IFI HORRORTHON 2024 PROGRAMME ANNOUNCEMENT

Irish Film Institute, Dublin announces the  full programme for the IFI Horrorthon 2024 

Thursday October 24th – Monday October 28th 

Tickets on sale from 12 noon, Wednesday October 2nd at www.ifi.ie 

Photos for media use are available to download HERE

 

The Irish Film Institute’s annual IFI Horrorthon is back, celebrating everything that lurks in the shadows, creeps through the hallways, and haunts the darkened corners of your vision. 

 

This year’s festival, which runs at the IFI, Dublin from Thursday October 24th to Monday October 28th, promises an eerie mix of fresh frights, both Irish and international, alongside classic gems seldom seen on the big screen. With documentaries and filmmaker talks, a Horror Pub Quiz and live DJs, and the IFI Cafe-Bar serving up specially curated plates and cocktails across the weekend, the IFI is the biggest celebration of in-cinema scares anywhere in Ireland this Halloween. With this superb weekend of thrilling events, Horrorthon cements its place as Ireland’s biggest and best genre festival, offering something spooky and unique for every horror fan. 

 

IFI Horrorthon at the IFI Dublin from October 24th to 28th. Tickets from €14 at www.ifi.ie or in person at the IFI Box Office on Eustace Street, or on the phone at 01 6793477. Ticket bundles and Festival Passes are also available for purchase.

 

A highlight of the year will be John Farrelly’s An Taibhse, the first Irish-language horror film. This chilling tale follows the haunting of the father-daughter duo of caretakers looking after a remote Georgian mansion in 1852, during the bleak winter months emerging from the Great Hunger. This screening will also include a special Q&A with John Farrelly and the cast following the film.

 

Fans of genre icons and retro romps will enjoy documentaries on Christopher Lee and Indonesian scream queen Suzzanna; a focus on J-horror including four cult classics (Ring; Pulse; Noroi: The Curse; and Cure); the European premiere of the remake of notorious ‘80s melt movie Street Trash, on 35mm; an extremely rare screening of the TV cut of Halloween (exclusive this season to the IFI) which runs 12 minutes longer than the original, and for something more playful, The ‘Burbs, Joe Dante’s black comedy, features an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, and Bruce Dern.

 

This year, die-hard fans will also get a chance to show off the depth of their dire knowledge with a horror-themed Table Quiz on Friday, October 25th. Additionally, the IFI is delighted to collaborate with the Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival and Slaughterhouse to present a brilliant line-up of events on Saturday, October 26th. This SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF HORRORS will feature a special edition Seanchoíche storytelling night with the theme of ‘The Horror Within,’ a 35th-anniversary screening of Pet Sematary, and a masterclass in Irish horror in the final room, featuring Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) and Lee Cronin (Evil Dead Rise), hosted by Billie Jean of the ever-popular Video Nasty Presents. All three events will spill out into an unmissable afterparty, where HONEYPOT’s DJs will wake the dead as they present a brand-new soundtrack for the legendary 1922 film Häxan. 

 

THURSDAY OCTOBER 24th 

TEST SCREENING (19.00)

CLARK BAKER

Oregon, 1982. Four teens suspect that a mysterious upcoming screening at their local cinema is the finale of George Lucas’s trilogy, only to discover something far more sinister in this witty homage.

 

HALLOWEEN (TV EDITION) (21.00)

JOHN CARPENTER

Don’t miss this extremely rare opportunity to see on the big screen this expanded version of John Carpenter’s timeless classic, which first premiered on US television in 1981, and is longer than the original by twelve minutes.

 

FRIDAY OCTOBER 25th 

THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE (12.00)

JON SPIRA

Featuring the likes of Joe Dante and John Landis, this innovative and commendably balanced documentary mixes footage and interviews new and old in a fitting tribute to a remarkable man and career.

 

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (14.00)

PETER SYKES

Hammer’s Dennis Wheatley adaptation sees writer John Verney (Richard Widmark) asked to help rescue a young girl (Nastassja Kinski) from the clutches of cult founder and excommunicated priest Michael Rayner (Christopher Lee).

 

CURE (16.05)

KIYOSHI KUROSAWA

Our J-Horror strand kicks off with this story of a detective investigating a series of violent murders, each committed by people who confess to their crimes but cannot explain them.

 

DEAD MAIL (18.30)

JOE DEBOER, KYLE MCCONAGHY

When a bloodied note crosses the desk of postal worker Jasper (Tomas Boykin), who specialises in delivering dead letters, he is drawn into the world of its sender and his kidnapper.

 

STREET TRASH (20.45)

RYAN KRUGER

We are delighted to present, on 35mm, the European premiere of this remake of the notorious ‘80s melt movie, in which a group of misfits discovers a plan to eradicate the homeless.

 

DOUBLE BILL: MESSIAH OF EVIL / THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE (22.40)

WILLARD HUYCK, GLORIA KATZ / JORGE GRAU

This double bill of dark, eerie, and rarely screened films of the 1970s brings us to a California town in the grip of a mysterious cult, and a zombie infestation in the Lake District.

 

DOUBLE BILL: SCARED SHITLESS / MERMAID LEGEND (22.50)

VIVIENO CALDINELLI / TOSHIHARU IKEDA

This double bill pairs a new comedic creature feature about a pair of plumbers hunting something slimy through the pipes with an ‘80s Japanese title in which a grieving widow seeks bloody vengeance. 

 

DOUBLE BILL: DEUS IRAE / TRAUMATIKA (23.00)

PEDRO CRISTIANI / PIERRE TSIGARIDIS

Deus Irae sees a group of excommunicated priests using violence as well as prayer to carry out exorcisms, while Traumatika sees a family haunted by a curse down through the generations.

 

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26th 

NOROI: THE CURSE (12.50)

KÔJI SHIRAISHI

One of the most effective films in the ‘found footage’ subgenre, Noroi: The Curse sees an investigator of the paranormal embroiled in increasing danger as he uncovers hard evidence of demonic activity.

 

SECRET CLASSIC (15.30)

This slot offers the audience the opportunity to see on the big screen, almost certainly for the first time, a film overlooked on release whose stature has grown over the years.

 

AN TAIBHSE

JOHN FARRELLY (17.50)

The first-ever Irish language horror film sees the father-and-daughter caretakers of a remote mansion take up residence in the harsh winter months, accompanied by an uninvited and unwanted guest.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director John Farrelly and cast members.

 

SUNDAY OCTOBER 27th 

SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC (12.00)

DAVID GREGORY

From the team that brought IFI Horrorthon documentaries on Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau, Al Adamson, and Bruce Lee knock-offs comes another fascinating story, on the enigmatic queen of Indonesian horror.

 

BODY DOUBLE (13.45)

BRIAN DE PALMA

Brian De Palma’s thriller offers an idiosyncratic take on Hitchcockian voyeurism that brings eroticism to the fore. Starring Melanie Griffith, it has gained a dedicated following in the four decades since its release. 

 

RING (16.05)

HIDEO NAKATA

One of the best-known and most influential J-Horrors, Hideo Nakata’s superb chiller centres on a cursed videotape responsible for the death of its viewers seven days later.

 

SURPRISE FILM (18.15)

Be sure to book your ticket early to see a film that could be a preview of something eagerly anticipated, or a treat from an obscure corner of the globe.

 

RAVENOUS (20.45)

ANTONIA BIRD

Featuring a cast of familiar faces and a soundtrack collaboration between Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman, this cult classic sees cannibalism take hold in a nineteenth-century U.S. Army outpost. 

 

MONDAY OCTOBER 28th

THE ‘BURBS (13.00)

JOE DANTE

Joe Dante’s black comedy features an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, and Bruce Dern, amongst others, whose suspicions and prejudices run riot when a strange new family moves into the neighbourhood.

 

PULSE (15.15)

KIYOSHI KUROSAWA

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s dread-filled film is a deeply unsettling techno-horror in which the ghosts of the dead find a way back to the world of the living through the internet.

 

PARVULOS (17.45)

ISAAC EZBAN

 

Following a viral pandemic that has devastated the global population, three young brothers are forced to raise themselves in a destroyed world and keep one of its greatest dangers locked in their basement. 

 

DEMON HUNTER: TIME 2 KILL (20.20)

ZOE KAVANAGH

 

We are delighted to close this year’s festival with an advanced preview screening of Zoe Kavanagh’s long-awaited sequel to her 2016 debut. Taryn Barker (Niamh Hogan) returns, fighting to save the world from demonic control.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS

 

HORROR TABLE QUIZ (FRIDAY 25th, from 22.00)

Join us in the IFI Bar for a horror-themed quiz sure to test the knowledge of even the most ardent fan. Bragging rights are up for grabs, with spot prizes and a cash prize also on offer to those brave enough to take on the challenge (€20.00 per table of 4).

 

SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF HORROR (SATURDAY 26th, from 20.30)

IFI Horrorthon, in collaboration with Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival and Slaughterhouse, presents SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF HORRORS, a wide-ranging celebration of the genre. Storytelling platform Seanchoíche will host a special event on the theme of ‘The Horror Within’, two of Ireland’s most prominent directors of horror – Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) and Lee Cronin (Evil Dead Rise / Hole in the Ground) – will screen their early shorts and discuss their careers to date, and there will be a thirty-fifth-anniversary screening of Mary Harron’s Stephen King adaptation, Pet Sematary. The night will culminate with a party in the IFI foyer, with HONEYPOT presenting a new soundtrack to the Swedish silent classic Häxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922). 

 

BOOKING INFO 

Booking via https://ifi.ie/horrorthon/

All screenings are €14.00 (unless otherwise indicated).  

IFI Membership is required for all films. If you are not an IFI Member then a membership fee of €1.50 will be added to each IFI Horrorthon ticket price, and/or a Festival Membership fee of €5.00 will be added to each IFI Horrorthon ticket bundle.

 

TICKET BUNDLES*

Full Festival Pass (All 5 Days)**: €160.00 (IFI Member) / €165.00 (Non-Member)

10-Film Deal: €100.00 (IFI Member) / €105.00 (Non-Member)

5-Film Deal: €60.00 (IFI Member) / €65.00 (Non-Member)

*Ticket bundles and Festival Pass are not applicable for SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF HORROR events.

**The Festival pass will cover all films except in instances where film times clash, so you must choose which title you want to see. These passes can only be booked in-person or by calling the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477. 

 

The IFI acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.