Horror fans are already preparing for a different kind of heat: the smouldering anticipation of this year’s most spine-tingling film festivals. From Manchester to London, the horror community in the UK is coming alive with previews, premieres, and plans for an autumn that promises more screams than sunshine.
Horror Festival Highlights for Autumn 2025
This October, Manchester plays host once again to GRIMMFEST, the North’s preeminent celebration of fantastic film. Taking place at the Odeon Great Northern from October 9th to 12th, GRIMMFEST promises four days of boundary-pushing, blood-curdling brilliance. Early highlights include the European premiere of TRIBE—a cerebral, Lovecraftian descent into cosmic terror—and LANDLORD, a visceral tale of urban vampirism. With a cosmic horror theme guiding this year’s visual identity, including Ilan Sheady’s striking Cthulhu inspired poster, GRIMMFEST is poised to become the event’s most chilling installment yet.
Meanwhile, London prepares for the capital’s biggest horror bash: FrightFest. From August 21st to 25th, horror fans will descend on Leicester Square’s Odeon cinemas for five days of slashers, screamers, and searing psychological thrillers. And when the season’s ghouls refuse to rest, the FrightFest Halloween Weekender returns October 31st–November 1st, making it a true season-long celebration of fear.
The British Horror Film Festival is also getting bigger, with screenings all over the country and a prestigious awards show. The festival supports independent filmmakers and gives new filmmakers a chance to shine, sometimes in the most gruesome way possible, with awards for Best Feature and Best Unproduced Screenplay.
“Demon (Horror Fantasy)” (CC BY 2.0)
When Fear Becomes a Business Strategy
What really makes this time of year interesting is how horror culture affects other fields. Not only are films getting darker; businesses all over the UK are using horror themes to get people interested and get them excited about the holidays.
Think of classic games, like blackjack or roulette. Often during Halloween, those classics take on a sinister spin at some casino online UK sites. Imagine a roulette game with a wheel
rolling in a graveyard with creepy background sounds and glowing jack-o-lantern markers, or blackjack with ghoulish dealers and animated zombie card decks, to add dramatic showmanship to the table. Some sites even have themed settings on top of everything else, like eerie, candle-lit parlours, fog-filled graveyards, or haunted and dark mansions.
Equally, most fashion businesses, luxury and budget alike, will follow the season’s darker themes. Dark and gothic imagery is not new to Alexander McQueen, as their shows have repeatedly referenced themes of death, decay, and Victorian morbidity for years. Similarly, abroad, companies like Rick Owens and Vetements invoke apocalyptic and horror silhouettes.
Cosmetic companies worldwide have also been driving the macabre. MAC Cosmetics puts out a limited-edition Halloween collection every year by referencing horror movies or fictionalised characters. Urban Decay, a well-known edgy cosmetics brand, takes advantage of the gothic theme using dark palettes with smoky eyes kits and blood-red lipsticks. Even drugstore brands like NYX have driven the Halloween limited-edition collection too with coffin-packaged lipstick and potion bottles.
Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s a cultural force. Festivals like GRIMMFEST, FrightFest, and the British Horror Film Festival inspire entire industries to embrace the darkness—well before autumn even arrives.
Bloody Flicks 