BoUTIQUE MoVIE
Up on the Ritz mezzanine you will find several stalls from local merchants;
Tony Michas (Imprint Cast)
Nick Nicolaou (Make-up Effects Group)
Brett Garten (Maximum Daddy-O International)
John Matthews (Imprint Cast and Indicator Cast)
Selling horror and dark genre movie merchandise; DVDs and Blu-rays, including import titles and boxsets, books, magazines, posters, vinyl, CDs, collectibles. Rare gems, cult faves, obscure oddities, high art and deep trash. With the Ritz bar adjacent, it’s the perfect place to hang out and chin-wag with likeminded folk before, after, or in between a Dark Nights Film Fest movie screening.
11AM – 6 PM
NOON – 5PM
Cash or card welcome.
the fever catching
In recent years the horror movie genre has enjoyed a rise in popularity, most notably in the mainstream. According to movie industry data service, The Numbers, horror is the fastest-rising film genre, having more than doubled its market share from 4.87% in 2013 to 10.08% in 2023. Amazing. Of course, die-hard horror fans know that this impact and influence comes chiefly from the independent scene, just as great DJs will tell you that the edgiest music is always found underground.
You can see the influence of the indie scene in many of the successful mainstream horror and dark genre releases of the past few years; BARBARIAN, SMILE, X, TALK TO ME, LONGLEGS, CUCKOO, STRANGE DARLING, to name several. This wave of heightened recognition actually began some ten years back with psychological/symbolic movies THE BABADOOK and IT FOLLOWS and the more pronounced arthouse sensibility of A24’s THE WITCH. The crossover influence of these movies and the ripple effect continues across the festival circuit and out into the mainstream, and it’s a conversation that could go deep into the night (for the record, we refuse to refer to any of these films as “elevated”, they’re simply very well-made).
The independent scene must always be nurtured and supported, and it is imperative to encourage emerging filmmakers to embrace the weird, wild, and wicked, to keep audiences on their toes, on the edge of their seats, keep them guessing, keep them challenged and confronted, but, especially, keep them entertained. There is a good reason why horror is the oldest movie genre in the history of cinema; people love to be shocked and thrilled by horror/terror within the safety of a cinema and this is enhanced when surrounded by others who are in the zone.
It’s a collective sense of dark desire and joy.
Dark Nights Film Fest was created to provide a Sydney-based platform and den for independent films and filmmakers from Australia and around the world, a ritualistic celebration of horror and dark genre cinema for the freaks and geeks. But not just for talented new and emerging filmmakers, also established filmmakers who continue to create original and imaginative films, whether it’s a fresh and exciting take on familiar tropes, or a bold and striking hybrid of dark genre elements. Horror movies provide filmmakers with so much room for creativity and experimentation, they are as visceral as cinema can get.
Curiously, and not out of any deliberate curation, much of the program for Volume One is made up of “classic” monsters – zombies, vampires, ghosts, demons, psychos – each representation with its own twist, its own bite, its own slap and tickle.
We have new features and shorts from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France, Turkey, Canada, United States, Mexico, Argentina, New Zealand, and, of course, Australia. Also, a very special presentation of two landmark, awardwinning New Zealand films; David Blyth’s insane splatterpunk feature DEATH WARMED UP from 1984, preceded by Alison Maclean’s brilliant nightmare short KITCHEN SINK from 1989. Cult vintage high art and deep trash together in one wild and wicked session not to be missed!
A huge thank you to all who have encouraged this new festival endeavour, to all the talented filmmakers who have come onboard for Volume One, my awesome Festival Team, and the industry luminaries who have generously given their time, support, and expertise, as Dark Nights’ Jury, Patrons, Mentor, and Boutique.
You’ve all caught the Dark Nights fever, now it’s time to enjoy the nightmare ride!
Bryn Tilly
FESTIVAL FOUNDER, DIRECTOR & CURATOR
oct 11 PÁRVULOS
Dir: Isaac Ezban
Mexico/2024/119m/Spanish language with English subtitles/unclassified/MA15+
Australian Premiere
Three close-knit young brothers living in a cabin in the woods hide a dark, disturbing secret in their basement. On his most affecting feature yet, the ever-passionate Ezban (EVIL EYE) tackles the zombie apocalypse with distinct visual flare and a rare, emotional intensity. It is a coming-of-age fable that is grim-as-nails, yet hauntingly poignant, doused with a macabre, desaturated elegance. Superbly realised and performed, with a bone-dry sense of humour, it’s a tense, gripping tale that plays with familiar tropes in a thrilling, often surprising way, pushing the embrace of family to the edge of humanity… oh, and terrific gore gags too!
Official Selection – Fantasia 2024
Official Selection – Fantastic Fest 2024
Director’s Spotlight – fantasy filmfest 2024
“SUPERB … ONE OF THE FINEST FRIGHT-FARE FILMS OF THE YEAR” – Gruesome Magazine
“A STUNNER… DESTINED TO BE CONSIDERED A CLASSIC” – Unseen Films
“BLEAK, YET BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED” – Nerd Reactor
Screens with CUCKOO (Dir: Matt Holmes/NZ/9m)
International Premiere
A man, obsessed by clocks and routine, has his world turned to chaos by a cuckoo clock that refuses to play by the rules.
oct 11 Friday
DEATH WARMED UP
Dir: David Blyth
New Zealand/1984/82m/unclassified R18+
40th anniversary presentation
9:30 PM
A teenager is hypnotized by a mad scientist to kill his parents and is put away in a mental institution. As an adult he returns to seek bloody revenge.
The OG Kiwi horror flick is a psychotic fever dream unleashed and climbing the asylum walls, described by the legendary Alejandro Jodorowsky as “an apocalypse of slaughter” (no doubt influencing Peter Jackson’s BAD TASTE). Crude, nihilistic, wildly stylish, batshit crazy, and violent-as-hell, the cult movie was originally banned in Australia, later released in cut form. Don’t miss this pivotal, reprehensible splatterpunk gem on the big screen, in all its seething, uncut, neon synth-soaked, deep trash glory.
Winner – “Golden Unicorn” Grand Prix, International Festival of Fantastic and Science Fiction Films Paris 1984
“A BLOOD-SOAKED, RAMSHACKLE ODDITY WITH A DARK, DRUGGY AESTHETIC” – Mondo Digital
“FRANKLY MINDFUCKLING” – Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies
“HELLISHLY RANDOM” – The Video Basement
DRESS-UP in new wave/splatterpunk style to win prizes!
Screens with KITCHEN SINK (Dir: Alison Maclean/NZ/1989/14m)
35th anniversary presentation
A woman pulls something unusual from her kitchen sink plughole and becomes strangely fixated on it.
Film courtesy of Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission and Aotearoa New Zealand Film Heritage Trust
Film courtesy of Hibiscus Films, Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission and Aotearoa New Zealand Film Heritage Trust
oct 12
AUSSIE SHORTS SHOWCASE
Short film session/109m/unclassified MA15+
Ten of the best new Australian short films from young, emerging, and established filmmakers. Be part of this exciting gala experience, meet and support the local talent, and vote for the Best Aussie Short Film Audience Award at the end of the session.
Winner announced at Closing Night Awards.
NIGHTVISION
NIGHT VISION
(Dir: Darcy O’Rourke/7m)
Strange noises and mysterious vanishings in the bush. World Premiere.
PERFECT BOY NEXT DOOR
(Dir: Craig Boreham/10m)
A young male sex worker recovering from a vicious attack is approached by a true crime show for the opportunity to tell his story.
DOOM SCROLL
(Dir: Roy Weiland/7m)
Wormog, a lonely, trans-dimensional being, searches for a friend, and finds one. NSW Premiere.
DOGHOUSE
(Dir: Charnstar Anderson/8m)
After being left to sleep alone on the couch, an apathetic husband is visited by an eerie stranger with a tempting offer. NSW Premiere.
AUSSIE SHORTS SHOWCASE CONTD.
EXPOSURE
(Dir: Lauren Orell/21m)
A newly sober, yet desperate woman turns to her chat-room alias, and finds her online identity becoming a danger to herself. World Premiere.
DEFACE THE MEMORY, DESTROY THE HEART
(Dir: Benjamin Woodard/9m)
A young woman reflects on the emotional devastation wrought by the dissolution of her extreme performance art. Sydney Premiere.
REAR VIEW MIRROR
(Dir: Sean Loch/11m)
Stranded on a remote desert highway, a young couple soon discover they are not alone. NSW Premiere.
A GREEN AFFAIR
(Dir: Rebecca Thomson/18m)
A woman in a lonely relationship turns to her favourite house plant for the connection she desires. Australian Premiere. IT WILL FIND YOU
(Dirs: Enzo Tedeschi & Chris Broadbent/9m)
A young investigative reporter is permitted to interview a convicted murderer, and gets more than she bargained for.
MIDNIGHT NEVER SLEEPS
(Dir: Maria Tran/9m)
A pregnant wife is left alone to finish a painting, and is haunted by a demonic entity. World Premiere.
oct 12 SATURDAY
BLOODSUCKER
Dir: Kasper Juhl
Denmark/2024/102m/Danish language with English subtitles
Unclassified R18+/ Contains sexual violence
International Premiere
A brutish male vampire goes about his daily grind, feeding on humans, turning them, seeking an apprentice, all the while under the control of his powerful maker, and viewed through the lens of a persistent documenter.
A raw, unpredictable, and uncompromising depiction of vampirism in the streets, parks, apartments, and warehouses of contemporary Denmark, as it explores the cruel and abusive nature of manipulative and fractured relationships. Imagine the feral offspring of Nicolas Winding Refn’s PUSHER and Abel Ferrara’s THE ADDICTION, wielding fierce, urgent performances, and lots of blood. Flashing a jet-black smirk, a jagged amoral edge, and spiked with treachery, this intense portrait is not for the faint-hearted.
Winner – Jury Award and Audience Award 2024, Sadique-master Festival Paris
Screens with THE NOONDAY DEMON (Dir: Conall Pendergast/Canada/8m)
World Premiere
A man visits his childhood sweetheart, who harbours a dangerous secret.
oct 12 SATURDAY
THE DEAD THING
Dir: Elric Kane
US/2024/93m/unclassified MA15+
Australian Premiere
A young woman lost in a series of meaningless connections falls in love with a charismatic man, who hides a dark secret that turns her affair into a dangerous obsession.
In his narrative-feature solo debut Kane (podcaster of Pure Cinema, Colors of the Dark, Shock Waves) tackles unhinged behaviour and the perils of app dating with a deft directorial touch, eliciting one of the performances of the year from Blu Hunt as a complex, modern Gothic lost soul. It’s the darkest of romances, the creepiest of erotic thrillers, a haunting parable on the risky influence of interactive technology wrapped around the modern dating culture, and its potentially ruinous effect on our fragile psyches and base desires.
Official Selection – Fantasia 2024
“BRILLIANT, UNSETTLING AND RESONANT” – Warped Perspective
“BEAUTIFUL TOXICITY” – Creepy Kingdom
“A PITCH-PERFECT HORROR MOVIE” – Elements of Madness
Screens with GET AWAY (Dir: Michael Gabriele/US/15m)
NSW Premiere
Three girlfriends spending the weekend at a remote vacation rental in the desert play a mysterious VHS tape and realise there are too many strange and terrifying coincidences.
SAÝARA oct 12 SATURDAY
Dir: Can Evrenol
Turkey/2024/98m/Turkish language with English subtitles/unclassified R18+
Contains high impact violence.
Australian Premiere
When her older sister is brutally murdered by a gym owner and his thug mates, whose political connections prevent them from being prosecuted, Saýara, the gym’s quiet janitor and daughter of a Soviet Sambo champion, puts her afterhours training to deadly use, executing a most savage, nihilistic retribution.
In stark contrast to his earlier supernatural work (BASKIN, HOUSEWIFE), Evrenol channels the realistic, tense narrative style of Nicolas Winding Refn’s PUSHER trilogy and delivers an ultraviolent tour-de-force. If you like your revenge dishes served cold and inside out, then this close combat shocker will ice you into the middle of next week. Anti-heroine Saýara, played with ferocious gusto by Duygu Kocabiyik, takes no prisoners, as vengeance is hers to keep.
Official Selection – fantasy filmfest 2024
“EXPECT YOUR SKULL TO BE SHATTERED, YOUR HEART TO BE BROKEN, AND YOUR EYEBALLS SMASHED UNDER SAÝARA’S BOOTS”
– Can Evrenol
Screens with NO VIOLENT MAN (Dir: Falko Jacobs/Germany/15m)
Australian Premiere
A neo-Western that sees a security guard defending himself against three killers playing a strange game.
oct 13 SUNDAY
GUDSTJÄNST
Dir: Ludwig Gür Sweden/2024/88m/Swedish language with English subtitles/unclassified MA15+
Australian Premiere
After a priest gains popularity following his wife’s swift recovery from a deadly illness, the authenticity of the miracle is questioned, plunging the God-fearing man into the depths of the occult.
A gripping and provocative high-concept crime thriller that spirals into horror territory as its tale of faith and corruption treads along the road to hell paved with best intentions. It’s a Faustian tale of arcane worship and sacrificial quandary, questioning good fortune and true destiny. How far must one’s religious devotion be taken in the name of God? Sombre and disturbing, this Sunday service aberration will lead its troubled priest and those he loves to a most nightmarish denouement.
Official Selection – FrightFest London 2024
Official Selection – Portland Horror Film Festival 2024
“HARD-BOILED … HARD-WIRED TENSION … ” – Scariest Things
“FINELY CRAFTED … AMPLE ATMOSPHERIC CHILLS … ” – Morbidly Beautiful
Screens with CARDINAL VIRTUES (Dir: Chance Muehleck/US/12m) World Premiere
A house-squatting couple have their marriage tested when they try to murder their despotic landlord.
Dirs: Luciano & Nicolas Onetti
Argentina/2024/77m/Spanish language with English subtitles/unclassified R18+
Contains high impact violence
International Premiere
Official Selection – Blood Window Showcase, Marché du Film, Cannes 2024 1978
During the Soccer World Cup of ’78 and a military dictatorship coup, kidnappers brutally interrogate a group of suspected political activists, who harbour heinous secrets, and unleash the very hounds of Hell upon the detention centre.
From the brothers Onetti, known for no-holds-barred assaults on the senses, and reminiscent of the mood and tone of legendary master of apocalyptic horror, Lucio Fulci, it’s a ghastly, nightmarish depiction of Hell on Earth. Claustrophobic, dripping with unholy dread, oozing an ultra-creepy, Euro-horror atmosphere, and spilling over with Grand Guignol grotesquery and grue. For those seeking macabre and diabolical passage, 1978 is definitely the date to ghoul with.
Screens with LA CROIX (Dir: Joris Fleurot/France/18m)
Australian Premiere
A young, uninspired graphic designer encounters strange phenomena following a ritual with her best friend.
oct 13 SUNDAY
SOLVENT
Dir: Johannes Grenzfurthner
Austria/2024/94m/includes German and Hebrew languages with English subtitles
Unclassified R18+
International Premiere
Screens with INKED
(Dir: Kelsey Bollig/US/14m)
While searching for Nazi documents in an Austrian farmhouse, a team of experts uncovers an evil secret buried in its bowels, leading to the team leader’s obsessive commitment to exposing the truth before his sanity unravels.
Sinking into the haunting shadows of history, where past sins resurface in surreal and grotesque ways, Grenzfurthner’s wholly original faux-doco confronts true horror in a perversely entertaining way. You’ve never seen an esoteric mystery so paranoid and twisted, or the found footage format so furious and inventive. You’ve never seen a film like SOLVENT, period! Brilliantly (de)constructed, this breathes fetid new life into the body horror sub-genre. You will be infected.
Australian Premiere – Co-presented with Etheria Film Festival
A malevolent presence is invited into a young woman's life after she honours her recently deceased father by tattooing his ashes into her skin.
oct 13 SUNDAY
WITHIN THE PINES
Dir: Paul Evans Thomas
Australia/2024/73m/unclassified MA15+
An experienced sound recordist travels to an isolated forest to capture foley work, but venturing deeper into the woods his microphone picks up a terrifying sound, and he soon finds himself desperate to escape.
After several shorts, including the proof-of-concept, FOLEY MAN, South Australian filmmaker Thomas has made a superbly accomplished debut feature that taps into the primal fear of being relentlessly pursued by a dangerous stranger and the ominous threat of the unknown. A compelling central performance from Brendan Cooney, a terrific sound design, creepy location, and sharp editing, makes this an atmospheric, truly nail-biting thriller, with a scorpion sting in its tail.
PLUS: Q&A WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR PAUL EVANS THOMAS, PRODUCER DION CAVALLARO & BARRIE COTTON
FESTIVAL TEAM
Director & Curator
Coordinator & Support
Tech Supervisor & Trailer
Key Art & Graphic Design
Social Media Manager
PATRONS
Bryn Tilly
Rob Gadsbey
Tedeschi
Tim Richter
Sara Joyce
Lauren Grimson
Glenn Fraser Amelia Foxton
JURY
Features Gigi Saul Guerrero
Andrew Traucki
Sylvia Caminer
Shorts
Unproduced Screenplays
SPECIAL THANKS
Richards
Adam Lovett
Tara Lomax
Anthony Egan
Emma Westwood
Adam Daniel
Robbie Miles
Sue Brown
Heidi Honeycutt
James Partridge
Richard Kuipers
Katherine Berger
Cynthia Colli
Michelle Reid