With just a month to go before Mayhem’s 20th edition takes place at Broadway, Nottingham (17-20 October), the team is excited to reveal this year’s full festival line-up. With a mix of premieres, previews, classics, and not one but two shorts programmes, there is something for every fan of genre cinema in this year’s programme.
Mayhem Film Festival will open on Thursday 17 October with Ariane Louis-Seize’s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consensual Suicidal Adult, the tale of a young vampire unable to kill who sees an opportunity when meeting a young suicidal man. Rounding off the first night will be David Moreau’s fast-paced single-shot horror, MADS in which a young man’s life of partying takes a sinister turn when he encounters a tormented and injured woman.
Friday 18 October sees day 2 of the festival, which will open with Jong-seok Yoon’s Confession – a mystery thriller following a man accused of a locked-room murder and his lawyer who is trying to uncover the truth. Next up, and previously announced, will be Christina Hornisher’s astounding, once-forgotten first feature, Hollywood 90028 (1973)in which an aspiring filmmaker’s disillusionment turns murderous. We’ll then head to the highly original world of Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy’s Dead Mail where a kidnapped synthesiser technician manages to get a note to a post office investigator, setting off a deadly chain of events.
We’ll move into the evening with Michiel Blanchart’s relentless, action thriller Night Call, in which a young locksmith finds himself at the heart of a dangerous drug deal gone wrong, before closing the day with Daddy’s Head. The new film from Benjamin Barfoot (Double Date, Mayhem 2017)tells the story of a young boy and his stepmother who, following the untimely death of the boy’s father, are visited by a disturbing creature.
We’ll open Saturday 14 October with Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford’s The Last Video Store – a VHS era homage in which a young woman’s attempt to return some tapes to a video store takes a turn for the worse.
We’ll then head into Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Mad Max-like, Steppenwolf, where a mother’s search for her missing child sees her reluctantly partner up with a cruel former detective, before delving into the first Short Film Showcase of this year’s festival.
The evening will start with Jean-Luc Herbulot’s supernatural thriller Interstate. The director of Saloum takes us on a deadly road trip where a hit-man’s attempt to get out of town with the woman he loves takes a sinister turn.
We will close the day with a screening of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs(1991)- a sharp commentary on landlords, gentrification and class wars.
Our last day will open with the UK Premiere of Michael Duignan’s The Paragon – a uniquely Kiwi deadpan comedy following a failed tennis coach on a quest to become psychic to take revenge on the driver who ran him over.
We’ll then head to the action-packed Dark Match from director Lowell Dean (Wolfcop) – the story of a small-time wrestling company hired for a gig in a small town only to find themselves at the mercy of a mysterious cult leader, before delving into our second Short Film Showcase of this 20th edition.
As we move into our final evening, we’ll present the UK Premiere of Luis Prieto’s Last Stop Rocafort St in which a young woman’s new job in a Barcelona subway station opens up the door to a terrifying legend.
We’ll close the festival with the new film from Canadian collective RKSS, Wake Up. The makers of Turbo Kid are back with a violent slasher film set in a homeware superstore where a group of teenagers who have set up camp for the night must face a deranged security guard.
Full Festival Passes are still available for £95, giving you access to all films and events at this year’s festival. Individual tickets and Frankenstein ticket packages (where you can select any four films for the price of three), are now available. For more information, and to book tickets and passes, please visit www.mayhemfilmfestival.com. For Frankenstein ticket packages, please visit Broadway’s box office or contact them on 0115 952 6611.
Mayhem Film Festival takes place at Broadway, Nottingham on 17-20 October 2024.
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