Get ready to scream in your seats as the world of horror comes to Los Angeles for the 25th annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival.
Billing itself as the “Sundance of Horror,” and the largest and longest-running horror festival in the United States, more than 100 feature films and shorts from independent up-and-coming filmmakers are on the lineup for the Oct. 7-16 festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre,
“I want to highlight talented filmmakers who are just getting into the scene while helping them get connections and moving their careers forward,” said Rachel Belofsky, who founded the festival in 2001 at the Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
As a movie producer and lifelong horror fan, she was influenced by films like “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Friday the 13th,” “Halloween,” and “The Omen.”
“I just liked being scared. It’s like a rollercoaster ride, you get all tense, there’s the jump scares and I just loved it,” she said.
Belofsky started the festival not just to help up-and-coming, independent filmmakers launch their careers, but to also give fans of horror a good scare with films that vary from slasher flicks to psychological thrillers to sci-fi horror and more.
“It’s a little bit of everything this year,” she said.
The festival starts with the world premiere of “Affection,” starring Jessica Rothe who appeared in the horror flick “Happy Death Day.” The story follows her character Elle who suffers from a condition that repeatedly resets her memory that makes her unable to recognize her husband and daughter every time she wakes up.
Another highlight film is “Big Baby,” which was executive produced by Cher, who will be in attendance at the festival.
“This one is pretty fun. It centers on a horror writer who becomes tormented by a killer in a baby mask, which is what he is writing about. So it’s both in his dreams and reality and insanity unravels,” she said.
And if you’re afraid of dolls, well you’re gonna get really scared because there are a few films that will feature these devilish cute creatures. These movies include “The Dollmaker,” from Argentina which is set in a small rural town where a dollmaker becomes the suspect in the disappearance of several women, and “Dolly,” an Italian film about Macy, a young woman who is abducted by a monstrous figure intent on raising her as their own child.
“That one is very very twisted, and it’s very fun,” Belofsky said.
Screamfest Horror Film Festival
When: Oct. 7–16
Where: TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles
Information: screamfestla.com
