With just about two weeks left to go until this year’s Overlook Film Festival, the folks behind the spookiest celebration of the year just unveiled a massive second wave of films, events, and experiences. As the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, attendees can look forward to the best in up-and-coming horror releases — as well as some unique new additions.
The biggest new feature of this year’s festival is Side Shows, a new film section celebrating genre films that fall outside of horror “but still feel tailor-made for the world of the Overlook.” Films in this new section include Jorma Taccone’s Over Your Dead Body, The Furious, and Bob Odenkirk’s new action thriller Normal. They join an expanded traditional lineup that just added some new heavy hitters, including American Dollhouse, Mārama, The Restoration at Grayson Manor, Buffet Infinity, Capturing Bigfoot, and CRAMPS! A Period Piece.
“Over the years, as the Overlook has grown, we've been looking at ways to incorporate other genres into the program,” said Overlook’s Michael Lerman. “Obviously, the heartbeat of the festival is horror, but we wanted to showcase some films that may fall outside that description but include the same kinds of thrills and chills, the same amounts of tension and gore and artistry that you can expect from anything in the Overlook program. We truly love these movies and we think the audience will too.”
The festival has also expanded their lineup of live celebrations, beginning with bringing drag superstars The Boulet Brothers back to New Orleans to kick off their new tour, celebrating The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans. Three new immersive experiences have also been added, including Claws, The Pumpkin Pie Show Presents: One-On-Ones from Clay McLeod Chapman, and Rebozo, which fill out an extensive docket of non-film programming that takes fans out of the theater and into the wider world of horror.
FANGORIA fans are in luck as well, as our own Phil Nobile Jr. and Kimberly Leszak are getting their hands dirty to host some of Overlook’s beloved panels — they’ll be moderating U R Hell: Techno Terrors in the 21st Century and Independent Spirits: Genre Filmmaking From the Trenches, respectively.
All of this wraps up with the festival’s signature closing night party, this year themed after the Théâtre des Vampires. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire — published exactly 50 years ago to the day of the party — the closing night extravaganza will “celebrate the endless oblivion of eternal night with an evening that recreates the city's ethereal relationship with vampires in all their forms.”
The Overlook Film Festival runs from April 9-12 in New Orleans. To check out the full lineup and purchase tickets, you can head over to the festival’s website.
