The sirens are going off here at the Horror Press Estate because it is time yet again: Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2023, THE premier East Coast horror film festival, is coming in hot, and its lineup is a doozy. It’s going to be serving up cinematic fare from all around the world: from the gory to the thrilling, from the highbrow to the low down and nasty. We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know.
No time to waste. Let’s get into it.
WHEN IS BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2023 HAPPENING?
The festival screening will be running from October 12-19, at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg and Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park. On top of that, there are live events associated with the festival all throughout the borough, like Final Exam Horror Trivia and Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies analyzing Ringu and Godzilla (1954).
Plan your schedule out now because this will be jam-packed with the hottest independent horror this year.
WHAT FILMS ARE PLAYING AT BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2023?
There are so many incredible films playing that we literally cannot fit them all. Still, I’ve got a juicy preselection of the top five films we’re looking forward to the most here at Horror Press.
MONOLITH – This film has a newly minted member of horror royalty starring Lily Sullivan of Evil Dead Rise, which is reason enough for buzz. Following a reporter who discovers a trail of ruined lives, she finds the victims all came in contact with a strange black brick and endeavors to figure out the truth about the artifact. I love a good mystery, and Sullivan’s acting in the best horror film of the year put it at the top of films we’re anticipating.
CANNIBAL MUKBANG – Winning the award for “Titles That Automatically Make You Want To Watch”, Aimee Kuge’s work tackles one of the internet’s most captivating (for better and worse) subcultures: mukbanging. Following a romance between a man and his new mysterious crush, he soon gets dragged into her favorite pastime: eating grotesque amounts of food, which may or may not be human meat. Need I say more?
CONANN – With two of the most visually unique films of the past decade under his belt, you know Bertrand Mandico had to deliver the goods at BHFF for his third go around. The title is just as it sounds: a play on Conan the Barbarian that promises “a time-jumping and visually wild riff” on Robert E. Howard’s classic rogue. As a massive sword and sorcery nerd and someone who fell in love with the aesthetics of Mandico’s film After Blue, this is a no-brainer for movies to get hyped for.
BREATHING IN – I covered director Jaco Bouwer’s Gaia in my Hidden Horror Gems of 2021 article way back when, and I still feel the same about Bouwer’s incredible directing on my recent rewatch. Adapting a South African play about a wounded general of the Second Anglo-Boer War asking the wrong mother and daughter duo for help, this may be one of the quieter films at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, but don’t you dare sleep on it; it’s almost guaranteed to be visual gold.
THE J-HORROR VIRUS – For those of us who love the historical side of the genre as much as we love cult films and creature features, one of the biggest horror documentaries this year is airing at BHFF. Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp dive into the history of J-horror, exploring the films of directors like Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) and Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on: The Grudge), and breaking down the relationship between these films, technology in the modern age, and our very own subliminal fears.
The full lineup of films playing can be found here, so get your planner and a strong cup of coffee so you can spend the night finding what you want to see.
HOW DO I ATTEND BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2023?
If you want to access all the goodies BHFF has to offer, here is the breakdown of your ways to get in:
- Badges that allow access to multiple screenings are on sale right now, and you can purchase them here. Badge Holder early access preselection starts TOMORROW (September 13th) AT NOON.
- Individual tickets to films will go on sale THIS FRIDAY (September 15th) AT NOON, but these are limited so get your clicking fingers ready.
As a sponsor and just plain old fans of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, we’re so excited to see all the horror creators and fans that will be showing out for the week of celluloid mayhem, and we hope to see you there too.
Stay tuned for more Brooklyn Horror Film Festival coverage, and keep it cool, ghouls!
