A Horror Festival Grows in Brooklyn

I doubt anyone noticed but I am not covering TIFF this year, which is happening right now -- my work-load for the past couple of years, where I was in festivals from late July (starting with Fantasia) through the end of October (NewFest) did me in (considering I also have a full-time day-job) and I decided a little bit of a break would be a good idea. And since NYFF is my most beloved fest of them all and TIFF overlapped with that one the most, TIFF got the axe. Maybe I'll try to be that person again next year but I gotta say my brain is thanking me right now. NYFF screenings start next week (I talked about the line-up right here) and (to get to the point) today we've gotten the line-up for my other hometown fave, the Brooklyn Horror Fest which runs from October 12th through 19th (aka right as NYFF ends). Check it out right here. The Opening Night movie...

... is called Kill Your Lover and it's from directors Alix Austin and Kier Siewert and it's described as a body-horror break-up movie and I am down down down. Other highlights out of what I have already seen -- the Centerpiece Film is the deeply disturbed serial killer thriller Red Rooms I reviewed at Fantasia right here; they're showing the gay revenge movie Femme with George Mackay that I reviewed right here; they're showing Booger (a mental breakdown flick about a missing cat that must be seen to be believed) and Satan Wants You (a superb doc on the "Satanic Panic" scare of the 1980s) and Vincent Must Die (a stellar French thriller about a weird rage virus). I have seen all of those and they are all terrific!

And as usual they are including a kick-ass retrospective of older movies -- the Japanese horror Door! The new restoration of Messiah of Evil! An award ceremony for Maniac Cop and director William Lustig! It's gonna be another year of killer frights out in Brooklyn -- here is the link to the full line-up again; badges are on sale right now and individual tickets go on sale on Friday. Oh and here is the just released trailer for the Messiah of Evil restoration: