Blood and guts and such! 10 horror movies not to be missed at Panic Fest 2023
The Panic Film Fest returns! Back for another year of bloody head explosions, gags that bust gags, and blood-curdling horrors. The Panic Festo 2023 program has officially shut down and it’s packed with horror goodies. If you’ve been cooped up indoors all winter and are ready to go crazy and party like crazy, do yourself a favor and grab a badge for the coolest festival of the year.
The festival begins April 13th with a screening of Nicolas Cage’s highly anticipated vampire comedy Renfeld and continues for 10 straight days of cinematic madness. More announcements are in the pipeline, but guests at this year’s festival include Joe Lynch (chaos), Barbara Crampton (re-animator), Ted Geoghegan (We’re still here) as well as Spider One and Krsy Fox (allegory).
In addition to films, the festival also hosts parties at its new VHS Store/Dive Bar Rewind and several live podcast events including Nightmare Junkhead, The Horror Virgin, Screen Drafts and Nightmare on Film Street. Hello, this is us!
Immerse yourself in the full program of 40+ feature films, 60+ short films, guests and meeting places for online attendees at PanicFilmFest.com. Join usss….
Satanic Hispanics
Director: Alejandro Brugués, Mike Mendez, Demián Rugna, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Eduardo Sanchez, Demián Rugna
Summary: A police raid takes place at a mysterious location where a brutal massacre has taken place and only one survivor remains. The mystery man is taken into custody and has some strange stories to tell as the clock ticks down to what the man says will be the end of it all.
An anthology film for every horror fan Satanic Hispanics is one of the coolest, funniest and smartest movies to watch all year long. With segments directed by The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sanchez, Juan of the dead‘s Alejandro Brugués and bingo hellby Gigi Saul Guerrero Satanic Hispanics is a great time and an absolute must.
Read the full Nightmare on Film Street review Satanic Hispanics HERE
Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Story of Robert Englund
world premiere
Directed by Christopher Griffiths, Gary Smart
Summary: Since first donning a tattered fedora and a gauntlet of eviscerating blades in 1984, Robert Englund has become one of our generation’s most beloved horror icons. Englund has risen to sit alongside the likes of Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the pantheon of film legends. His portrayal of Freddy Krueger is undoubtedly a moment as haunting for the horror genre as Chaney’s werewolf or Karloff’s groundbreaking adaptation of Frankenstein’s monster. That tells his story.
I think it goes without saying that we’re pretty big fans of Robert Englund here at Nightmare on Film Street. Naturally, Hollywood Dreams and Nightmare: The Story of Robert Englund is a must for us. Dare I say it’s a primetime election, bitch!
bury the bride
world premiere
Directed by Spider One
Summary: Bride-to-be June’s bachelorette party turns deadly when her bloodthirsty fiancé and his friends show up to destroy the party.
Powerman 5000 frontman Spider One revealed his feature debut allegory at last year’s festival and he’s back again with his maybe vampiric, maybe demonic, but definitely bloody bloody follow-up bury the bride. We don’t know much about it, but based on the juicy details Spieder One and Krsy Fox were able to share on the Nightmare On Film Street Podcast, we’re sss-stoked!
cancellation
Directed by Evan Marlowe
Summary: Les Hackel is a hapless guy who wakes up to find he has an explosive device implanted in his neck. He must commit heinous crimes to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him. The film is staged entirely with lifelike puppets.
I don’t know about you, but I was hooked after just reading the word “dolls”. Clearly a passion project from director Evan Marlowe, who has been working on this feature for several years, cancellation features voiceovers from some of horror’s most well-known names, including Jordan Peele (nope), Robert Englund (A nightmare on Elm StreetT) and the late great Sid Haig (The devil’s denials). I’ve also been told that this one is wild and crazy and full of super bloody gross moments. Yay!
birth/rebirth
Directed by Laura Moss
Summary: A morgue technician successfully resuscitates a little girl’s body, but to keep her breathing she must collect biological material from pregnant women. When the girl’s mother, a nurse, discovers her baby alive, they strike a deal that will force them both down a dark path of no return.
More than just a modern one Frankenstein Story, birth/rebirth is a surprisingly dark exploration of scientific ethics, humanity, and the crossroads where admirable motherly love turns utterly evil. There is also an adorable pot-bellied pig named Muriel who steals every scene she’s in.
Read the full Nightmare on Film Street review birth/rebirth HERE
Medusa Deluxe
Thomas Hardiman is directing
Summary: Medusa Deluxe is a crime thriller set in a competitive hairdressing contest. Extravagance and excess collide when the death of one of her own sows the seeds of division in a community whose passion for hair borders on obsession.
If you love a good crime thriller, make sure A24 is it Medusa Deluxe is at the top of your Panic Fest 2023 watch list. Obsession! Murder! Hair! This damn movie sounds like a 2023 reimagining of Mario Bava blood and black lace with pierced eyes, shadows and style. (fingers crossed we also see some bad boys turned to stone)
Brooklyn 45
Directed by Ted Geoghegan
Summary: Five military veterans, best friends since childhood, gather to support their troubled host, and the metaphorical ghosts of their past become all too literal.
You want seances? You have her. Grim, open discussions about war and human nature? It’s all yours, buddy. ghosts? Heck, have some blood too while you’re at it! Brooklyn 45 is a character-driven single-location story about the ghosts of our past and all the terrible things we do to find peace. Like a 1940’s escape room from hell with great performances Brooklyn 45 has as much to say about America after WWII as it did about America before WWIII…
Read the full Nightmare on Film Street review Brooklyn 45 HERE
The Bigfoot Trap
world premiere
Aaron Mirtes is directing
Summary: A journalist’s life is changed forever when he is locked in a Bigfoot trap by a maniac Sasquatch hunter.
Did someone say Bigfoot??? That’s the magic word about these parts. Hell, that’s all I want to know, but based on the synopsis above, it looks like this Bigfoot movie is also a ding dang found footage flick! O happy days.
Give me an A
Directed by Hannah Alline, Avital Ash, Bonnie Discepolo and more
Summary: Expands the meaning of bodily autonomy and addresses the problems of a democracy that fails to protect the needs of the majority of the population.
It’s been a strange year for any American with a uterus. This anthology film went into production in response to the 2022 upheaval of Roe v Wade, blazing its way through film festivals and gaining new segments along the way. If you saw this one-of-a-kind piece from Film As Protest last year, you’re likely to see a surprisingly different product at Panic Fest, right in the heartland of America’s pro-choice ban.
laced
world premiere
Directed by Kyle Butenhoff
Summary: On the evening of a record-breaking snowstorm, a young woman’s plans to kill her abusive husband begin to unravel. Laced is a modern thriller/drama in the vein of Hitchcock classics like Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. In a single place, the play plays out the claustrophobic nature of young love, riddled with toxicity and lies, and the cyclical nature of violence.
Uhhhhh damn yes we’re excited for a new Hitchcock thriller! Doomed heroines, dangerous liaisons, claustrophobic horror all in one place. Say no more!
Screw it, here are 3 more tips!
king on screen
Directed by Daphne Baiwir
Summary: In 1976, Brian de Palma directed Carrie, Stephen King’s first novel. Since then, more than 50 directors have adapted the master of horror’s books into more than 80 films and series, making him the most adapted living author in the world.
Stephen King, the horror writer with the IT factor. He’s scared generations around the world, but some horror fans only know him from his film adaptations. One of the world’s most prolific writers and a seemingly endless source of inspiration for film and television, Stephen King has become one of the biggest names in Hollywood horror. See the legacy unfold (on screen, no less) with this new, in-depth documentary.
The third Saturday in October & The third Saturday in October Part V
Directed by Jay Burleson
Should be seen as a double feature (watching Part V First!) The third Saturday in October Movies are a perfect showcase of horror movie franchises that also recreate the experience of discovering a new series of movies at the video store or late night TV. Part V follows “a relentless killer who stalks and slaughters the residents of houses across a lonely country road as the residents prepare to watch an annual college football match.” part One takes you back to where it all began, where “A psychopath goes on a murderous rampage after surviving a botched execution.”
Read the full Nightmare on Film Street review The Third Saturday of October I & V HERE
Heading out to party at Panic Fest 2023??? Let us know what you’re most looking forward to at the festival Twitter or in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord!
