The Ultimate Guide To Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2022

Tuesday, October 18

Next Exit

(USA | 2022 | 106 Min. | Dir. Mali Elfman) Screen #6 4:30 PM

The world changes in a flash when a scientist shockingly claims she’s able to track consciousness after death hence proving the existence of an afterlife. Rose and Teddy, two deeply tormented strangers on their way to join this new study, cross paths and reluctantly agree to travel together cross-country. The journey to voluntarily end their lives proves not to be such an easy exit plan as they’re haunted both literally and figuratively by the ghosts of their pasts. Established genre film producer Mali Elfman makes her feature directorial debut with this both humorous and affectionately sincere meditation on grief and shame jolted with elements of the supernatural and two endearing lead performances by Katie Parker (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) and Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor). (Joseph Hernandez)

Manhattan Baby

(1982 | Dir. Lucio Fulci) Screen #7 5:00 PM

40th Anniversary Screening

Because stories centered around buildings that harbored the undead had become old hat at this stage of Fulci’s career, the filmmaker dabbled in even loftier supernatural shenanigans in this underrated slice of gore-laden horror. After an archaeologist opens an Egyptian tomb, his daughter is given a talisman that kickstarts all kinds of otherworldly mayhem that follows them back to their New York City home, where the body count quickly rises. (Matt Barone)

Repulse

(Czech Republic | 2022 | 86 Min. | Dir. Emil Křižka) Screen #6 6:45 PM

The lives of two families with nothing in common, other than heavy emotional dysfunction, randomly collide and spiral into a web of abduction, filth, terror, and death in this disturbing and unique knockout. With its minimal dialogue and off-kilter lack of narrative chronology, writer-director Emil Křižka’s stunning mystery box of a debut upends familiar tropes and horror imagery as it seeps into your mind and leaves its grimy mark. It’s the kind of discovery that film festivals are all about. (Matt Barone)

A Cat in the Brain

(1990 | Dir. Lucio Fulci)

For one of his last forays into hard-R-rated genre filmmaking, Fulci went full meta, starring as a horror director whose mentally unstable visions of homicide may or may not be evidence that he’s moonlighting as a murderous lunatic. Complete with clips from Fulci’s earlier films and leveled out by plenty of self-aware black comedy, A Cat in the Brain is a delightful, albeit oft-overlooked, bookend to the filmmaker’s horror legacy. (Matt Barone)

Summoners

(USA | 2022 | 88 Min. | Dir. Terence Krey) Screen 6 8:45 PM

Post-screening Q&A with director Terence Krey, actor/co-writer Christine Nyland and actor McLean Peterson

Former witch Jessica Whitman hasn’t cast a spell in almost ten years. When her childhood friend Alana Wheeler desperately seeks her help in performing a dark spell, Jessica is plunged back into a world of witchcraft more dangerous and powerful than ever before. Terence Krey and Christine Nyland, the filmmaking team behind 2020’s indie gem An Unquiet Grave, followed their witchy hearts with this deeply humanistic chiller co-starring indie icon Larry Fessenden. (Joseph Hernandez)

King of Screen

(USA/France | 2022 | 105 Min. | Daphné Baiwir) Screen #7 9:00 PM

It’s no mystery that horror literature icon Stephen King has also been the engine behind some of the genre’s most memorable films, from The Shining to Carrie, Misery, and the recent one-two punch of IT. In this insightful and engaging documentary, filmmaker Daphné Baiwir sits down with several of the directors behind your favorite King adaptations, including Frank Darabont, Mike Flanagan, and Mick Garris, to examine why the legendary author’s works translate so well in visual form. (Matt Barone)

Swallowed

(USA | 2022 | 92 Min | Dir. Carter Smith) Screen #1 9:30 PM

Post-screening Q&A with director Carter Smith

A quick, easy drug run orchestrated by his best friend Dom is supposed to send Ben off to his new life in California with some extra cash in his pocket. They arrive at the pick-up location to find Dom’s cousin drugged up and her intense, take-no-bullshit girlfriend Alice (Jena Malone, Donnie Darko, The Neon Demon) calling the shots. She insists the only way to get their money is to smuggle the drugs past the state border by way of ingesting them. Then it all goes to hell. A new queer nightmare from Carter Smith (director of The Ruins), Swallowed is a dirty and disturbing, body horror love story featuring a delightfully unhinged supporting turn from Mark Patton (Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street). (Joseph Hernandez)