Raindance Film Festival, the UK’s biggest indie film festival, returns with its 34th edition this month, 17-26 June, and festival passes are still available. Ranging from £45 for a day pass to £225 for a full festival pass, Raindance also offers a horror features pass for £115, allowing you to access to every horror film screening at the festival. You can check out the full programme here, but here’s this year’s horror line-up.
Broken Beak (dir: Christian Carroll, New Zealand/USA)
International Premiere. After the murder of her uncle, a Māori photographer returns to New Zealand to claim her inheritance. Once home, she begins to have visions of a mythical monster, and as more family members die, she feels compelled to right an ancestral wrong.
Child (dir: Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg)
World Premiere. First Feature. In an increasingly haunting atmosphere, a couple become willing to cross every boundary to save their dying child.
Corporate Retreat (dir: Aaron Fisher, USA)
UK Premiere. With a cast including Odeya Rush (Lady Bird), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Alan Ruck (Succession, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) and Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan, Pulp Fiction), this horror-comedy sends a group of ambitious young executives on a luxury team-building escape that devolves into a brutal, blood-soaked fight for survival.
Friday the 69th (dir: Alex Montilla, USA)
UK Premiere. First Feature. Slasher-comedy paying tribute to the bottom-shelf horror films of the early ’80s. Porn filmmakers in 1981 aim to capitalize on the slasher trend by making their own independent ripoff about a group of spring breaking college coeds terrorized by a mysterious killer beekeeper.
Jackalope (dir: Bryce Hirschberg, USA)
World Premiere. Two brothers take a quiet weekend retreat, which unravels into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the arrival of an enigmatic woman.
Life For Beginners (dir: Paweł Podolski, Poland)
UK Premiere. First Feature. A shy vampire has one night to convince a suicidal vampire to embrace the idea of immortality.
Modem (dir: Tim James Brown, UK)
World Premiere. A digital detox vacation goes wrong when a teenager discovers a modem that wakes a dormant, sadistic demon when connected to the Wi-Fi.
Pinocchio: Unstrung (dir: Rhys Frake-Waterfield, UK)
UK Premiere. Starring horror film icon Robert Englund (Freddie Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Jiminy Cricket, this dark coming-of-age reimagining of Pinocchio follows the iconic puppet’s disturbing journey toward becoming real.
Sacrificios (dir: Mauricio Chernovetzky, Mexico)
European Premiere. A father kayaks out to sea and pulls his dead son from the water—impossible, breathing, alive. But the gods demand a price.
Serena (dir Rob Alicea, USA)
International Premiere. A down-on-his-luck former rock star becomes a beta tester for a revolutionary new chat bot named Serena—but who is testing who? Starring Andi Matichak (Halloween), Steven Strait (The Expanse), Ashleigh Murray (The Other Black Girl).
Shadows of Willow Cabin (dir: Joe Fria, USA)
UK Premiere. First Feature. Two men retreat to a remote cabin after meeting on a dating app. As their desire deepens, the forest closes in, the walls whisper, and ghosts take shape, forcing them to face the secrets they’ve spent a lifetime hiding.
The Devil Whispered My Name (dir: Emilia Cotella, John Mathis, Argentina)
UK Premiere. Carla returns to her hometown 10 years after the death of her friend in an ayahuasca ritual and confronts ancient malevolent forces and resurfaced part traumas.
For more information about Raindance Film Festival, head to their website: raindance.org/festival
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