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NorthwestFEARFest 2024 Lineup Includes ‘Smile 2’, ‘Hush’, ‘Phantom of the Paradise’ and More
Edmonton’s premiere genre film festival, NorthwestFEARFest, is pulling out all the stops this October with six spine-tingling days and nights of new and classic genre cinema haunting Metro Cinema. Running from October 16 to 22, the lineup is peppered with myriad highlights, including the local premiere of Parker Finn’s Smile 2 and a 50th anniversary screening of Brian De Palma‘s Phantom of the Paradise with special guest Paul Williams!
Festival Director & Programmer Guy Lavallee says audiences are in for Edmonton’s biggest celebration of horror, thriller, dark comedy, and retro genre favourites. “With so much local support for our first 2, I’m pretty stoked to finally be able to announce the full 2024 lineup,” Lavallee announced. “Starting with our phenomenal Opening Night Film, SMILE 2, our whole team is excited about this year’s movies, and I hope local genre enthusiasts will be as pumped as we are.
Lavallee continues, “As a transplanted Winnipegger, I’m also really excited about the special Phantom of the Paradise 50th Anniversary screening we’ve got booked to close out the festival on October 22nd. Academy Award® and Grammy Award®-winning legend and star of Phantom – Paul Williams – will join us for an extended post-screening Q&A to discuss the legacy of this beloved cult classic and its impact on his life and career. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many movie fans, myself included!”
Below, you can peruse the full lineup. Secure your passes now!
SMILE 2 – Directed by Parker Finn | October 16 at 6:45pm
About to embark on a world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events, in this eagerly awaited follow-up to 2022’s sleeper hit.
MEMBERS CLUB – Directed by Marc Coleman | October 16 at 9:30pm
Marc Coleman’s outrageous, splattery, wildly entertaining horror comedy is an unholy meeting of The Full Monty and Green Room, filled with winning performances and big laughs, as only the British can do!
FESTIVALS: FrightFest UK 2024
THE BIRTHDAY Fully restored 20th Anniversary – Directed by Eugenio Mira | October 17 at 7:00pm
Corey Feldman nabbed the role of a lifetime in this truly one-of-a-kind comedic thriller that premiered at Fantastic Fest and Sitges… and then promptly disappeared, presumably forever. Luckily, Drafthouse Films has lovingly restored this odd (but undeniably mesmerizing) cult oddity, featuring an impeccably unconventional performance by Mr. Feldman. See it once. Remember it forever!
FESTIVALS: 2024 Fantastic Fest
HUSH – The SHUSH CUT – Directed by Mike Flanagan | October 18 at 7:00pm
Mike Flanagan’s brilliant 2016 thriller has been reimagined in black & white, with an all-new audio mix stripping the film of the original score, further immersing audiences in an incredible sensory experience!
FESTIVALS: BeyondFest 2024
MOM – Directed by Adam O’Brien | October 19 at 12:00pm
Canada’s own Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) delivers one of the year’s best performances, in this terrifying story of a new mom trying to cope with a sinister entity that’s invaded the family home. This is one of the most nerve-wracking and disturbing films of 2024, one that will stick with audiences long after the credits have rolled! NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
THE SEVERED SUN – Directed by Dean Puckett | October 19 at 2:15pm
The great Toby Stephensis utterly chilling in this atmospheric chiller set in an isolated rural church community / cult. For fans of folk horror, this knockout is an absolute must-see.
FESTIVALS: Fantastic Fest 2024
THE SOUL EATER – Directed by Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury | October 19 at 4:30pm
When a series of gruesome deaths start plaguing a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces in this latest chiller from dynamic French filmmaking duo Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Part police procedural, part folk horror, part supernatural thriller, the pieces of this puzzle add up to one of the most captivating, compelling, and suspenseful films of 2024.
FESTIVALS: 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam
DEAD MAIL – Directed by Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy | October 19 at 7:00pm
An ominous help note finds its way to a 1980s post office, connecting a dead letter investigator to a kidnapped keyboard technician, in this brilliant throwback thriller that wowed audiences at this year’s SXSW and Toronto International Film Festivals.
FESTIVALS: SXSW 2024, TIFF Midnight Madness 2024
CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING – Directed by Sander Maran | October 19 at 9:30pm
An absolutely bonkers action-horror-musical-comedy B-movie epic from Estonia. This love letter to crowd-pleasing exploitation cinema is equal parts Monty Python and early Peter Jackson (think Meet the Feebles or Dead Alive).
FESTIVALS: 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, Fantastic Fest
HEAVIER TRIP – Directed by Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren | October 20 at 2:00pm + 4:15pm
This long-awaited follow-up to the beloved 2018 cult hit sees the return of Finland’s heaviest band, Impaled Rektum, as they must escape prison to help save the family business. Filled with just as much humour, heart, and heavy metal as the original, this crowd-pleasing delight will screen as a double-bill with 2018’s HEAVY TRIP!
FESTIVALS: Fantastic Fest 2024
SCARED SHITLESS – Directed by Vivieno Caldinelli | October 20 at 6:30pm
This outrageously entertaining Canadian creature feature, featuring stellar effects work from the great Steven Konstanski (Psycho Goreman, The Void), is a film best seen with a big, boisterous, crowd!
FESTIVALS: 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, FrightFest UK
In addition to the 50th Anniversary PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE screening, NorthwestFEARFest is excited to present a number of retrospective screenings, including:
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET – 40th Anniversary | October 17 at 9:15pm
FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER – 40th Anniversary | October 18 at 9:15pm
CRITTERS – Gateway to Horror screening | October 20 at 12:00pm
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE – 35th Anniversary | October 20 at 8:45pm
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE – 50th Anniversary with Special Guest Paul Williams | October 22 at 7:00pm
NorthwestFEARFest 2024 will feature over 30 films, including Feature and Short Films, all screening exclusively at Metro Cinema. All-Access Passes & individual tickets are on sale now at https://www.northwestfest.ca/nwfearfest. NWFF 2024 takes place from October 16-22.
Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter & Instagram @NWFEARFEST – and just keep repeating…”It’s Only a Movie…It’s Only a Movie…”
A luxury team-building trip descends into a bloody fight for survival against a vengeful retreat leader in Corporate Retreat, out today in theaters. It’s the latest entry in a cathartic subgenre of workplace horror that examines every harrowing aspect of job employment.
No job is safe from horror, either, from babysitting to even the most white-collar gigs. But if you work an overnight shift? All bets are off. Vengeful co-workers and bosses aside, the night shift is likely to come armed with witches, creatures, demons, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Even deadly outbreaks.
Corporate Retreat, along with these five horror movies centered around some of the worst night shifts, will make you glad the weekend has finally arrived.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Passenger director André Øvredal goes full throttle for the scares in this quiet little chiller that sees a father and son coroner team stumped over the bizarre mysteries contained within the body of an unidentified young woman during an unexpected night shift. Well-executed scares, clever twists, and earnest performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch give this supernatural haunter serious heft. While the narrative bides its time unveiling the truth behind Jane Doe’s battered body, it’s heavily steeped in witchcraft. In other words, The Autopsy of Jane Doe presents a new take on the subgenre. More importantly, it’s seriously scary.
Cold Storage
COLD STORAGE, StudioCanal 2023
A lethal, mutated fungus breaks free from confinement deep within the bowels of a storage facility. At the frontlines of the madness are Teacake (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) and Naomi (Barbarian‘s Georgina Campbell), two employees thrust into the middle of the chaos when they investigate an alarm beeping somewhere deep within the building. Director Jonny Campbell (Netflix’s Dracula), working from a script by David Koepp based on his novel, helms the goopy madness with workman efficiency. This lighthearted, goopy horror comedy romp makes the deadly night shift a bit more bearable.
Graveyard Shift
Graveyard Shift follows new hire Hall (David Andrews) tasked by his mean boss Warwick (Stephen Macht) to assist with the insane rat infestation beneath their mill. They find something much most monstrous as the cause. Though the film was panned, it’s a fun creature feature with an always welcome appearance by Brad Dourif as the intensely eccentric exterminator. The film also opts for a happier ending, whereas (spoiler), the story sees both Hall and Warwick getting devoured by the mutated rats, the crew in the upstairs mill none the wiser.
Last Shift
‘Last Shift’
Rookie Officer Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) has been assigned to watch over a closing precinct on its final night of operation…alone. With nearly everything already moved over to the new station, including rerouted 911 calls, it should be a pretty quiet night as she waits for a Hazmat team to arrive to remove biohazardous waste. Instead, it becomes a waking nightmare as she’s forced to deal with unsettling visitors. Last Shift, co-written by Scott Poiley and director Anthony DiBlasi, brings the scares.
Intruder
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed this bloody slasher, which means a lot of overlap with the Evil Dead II. That means putting Sam Raimi in front of the camera for a change, along with Ted Raimi and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. Look for a cameo by Bruce Campbell as well!
Corporate Retreat releases in theaters today; get tickets now.
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