From the 25th to the 27th of February Premiere Cinemas will once again have an eerie darkness descend upon it as the Romford Horror Film Festival returns for its second year. From the team behind Romford Film Festival comes a weekend of spine-chilling tales from across the globe as Romford becomes host to over 80 independent horror films ranging from dark comedies to psychological thrillers, plus a plethora of films that will keep you up at night, this is a festival that you won’t want to miss.
The festival will feature a multitude of masterful films from a number of sub- genres, such as ‘Wyvern Hill’– A unique and original story made on a modest budget in which a confused widow faces a coordinated home invasion from both early-onset dementia and a crazed killer. If, however, you have more of an appetite for all things non-fiction this year’s film festival has plenty to offer, such as the documentary ‘Valley Of The Shadow: The Spiritual Value of Horror’, which discusses the morality of horror movies, finding the psychological, emotional, and spiritual complexities within the genre. ‘Haunted Thrills’ is a documentary that looks at American horror comics of the 1950’s and how they fell foul of the Comics Code Authority.
The festival also features films originating from a large variety of countries and locations. ‘The Story of An Empty Village’ is a foreign language film from Spain, which tells the tale of a lone girl lost in a seemingly empty village where dark secrets hide behind every corner. The films ‘Haunted Hall’ and ‘Doll’ on the other hand was made locally by filmmaking duo Daniel Attrill and Louis Taylor who returns to Romford film festivals for the fifth time.
Popular favourites will also return in different forms, last year’s award-winning short film ‘Extraneous Matter’ has morphed into a feature length movie by Kenichi Ugana who is also showing his Evil Dead-esque new movie ‘Visitors’. Last year a classic movie dubbed “the worst movie of all time” Manos: The Hands of Fate’ will again be on everyone’s lips because, yes you guessed it ‘Manos Returns’, 52 years after the original movie was made a sequel is on hand to amuse the audience.
Ian Gordon delivers two movies ‘Superterranean’ and ‘Sair Ane’ proving that a lockdown can be a blessing as much as a curse, delivering virtually solo filmmaking projects that are sure to get everyone talking. Finally, the low budget section ‘Cheap Thrills’ shows the wonderful short film works created by filmmakers with either low or no budget to work with.
The films themselves, however, are not the only feature of the Romford Horror Festival. Throughout the weekend attendees will be treated to Q&As by the filmmakers in attendance and will also be invited to the award ceremony on Sunday, which will celebrate some of the best films at this year’s festival. The benefit of operating in a now almost post Covid world is that the festival will be able to see the return of its bar, merchandise will be available, and people will be able to just hang out with like minded souls.
To find out more about the films showing at this year’s festival or to purchase a full festival pass, for just £32, visit https://www.romfordfilmfestival.com/.