We’re living in the Golden Age of Irish horror and we’re dead excited about it. Throughout October we’re celebrating Samhain with interviews, reviews and retrospectives, that show how Ireland has risen to the top of the horror hierarchy.
Spooky season has arrived and with it cinemas across the fair city of film have announced their Halloween programming. All October across Dublin you can catch eerie arthouse, creepy cult classics, new nightmares and fuel for the freaks, as the Light House Cinema, the IFI and more announce their Samhain selection.
At the Light House Cinema, things have taken a turn for the frightening, with a season of 15 harrowing horrors set to screen. Their Fright House Cinema is kicking off from Oct 10 with a modern scary series, as for the first time ever in Ireland cult horror Terrifier and Terrifier 2 will screen back to back. Art the Clown will be on the tear through the Smithfield cinema, as Terrifier 3 then debuts from the 11th.
With a presentation by Adam Murray (Bristol Black Horror Club) and Stephen Morgan (University of Bristol) as part of the Other Ways of Seeing series, with support from BFI Awarding Funds from National Lottery, festival favourite Blood Quantum will also be among the selection. Another Other Ways of Seeing selection is 60s Brazilian flick At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul.
A double-bill of Jane Schoenbrun’s features We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow will light up the evening of Thursday 17 Oct. Cult crew Hollywood Babylon will be showing one of the all-time great jump scares as they’ve picked out The Exorcist 3, while the Light House’s usual Book Club has a Halloween reading sorted in King sequel Doctor Sleep. Relive modern midnight movies Mandy and It Follows, stick your tongue in your cheek and a stake in your heart for TV-precursor Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or get the chance to see classics like Carrie and Death Becomes Her on the big screen. Also on the classics front, the Light House will turn into Outpost 31 for the night on Oct 26 as they host a The Thing themed party. Of course, after you hit your 30s every party starts to feel a little bit like being in The Thing.
Tickets are available for Fright House 2024 now.
Meanwhile at the Irish Film Institute, the Horrorthon, their annual packed programme of horror hits is returning. From Thursday October 24th to Monday October 28th, the Horrorthon promises an eerie mix of fresh frights, both Irish and international, alongside classic gems seldom seen on the big screen. With documentaries and filmmaker talks, a Horror Pub Quiz and live DJs, and the IFI Cafe-Bar serving up specially curated plates and cocktails across the weekend, it will be a massive celebration of in-cinema scares throughout the Institute.
A highlight of the year will be John Farrelly’s An Taibhse, the first Irish-language horror film. This chilling tale follows the haunting of the father-daughter duo of caretakers looking after a remote Georgian mansion in 1852, during the bleak winter months emerging from the Great Hunger. This screening will also include a special Q&A with John Farrelly and the cast following the film.
Fans of genre icons and retro romps will enjoy documentaries on Christopher Lee and Indonesian scream queen Suzzanna; a focus on J-horror including four cult classics (Ring; Pulse; Noroi: The Curse;and Cure); the European premiere of the remake of notorious ‘80s melt movie Street Trash, on 35mm; an extremely rare screening of the TV cut of Halloween (exclusive this season to the IFI) which runs 12 minutes longer than the original, and for something more playful, The ‘Burbs, Joe Dante’s black comedy, features an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, and Bruce Dern.
This year, die-hard fans will also get a chance to show off the depth of their dire knowledge with a horror-themed Table Quiz on Friday, October 25. Additionally, the IFI during the Horrorthon will be collabing with the Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival and Slaughterhouse to present a brilliant line-up of events on Saturday, October 26th, a SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF HORRORS. This will include a special edition Seanchoíche storytelling night with the theme of ‘The Horror Within,’ a 35th-anniversary screening of Pet Sematary, and a masterclass in Irish horror in the final room, featuring Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) and Lee Cronin (Evil Dead Rise), hosted by Billie Jean of the ever-popular Video Nasty Presents. All three events will spill out into an unmissable afterparty, where HONEYPOT’s DJswill wake the dead as they present a brand-new soundtrack for the legendary 1922 film Häxan.
Booking via https://ifi.ie/horrorthon/ is available now, and festival bundles are also available.
Over at the Stella, Halloween favourites Scream and The Exorcist will be their late night screenings throughout the month, while Smile 2 is coming to cinemas across the city from October 18.
Stay tuned to Film In Dublin for more Halloween screenings throughout the island, and more of our coverage of the Golden Age of Irish Horror, all this month.