This week, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival announced today the full program for its 2025 incarnation, running 10 days this year in celebration of their 10-year anniversary. The festival will run from October 16 to 25, 2025, with all screenings held at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg. Audiences are in for a jaw-dropping lineup of films and events, including a special screening of Ernest Dickerson’s cult classic TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS: DEMON KNIGHT with the Leviathan Award Ceremony, honoring his film career.
The Opening Night film is Tina Romero’s award-winning, Brooklyn-set horror-comedy QUEENS OF THE DEAD. The 2025 festival also boasts the world premieres of Adam MacDonald’s zombie feature THIS IS NOT A TEST and Connor Marsden’s bloodsoaked thriller VIOLENCE. The Festival will also feature the North American Premiere of Johanna Moder’s paranoid motherhood horror film MOTHER’S BABY. Other highlights include Avalon Fast’s mesmerizing sophomore feature CAMP as the festival’s Centerpiece Film.
This year’s Closing Night feature is the ultra violent and fast-paced KARMADONNA from director Aleksandar Radivojevic. Additional highlights include horror/sci-fi icon Bryan Fuller’s weird and whimsical new feature DUST BUNNY; Kenichi Ugana’s strange and disturbing new feature INCOMPLETE CHAIRS; a screening of the first three episodes from season two of THE CREEP TAPES; alumni Alice Maio Mackay’s latest feature THE SERPENT’S SKIN; Robbie Banfitch’s latest found footage feature TINSMAN ROAD; and Julie Pacino’s fever dream I LIVE HERE NOW.
Dread Central’s Mary Beth McAndrews will also be in attendance as part of a special panel at the festival about writing nonfiction horror. She’ll be participating with authors Lowell Greenblatt, Mike Gingold, and Payton McCarty-Simas. That’s only one of many incredible events coming to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival this year!
Festival badges are on sale now here and a limited amount of individual tickets go on sale this Friday at 12PM EST. Full program info is detailed below!
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Full Lineup
FEATURE FILMS
QUEENS OF THE DEAD (dir. Tina Romero)
OPENING NIGHT FILM
USA | 2025 | 106 Min.
A group of drag queens and party goers must fight for their lives when the zombie apocalypse interrupts their warehouse party in Brooklyn.
CAMP (dir. Avalon Fast)
CENTERPIECE FILM | East Coast Premiere, Presented by Macabre Daily
Canada | 2025 | 111 Min.
After suffering a traumatic event, a girl goes to work as a counselor at a Christian summer camp hoping to find healing and becomes close with a welcoming coven of witches.
KARMADONNA (dir. Aleksandar Radivojevic)
CLOSING NIGHT FILM | U.S. Premiere
Serbia | 2025 | 116 Min.
An omnipotent deity, claiming to be the original creator, calls a pregnant woman on her cell phone and commands her to go on a killing spree or he’ll kill her unborn child.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS: DEMON KNIGHT (dir. Ernest Dickerson)
Presented by Arrow Video
USA | 1995 | 92 Min.
A ragtag group of misfits must resort to any means necessary to survive the night inside a boarding house when a slick-talking demon and his minions pay them a visit in this raucous cult classic, celebrating its 30th anniversary. This special screening will include a Leviathan Award presentation for and Q&A with director Ernest Dickerson.
1000 WOMEN IN HORROR (dir. Donna Davies)
North American Premiere
USA | 2025 | 96 Min.
Dating back to horror’s earliest days, the genre has thrived on and been exemplified by the work of countless women, a fact driven home in entertaining fashion by this lively and comprehensive documentary based on award-winning critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’s book of the same name.
ABIGAIL BEFORE BEATRICE (dir. Cassie Keet)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 110 Min.
A former cult member’s world is turned upside down when she receives word that her one-time leader has been released from prison.
AFFECTION (dir. BT Meza)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 85 Min.
Continuously struck with violent seizures that erase her recently created memories, Ellie (Jessica Rothe, Happy Death Day) repeatedly wakes to a life she doesn’t recognize and must fight through an amnesiac nightmare to discover the terrible truth of her affliction.
ANYTHING THAT MOVES (35mm) (dir. Alex Phillips)
New York Premiere
USA | 2025 | 80 Min.
A sex worker with a heart of gold finds himself drawn into a murder investigation when he finds out a serial killer is targeting his clients.
BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (dir. Eiichi Yamamoto)
Japan | 1973 | 86 Min.
A true animation masterwork, this Japanese cult classic uses gorgeous watercolor-style animation to tell the brutal story of a young woman who consults the Devil to get back at the evil overlord who sexually assaulted her.
BLOOD SHINE (dir. Emily Bennett, Justin Brooks)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 90 Min.
A filmmaker’s life is turned upside down when a chance encounter puts him at the center of a violent religious ritual.
BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL (dir. David Kittredge)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 112 Min.
A sequel to The Exorcist, a.k.a. the most successful horror movie ever released upon its 1973 release… What could go wrong? As this hilarious and insightful documentary details, damn near everything for director John Boorman’s infamous 1977 disaster Exorcist II: The Heretic.
BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (4K Restoration) (dir. Brian Yuzna)
USA | 1990 | 96 Min.
Eight months after the “Miskatonic Massacre,” Dr. Herbert West and his right-hand man Dr. Dan Cain continue their morbid experiments playing god by frankensteining new life from severed body parts and must contend with a pesky lieutenant following their every move.
BUFFET INFINITY (dir. Simon Glassman)
U.S. Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 93 Min.
Experience a cosmic descent into chaos through a compilation of commercials from competing local businesses.
BUGGED! (dir. Ronald K. Armstrong)
USA | 1996 | 82 Min.
A bumbling duo of exterminators accidentally make a cricket infestation worse when their pesticide is unknowingly switched out for an experimental radioactive chemical that mutates the bugs instead.
THE CREEP TAPES, SEASON 2 (First Three Episodes) (dir. Patrick Brice)
USA | 2025 | 67 Min.
Our favorite murderous filmmaker Peachfuzz is back with the first three episodes of the highly anticipated The Creep Tapes Season 2.
CRUSHED (dir. Simon Rumley)
East Coast Premiere
United Kingdom | 2025 | 101 Min.
When his daughter is kidnapped, an otherwise peace-loving pastor is forced to contend with the seediest parts of Thailand’s underbelly, from pedophilia to animal snuff films, testing his faith along the way.
DEAD LOVER (dir. Grace Glowicki)
New York Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 82 Min.
Unable to attract men due to the stench left by her working conditions, a gravedigger finally finds the one guy who finds her aroma intoxicating, but when tragedy strikes, she becomes a reanimator—with wonderfully bonkers results.
DEF BY TEMPTATION (dir. James Bond III)
USA | 1990 | 87 Min.
A minister in training comes to the big apple and has his faith tested when he becomes the target of a succubus preying on the men of New York.
DON’T LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE (dir. Emilio Portes)
East Coast Premiere
Mexico | 2025 | 97 Min.
Left alone at their new home by their mother one night, two young brothers pass the time by playing games and fighting as siblings do. But an unseen supernatural force begins manipulating their surroundings, amplifying their sibling rivalry and putting the children in mortal danger.
DUST BUNNY (dir. Bryan Fuller)
New York City Premiere
USA | 2025 | 106 Min.
A precocious young girl enlists the help of her next door neighbor to kill the monster under her bed who took her parents.
EVERY HEAVY THING (dir. Mickey Reece)
New York Premiere
USA | 2025 | 88 Min.
After witnessing a murder, an introverted office worker finds himself wrapped up in a dangerous conspiracy involving missing women, a tech-savvy serial killer, and a colorful array of eccentric characters in indie stalwart Mickey Reece’s dark-as-night comedy.
HAXAN (with live score) (dir. Benjamin Christensen)
Sweden | 1922 | 105 Min.
The stunning silent film classic chronicling the European witch trials comes to you with a live score from The Flushing Remonstrance.
HEAVY METAL (4K Restoration) (dir. Gerald Potterton)
Canada | 1981 | 90 Min.
Replicating the experience of reading an issue of the revered magazine, this anthology-style film tells the tale of an evil green orb that infects the lives of all who dare to cross its path.
THE HOLY BOY (dir. Paolo Strippoli)
East Coast Premiere
Italy, Slovenia | 2025 | 117 Min.
A teacher relocates to a small Italian village and quickly discovers that the community has a very strange and potentially dangerous relationship with a teenage boy whom they believe is an angel sent down from Heaven.
HONEY BUNCH (dirs. Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 112 Min.
In hopes of recovering her memory and saving her marriage after a horrific accident, Diana enters a mysterious experimental treatment plan but exceedingly delirious visions lead her to wonder, what the hell is really going on here?
I LIVE HERE NOW (dir. Julie Pacino)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 90 Min.
A woman finds herself trapped in a hotel and the longer she spends there the more her traumatic past comes back to haunt her.
INCOMPLETE CHAIRS (dir. Kenichi Ugana)
New York Premiere
Japan | 2025 | 85 Min.
A motivated and bloodthirsty man has the singular goal of designing the perfect chair.
INFLUENCERS (dir. Kurtis David Harder)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 119 Min.
Now living in Southern France with newfound love, CW tries to leave her dark tendencies behind but old habits die hard when a spoiled IG content creator and a familiar face from her past threaten to destroy her best laid plans.
IT NEEDS EYES (dir. Zack Ogle, Aaron Pagniano)
New York Premiere
USA | 2025 | 102 Min.
A troubled girl sent off to live with her aunt, finds solace in increasingly disturbing internet videos that lead her down a dark and increasingly dangerous path.
LUCID (dirs. Ramsey Fendall, Deanna Milligan)
U.S. Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 110 Min.
Frustrated with being unable to create, an art student turns to a candy-like drug to get the creative juices flowing, only to instead unlock traumatic memories and a plethora of nightmarish hallucinations.
MOTHER OF FLIES (dirs. John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams)
East Coast Premiere
USA | 2025 | 92 Min.
Indie horror luminaries the Adams Family take their DIY filmmaking to new heights with this intimate and unnerving look at a father and his sick daughter crossing paths with a witch who promises healing but delivers something unexpectedly sinister.
MOTHER’S BABY (dir. Johanna Moder)
North American Premiere
Austria, Switzerland, Germany | 2025 | 107 Min.
Desperate to have a child, a woman and her husband sign up for an experimental new fertility program that proves successful but also sends their lives into a tailspin of paranoia and paternal nightmares.
NESTING (dir. Chloé Cinq-Mars)
East Coast Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 102 Min.
Plagued by terrifying visions, a new mother battles insomnia and her deteriorating mental health, all of which puts both she and her baby in danger.
NEW GROUP (dir. Yuta Shimotsu)
East Coast Premiere
Japan | 2025 | 82 Min.
The formation of a human pyramid in a high school soccer field portents a deadly city-wide hive mind—groups of people wielding murderous gymnastics formations to swallow up anyone who rebels against the whole.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (Newly Restored Uncut Version) (dir. Tom Savini)
USA | 1990 | 88 Min.
One of horror’s best remakes, Tom Savini’s smart and brutal re-imagining of George A. Romero’s seminal zombie classic is back in 4K-restored glory and presented in a Savini-approved uncut version for its 35th anniversary.
THE PIED PIPER (dir. Jiří Barta)
Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Czech Republic | 1986 | 53 Min.
An infestation of thieving rats throws a gothic village’s capitalist existence into disarray until the arrival of a mysterious stranger offers them a miraculous solution…if they’re willing to accept the cost.
THE PIED PIPER will screen with the following short films: The Gnawer of Rocks, dir. Louise Flaherty (Canada); Prey, dir. Pax Nelson (USA)
OCCUPY CANNES! (dir. Lily-Hayes Kaufman)
U.S. Premiere
USA | 2025 | 89 Min.
Surrounded by costly studio billboards at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Troma’s signature attention stealing street-level marketing tactics are now being met with constant opposition by police leaving this found family wondering if their days of championing independent film are over.
PARASOMNIA (dir. James Ross)
North American Premiere
USA | 2025 | 85 Min.
When her best friend suddenly goes missing, Riley fears the demon from her night terrors may have followed her into the real world.
THE SERPENT’S SKIN (dir. Alice Maio Mackay)
Australia | 2025 | 82 Min.
Drawn to each other through mysterious visions and shared telekinetic abilities, Anna and Gen’s blossoming romance is threatened by hellfire when a demon emerges from a cursed tattoo.
SUGAR HILL (35mm) (dir. Paul Maslansky)
USA | 1974 | 91 Min.
Both an underrated Blaxploitation gem and a slept-on zombie film, this slick and sleazy ’70s cult favorite finds the wife of a murdered nightclub owner employing a horde of voodoo-reincarnated ghouls to get her revenge.
THIS IS NOT A TEST (dir. Adam MacDonald)
World Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 102 Min.
Caught within the chaos of a zombie outbreak, suicidal teen Sloane and a small group of her classmates escape their suddenly apocalyptic hometown streets and barricade themselves in their high school.
TINSMAN ROAD (dir. Robbie Banfitch)
New York Premiere
USA | 2025 | 120 Min.
A young man returns to his hometown to solve the mystery behind his sister’s disappearance.
TOUCH ME (dir. Addison Heimann)
New York Premiere
USA | 2025 | 100 Min.
Two best friends become hooked on the drug-like touch of a seductive alien who could be hiding sinister motivations.
VIOLENCE (dir. Connor Marsden)
World Premiere
Canada | 2025 | 84 Min.
In an alternate, punk-minded 1980s world, unlikely hero Henry Violence has no choice but to fight his way through a volatile drug war.
SHORT FILM BLOCKS
NIGHTMARE FUEL
Sleepless nights are unavoidable after witnessing the terror on display in this collection of scary shorts, featuring chilling visions of the afterlife, stop-motion animation and a sexual experiment gone awry.
- Nails, dir. William Lott (USA)
- Don’t Be Afraid, dir. Mats Udd (Sweden)
- He, dir. Hira Vin (Canada)
- The Littles, dir. Andrew Duplessie (USA)
- The Girl in the Street, dir. Chris Paicely, Miles August (USA)
- Do No Harm, dir. Eron Sheean (Netherlands)
- Eonian, dir. Michael Machin (USA)
HEAD TRIP
Brooklyn Horror’s signature celebration of genre-bending filmmaking is back with a fresh dose of short-form innovation, including coming-of-age trauma, a harrowing depiction of witchcraft accusations and the worst game night imaginable.
- Overgrown, dir. Nathan Ginter (USA)
- Far from the Plains, dir. Luigi Sibona (UK)
- Barlebas, dir. Malu Janssen (Belgium, Netherlands)
- Would You Rather, dir. Sophie O’Donovan (Ireland)
- Metal, dir. Samuel McIntosh (USA)
- Belloe, dir. Jayden Rathsam Hua (Australia)
SLAYED: LGBTQ Horror Shorts, Presented by Horror Press
Brooklyn Horror once again pays tribute to some of the very best that queer horror has to offer this year, including a butcher looking to make a predator prey, a one night stand with a snake woman and some hot and sweaty boys fighting to be the top dog.
- Long Pork, dir. Iris Dukatt (USA)
- Are You Fucking Kidding Me?!, dir. Zen Pace (USA)
- She Devil, dir. Allie Perison (USA)
- Last Call, dir. Winnie Cheung (USA)
- Tal 탈, dir. Charlie Gillette (USA)
- Consume, dir. Aliyah Knight (Australia)
- Blood Boys, dir Jordan Hahn (USA)
- The Dysphoria, dir. Kylie Aoibheann (Australia)
LAUGH NOW DIE LATER
We come to Brooklyn Horror to laugh, to cry, to scare. Somehow, laughing to death feels good in a place like this.
- Steak Dinner, dir. Nathan Ginter (USA)
- Skeeter; dir. Chris Mcinroy (USA)
- Spanked by a Ghost, dir. Katelyn Douglass (USA)
- Channelvue, dir. Brandon Tauszik (USA)
- Sewing Machine, dir. Tyler William Hagen (USA)
- Five Star, dir. Kai Hamada Hasson (USA)
- One of Those, dir. Cosmo Salovaara (USA)
- Open Wide, dir. Sam Fox (USA)
- Blair’s Craft Projects, dir. Jack Warren (USA)
- Nervous Ellie, dir. David Yorke (UK)\Whole, dir. Jessica Barr, Kiah Stern (USA)
- Whitch, dir. Hoku Uchiyama (USA)
DEATH GRIP
Prepare to dig your heels in and steel your nerves for this collection of four extended length shorts sure to grab your attention and your throat.
- Alice & The Little Green Men, dir. Anthony Columbus (USA)
- Neu Mirrors, dir. Keishi Kondo (Japan)
- Jeff, dir. Julia Hebner (USA)
- The King in Yellow, dir. Sam Shapson (USA)
RE-ANIMATORS: REIMAGINATED TALES FROM BHFF ALUMNI
Four Brooklyn Horror feature film veterans return to the festival with excellent new short films, each rooted in classic literary inspirations; more specifically, a trio of classic fairy tales remixed and a chilling Algernon Blackwood adaptation.
- The Sleeping Beauty, dir. Mattie Do (USA, Thailand, Laos)
- Jaques the Giant Slayer, dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead (USA)
- Cinderella, dir. Adam Egypt Mortimer (USA)
- The Occupant of the Room, dir. Kier-La Janisse (Canada)
HOME INVASION #1
NYC is home to some of the best genre filmmaking on the planet and it’s Brooklyn Horror’s proud honor to showcase this cold hard fact every year with our locals-only Home Invasion program.
- The Binding, dir. Ryan Kennedy
- Y.M.G., dir. Alexandra Warrick
- Brian Won’t Wear Condoms, dir. Genna Edwards
- The Man & the Scarecrow, dir. Justin Knoepfel
- Some Dark Matter, dir. Molly Fisher
- You Have Her Eyes, dir. Jordan Sommerlad, Cory Stonebrook
- Rebrand, dir. Edoardo Ranaboldo
HOME INVASION #2
Way too much talent in these streets to fit in one block–here’s a second dose of homegrown genre madness.
- Cub, dir. Sofia Rubin
- Kandie, dir. Jasmine Osean Thomas
- Daddy is a Hunter, dir. Marcus Fahey
- Breadwinner, dir. Camila Grimaldi
- Elsewhere: A Place for Girls Like You and Me, dir. Emma Claire Crockett
- Striya, dir. Paige Campbell
- The Traveler, dir. Matthew Scheffler
BROOKLYN HORROR SPECIAL EVENTS
NYBC Busmobile Blood Drive
We’re excited to be back with the New York Blood Center and their Busmobile to create an easy opportunity for our community to donate blood (in a safe and clean way) and help save lives. The Busmobile will be parked right in front of the Nitehawk so donate blood and save lives before/after films.
BHFF Artists and Artisans Market
Since 2015, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival has worked with artists and brands in Brooklyn and beyond to help showcase our genre films. As a part of our 10th anniversary, we’re showcasing artists, artisans and brands that we love in the same way we’ve been able to showcase films and filmmakers the last ten years. Come out to discover and support your next favorite spooky artist.
Final Exam Horror Trivia, Presented by Dark Sky Films
Do you think you know more about horror films than the rest of Gotham? Then it’s time to prove it via five blistering rounds of expert level creepy trivia with hosts Ted Geoghegan (director of We Are Still Here and Shudder’s Brooklyn 45) and journalist Michael Gingold (of Fangoria and Rue Morgue fame)! Meet new friends, win amazing prizes, and learn more about horror cinema exclusively at Final Exam!
Certified Forgotten Podcast
Certified Forgotten is a 60-minute bi-weekly horror movie podcast with a focus on underseen films. Hosts Matt Donato and Matt Monagle speak with creators, filmmakers, and critics about their lifelong relationships to the horror genre. Each episode also highlights another unique genre title with ten-or-fewer reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes that’s picked by the guest, letting them champion each episode’s title to their heart’s content.
Blerdy Massacre Podcast
Join Xero Gravity and Sharai The Slayer as they Blerd-out through chaotic, topical conversations that any nerd of color would peel an ear for. Horror, sci-fi, pop culture; the whole bag.
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies Lecture #1: “Excessive Life: The Uncanny Vitality of the Zombie”
What if zombies, ghosts, and revenants aren’t frightening because they’re dead? What if they’re horrifying because of excessive, uncanny vitality? Looking to White Zombie and moving through films like Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and Re-Animator, David Bering Porter reveals how the undead embody our deepest anxieties about forms of life that refuse to die, far exceeding the limits of their natural lifespan. This excessive vitality extends beyond zombie cinema, manifesting in science-fiction nightmares of “grey goo” scenarios as seen in The Blob. Even apocalyptic revelations like 28 Days Later reflect cultural fears rooted in biological reality: cancerous cells that refuse to stop dividing, viral infections overwhelming their hosts, and ecosystems pushed beyond their breaking point.
The zombie’s relentless existence exceeding all sustainable bounds becomes a mirror of our society’s inability to stop consuming, expanding, and reproducing. The undead reveal an uncomfortable truth: in a world facing ecological collapse due to unchecked growth, the horror of excessive life might be a fate worse than death.
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies Lecture #2: “On Becoming a Horrifying Woman: Psychedelic Horror, Women’s Empowerment, and Belladonna of Sadness”
Historically, psychedelic horror cinema has centered men in crisis, from The Trip to Brain Damage to Mandy. Such films may form a reactionary rejection of counterculturalism––but there is more to this subgenre than meets the eye, according to Payton McCarty-Simas, author of That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film. This lecture offers a deep dive into the complex themes and surprising gender dynamics of these mind-expanding movies. Extending from psychedelic cinema’s inception to modern entries like Beyond the Black Rainbow and Infinity Pool, McCarty-Simas grounds their dissection of acid-tinged horrors in a rich historical context. After analyzing masculinist movies like Altered States, they investigate counter examples like Eiichi Yamamoto’s seminal feminist freakout, Belladonna of Sadness (screening at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival this year).
Ultimately, McCarty-Simas argues for the liberatory potential of the psychedelic horror film, in which women may “become horrifying women”––a fate far better than life under heteropatriarchy. The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is proud to partner with the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival to present this unique look at psychedelic horror history through a feminist lens. Don’t miss Payton McCarty-Simas’ exploration of one of horror’s most outrageous subgenres; it might just blow your mind.
Panel: Raising and Praising the Dead
Join authors Lowell Greenblatt, Mary Beth McAndrews, Michael Gingold and Payton McCarty-Simas as they celebrate the releases of their new books and discuss how new life and meaning can be conjured for underappreciated films through the power of recontextualization. Moderated by Avery Coffey (The Unbound & Rewound Podcast).
Panelists: Lowell Greenblatt – Nightmare Autopsis: A Return to Elm Street; Mary Beth McAndrews – Paranormal Activity; Michael Gingold – Armies of the Night: The Warriors and its Legacy; Payton McCarty-Simas – That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism and the American Witch Film
The Leviathan Award
Brooklyn Horror’s first and only tribute award, was created in 2023 to honor the luminaries of horror and acknowledge their monstrous contributions to the genre. The 2025 Leviathan Award goes to the multitalented Ernest Dickerson, whose prolific career as a cinematographer and director has given horror fans a surplus of greatness on screens both big and small. With his trailblazing run of feature films and TV show episodes dating back to the 1980s and spanning to the present day, Ernest Dickerson has helped to pave the way for the likes of Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta by showing that horror cinema knows no color lines nor cultural barriers.
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