Concrete Playground

The first thing you need to know about the A Night of Horror Film Festival is that it goes for nine days, so don’t go letting the name confuse you. In four years, the festival has grown from its original one-night spectacular, with punters now able to take up residence at the Dendy Newtown for multiple evenings of blood and gore.

Like its spooky sci-fi sister festival Fantastic Planet, the line-up this year is a heady mix of homegrown titles and international fare. The program is premiering three Australian features, with Q&A screenings for Damned By Dawn, The Dark Lurking and Steven Kastrissios’ critically acclaimed revenge thriller, The Horseman.

Also hotly anticipated is The Descent double bill, with Neil Marshall’s 2005 hit about a girly caving expedition gone wrong (is there any other kind?) screening before the nightmare continues with the NSW premiere of The Descent 2. Home & Away alum Melissa George will close the festival, getting her fright on as a soul stranded at sea in the Australian/UK co-production Triangle. With some 16 bloody features and 50 shorts on offer, the trick will be deciding how many nights of horror your psyche will withstand and trying not to choke on your popcorn as the genre claims its quota of screams.