Belfast International Horror Festival

An American Werewolf in London/ The Howling (Double Bill)
2021-10-31 19:00 - 23:00 (Europe/London) | The Black Box Belfast, 18-22 Hill Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT1 2LA, United Kingdom
Join us at the Black Box in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter on Halloween night for a double-bill screening of two iconic werewolf movies, John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London and Joe Dante’s The Howling.

In Landis’ An American Werewolf in London David and Jack, two American college students backpacking through Britain are attacked by a large wolf late one night. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he’s plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf and soon enough his warnings come true.

In Joe Dante’s The Howling Dee Williams’ television reporter Karen is sent to a remote mountain retreat to recuperate after surviving a brutal attack, but she soon discovers that the residents may not be what they seem.

Doors open at 6:30 pm with the first film beginning promptly at 7 pm after a brief introduction by a member of the festival’s team. There will be a brief intermission between each screening.

Anyone who pre-books a ticket for our double-bill screening will receive a print we’ve specially commissioned local artist Chris Ellis (Ellistration) to celebrate the occasion.

Running Order

The Howling – 7 pmAn American Werewolf in London – 8:45pm

Frankenstein (90th Anniversary)
2021-10-31 16:10 - 17:30 | The Strand Arts Centre, 152-154 Holywood Road, Belfast, United Kingdom
Join us at the Strand Arts Centre for a one-off screening of James Whale’s Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff on Halloween as we celebrate the film’s 90th anniversary.

A member of the festival’s team will introduce the film prior to the screening

Blade
2021-10-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Movie House Cinemas City Side, 100-150 York Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT15 1WA, United Kingdom
Date: Saturday 30 October 2021

Time: 7 pm

Venue: Movie House Cinemas, Cityside

Running Time: 120 minutes

More Info

Before Black Panther, there was Blade!

Travel back to 1998 as the Dark Hedges Film Festival screens Stephen Norrington’s Blade as part of Black History Month.

The film stars Wesley Snipes as the aforementioned Blade, a half-vampire, half-mortal man determined to protect the human race from a group of blood-sucking vampires led by Stephen Dorff’s Deacon Frost.

Blade was the first film to feature a black superhero and as such was a trailblazing achievement back in 1998, laying the foundations for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it today.

Bring Out The Fear
2021-10-29 19:00 - 21:30 | Movie House Cinemas City Side, 100-150 York Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT15 1WA, United Kingdom
Date: Friday 29 October 2021

Venue: Movie House Cinemas Cityside

Time: 7 pm

Running Time: 87 minutes

More Info

Fresh from receiving its world premiere at FrightFest London earlier this year the Dark Hedges International Film Festival is Fresh is proud to include Richard Waters’ Irish horror Bring Out The Fear within our programme.

Rosie and Dan are a couple in a doomed relationship. Deciding to call it a day in the least acrimonious way possible, they decide to take one last walk in a favourite destination, the local forest. But suddenly the endlessly winding paths lead nowhere, the trees never seem to end, the sun never sets and a sinister presence starts stalking and tormenting them, trying to drive them insane…

There is no escape but what exactly are they hiding?

Short Film Competition (Irish Finalists)
2021-10-28 20:00 - 22:00 | The Strand Arts Centre, 152-154 Holywood Road, Belfast, United Kingdom
Join us at the Strand Arts Centre as we showcase the Irish finalists for our Dark Hedges Film Festival’s 2021 short film competition.

Audience members will be asked to vote for their favourite short as part of the festival’s ‘Audience Choice’ award and the winner will be announced on the festival’s closing night along with the winning short that has been selected by our festival’s jury.

Finalists

Belfast 1912 (Dominic O’Neill)A Christmas Drop (Stephen Canty)Qu’est-ce Que c’est (Ian Brew)Afterlife (Daniel Butler)The Cancer Monster (Michael Costello)Breach (Nathan Patrick Hughes)She Cries At Night (Stephen Parker)Family Tree (Emmet O’Brien)Terrible Things (Ciarán Hickey)Where Still Waters Lie (Adam O’Keeffe)

Short Film Competition (International FInalists)
2021-10-26 20:00 - 22:30 | The Strand Arts Centre, 152-154 Holywood Road, Belfast, United Kingdom
Join us at the Strand Arts Centre as we showcase the International finalists for our Dark Hedges Film Festival’s 2021 short film competition.

Audience members will be asked to vote for their favourite short as part of the festival’s ‘Audience Choice’ award and the winner will be announced on the festival’s closing night along with the winning short that has been selected by our festival’s jury.

Finalists

Relict (Ilya Polyakov) – United StatesThe Thing That Ate The Birds (Sophie Mair & Dan Gitsham) United KingdomFamiliar (David Ellison) – United KingdomWIch (Anthony Williams) – United StatesSmiles (Javier Chavanel) – SpainInside Voices (Kiko Morah) – NetherlandsThe Haunted Swordsman (Kevin McTurk) – United StatesSwipe (Niels Bourgonje) – NetherlandsMalediction (Thomas Bauer) – GermanyClout (Ariel Hansen) – Canada

Alien (1979)
2021-10-25 21:00 - 23:00 | Movie House Cinemas City Side, 100-150 York Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT15 1WA, United Kingdom
On their voyage home to Earth, the crew of the deep space tug Nostromo are awakened from stasis when their ship’s computer detects a distress signal coming from a nearby planet. While investigating the desolate landscape, one of the crew (John Hurt) is attacked by an alien creature that latches to his face and is rushed back to the Nostromo to receive medical treatment. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the ship’s warrant officer, advises that her injured colleague can’t be brought aboard due to quarantine regulations – but her orders are ignored, inadvertently bringing the Nostromo under threat from a mysterious extra-terrestrial life form with violent and lethal survival instincts.

Winner of the 1979 Academy Award® for Visual Effects Scott’s film would go on to spawn a vast franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys and would have a lasting effect upon the Sci-Fi genre even to this day!.

Alien remains a visceral, captivating and poetic blend of sci-fi and horror that deserves to be seen on the big screen!

Remember, in space, no one can hear you scream!

Alien On Stage
2021-10-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Movie House Cinemas City Side, 100-150 York Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT15 1WA, United Kingdom
When a group of Dorset Bus Drivers put on an amateur dramatics adaptation of Ridley Scott’s Alien little did they know they’d end up performing on London’s West End, but that’s exactly what happened when fate whisked them from their local village hall to a sold-out London theatre to perform their accidental comedy masterpiece for one night only.

With wobbly sets, awkward acting and dodgy special effects, will their debut in London’s glittering West End be all right on the night? And where is the Alien? It’s behind you!

Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey’s documentary is a must-see for fans of Scott’s 1979 original.

Host
2020-10-31 21:15 - 22:30 | Queen’s Film Theatre, 20 University Square, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1PA, United Kingdom
Join the Dark Hedges International Film Festival at the QFT for a special, spooky Hallowe’en screening of one the most chilling and suspenseful horror films to come to the big screen in recent years.

An American Werewolf In London
2020-10-31 19:30 - 23:00 | The Black Box Belfast, 18-22 Hill Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT1 2LA, United Kingdom
Join us at the Black Box in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter as we turn the venue into The Slaughtered Lamb for one night only as they team up with the Belfast Film Festival to host a screening of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London on Halloween Night.

The film will close this year’s Dark Hedges International Film Festival and will be accompanied by screenings of the winning shorts within our Irish and International short film competition.

Fright Night
2020-10-30 21:30 - 23:00 | Queen’s Film Theatre, 20 University Square, Belfast, Antrim, BT7 1PA, United Kingdom
The Dark Hedges Film Festival is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Tom Holland’s Fright Night with a screening at the Queen’s Film Theatre on Friday 30th October (9:30pm).

So join us at the QFT for this screening of a cult horror classic as part of the festival’s programme just in time for Halloween.

The Lodge (Irish Premiere)
2020-10-28 20:30 - 23:30 | Movie House Cinemas City Side, 100-150 York Street, Belfast, Antrim, BT15 1WA, United Kingdom
Join us at the Movie House Cinema’s City Side site in Belfast for the Irish premiere of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s atmospheric horror movie, The Lodge.

The Deep Ones (Digital Player)
2020-10-26 19:00 - 2020-10-27 22:00 | Dark Hedges Digital Player
The Dark Hedges Film Festival is proud to screen Chad Ferrin’s The Deep Ones.

Based on the iconic creations from the work of HP Lovecraft Ferrin’s feature sees a married couple rents a beachside Airbnb only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbours and occurrences. They soon discover to be in the grips of a mysterious cult and their ancient sea god.

Described by horror filmmaker Brian Yuzna as “Dagon meets Rosemary’s Baby with a dash of Society in Chad Ferrin’s stylish and slyly satiric Lovecraftian nightmare, with great old school monsters, a fantastic score by iconic composer Richard Band, and a wonderful appearance by genre favorite Kelli Maroney! This one is a labor of love!”

International Short Film Finalists 2020
2020-10-24 19:30 - 2020-10-31 23:30 | Antrim
A showcase of the International finalists for the Dark Hedges Film Festival’s short film competition.

Bad Candy
2020-10-24 19:30 - 21:00 | Antrim
Bad Candy follows local Halloween stories of both myth and lessons learned in the community of New Salem. With its annual Psychotronic FM Halloween show, reenactment radio DJs Chilly Billy and Paul weave the tales of the supernatural of years gone by. In this small town it’s a grimy ending for most, but will a few good souls survive?

Irish Short Film Finalists (2020)
2020-10-24 19:00 - 2020-10-31 23:30 | Antrim
A showcase of the Irish finalists for the Dark Hedges Film Festival’s short film competition (2020).

Showcase of the Irish finalists for the Dark Hedges Film Festival’s short film competition (2020).

American Psycho (35mm)
2020-10-24 10:30 - 11:00 | The Strand Arts Centre, 152-154 Holywood Road, Belfast, United Kingdom
Join us at the Strand for the opening night of the Dark Hedges Film Festival as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mary Harron’s American Psycho with a 35mm screening on Saturday 24th October.
