The Overlook Film Festival, the annual celebration of all things horror, today announced the first wave of the lineup for its momentous, tenth annual edition in New Orleans, Louisiana. Taking place April 9 – April 12 at the Prytania Theatres, the horror festival welcomes audiences back to America’s most haunted city with a terrifying selection of new and classic films as well as the extensive offscreen offerings including interactive events, live performances, immersive programming and special guests for which the annual horror staple has become known.
“It somehow seems appropriate that our tenth year features a plethora of nerve rattling tales, many of which touch upon the theme of identity,” said Michael Lerman, co-founder and Director of Film Programming of The Overlook Film Festival. “This program is an equal mix of returning beloved filmmakers and staggeringly talented new voices, showcasing the heart of what we ourselves identify as: an ever-growing community with a shared love of being terrified.”
This packed initial festival lineup includes 47 films (21 features and 26 shorts) from seven countries, as well as immersive experiences, live presentations and horror-themed celebrations, with many more exciting films and surprises to be announced as the festival approaches.
In true New Orleans fashion, the tenth anniversary festivities will kick off on April 9 with the return of the celebratory, horror-themed Second Line Parade through the streets of the city, presented by Shudder, the iconic horror curation and streaming service. Bigger and bolder than ever before, this parade will make its way through the French Quarter featuring a demonic brass band, creepy characters and plenty of surprises!
This will all lead to a screening of the Opening Night film, Obsession, Focus Features’ upcoming story of wish-fulfillment-gone-wrong. Written and directed by Curry Barker, Obsession tells the story of a lovelorn 20-something whose wish upon a novelty toy turns more terrifying than he could have imagined.
The screenings continue throughout the weekend, including the Centerpiece showing of NEON’s highly anticipated story of terror and desire, Leviticus. From director Adrian Chiarella, Leviticus is an equally terrifying and sensitive coming of age story in which two teenage boys must confront a violent entity that takes the form of what they desire the most: each other.
Bringing the celebration to an end will be the Closing Night screening of Hokum, from returning director Damien McCarthy, whose previous film, Oddity, took home the Overlook Audience Award in 2024. Adam Scott stars as a cynical writer who, upon traveling to an Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, finds himself consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite.
Additional festival highlights include the world premiere of Larry Fessenden’s new film, Trauma, or Monsters All, the final film of his personal quadrilogy, bringing together the creatures from the previous films in the horror master’s long and varied career. As part of this premiere showcase, the Overlook will also be screening the first three films from the Fessenden-verse which lead up to his new opus, including previous Overlook inclusions Blackout and Depraved, as well as his 1995 classic Habit.
Other upcoming films include Chili Finger, from directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad and starring Judy Greer, Bryan Cranston, Sean Astin and John Goodman, about a blackmail plot that spins out of control in bloody, unpredictable ways; Drag, directed by Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer and starring Lizzy Caplan, Lucy DeVito and John Stamos in a twisty story of a simple burglary gone wrong thanks to a bad back; Daniel Goldhaber’s Faces of Death, filmed locally in New Orleans and starring Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery and Charli XCX, is a thrilling take on the modern remake in which a social media moderator comes across visceral snuff videos which bear a shocking resemblance to a mythical cult film; and David Kittredge’s star-studded documentary, Boorman and the Devil, about director John Boorman’s creation of the maligned sequel to The Exorcist, one of the most ambitious bombs in horror movie history.
Continuing the Overlook’s history of celebrating the films and icons that have elevated horror to where it is today, the legendary Rick Baker will be on hand to receive the festival’s prestigious Master of Horror Award. A self-described “monster kid” who went on to create some of cinema’s most innovative characters, Baker turned his passion into a decades-long career that forever changed the art of movie makeup. The award presentation will include a 45th anniversary screening of An American Werewolf in London. Selected by the master himself, this is the film for which he was presented with the first ever Academy Award for makeup (an award which he has gone on to win a record seven times). Past recipients of the Master of Horror Award include Roger Corman, Ernest Dickerson, Mick Garris, Mike Flanagan, Stuart Gordon and Joe Dante.
There will also be a special, 100th anniversary screening of Teinosuke Kinugasa’s classic horror film, A Page of Madness. Considered the first Japanese horror film ever made, this masterpiece was believed lost for 45 years before being rediscovered by the director within a rice barrel he had kept in storage. The film will be screened with a live score composed by acclaimed New Orleans-based composer and musician Jeff Pagano and performed by a local six-piece orchestra.
“There’s no greater thrill than bestowing our dark carnival in the illustrious city of New Orleans to all the spirits who flock to it each year and bring it to terrifying undead life,” said Landon Zakheim, co-founder and Executive Director of the Overlook Film Festival. “At a time when it’s become so hard to simply exist in this world, it is truly a gift to be able to gather together in the dark with homespun nightmares and haunted tales with all the people who give this space meaning. We exist because of your dedication, and for that we will repay you in blood, rituals, sacrifices, curses, demons and creatures we dare not name. After all, life’s no fun without a good scare.”
In addition to the films, the Overlook Film Festival’s signature, one-of-a-kind immersive program, featuring interactive projects and experiences, returns this year with three mind-bending presentations. These include Eternal, an immersive audio experience created by Darkfield, where a single person, alone in their bed, is presented with a tempting offer of immortality; Hag, from The Queen’s Fools, where Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters lead a creepy and silly experience that asks audience members to help clear out some squatters by any means necessary; and The Mother of Nightmares, a surreal and darkly comedic one-on-one experience from returning Overlook creators E3W Productions and All of Them Witches, where you’re brought face to face with the mischievous figure who creates all of your worst dreams.
The festival is programmed by Co-Founders Landon Zakheim & Michael Lerman; Programmer Daniel Crooke; Short Film Programmer Katie Rife; and Programming Manager Cameron Asharian.
The current lineup of films, experiences, live events and immersive content is included below, with additional programming to be announced as the festival approaches.
Bloody Flicks 