EMBRACE THE FEAR: IFI HORRORTHON IS BACK! OCTOBER 22ND – 26TH 2015

IFI PRESS RELEASE: 8^th October 2015

Press Contact: Deirdre O’Reilly doreilly@irishfilm.ie /01 679 5744

IFI HORRORTHON COMES OF AGE AS IT REACHES ITS 18^TH BIRTHDAY WITH 5 DAYS OF THE MOST TERRIFYING FILMS FROM 22^ND TO 26TH OCTOBER 2015!

Embrace the fear – IFI Horrorthon is back! IFI Horrorthon 2015 celebrates its 18^th birthday and once again promises a superb selection of torturous treats over five days in the run up to Halloween. This year’s IFI Horrorthon Guests include director Richard Stanley, who will present his two features and some of his rarely shown shorts; scream queen, Bond girl and Hammer regular, Caroline Munro; and producer Sean Hogan and legendary illustrator Kevin O’Neill, who will attendFuture Shock! The Story of 2000AD. This year’s IFI Horrorthon Honours will be bestowed on one of cinema’s most iconic figures: Christopher Lee. Tribute will be paid also to the memory of horror maestro Wes Craven with a late-night double bill and a screening of one of his best-known classics. With 33 features (23 of them Irish premieres) and two shorts programmes, this year’s ghastly offering will draw the most macabre and demonly devoted of horror film fans!

“This year’s festival is very possibly our most exciting yet, with iconic guests attending, terrific new films, and tributes accompanied by great retrospectives. It’s definitely a year not to be missed!” Mick Fox, IFI Horrorthon spokesperson.

This year’s special guests include award-winning director and screenwriter Richard Stanley, who will be visiting IFI Horrorthon to take part in a Q&A following his distinctive and underappreciated film, Dust Devil(1992), which follows a woman pursued by a mysterious shape-shifter. Stanley will also introduce a collection of rarely seen work in a specially curated Shorts Programme and will discuss his debut, Hardware (1990), which sees a young sculptor in a post-nuclear future trapped in her apartment with a killer robot. The Festival also welcomes artist Kevin O’Neill and producer Sean Hogan who will introduce and answer questions afterFuture Shock: The Story of 2000AD (2014) which looks at the history of the cult comic 2000AD, home of Judge Dredd.

Scream queen, Hammer regular, Bond girl and star of two tribute screenings at IFI Horrorthon, Caroline Munro will introduce and take part in a Q&A following Dracula A.D. 1972, screening as part of the IFI Horrorthon Honours tribute to cinematic icon, Christopher Lee (1922 – 2015). The Hammer classic sees Lee as Dracula roaming around London, seeking revenge on the descendants of nemesis Van Helsing. The Festival also pays tribute to Lee with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), where he plays endangered Sir Henry Baskerville in Terence Fisher’s adaptation of the most famous of the Sherlock Holmes adventures.

Another master of the genre lost this year was Wes Craven, and his memory will be honoured by a double-bill screening of two of his lesser celebrated films which deserve greater recognition: The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) and The People under the Stairs (1991). Craven redefined the genre many times, and his post-modern classic, Scream (1996), will be back on the big screen once again.

This year’s bloodiest of festivals opens with the Irish premiere of The Invitation, a tense and unnerving thriller which sees Will and his girlfriend attend his ex-wife’s dinner party, only to realise there are ulterior motives to her kindness. Opening night also presents the second feature from one of 2014’s Festival guests, Jessica Cameron, whose film Mania features a lesbian couple fleeing across the US after a brutal murder in their hometown. Other disturbing delights kicking off this year’s Festival include premieres of Howl, in which passengers on a late-night broken down train are forced to band together as an unseen presence starts to attack them one by one; Turbo Kid, which concerns one brave Kid who stands up to an evil overlord in this homage to ‘80s action movies; and Children of the Night, focusing on a remote orphanage populated by child vampires.

Many more Irish premieres are splattered throughout the weekend, including Last Girl Standing which follows Camryn as she tries to deal with survivor’s guilt following a massacre; Goodnight Mommy centres on twin boys who become convinced that the woman returned to them in facial bandages is no longer their mother; the irreverent and very funny Deathgasm is a New Zealand ode to heavy metal horror; the safety of a couple’s new-born son is put at risk in the chilling The Hallow; a bored accountant kidnaps his boss’ daughter only for her to take brutal revenge in Scherzo Diabolico; Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno follows a group of plane crash survivors who are left at the mercy of a tribe of savage cannibals.

Other premiere highlights include: Jeruzalem which follows two young American women when the Biblical end of days begins as they tour Jerusalem; Rabid Dogs, a remake of a Mario Bava film about three criminals who take their hostages on a violent road trip; and Tales of Halloween, which sees suburban residents terrorised by supernatural creatures in this excellent anthology.

Regulars, such as the ever-popular Surprise Film will feature in the line-up, not to mention a rare 25^thanniversary screening of Exorcist III (1990), as well as the Short Film Showcase – all of which will ensure that the bloodiest of tastes is catered for!

Individual tickets for the IFI Horrorthon films are on sale now  at the IFI Box Office in person, on the phone on 01 679 3477 or online at www.ifi.ie. A new special ticket deal is available this year: 5 films for €40, 10 films for €75. A range of passes ranging from one to five days is also available for the most ferocious of devotees! Throughout the Festival there will also be a range of special offers for blood-thirsty IFI Horrorthon fans in the IFI Café Bar.

 

IFI HORRORTHON 2015 – TIMETABLE

THURSDAY OCTOBER 22ND

19.00 OPENING FILM: THE INVITATION

21.00 HOWL

22.50 TURBO KID

23.00 CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT

23.00 MANIA

 

FRIDAY OCTOBER 23^RD

13.00 IFI HORRORTHON HONOURS CHRISTOPHER LEE: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

14.50 LAST GIRL STANDING

16.45 DUST DEVIL
Director Richard Stanley will introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A

19.10 GOODNIGHT MOMMY

21.10 DEATHGASM

23.00 TRIBUTE TO WES CRAVEN: THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW & THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS

23.00 WORRY DOLLS

23.10 FEED THE DEVIL

 

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24TH

13.00 NINA FOREVER

14.45 THE HALLOW

16.45 EMELIE

18.30 FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD
Producer Sean Hogan and artist Kevin O’Neill will introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A

21.00 THE GREEN INFERNO

23.00 TRIBUTE TO WES CRAVEN: SCREAM

23.00 THE DEVIL’S WOODS

23.10 SCHERZO DIABOLICO

 

SUNDAY OCTOBER 25TH

13.00 RICHARD STANLEY SHORTS PROGRAMME
Director Richard Stanley will introduce this event

14.50 SHORT FILM SHOWCASE

17.10 THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD

19.30 SURPRISE FILM

21.15 JERUZALEM

23.00 THE EXORCIST III

23.00 NIGHT PEOPLE

23.10 FACE OF THE DEVIL

 

MONDAY OCTOBER 26TH

13.00 THE NESTING

14.50 HARDWARE
Director Richard Stanley will introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A

17.00 IFI HORRORTHON HONOURS CHRISTOPHER LEE: DRACULA A.D. 1972
Actress Caroline Munro will introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A

19.10 RABID DOGS

21.00 CLOSING FILM: TALES OF HALLOWEEN

 

Individual tickets available now for the IFI Horrorthon on 01 679 3477 or online atwww.ifi.ie/horrorthon

For more information, high-res images and interview requests with guests and the Horrorthon team contact Deirdre O’Reilly at the IFI Press Office on doreilly@irishfilm.ie or call 01 679 5744

The IFI acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council.

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