NY Premiere (restoration)
Setting up shop in a new town, an Aussie schoolteacher has difficult assimilating into the town’s rowdy group of toxically masculine, constantly inebriated locals, whose collective behavior becomes more psychotic as the teacher’s mind becomes less intact. A cinematic powder keg of testosterone and hysteria, acclaimed filmmaker Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 classic has long been one of your favorite genre director’s (take your pick on which director) favorite films, and it now looks better than ever thanks to a new 4K restoration overseen by Not Quite Hollywood director and film historian Mark Hartley. -Matt Barone
A pair of ravenous femme vampires creep around the British countryside searching for men to bring back to their creepy mansion where they fuck and feed on them. But not before serving them a delicious wine from the Carpathian mountains. Also known as DAUGHTERS OF DRACULA, this underseen erotic vamp gem from respected Spanish director José Ramón Larraz overflows with blood, sex and murder. It’s the kind of flick that gives you precisely what you came for. -Joseph Hernandez
East Coast Premiere
Set in the gracefully dangerous world of bull racing, Nejma must endure intense training in the hopes of winning her town’s traditionally male-dominated annual competition. As the race approaches, a string of grisly murders ignites the town into a frenzy. Each of the victims, all young men, appear to have been viciously slain by a wild bull. Imbued with a love and reverence for this beautiful creature, Emma Benestan’s sophomore feature introduces a world seldom explored while balancing its empathetic and fascinating humanity with equal measures of genre thrills. -Joseph Hernandez
World Premiere
Mia has gone through a living hell, having both suffered from a miscarriage and lost her husband under mysterious circumstances. The latter was pinned on her, and although she’s been acquitted, she’s now under house arrest in connection to the miscarriage. Hoping to alleviate some of her troubles, Mia’s friend Marc moves in with her. But because it’s, well, Mia’s horrific luck, Marc’s arrival is coupled with the supernatural of the worst kind. Longtime short film MVP, and multiple time Brooklyn Horror alum, Izzy Lee makes her highly anticipated feature debut with this unpredictable and wonderfully deranged ghost story, complete with thought-provoking gender commentary, a dash of ghost sex and even a fun cameo from a beloved horror filmmaker. -Matt Barone
Presented by Horror Press
Once again, Brooklyn Horror Fest is back with its Slayed shorts block which focuses on LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and themes. And as always, the selection lives up to the name.
Beach Logs Kill, dir. Haley Z. Boston (USA); Lady Parts, dir. Ariel McCleese (USA); Unsettled, dir. Bella Thorne (USA); Dream Factory, dir. Alex Matraxia (UK); Rat!, dir. Neal Suresh Mulani (USA); Stink, dir. Matias Breuer (USA); Girls, dir. Julien Hosmalin
Brooklyn Horror’s signature celebration of genre-bending horror returns with a fresh crop of short-form innovation, including sexual darkness, animalistic transformations, and coming-of-age supernaturalism.
Evil, I, dir. Vanessa Beletic (USA); Izzy, dir. Yfke van Berckelaer (Netherlands); Poppy’s Saturn, dir. Nicole Tegelaar (Belgium); Calf, dir. Jamie O’Rourke (Ireland); Faces, dir. Blake Simon (USA); Kneading, dir. Lulu Syracuse, Augie Syracuse (USA); Tight, dir. Jessica Barr (USA); Femme, dir. Nina Noël Raaijmakers (Netherlands)
Back like we never left, our annual showcase of NYC local shorts returns with a buffet of genre film goodness.
Red Flag, dir. Malin Barr, Cleo Handler; Be Bad, dir. Lauren Hart; By The Window, dir. Case Avron; Wild Animals, dir. David B Jacobs; I Prefer Monsters, dir. Dylan Brown; Tinkerhell, dir. Noah Sterling; Hammer, dir. Alejandra Parody, Ben Sottak; Stigmata, dir. Ben Gordon; Jump Cut, dir. James Martin Morrison
World Premiere
As a kid, Sayara’s father trained her in martial arts combat. As an adult, her skills are kept secret as she works as a janitor in an Istanbul gym. When her sister is killed by the gym owner’s and his powerful friends, Sayara channels her hidden talents to go on a revenge-obsessed, extremely gory warpath to make them pay. Returning to Brooklyn Horror after 2017’s Housewife (BHFF’s Opening Night Film that year), Turkish horror maverick Can Evrenol enhances his visually decadent brutality with unflinching social commentary for his most visceral film yet. -Matt Barone
Based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s seminal novella Carmilla, The Blood Spattered Bride holding up as one of Spanish horror’s best vampire films. On its surface, this sexually provocative classic centers on a woman whose new marriage is a bust, due to how much she loathes her domineering husband, and who finds solace with, not to mention sexual satisfaction and neck-draining from, a beautiful and seductive centuries-old bloodsucker. Beneath its visual splendor and kinky vampire elements, though, Vicente Aranda’s film is a sneakily shrewd dissection of his country’s fascism and gender politics. -Matt Barone
