Press release.

This spooky season sees the 19th annual South African HORRORFEST Film Festival & Halloween event erupt in cinema at the Labia Theatre (Cape Town) and across the entire country via streaming on Quicket! Plus several extra activities across the 25 October – 6 November period.

All festival links: https://linktr.ee/SAhorrorfest

As always we’ve curated an amazing range of movies and short films from around the world (which you won’t be able to watch anywhere else in SA), with a dozen movies and a short film collection at the Labia Theatre, and 14 movies & 5 feature length short film collections in the virtual streaming chapter (which will be accessible across the country via Quicket).

Some of the cinema highlights include The Makabra Ensemble’s live soundtrack performance to the classic 1928 silent French adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (tech support by Paul Bothner Music). 

This is also the Halloween dress-up night with a grand prize for the best dressed, and the Halloween Market returns, happening outside on the Labia veranda from noon on Saturday 28 October.

There will be a special 16mm film projection of the original 1933 KING KONG for its 90th anniversary, and of course, an audience participation screening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (sold out).

Movie Premieres at the Labia will range from arthouse-styled Horror like the French PANDEMONIUM, and Austrian MOTHER SUPERIOR, to the so-bad-it’s-good laugh of SHARK EXORCIST to open the fest!

Popular GOOSEBUMPS writer R.L. Stine’s ZOMBIE TOWN reunites ‘80s icons Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase on screen, while local installments include the premiere of HEX and a special screening of SA cult favourite FRIED BARRY (director attending).  There’s gory British horror-comedy HOW TO KILL MONSTERS, horror anthology THE 100 CANDLES GAME, and ABRUPTIO, a mind-blowing movie made with lifelike puppets.

See list below or access all movie details at  

The streaming chapter is almost another festival unto itself with many titles not in cinema, like all four parts of the classic TOXIC AVENGER movies, as well as under water chiller WHAT LURKS BENEATH, Nigerian zombie flick BOMBE, haunted comedy FOREVER HOME, infectious Austrian movie ENTER MYCEL, twisted Japanese love story LOVE WILL TEAR US APART, a documentary on EVIL DEAD fandom, HAIL TO THE DEADITES, and the very unique, hard to categorize MASKING THRESHOLD. 

Five feature length SHADOW REALM short film collections comprising 10 hours of incredible shorts from around the world will be in the streaming chapter, with one collection also in cinema, comprising choice picks from the 5 volumes.

The Bloody Parchment literature chapter will stream at the Horrorfest YouTube channel with videos of authors reading from their original works: www.youtube.com/TheHorrorfest 

This official Horrorfest channel also features all trailers, additional festival content, movie reviews and more.

Audience prizes and give-aways include streaming subscriptions form Disney+, vouchers from Mr Lucky’s Cape Town Tattoo, Penguin Books and more.

FULL MOVIE LINE-UP

Access all movies & tickets at:  

IN CINEMA @ The Labia Theatre

(Most cinema titles won’t be streaming)

• 25 OCT –  SHARK EXORCIST 
• 26 OCT –  MOTHER SUPERIOR (also streaming)
• 27 OCT –  THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (sold out)
• 28 OCT –  THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Makabra Ensemble Live Soundtrack Performance) 
• 29 OCT –  R.L. Stine’s ZOMBIE TOWN (also streaming)
• 30 OCT –  HEX (SA-born director – also streaming) 
• 31 OCT –  SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS – Cinema Edition (selection from 5 streaming volumes)
•  1 NOV –  THE 100 CANDLES GAME: The Last Possession 
•  2 NOV –  ABRUPTIO 
•  3 NOV –  HOW TO KILL MONSTERS 
•  4 NOV –  PANDEMONIUM 
•  5 NOV –  KING KONG (90th anniversary on 16mm film)
•  6 NOV –  FRIED BARRY (director attending) 

STREAMING @ Quicket (https://qkt.io/Ch3WF4)

(Most streaming titles can’t be seen in cinema)

• MOTHER SUPERIOR (also in cinema)
• R.L. Stine’s ZOMBIE TOWN (also in cinema)
• HEX (also in cinema)
• ENTER MYCEL 
• BOMBE
• FOREVER HOME
• LOVE WILL TEAR US APART
• IT LURKS BENEATH 
• HAIL TO THE DEADITES
• MASKING THRESHOLD 
• THE TOXIC AVENGER 
• THE TOXIC AVENGER Part II
• THE TOXIC AVENGER Part III – The Last Temptation Of Toxie
• THE TOXIC AVENGER Part IV – Citizen Toxie 
• SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS Vol. 1 
• SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS Vol. 2 
• SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS Vol. 3 
• SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS Vol. 4 
• SHADOW REALM SHORT FILMS Vol. 5 

And hot on its heels, our CELLUDROID Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Animation Film Festival is coming up 1 – 10 December!

www.celludroid.net 

See you there!

– The Horrorfest Team

All cinema tickets and streaming at Quicket:  

All Horrorfest links accessible at https://linktr.ee/SAhorrorfest