Tom Holland’s return to horror feature filmmaking leads list of 11 world premieres; program boasts 130+ short films from around the world
In just two years, Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 19 to 22) has become a must-attend festival for horror fans and press, and a must-screen festival for filmmakers looking for a platform that will put them immediately on the genre industry radar.
Nowhere has that been made clearer than in today’s announcement of the NFF 2017 film lineup, which exceeds even the fest’s own “Better Horror” standard.
“At Nightmares, a program of the best and rarest indie genre films is the soul of the experience,” said co-founder and programmer Jason Tostevin. “We’re so excited to present our 2017 program, which is a truly one-of-a-kind collection of top horror films from around the globe.”
The fest will kick off with much-anticipated screenings of Victor Crowley – Adam Green’s secret Hatchet sequel, with Green in attendance – and one of 10 U.S. screenings of Leatherface, the newest installment in the Texas Chainsaw mythos. In addition, the program boasts 11 world and North American premieres among its 25 total features, including the first-ever screening of Rock Paper Dead, which sees Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child’s Play) return to the feature film director chair after a 21-year hiatus. The film is co-written by Friday the 13th’s Victor Miller and scored by Harry Manfredini.
Other features premiering at NFF include long-sought stoner zombie comedy Bong of the Living Dead; serial killer thriller Be Good For Goodness Sake, the follow-up to last year’s circuit darling She Was So Pretty; and House Shark, from the filmmakers behind A Night Of Something Strange and She Kills.
For fans of Rodney Ascher and Tim Kirk (Room 237, The Nightmare), the festival will hold a rare screening of the pair’s meta-thriller, Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein.
The Nightmares program also includes 131 short films curated from around the world, including dozens making their world, North American or U.S. premiere.
“We are proud of our features, but we’re just as excited about our shorts lineup, which we think is unparalleled,” said co-founder Chris Hamel. “We believe you can see the heart of a festival in its shorts program, and ours pumps with pure-black genre love.”
Notable shorts include a disturbing early work from Turkish director Can Evrenol (Baskin), To My Mother and Father, from; Polaroid, the short that inspired the upcoming feature film of the same name; and Teddy Bears Picnic, the directorial debut from lauded illustrator and movie poster designer “The Dude Designs” Tom Hodges (Hobo with a Shotgun, Frankenstein Created Bikers, Father’s Day).
The festival will also screen three shorts starring Melanie Gaydos (Insidious: The Last Key), a model and actress with a rare disorder, whose breakthrough into film and print is challenging the norms of both industries.
Nightmares is held at the renowned Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio, named a top-20 North American art house by Sundance and home to one of the last remaining tech and projectionist teams on earth. Film presentation is excellent there, and its three bars and branded undersea restaurant make for a comfortable four days of horror.
The complete lineup for NFF 17 follows below. The festival schedule will be released in October.
Passes are available while they last at GatewayFilmCenter.org/Nightmares. VIP passes are $149 and provide guaranteed private balcony screening during every round, access to the VIP lounge with dedicated bar and residential seating, and all-fest in/out privileges through private theater access. Festival passes are $79 and allow holders to get day-of tickets to any show that isn’t sold out.
Individual tickets to each feature and shorts block will be put on sale closer to the festival.
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COMPLETE NIGHTMARES FILM FESTIVAL 2017 SELECTIONS
HORROR FEATURES
Victor Crowley – With Adam Green in attendance
Leatherface – One of 10 planned U.S. screenings
House Shark – World Premiere
Bong of Living Dead – World Premiere
Unnuyayuk – World Premiere
Found Footage 3D – Presented in 3D
Don’t Fuck in the Woods
Capture, Kill, Release
3 Dead Trick or Treaters
Ruin Me
HORROR SHORTS
Polaroid
Prepare to Die
Drip
Husk
Admonition
For a Good Time, Call
The Jitterman
Eldritch Code
Dawn of the Deaf
Spotlight
Postal
Nibble
Slapface
Fish
Meat
Hada
Daughters of Virtue
Undress Me
Your Date Is Here
Vexed
Night In
Haematophilia
Pigskin
Creeper
Secretions
Late Tales
Sorry, We’re Closed
Creswick
Sol
Used Body Parts
Cry It Out
aMorfe
Thump
Nasty Robin Goodfellow
Night Runners
Banshee
Agatha
Draw
House for Sale
When Susurrus Stirs
Tethered
Teddy Bears Picnic
HORROR COMEDY SHORTS
Nuts
I Love You So Much It’s Killing Them
What’s For Dinner?
Meow
Girl #2
Lunch Ladies
Holiday Fear
Dickeaters
We Summoned a Demon
The Naughty List
Blood Shed
THRILLER FEATURES
Rock, Paper, Dead – World Premiere
She Was So Pretty 2 – World Premiere
Scars of Xavier – North American Premiere
Hostile
Two Pigeons
Primordial
Midnighters
THRILLER SHORTS
Alice and David
Hush
The Sound of Fear
The Corner
I Baked Him a Cake
Monster
Too Fast, Paris
The Night Shift
Pickup
The Son, The Father
Jax In Love
Ex
Unfriendlies
The Fainting Room
Here + After
The Dark Hunger
La Sirena
High & Tight
Caravan
The Devil’s Gun
The Creep
Suffer
Love at First Sight
The Other Side of Morning
No Wave
Compulsion
Justice Served
MIDNIGHT FEATURES
Flesh of the Void – World Premiere
Torment – World Premiere
White Doomsday – World Premiere
Blood Ride – World Premiere
Le Accelerator – North American Premiere
Samurai Rauni – North American Premiere
Terror of Frankenstein – From Rodney Ascher and Tim Kirk (Room 237, The Nightmare)
Romeo’s Distress
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
To My Mother and Father
The Sunken Convent
The Cure
Undercover Mistress
Machine Baby
I Want Candy
Prisma
Balcony
Do Not Lose
A Sweet Man
Fun
Doll
Deep Thing
The Room
Cycle of the Blessed
Elegy
I Like It Better When You Do It
Savor
Third Wheel
A.R.G.
Brown Evil
Pizza Face
Solved
The Pretender
Cry Wolf
Van
Hatred
Getting Ready for a Lunch Date
Inn
The Goatman of Kananaskis
The Dollmaker
Chlorine
Vanita
Moonshot
Demonoid 1971
OHIO SHORTS
Elly
Tales from the Blood Fairies
The Priest
Mother’s Milk
Dark of the Night
Code 207
Silent Ring
The Childish Thing
Bucket
Down the Stairs
The Creature of Stark Hills
Snatched: The Rebirth
Bride of Frankie
GAYDOS REVIEW
St. Frankenstein
Dead Fuck
A Nearly Perfect Blue Sky
FEATURE SCREENPLAY FINALISTS
Silhouette
The Knife Association
The Baroness
Cold Dead Hands
The Thin Place
Red Velvet
Knucklemen
The Knot
Bathory
Visitation Rites
Tracker
Valley of Blood
Let’s Go Spy
College Beach Party Massacre 4
Another Harpersville Massacre
SHORT SCREENPLAY FINALISTS
The Wood
m(OTHER)
Silence is Golden
Means to an End
Stay
Friday the 14th
Medicine Show Blues
Red Bud
FAT
Far From Paradise
Walter’s Days
Sorcerer
He’s Got Your Nose
