2023 PROGRAM

Opening Night – RENFIELD

World Premiere
Nicolas Cage & Chris McKay In Person

Chris McKay | 2023 | USA | 93 min

Evil doesn’t span eternity without a little help. In this modern monster tale, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula, played by Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage. Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, Shohreh Aghdashloo

Presented By Fotokem

Closing Night – EVIL DEAD RISE

Lee Cronin | 2023 | USA | 97 min

Moving the action out of the woods and into the city, Evil Dead Rise tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, played by Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Cast: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher

Presented By Louisiana Entertainment

Centerpiece Film – SECRET SCREENING: TALK TO ME

Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou | 2023 | Australia | 95 min

Try and guess our Secret Screening. As is tradition, we’ll never tell. Leave your expectations at the door. Knowing in advance would defeat the purpose. To spoil the surprise would, of course, be cheating. Only those brave enough to enter the theater will revel in the reveal. Marvel at one of the most exciting new titles of the year. End your Friday night here, and you won’t be sorry. 

Cast: Sophie Wilde, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio

ABERRANCE

Filmmaker In Person

Baatar Batsukh | 2022 | Mongolia | 75 min

When a couple rents a cabin deep in the woods, their odd behavior causes their nosy neighbor to grow suspicious, even as he’s dealing with issues of his own. With wonderfully inventive camerawork that recalls early Raimi or Coens, the first Mongolian film ever presented at Overlook is a wild ride.

Cast: Erkhembayar Ganbat, Selenge Chadraabal, Yalalt Namsrai, Oyundary Jamsranjav, Sukhee Ariunbyamba, Bayarsanaa Batchuluun, Badamtsetseg Batmunkh

ACCUSED

World Premiere

Philip Barantini | 2022 | UK | 88 min

Alone at a remote country house, a young man (Chaneil Kular, Sex Education) watches helplessly as a social media frenzy wrongly identifies him as a wanted terrorist. When online threats lead to an IRL home invasion, he must fight for his life in this tense thriller of virtual witch-hunts and false accusations.

Cast: Chaneil Kular, Lauryn Ajufo

THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER

Bomani J. Story | 2023 | USA | 91 min

For Vicaria, death is just another disease, and she believes she has the cure. After her brother is brutally murdered, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life in this thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again.

Cast: Laya DeLeon Hayes, Denzel Whitaker, Chad Coleman, Reilly Brooke Stith, Keith Sean Holliday, Amani Summer Boyles, Edem Atsu-Swanzy

APPENDAGE

Filmmaker In Person

Anna Zlokovic | 2023 | USA | 90 min

After years of suppressed anxiety and self-doubt, an ambitious fashion designer is horrified when all that bottled-up emotion begins to manifest itself as a growth on her back — one with a mind of its own. Body horror is only the beginning for this sharp look at inner voices and self-control.

Cast: Hadley Robinson, Emily Hampshire, Brandon Mychal Smith, Kausar Mohammed

THE ARTIFICE GIRL

Franklin Ritch | 2022 | USA | 93 min

In a covert effort to catch online predators, two special agents team up with a skittish computer programmer working on some revolutionary AI. What begins as an experimental technology turns into something entirely different and far more personal in this award-winning piece of hard science fiction featuring genre icon Lance Henriksen.

Cast: Tatum Matthews, Lance Henriksen, Sinda Nichols, David Girard, Franklin Ritch

birth/rebirth

Filmmaker In Person

Laura Moss | 2023 | USA | 98 min

Maternal instincts and scientific hubris collide in this chilling tale of two women — one a grieving mother, the other an obsessive pathologist — who are pushed beyond their limits in this powerful reimagining of the Frankenstein mythos.

Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool

BROOKLYN 45

Filmmaker In Person

Ted Geoghegan | 2023 | USA | 93 min

Restless spirits are not the only things haunting a group of longtime friends, reunited in the wake of WWII. Ted Geoghegan directs this chamber piece of horrors where the only thing more terrifying than what lies on the other side may be the secrets we’ve buried in the past.

Cast: Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden, Ezra Buzzington, Kristina Klebe

CLOCK

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Alexis Jacknow | 2023 | USA | 93 min

On the eve of her birthday, a woman desperately attempts to fix her broken biological clock, but at what cost? Featuring a powerhouse turn from Dianna Agron (Shiva Baby), this cautionary tale warns that when the pressure to conform mounts beyond reason, something’s going to break.

Cast: Dianna Agron, Jay Ali, Melora Hardin

THE DEAD ZONE

40th Anniversary Screening

David Cronenberg | 1983 | USA | 103 min

Christopher Walken stars as a schoolteacher who wakes up from a five-year coma with psychic powers. Wary of his newfound abilities, he retreats from the world, but when he has a horrifying vision of things to come, he fights to find out if he can only see the future or if he can change it. David Cronenberg directs this Stephen King adaptation and the topic for this year’s Kingcast live podcast.

Cast: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lorn, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen

THE ELDERLY

Raúl Cerezo, Fernando González Gómez | 2022 | Spain | 95 min

As a vicious heatwave grips Madrid, octogenarian Manuel (Zorion Eguileor, Platform) is behaving in increasingly disturbing ways. In fact, all the senior citizens are acting odd — aggressive, angry and as if they know of awful things to come. As the temperature rises, so does the tension in this unsettling, slow burn of body horror and generational fear.

Cast: Zorion Eguileor, Gustavo Salmeron, Paula Gallego, Irene Anula

Presented By Dark Star Pictures

THE FIVE DEVILS

Léa Mysius | 2022 | France | 95 min

Struggling to decipher the adult world around her, an eight-year-old girl with an uncanny sense of smell discovers that her gift also allows her to travel back in time and observe her mother and her aunt’s mysterious past. At once intimate and inexplicable, this is a mesmerizing vision of powerful emotions and sensory overload.

Cast: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sally Dramé, Swala Emati, Moustapha Mbengue, Daphne Patakia

GIVE ME AN A

Free Screening
Filmmakers In Person

Natasha Halevi, Meg Swertlow, Bonnie Discepolo, Danin Jacquay, Erica Mary Wright, Monica Moore-Suriyage, Sarah Kopkin, Caitlin Hargraves, Megan Rosati, Hannah Alline, Avital Ash, Mary C. Russell, Valerie Finkel, Kelly Nygaard, Loren Escandón, Francesca Maldonado | 2022 | USA | 100 min

With passion, strength and righteous anger, 16 women filmmakers make their voices heard with this anthology of genre-themed short films, all made in direct response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. A mix of horror, sci-fi and dark comedy, these shorts are a rallying cry for personal rights and bodily autonomy.

Cast: Alyssa Milano, Virginia Madsen, Gina Torres, Milana Vayntrub, Jennifer Holland, Sean Gunn, Molly C. Quinn, Jason George, Jackie Tohn

GODLESS: THE EASTFIELD EXORCISM

World Premiere
Filmmakers In Person

Nick Kozakis | 2023 | Australia | 92 min

Convinced that his wife is possessed by dark forces, a desperate husband puts his faith in the power of a pitiless self-proclaimed exorcist, who is convinced that salvation can be found only through his hands. Inspired by true events, this is a disturbing tale of misplaced faith and destructive zealotry.

Cast: Georgia Eyers, Dan Ewing, Tim Pocock, Eliza Matengu, John Wood, Rosie Traynor

IT LIVES INSIDE

Filmmakers In Person

Bishal Dutta | 2023 | USA | 99 min

Sam is desperate to fit in at school, rejecting her Indian culture and family to be like everyone else. When a mythological demonic spirit latches onto her former best friend, she must come to terms with her heritage in order to defeat it.

Cast: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel, Vik Sahay

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

Filmmakers In Person

Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes | 2023 | Australia | 92 min

Desperate for ratings, a Seventies-era late night talk show host invites a skeptic, a doctor and a young girl supposedly possessed by the devil for a very special Halloween episode. By the end of the show, his horrified audience would learn one awful truth: Evil doesn’t take commercial breaks.

Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi, Ian Bliss, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Josh Quong Tart, Georgina Haig

THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG

With New Live Score By Think Less, Hear More

Alfred Hitchcock | 1927 | UK | 92 min

The streets of London are being stalked by a Jack the Ripper-like killer, and a young blonde showgirl is torn between her policeman sweetheart and a mysterious stranger. Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller and his finest silent film, The Lodger will feature an all-new live score from NOLA faves Think Less, Hear More.

Cast: June Tripp, Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Malcolm Keen

MATINEE

30th Anniversary Screening
Joe Dante and John Goodman In Person

Joe Dante | 1993 | USA | 99 min

In 1962, a Hollywood showman preps the Key West premiere of his latest B-movie masterpiece, Mant!, but for local teens, the atomic terror onscreen is no match to the Cuban Missile Crisis happening just offshore. John Goodman stars in Joe Dante’s affectionate tribute to a bygone era of moviegoing.

Cast: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Kellie Martin, Jesse Le Soffer, Dick Miller, John Sayles

MISTER ORGAN

Filmmaker In Person

David Farrier | 2022 | New Zealand | 96 mins

Is Michael Organ the most mysterious man in New Zealand, or is he just the most annoying? A simple investigation into a parking lot scam leads down a deep and dark rabbit hole of half-truths, veiled threats and toxic personalities in this riveting documentary from journalist and filmmaker David Farrier (Tickled).

Featuring: David Farrier

MONOLITH

Filmmaker In Person

Matt Vesely | 2022 | Australia | 94 min

An anonymous email prompts a disgraced podcaster to launch a worldwide investigation into mysterious black bricks that have touched and sometimes destroyed people’s lives, and she’s doing it all without leaving the house in this ingenious thriller filmed with one actress and one location, but packed with plenty of surprises.

Cast: Lily Sullivan

MY ANIMAL

Filmmaker In Person

Jacqueline Castel | 2023 | Canada | 103 min

A coming-of-age tale equally concerned with the coming of the next full moon, this visually stunning queer romance follows two teen girls struggling to come to terms with their desires, their fears and, for one of them, a family curse of bloodlust and lycanthropy.

Cast: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Amandla Stenberg, Stephen McHattie, Heidi von Palleske, Cory Lipman, Joe Apollonio, Scott Thompson

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

10th Anniversary Screening
Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan In Person

Jim Jarmusch | 2013 | USA/Germany/UK | 123 min

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star in Jim Jarmusch’s sly take on vampires. The two play centuries-old vampire lovers, more passionate about music and literature than bloodletting. Reunited in Detroit after decades apart, they explore the city and each other by night, until an unexpected guest causes everything to change.

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright

Presented By New Orleans Vampire Cafe

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING

Quentin Dupieux | 2022 | France | 80 min

Iconoclast Quentin Dupieux (Deerskin, Mandibles) returns with a film that’s funny, gooey and guaranteed to surprise. When superhero team Tobacco Force is ordered by their talking rat of a boss to take a vacation before facing the world’s greatest supervillain, they pass the time by telling fantastical stories of mayhem and mutilation.

Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra

THE TINGLER

Presented in “Percepto!”
Selected By Joe Dante

Live Introduction by Dr. Fearless

William Castle | 1959 | USA | 82 min

When asked which William Castle film he’d like to see at Overlook, Joe Dante replied, much to our delight, “The Tingler.” Vincent Price stars in this shocker about a doctor obsessed with capturing a deadly parasitic creature he believes lives in the spine of terrified people. To ensure your survival of this special screening, presented in full “Percepto!,” we suggest you scream. Scream for your lives!

Cast: Vincent Price, Philip Coolidge, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman

TRIM SEASON

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Ariel Vida | 2023 | USA

Completely cut off from the outside world, a small crew of trimmers working on a remote marijuana farm discover the stalks there have disturbingly deep roots in ancient blood-soaked traditions. Now they must fight to escape the final harvest in this stylized and twisted tale of the Emerald Triangle.

Cast: Bethlehem Million, Alex Essoe, Ally Ioannides, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Jane Badler, Juliette Kenn De Balinthazy, Marc Senter, Paris Warner, Ryan Donowho, Chelsea Jurkiewicz, Lorenzo Antonucci, Cory Hart, Austin R. Grant, Arianna Scott, Corynn Treadwell

WE KILL FOR LOVE

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Anthony Penta | 2023 | USA | 163 min

Take a deep dive into the sultry, shadowy world of direct-to-video erotic thrillers — films of mysterious strangers, sexual obsessions and crimes of passion that once dominated video store shelves and late night cable. This in-depth documentary celebrates the genre with insight, filmmaker interviews and an amazing array of clips that will leave you lusting for more.

Featuring: Kira Reed Lorsch, Andrew Stevens, Monique Parent, Amy Lindsay, Linda Ruth Williams, Jim Wynorski, Fred Olen Ray

THE WRATH OF BECKY

Filmmaker In Person

Matt Angel, Suzanna Coote | 2023 | USA | 83 min

Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman — a kindred spirit named Elena. But when a group known as the “Noble Men” break into their home, attack them and take her beloved dog, Diego, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.

Cast: Lulu Wilson, Seann William Scott, Denise Burse, Jill Larson, Courtney Gains, Michael Sirow, Aaron Dalla Villa, Matt Angel, Kate Siegel

SHORTS PROGRAM 1: QUEER HORROR

Filmmakers In Person

LGBTQIA+ characters and creatives have been part of the horror genre since its inception. This sexy, shocking, anarchic, unsettling and very queer collection of short films not only makes the personal political, it makes it terrifying as well.

GNAW Dir. Rosalee Yagihara | 2022 | Canada

SMOKING KILLS Dir. Dulcinee DeGuere | 2022 | USA 

ROLE PLAY Dir. Bill Neil | 2023 | USA

RINGING ROCKS Dir. Gus Reed | 2023 | USA 

SNATCHED Dir. Michael Schwartz | 2022 | USA 

VIOLET BUTTERFIELD, MAKEUP ARTIST FOR
THE DEAD Dir. Brooke H. Cellars | 2022 | USA

BITTEN, A TRAGEDY Dir. Monika Estrella Negra | 2021 | USA

87 Min

SHORTS PROGRAM 2: TALES OF THE UNCANNY

Filmmakers In Person

Sci-fi and horror are close cousins, and some of the scariest, most hair-raising films are ones that blur the lines between the two genres. Our Tales of the Uncanny shorts program lives in this liminal space, where fear comes in many shapeshifting forms.

GO TO BED RAYMOND Dir. Nicole Taylor-Roberts | 2022 | USA

SPLINTER Dir. Marc Bernardin | 2022 | USA

VARIATIONS OF A THEME Dir. Peter Collins Campbell | USA | 2022

DEAD ENDERS Dir. Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker | 2023 | USA 

ANGELS Dir. Samantha Aldana | 2022 | USA 

FROM.BEYOND Dir. Fredrik S. Hana| 2022 | Norway

NIGHT WORK Dir. Savanna Hunter-Reeves | 2022 | USA

DIASPORA Dir. Tyler Mckenzie Evans | 2022 | Canada

83 Min

SHORTS PROGRAM 3: SEX & DEATH

Filmmakers In Person

Two of humanity’s most fundamental experiences form the thematic through line to a shorts program that’s not afraid to go there — whatever “there” means to you. 

DEW CLAWS  Dir. Carolina Sandvik | 2021 | Sweden

A STREET CAT NAMED DESIRE Dir. Eric Layer | 2022 | USA

SCOOTER Dir. Chelsea Lupkin | 2022 | USA

RINGWORMS Dir. Will Lee | 2022 | USA

NIGHT OF THE BRIDE  Dir. Virat Pal | 2022 | India

ONE GOOD NIGHT Dir. Orok Duke | 2022 | Nigeria

FIRST BLOOD  Dir. Olivia Loccisano | 2022 | Canada

IN THE FLESH Dir. Daphne Gardner | 2022 | USA

KICKSTART MY HEART Dir. Kelsey Bollig | 2022 | USA

101 Min

CLAWS

Immersive Performance

Required Separate Ticket

Creator: Evan Neiden / Candle House Collective

“You believe me, don’t you?” You get a call from a young man named Danny. There’s a monster in his closet, and he needs your help. But as the call goes on and more sinister intentions are revealed, it begs the question: which side of the closet door is the danger really on? Claws is a 45-minute interactive thriller for one person to experience via a phone call. It’s a spine-chilling realization of childhood nightmares, exploring themes of trust, identity, and forgiveness. Your choices matter as the story unfolds, in an experience critics have called “bold and risky” and “the scariest immersive experience we’ve ever had”. Extremely limited availability. Runtime: Approx. 45 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost: $45

CLOSING NIGHT HALLOWEEN PARTY

Party

Presented By SAGIndie

Hosted By The Howlin’ Wolf

Trick or Treat! Spring into Fall with our annual Overlook Halloween Party held on April Fool’s Day! Paranormal performances, devilish disco, frights, lights, horror delights, and even the famous Haunted Hearse! Immerse yourself in America’s Most Haunted City and conjure the spirit to dance all night long. Live performances and more to be announced. Costumes are a must. Don’t be afraid to bring your loudest looks!

FINAL EXAM HORROR TRIVIA: OVERLOOK EDITION

FREE EVENT

Presented By Daily Dead

Test your fright! Filmmaker Ted Geoghegan, director of We Are Still Here and Brooklyn 45, brings his wildly popular Final Exam Horror Trivia back to Overlook with four ghoulish rounds of questions about everything from sleazy slashers to Haitian zombies! Order a stiff drink, win killer prizes, and scare yourself silly with how much you actually know about horror cinema.

FRIDAY NIGHT DARK ART MARKET

Party

Presented by Cottage Magick

Hosted By Rahm Haus Ice Cream At Courtyard Brewery

A New Orleans market dedicated to all things dark, creepy and esoteric materializes on festival Friday for all your ghastly needs. With ghoulish local vendors, performances and secrets, this dark carnival will be your one stop shop for the entire evening until it vanishes into the night with your soul.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE IN A CHALLENGING MARKET

Live Show

Creator, Performer: Grady Hendrix

From Pliny the Younger to the Amityville Horror, we’ve been convinced there’s something undead living inside our homes rent-free for thousands of years. New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix presents another of his one-of-a kind, one-man shows, tap-dancing through the haunted hallways of houses from Downton Abbey-sized country homes to split-level suburban ranchers as we try to figure out why we’re so obsessed with the world’s worst roommates — ghosts. This is the seminar that will change your life…guaranteed!

IN ANOTHER ROOM

Immersive Performance

Required Separate Ticket

Creators: E3W Productions

A new selection from E3W Productions makes its Overlook debut! Paige has always thought there was something wrong with her little brother’s bedroom: the floorboards creak, the walls groan, and something scratches at the door at night. Now, with the help of some new friends, Paige intends to confront the monster lurking in the shadows. E3W Productions invites you to step inside a child’s bedroom and come face to face with a young girl’s worst nightmares in this standalone scene from their acclaimed 2018 show In Another Room Part 2. Runtime: Approx. 15 minutes. Participants: up to 4 at a time. Cost: $20. Masks and Proof of Vaccination required.

THE KINGCAST

Live Show

Presented By FANGORIA

Hosts: Eric Vespe & Guest Co-Host Phil Nobile Jr.
Creators: Eric Vespe, Scott Wampler

Since 2020, the FANGORIA Podcast Network’s The Kingcast, created and hosted by Eric Vespe Since 2020, the FANGORIA Podcast Network’s The Kingcast, created and hosted by Eric Vespe & Scott Wampler, has brought together some of the biggest filmmakers, authors, comedians and pop culture commentators to obsess over Stephen King’s ever-expanding library of stories, novels, TV miniseries and feature film adaptations for a series of conversations that are hilarious as often as they are heartwarming and unexpected. After a rousing screening at last year’s festival, co-host Eric Vespe once again checks into The Overlook to drill down on the master of horror, this time with FANGORIA editor-in-chief Phil Nobile Jr. stepping in as co-host and David Farrier (Mister Organ) as their guest to discuss The Dead Zone.

THE LAST MAGIC SHOW

Live Show

Available Exclusively To All Pass Holders

Presented By The Academy of Magical Arts

Creator, Performer: Zabrecky

There’s simply no other entertainer like Zabrecky. As a magical humorist, he creates a dryly abstracted, austere universe that pushes magic to its very edges and explores bizarre and contemplative human behavior. Like film director David Lynch, Zabrecky sets the stage for everyday life, then sets it on fire. With The Last Magic Show, Zabrecky brings to Overlook highlights from his world-famous and globally renowned magic shows as well as new work, bundling them into one highly entertaining performance featuring his particularly distinct point of view.

LINGERING ECHOES: THE 2023 OVERLOOK IMMERSIVE GAME

Immersive Performance

Available To All Pass Holders

Creators: The Ministry of Peculiarities

Overlook’s famed immersive game has been completely reconceived for 2023 as a multi-day alternate reality experience that wraps the entire festival in one overarching, interactive story. The Ministry of Peculiarities, a secretive organization dedicated to puzzling phenomena, has brought a mysterious artifact from their archives to the Overlook Film Festival. But when they unwittingly unleash a torrent of long-forgotten horrors, the Ministry enlists festivalgoers to become an invaluable — or, perhaps, expendable — part of their team. Participants can expect in-person interactions, light puzzle-solving, and a story that runs from Opening Night to our Closing Night Party. While all festival passholders can participate in the game, immersive show ticket holders can expect additional interactions that take their experience into unexpected new directions.

THE MINISTRY OF PECULIARITIES PRESENTS A HISTORY OF SOUND IN MOTION PICTURES

Live Show

Presented By The Ministry of Peculiarities

Available Exclusively To All Pass Holders

The Overlook Film Festival is pleased to welcome The Ministry of Peculiarities for a one-time-only event exploring the exciting evolution of cinema’s technological history!

The Ministry will be discussing a system from the origins of sound film: the Vitaphone. Audiences will also be treated to a rare short film, recently discovered in the Ministry’s archives, projected on the very same device! It’s sure to be an unforgettable event, and the perfect way to kick off your Overlook adventures.

OPENING NIGHT VAMPIRE BALL

Party

Presented By Magnet Releasing

Hosted by Toulouse Theatre

Prepare to be dazzled by the deceased. Dress to impress the possessed! Awaken the undead with live music, sanguine cocktails and more spooky surprises to celebrate the opening of the 2023 Overlook Film Fest and an evening full of vampire-themed programming. Hold onto all your blood, if you can.

THE ORACLE

Immersive Performance

World Premiere

Presented By The Academy of Magical Arts

Required Separate Ticket

Creator: Jared Kopf

The Oracle is an all-new, one-on-one immersive theater experience from Tarologist and Soothsayer Jared Kopf. You will enter a room alone. Questions will be asked. Opportunities will be given. Futures will be revealed. Runtime: Approx. 15 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost Of Admission: a dead man’s tooth $33.33. Proof Of Vaccination Required.

RING, RING: A DOORBELL CAM FANTASIA

Live Show

Presented By The Museum of Home Video

Host: Bret Berg

Museum of Home Video is a weekly found footage livestream for stoners, seekers, archivists and drinkers. For its first fest presentation, MOHV premieres a new feature-length edit that’s chilling and all too-real! Plus, the program’s rounded out with a found footage trove of horror movie ephemera. Our modern surveillance state is built one doorbell cam at a time. Nearly one in four U.S. homes is decked out with them; they’re literally everywhere. Thus the subculture of viral doorbell cam mixtapes was born, highlighting an ocean of creepy human behavior befitting a slasher film. In Ring, Ring, you’ll see the very best of porch thieves, patio punks, door-to-door doorbell lickers, local yokels flipping birds, scared-stiff missionaries, wasted grandmas, killer klowns, Karen-style freakouts, armed assailants, autonomous lawnmowers, pyrotechnic explosions, rainy day weirdos and the pure soulless eyes of chaos.

SQÜRL

Live Music Performance

Presented By Kickstarter

SQÜRL is: Carter Logan and Jim Jarmusch, an enthusiastically marginal rock band from New SQÜRL is: Jim Jarmusch, Carter Logan and Erik Sanko, an enthusiastically marginal rock band from New York City who like big drums & distorted guitars, cassette recorders, loops, feedback, sad country songs, molten stoner core, chopped & screwed hip-hop and imaginary movie scores. SQÜRL began in 2009 with Jarmuch and Logan recording original music for the film The Limits of Control before going on to explore the back-alleys of American country, noise and psychedelia. The two have since composed and performed the scores to the films Only Lovers Left Alive (with Jozef Van Wissem), Paterson, The Dead Don’t Die and the documentary, Living the Light – Robby Müller. They are joined live by Erik Sanko of the band Skeleton Key, who has previously played with John Cale, The Lounge Lizards, They Might be Giants and Yoko Ono, among others.  

STAGE FRIGHT

Live Show

FREE EVENT

Creator, Host: Ryan Rogers

Laugh To Death at Stage Fright. Set in the mysterious Chapel Club in the storied Hotel Saint Vincent, Stage Fright features Nola’s greatest comedians telling hilarious stories about fear. Showrunner and host Ryan Rogers presides over a murderer’s row of absolute killers: Jeff D, JQ Palms, Shep Kelley, Adam Crochet, Amanda G, Taj Washington and Vivi Noir. Join us for the time of your afterlife.

THOU

Live Music Performance

Presented By Kickstarter

Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crowbar, Thou shares a more spiritual kinship with ’90s proto-grunge bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden (all of whom they’ve covered extensively, both in the studio and onstage). The band’s aesthetic and political impulses reflect the obscure ’90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform and Crimethinc.

UNDERSIGNED

Immersive Performance

Required Separate Ticket

Creator: Yannick Trapman-O’Brien

Undersigned is a psychological thriller for an audience of one. Depending on your choices, it will last between 60-90 minutes. Your participation will involve an invocation, a blindfold and a pointed discussion. The topics of this discussion will vary based on your input, and may include — but are not limited to — Money, Power, Sex, Pleasure, Violence, Blood, Body Horror, Moral Horror, Economic Horror, Wild Conjecture and the Occult. ​ Called “One of the Best Immersive Experiences of 2022” by No Proscenium, Undersigned is decidedly in-person — and you will be required to sign a waiver. Extremely limited availability. Runtime: Approx. 60-90 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost: $65. Proof of Vaccination And Masking Required.