Horrorfest line-up announced

A wide range of movies will make up the feature film slots of the event (from 1 to 8 November at The Labia Theatre, Cape Town and 31 October at SK Cavendish), from classics and rarities, to amazing indies and underground strangeness you won't see in any other local cinema, most making their SA big screen premiere.

Here is the full line-up including a free sneak preview on Halloween night (full schedule details and screening times at www.horrorfest.info).

Movie highlights:

• Insidious 2: Free sneak preview on 31 October at SK Cavendish. Mail moc.liamg@tsefrorrohAS to secure tickets;
• Frankenstein's Army: Amazing reanimated Nazi mayhem, linked with the Halloween dress-up competition on 1 November;
• Broken: With producer/lead actress attending and chatting to the audience afterwards: 3 November;
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: 1923 silent classic with a Makabra Ensemble live soundtrack performance: 6 November;
• Rocky Horror Picture Show: Audience participation screening will close the event on 8 November;
• Shadow Realm: Short Film Collection. Eight hours of fantastic shorts from around the world in four feature-length anthologies;
• The Otherworld: Mysterious documentary by SA-born Richard Stanley;
• Dracula: 1931 Bela Lugosi classic;

Other movies include:

* The Battery: Two conflicting ex-baseball players in a world overrun by zombies;
* Nightmare Box: Surreal psychological mind trip of a woman reconstructing her memory;
* Judas Ghost: Based on bestselling author Simon R Green's Ghost Finders series;
* The Taking: Strange art-horror film;
* On Air: German serial killer ropes in a radio talk show host;
* Cannon Fodder: First Israeli zombie movie;
* President Wolfman: A reconstructed film assembled from strange public domain films into a new comedic trip;
* The Eschatrilogy: Book Of The Dead: Three-part zombie plague tale;
* May I Kill U?: Bafta-winning director's black comedy about a vigilante UK bicycle cop;
* The Pyramid: Italian four-part anthology linked to a doomed artefact;
* Chimeres: Stylish modern vampire take;
* The Disco Exorcist: A slice of cheese and demons;
* Thanatomorphose: A woman's inner decay extends to her physical form. Shocking body horror film;
* Wasteland: Post-apocalyptic zombie film; and
* Dark Mountain: Found-footage film reconstructing a documentary crew's disappearance near a legendary mine. Awaiting confirmation of director's possible attendance from the US.

Booking at www.quicket.co.za/horrorfest or +27 (0)21 424 5927.

Live soundtrack performance

This year's silent movie to get the Makabra Ensemble live soundtrack reinvention is theHunchback of Notre Dame. Instead of earlier on in the festival, this year it will happen towards the end (Wednesday, 6 November).

The Makabra Ensemble consists of musicians from Terminatrix, Lark, Mr Sakitumi, VOD and Matthius van Dijk, bringing a new dimension to these legendary, historic silent motion pictures. (Booking essential.) www.terminatryx.com/makabra

Short films

Some phenomenal short films from around the globe will be compiled into four feature-length shows, covering all kinds of horror/thriller/chiller/weird and daring subjects, some extremely inventive and brilliantly executed, while others go for scares and shock, some for intelligent storytelling or laughs. Full eight-hour line-up soon to be announced on the website.

Literature

The Bloody Parchment literature chapter will include the live fiction reading night by local authors at The Book Lounge, to kick off the festival on 30 October (Cnr. Roeland and Buitenkant Streets, Cape Town). This will also be the launch night of the third Bloody Parchment short story collection's print version: The Root Cellar & Other Stories.

The short story competition will honour the winners with the best stories compiled into the forthcoming fourth anthology.

RSVP at moc.liamg@egnuolkoob

Access the 30 October event page at www.facebook.com/events/211316549047067

Bloody Parchment Volume 1 is available as a free e-book download, with Volumes 2 and 3 available as both an e-book and in limited print format.

Check out GoodReads, Amazon, Kalahari etc. For print copies and more info, head to www.shadowrealminc.com/bloodyparchment

Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation screening

The HorrorFest will again close with an audience participation screening of the cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dress up and bring the various accessories (from newspapers and rice, to toast and flashlights), or buy a kit with the essentials from the LoveCraft stall outside the theatre. Booking essential.

Halloween dress up

The official Halloween dress-up competition will happen on Friday, 1 November, at 8.30pm, in conjunction with the SA premiere screening of Frankenstein's Army. Prizes for the best dressed include a huge DVD collection form Ster Kinekor, Next, Nu Metro and Global Discs. After party at Mixa's, Kloof Street.

HorrorFest Poster Exhibition and dress up after party

The HorrorFest posters of the last nine years (by Paul Blom, Dr Benway, Vernon Swart), each featuring festival co-ordinator Sonja, will be on display at Mixa's (Kloof Street, Cape Town). Mixa's will also be the location for the Frankenstein's Army/Halloween dress up after party. Free bloody shooters at Mixa's for the first 50 costumed revellers and other ghoulish surprises through the night.

Alternative Market

The Alternative Market will offer a range of exciting stalls, including clothing, accessories, books, movies, HorrorFest merchandise, food and drink and lots more, on the Labia Theatre terrace, 4pm to 9pm, Saturday, 2 November (with four HorrorFest movies throughout the day inside the cinema).

Zombie Walk

The HorrorFest will again join forces with the Cape Town Zombie Walk to get all the undead in one place for a mass stumble and lurch from Thibault Square to the Company Gardens on Saturday, 26 October. Check out the event page on Facebook.

Joburg

The 19312 Dracula and Frankenstein's Army is set to screen at The Bioscope in Joburg on 1 and 2 November. TBC.

All updates will be posted at www.horrorfest.info