to make something truly special has her on the edge of sanity. When the right idea finally strikes, though, it sets off a chain of psychologically disturbed and homicidal events that she can’t stop.

Blending haunting stop-motion animation with excellent character work, acclaimed short film veteran Robert Morgan graduates to features in grand fashion with this bleak and powerful horror debut. —Matt Barone

So Unreal

Starring: Debbie Harry

New York premiere

Back when the Internet introduced itself to the world, American filmmakers quickly embraced its possibilities in a long string of cyber-minded films, most of which used genre tropes to show the Internet’s darker sides. Covering everything from popular entries like The Net and TRON to lesser-known sci-fi/horror examples like Brainstorm, avant-garde filmmaker Amanda Kramer uses her first foray into documentary filmmaking to give that moment in time a transfixing and hypnotic evaluation, anchored by essayistic narration from pop culture icon Debbie Harry. —Matt Barone

Slayed LGBTQ Horror Shorts

Intimate body horror, wild forays into the supernatural, and a first-class giallo homage fuel this year’s edition of Brooklyn Horror’s popular queer horror celebration.

Ringing Rocks, dir. Gus Reed (USA)
High Fun, dir. Adesh Prasad (India)
Pool Party, dir. Ellie Stewart (Canada)
In Your Hands, dir. Luigi Sibona (UK)
The Angels, dir. Abby Rae Cornelius, Cheri Green (USA)
La Vedova Nera, dir. Fiume, Julian McKinnon (France)
Vibrator Girl, dir. Kara Strait (USA)