The 2025 Overlook Film Festival takes place April 3rd-6th. The full lineup of special events, live shows and immersive offerings is below. The full schedule can be found HERE.
Our 2025 film lineup can be found HERE.
All Immersive Performances are sponsored by American Immersion Theater.
16MM KODAK WORKSHOP
Workshop
Presented by Kodak
The sold out sensation is back! Horror filmmakers, fans and enthusiasts have long embraced the medium of celluloid as a choice to ramp up tension, serve up scares, and capture a feeling that’s all too important to the tone of genre filmmaking. Thanks to our friends at Kodak, 15 lucky registrants will be able to participate in this special 16mm demo and workshop to learn to capture the stories of moving images of tomorrow on film today!
A CONVERSATION WITH JOE HILL
Panel
Beloved bestselling horror author Joe Hill (King Sorrow) checks in to the Overlook for a wide-ranging career conversation to discuss the methods behind the madness which animate his exquisite body of work. Across novels, comic book series, and short stories — many of which have been memorably adapted from page to screen including Horns, Locke & Key, The Black Phone and this year’s Abraham’s Boys — Hill’s unique blend of horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction has cemented his status as a contemporary master of the macabre. We are delighted to host this award-winning literary great as he dives into the inner-workings and inspirations of his spine-tingling oeuvre.
ADAM CESARE BOOK SIGNING
Signing
Join Adam Cesare, author of Clown in a Cornfield for a signing of their work at festival partner, and a personal favorite of Anne Rice’s, the one and only Garden District Bookshop
BEHIND THE BLACK VEIL: THE MAKING OF DRAGULA
Panel
Presented by SAGIndie
A behind-the-scenes look at The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, with juicy behind-the-scenes stories, design secrets, and what it takes to build a horror empire in stilettos.
DANGER STORIES: A WORD SALAD SYMPHONY
Screening
Creator/Host: Bret Berg, Museum of Home Video
Museum of Home Video is a weekly found-footage remix livestream for stoners, seekers, archivists and drinkers. For his third Overlook appearance, Museum VJ Bret Berg presents two deliriously jagged archival disasterpieces on the subject of “personal danger”. First is Danger Stories: A Word Salad Symphony, created by Bret for the American Genre Film Archive. This frantic ode to culture jammers like Negativland and Bruce Conner takes 30+ hours of twentieth-century health and safety “scare films” and mixes them into 30 minutes of mirthful musical terror. The program’s second half hits cruising altitude with Bret’s montage of highlights from the Aughties’ cringiest cable-TV show ever. Special thanks to Something Weird Video for the Word Salad Symphony’s raw material.
Friday, April 4th, 1:00 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Palace
DIY UNTIL YOU DIE: TRUE INDIE HORROR
Panel
Whether it’s The Blair Witch Project, Skinamarink, or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the DIY spirit of horror filmmaking has never required a studio budget in order to deliver unforgettable scares. Join us for a panel discussion featuring filmmakers from this year’s program to discuss the thrills, spills, and chills of making nightmare fuel on a dime.
PANELISTS
Addison Heimann (Director, Touch Me)
Natasha Kermani (Director, Abraham’s Boys)
Alex Ullom (Director, It Ends)
MODERATOR
Brian Collins (Writer and Horror Film Historian)
HORROR TRIVIA
FREE EVENT
Presented by Daily Dead
Hosted by B Mac’s
Test your fright — if you dare. Join Shudder’s senior curator, trivia host extraordinaire Sam Zimmerman, for our annual horror trivia night. Prizes, drinks, and four ghoulish rounds of only mildly obscure nuggets you’ll definitely know, and all of those sequel subtitles you’ll definitely wish you didn’t. Scare yourself with how much you actually know about horror.
IMMERSION NATION PODCAST
Panel
Presented by American Immersion Theater
Join Immersion Nation hosts Emma Sheridan and Scott Cramton as they discover how immersive entertainment is changing our culture, the way we interact, and the way we play. For this special Overlook Film Festival edition, they welcome horror filmmaker and immersive maverick Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II – IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera, St. Agatha which premiered at Overlook 2019) the deranged mind behind iconic Los Angeles theater events The Tension Experience, The Lust Experience, Theatre Macabre, and most recently, the secretive EXILED: Crooked Rose Woods which took place in Kansas City last spooky season.
Sunday, April 6th, 1:30 PM, Westin Azalea
JOE HILL BOOK SIGNING
Signing
Join Joe Hill, author of Abraham’s Boys for a signing of their work at festival partner, and a personal favorite of Anne Rice’s, the one and only Garden District Bookshop
THE LATE GREAT MIDNITE SPOOK SHOW WITH ZABRECKY: A MULTIMEDIA ILLUSTRATED TALK
Panel
Presented by The Academy of Magical Arts
From the 1930s to the 1960s, macabre-themed magic shows, known as Spook Shows, were presented alongside horror films in movie theaters across the United States. These late-night spectacles combined live magic, comedy, hypnosis, and Grand Guignol theater with a horror film finale. Spook Shows became a unique form of immersive theater, captivating audiences with séance-themed performances and eerie thrills. Though their popularity faded, they influenced later midnight cult films like Rocky Horror Picture Show and inspired iconic TV hosts such as Vampira and Elvira. In “The Late Great Midnite Spook Show” Zabrecky explores this forgotten cultural phenomenon, sharing its origins, impact, and legacy through slides, film excerpts, and analysis.
THE MANIKINS: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Immersive Performance
US Premiere
Presented by Bywater Wonderland
Requires Separate Ticket, Extremely Limited Availability
Creators: Deadweight Theatre
An interactive performance for a single audience member. A psychedelic thriller where dream and reality collide. Step into the office of Dr. Ligotti, where you will navigate the hidden agendas and supernatural techniques of the enigmatic psychiatric staff. If you have ever wanted to do more than just read or watch a story, but truly enter inside it, be consumed by it, then this experience is for you. You will not know where reality ends and the play begins – and by the end it will all feel like a dream.
Runtime: Approx. 90 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost: $140
MEMORY HOLE
Screening & Live Show
Creator: Everything is Terrible
Stare deep into the soul of this decaying country with Memory Hole, the enigmatic video collective spun off from Everything is Terrible! A surreal, anti-humanity performance that unfolds in a mind-melting spectacle you’ll never forget (no matter how much you wish you could). Composed entirely of found footage, it’s an uncanny blend of art, horror, hilarity, and sadness. The experience will have you giggling in terror, all while wondering if there’s a monster lurking just behind you. Memory Hole proudly presents their latest work “Animals Are Over,” interwoven with a live performance/score, plus previously unseen clips from their 11-year archive of madness.
This piece contains depictions of violence towards animals.
Friday, April 4th, 10:20 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Palace
OPENING NIGHT 10TH ANNIVERSARY SHUDDER PARTY
Party
Presented by Shudder
Enter all who dare to an unmissable party celebrating both the start of the festival and the tenth anniversary of the existence of Shudder, the iconic horror curation and streaming service. This one-of-a-kind event will kick off with a horror-infused second line, include special guest performances, and feature many surprises from the Shudder’s extensive horror catalogue.
PHANTOM FOLLIES WITH ZABRECKY: A MIDNITE SPOOK SHOW & FILM SPECTACULAR
Live Show
Presented by The Academy of Magical Arts
Creator: Zabrecky
Step into the eerie and enchanting world of “Phantom Follies with Zabrecky,” where the supernatural meets showmanship in a thrilling, one-of-a-kind midnight experience magic performance and film screening. Zabrecky, a six-time Magic Castle award-winning magician and master of theatrical séances, brings his unique brand of Spook Show magic to the historic Prytania Uptown Theater. This spine-chilling event pairs mind-bending magic and audience interaction with William Castle’s 1960 supernatural horror classic 13 Ghosts, creating an unforgettable evening of haunted spectacle and cinematic terror.
SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK: TODAY’S HORROR AUTHORS
Panel
Presented by SAGIndie
Calling all book-loving guests of the Overlook: Join us as we commune a panel of literary luminaries from the world of horror fiction to crack open the secrets of their spine-tingling page-turners. Reader beware — you’re in for a scare!
PANELISTS
Alys Arden (Author, The Casquettee Girls, Zantanna: The Jewel of Gravesend)
Adam Cesare (Author, Clown in a Cornfield)
Grady Hendrix (Author, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls)
Alex Jennings (Author, The Ballad of Perilous Graves)
MODERATOR
Mike Miley (Author, David Lynch’s American Dreamscape)
THE SEVERANCE THEORY: WELCOME TO RESPITE
Immersive Performance & Virtual Reality
Presented by Welcome Villain, in conjunction with the University of New Orleans
Requires Separate Ticket
Creator: Odyssey Adventure Co. and Ferryman Collective
Upon visiting your family’s home after your mom’s passing, you are whisked into a forgotten childhood memory. Each interaction is as meaningful as it is fascinating when you rediscover your past and delight in the simplicities of being a child once again. However, something is not quite right — perhaps it’s the masked tension between your parents, maybe you are hearing voices that seem to be only in your mind, it could even be that there is a monster hiding in your closet. After all, respite is only temporary when you are at the whim of your own mind.
Runtime: Approx 60 minutes. Participants: Up to 4 per slot. Cost: Between $35 – $55
SHUDDER SECOND LINE PARADE
FREE EVENT
Parade
Presented by Shudder
The quintessential New Orleans art form gets spookified just in time for Shudder’s 10th Anniversary. Make your way to the anniversary party on opening night in style with your favorite streamer’s reverie strutting through the French Quarter behind a brass band playing some familiar scores, creepy characters, and you.
SPLATTERDAY NIGHT AT THE OVERLOOKFILM FEST
Party
Host and Curator: Destryur
Mix and mingle with the creatures of the night as we bring one of New Orleans’ most popular goth nights to the Toulouse Theater with Splatterday Night at Overlook Film Fest. Give us your best Robert Smith or Siouxsie Sioux and come dance the fright away at our Closing Night party. Hosted and curated by electronic artist Destryur, Splatterday Night is a Synthwave party that will keep you up at night, and a must-see for fans of Kavinsky, Carpenter Brut, Dance With The Dead, Power Glove, Perturbator, GosT, 80’s movie soundtracks, and all things synth.
SPOOKY TALES WITH COWBOY DALE
Immersive Performance
World Premiere
Requires Separate Ticket
Creator: Jason Woliner
Gather round, partners, for a chat that’ll put the giddy-up back in your get-along. This is an up-close sit-down with the cordial-est cowpoke in the West. But don’t let his creaky joints fool ya: ol’ Dale’s got stories galore, spun from the dusty trails of the frontier days… and a few of ’em might just send a shiver right on down yer spine. Yee haw!
Runtime: Approx 20 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost: $25
UNDERSIGNED
Immersive Performance
Requires Separate Ticket, Extremely Limited Availability
Creator: Yannick Trapman-O’Brien
The most popular, limited edition, impossible to get into show of Overlook 2023 is back by special arrangement for an all new audience (Remember the rules: no one who goes through this show is ever allowed to do it again!) Undersigned is a psychological thriller for an audience of one. Depending on your choices, it will last between 45-55 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. A waiver is required for participation, and boldness is recommended; you stand to gain as much as you are willing to venture.
Runtime: Approx. 45-55 minutes. Participants: 1 per slot. Cost: $90
WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS – LIVE!
Live Show
Presented by Magnolia Pictures
Host: Grady Hendrix
Are witches old ladies who live in candy houses and eat children? Are they naked maidens dancing in a circle and celebrating the moon? Are they riding broomsticks to a black mass where they’ll worship Satan, or being dragged to a gallows where they’ll be hung after false accusations? Join bestselling author Grady Hendrix to celebrate his latest book, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, by taking a wild flight into the blackest night as we investigate the world of witchcraft in books and movies and witness an army of broomstick-brandishing, curse-hurling, penis-stealing, baby-eating, world-renouncing, unkillable, unstoppable, unbeatable witches!
Book signing to follow outside of the panel space courtesy of Garden District Book Shop.