Section: International Competition

THE MONSTER SQUAD

The Monster Squad is by no means a bunch of bloodthirsty legless people, lepers or madmen, but indeed a small group of children aged 5 to 15, keen on horror magazines and movies, who built their lair in a tree – nothing monstrous or terrifying here… But some cable length away, DRACULA (himself), more bestial,… Continue reading THE MONSTER SQUAD

MAXIE

Maxie, the famous teenager who made the headlines of the boulevard press in Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties and tragically died after shooting her first film, lives on in our memories as an exceptional woman with a hot-temper. Fifty years later Nick and Jan watch the legendary film of Maxie on television. The duo is… Continue reading MAXIE

PICCOLI FUOCHI

He is five years old and has a limitless imagination. Abandoned by his parents, he creates a dreamworld with fairytale friends: a tiny and cranky king, an all-knowing robot and a lovely dragon. Their foolery is as innocent as it is dangerous, until the boy falls in love with a young woman. For her he… Continue reading PICCOLI FUOCHI

STREET TRASH

A junkyard in a crumbling district of the Bronx, New York, USA: Fred and his younger brother Kevin have been living there in some kind of den made from old tires. Fred is as happy there as he would be anywhere, but Kevin is dying to rejoin “normal” society” and to live a decent life:… Continue reading STREET TRASH

AS IN HEAVEN

The story begins on the west coast of Iceland, at the end of summer 1936. A little girl named Hrefna, walks on the beach. Her family lives in a dilapidated farm and survives somehow, especially because, according to Hrefna’s grandmother, the farm and the surrounding area are cursed by a malediction from the 14th century! This… Continue reading AS IN HEAVEN

A CHINESE GHOST STORY 3

In the heart of the forests of China stands the solitary Orchid Temple, which has been a cursed place for generations. Only a few travelers, careless or lost, seek shelter there, but disappear forever. A venerable master and his disciple named Fang, a shy and clumsy young man, are on their way to the imperial… Continue reading A CHINESE GHOST STORY 3

ARMY OF DARKNESS

Ash, the moron with a chainsaw replacing his right hand, has just been sent back to the medieval era because of a spell that went wrong. Knights in armor take him prisoner and bring him to King Arthur’s castle. Once there, Ash must fight a hairy and disgusting monster, which is nevertheless an expert in… Continue reading ARMY OF DARKNESS

DOPPELGANGER by Avi Nesher

When Patrick Highsmith, a young writer at the beginning of his career, agrees to rent a room of his apartment to Holly Gooding, he is immediately attracted by the stunning beauty of this young woman. However, he also feels that something is wrong with her. Holly’s temperament is actually unstable and unpredictable: the pretty girl… Continue reading DOPPELGANGER by Avi Nesher

DR. GIGGLES

Evan Rendell, from the small town of Moorehigh, has always dreamt of being a doctor like his esteemed father, but when this respectable practitioner finds out that his beloved wife suffers from an incurable heart disease, he falls completely into madness. To save her, Evan’s father does not hesitate to carry out daring attempts of… Continue reading DR. GIGGLES

DUST DEVIL

In the Namib Desert, burning under the sun’s rays, a hellish breeze is blowing. A man is walking, and his dark silhouette rises on the horizon. He is wearing a black hat, worn-out boots, and his long, tattered coat floats like the wings of the devil. No one knows who he is or where he… Continue reading DUST DEVIL

DARK AT NOON

The story takes place a few years after the Phoney War. Felicien, a young Parisian doctor and expert in miraculous healings and other unexplainable phenomena, discovers by accident that his late father invested the family fortune in a small remote village in Portugal. Tired of his medical duties and intrigued by this mystery, he decides… Continue reading DARK AT NOON

MATINEE

In Florida during the 1960s, Gene, a 14-year-old boy, lives happily with his family and friends. These teenagers will be confronted with two events that will make them move from childhood to adulthood. The famous horror film producer, Lawrence Woolsey, arrives in town for the preview of his new feature: MANT (a tribute by J.… Continue reading MATINEE

NEMESIS

Year 2020 of our era, in a world where mercy does not exist anymore, a lot of things changed on our good old planet. The Earth is nothing but an open wound where violence is at its peak. Chaos and crime prevail. From this turmoil a new generation emerged: the cyborgs, synthetic entities that threaten… Continue reading NEMESIS

NERO

Francesca broke up with Zardo and moved in with Sergio, her new lover. But as soon as she arrives in her new house, she realizes that she forgot her anti-cellulite cream at Zardo’s house. Since this cream cannot be purchased anywhere in town, she urges that Sergio brings in back. Reluctant at first, he eventually… Continue reading NERO

STAR TIME

Henry Pinkle wants to be loved, important and to have relationships. But the fate decided differently and his only escape that comforts him is his favorite TV show: “The Robertson Family”. He breaks down and decides to kill himself when he learns that the show is going to be canceled. He records his motives on… Continue reading STAR TIME

STAY TUNED

A disciple of Satan offers to a couple in lack of thrills to enter a parallel world: the cursed universe of Hellvision, the 666th channel, which has the bad habit of literally swallowing some of its spectators. For this depressed salesman and his better half (what a surprise!), this is the perfect occasion to cheer… Continue reading STAY TUNED

TALE OF A VAMPIRE

Alex is a child of the night who lives in London. He is a regular visitor of a library in which he tirelessly consults the oldest books, and he spends his days lying on a bed in an abandoned building. Alex is a lonesome and melancholic vampire: killing humans provides him no pleasure and it… Continue reading TALE OF A VAMPIRE

THE CLUB

In a stately mansion, a few well-bred young people are celebrating. The usual speeches follow in quick succession, the champagne corks pop and people politely wait their turn at the toilets. There is nothing wrong with that. Until some unexpected and inexplicable events occur. A young guest (of whom the partygoers are unaware that he… Continue reading THE CLUB

FRAUDS

Jonathan and Beth (Hugo Weaving and Josephine Byrnes), a happily married couple, lead a pleasant middle-class life despite some recent monetary woes. One evening, Beth returns home alone, forgetting that Jonathan had promised her an evening at the opera, and catches a real burglar. With more luck than sense, she manages to put the miscreant… Continue reading FRAUDS

FULL MOON OVER BELGRADE

1991, the Yugoslavian civil war heats up. In Belgrade, many young people would do anything to escape military service. Aleksa, a young journalist, is one of them. When two of his friends have already returned in body bags, Aleksa switches to the night shift to escape the army recruiters. When they get too close on… Continue reading FULL MOON OVER BELGRADE

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

After a spectacular accident in a hospital, serial killer Karl Hochman (Ted Marcoux) acquires almost endless power. Under a scanner, his deranged mind is transformed into a computer virus. He ends up in the central computer, which is connected to the largest data network in the United States. Anything electronic—from ordinary household appliances to complex… Continue reading GHOST IN THE MACHINE

JACK BE NIMBLE

Jack (Alexis Arquette) and Dora (Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) are abandoned by their parents as children. Dora ends up with a childless suburban couple, while Jack ends up with a sadistic farming family. As he grows up, he endures the daily humiliations and torments of the farmer, his insane wife and their four sinister daughters. As soon… Continue reading JACK BE NIMBLE

JIANG-HU: BETWEEN LOVE & GLORY

Somewhere deep in the mythical mists of old China, a feudal underworld governed by cold steel and flexible muscle reigns: Jiang-Hu, the Community of the Sword. The main “players” are Zi-yang, leader of the legendary Wu Dang mountain clan, and Ji Wushuang, a Siamese twin monster who holds sway over the rival Mo clan. Zi-yang… Continue reading JIANG-HU: BETWEEN LOVE & GLORY

MAN’S BEST FRIEND

One takes a chunk of Jaws, adds a slice of Terminator, and sprinkles a few bits of Rin Tin Tin on top. The proud result: Man’s Best Friend. And it goes like this: after years of genetic engineering, our sadistic friends at the FBI have bred the ultimate pit bull: Max. He bites off heads,… Continue reading MAN’S BEST FRIEND

PREMONITION

In this Swedish chiller, we share in the shocking experiences, during nine fatal days in December, of six final-year secondary school students. Protagonist is Mikaela, and she is no ordinary girl. She is in love with her literature teacher and writes him erotic essays teeming with hints that would make even Quentin Crisp’s ears go… Continue reading PREMONITION

SILENT TONGUE

When Talbot Roe’s (River Phoenix) half-Indian wife Awbonnie (Sheila Tousey) dies in childbirth, he goes mad with grief and holds vigil over her body in the funeral tree. Prescott Roe (Richard Harris), his father, goes in search of Eamon MacCree (Alan Bates), boss of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Show, a travelling circus of freaks, clowns,… Continue reading SILENT TONGUE

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

Special Agent Stephen Broderick (Scott Glenn) is a living legend in the FBI because of his formidable ability to solve somewhat difficult-to-solve crimes. His bosses send him to Salt Lake City, in the desert state of Utah, to investigate an exceptionally brutal murder of two children. Broderick, however, already has an inkling of what’s going… Continue reading THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

WHEN PIGS FLY

A sinister industrial town is home to the last remnants of a dying Irish American community. Two ghosts, Lilly, and Ruthie, haunt a dilapidated shack behind a dingy pub, The Rose of Erin. Supernaturally, they are linked to a rocking chair in which they both died prematurely. Lilly (Marianne Faithfull) was the wife of Frank… Continue reading WHEN PIGS FLY

YOUNGER AND YOUNGER

Jonathan Younger (Donald Sutherland) is the owner of a department store where people can deposit things or just lock themselves away in a room. This idealistic dreamer, who behaves like an exiled European aristocrat, is a master of illusions and of seducing women. But it is his neglected wife Penny (Lolita Davidovich) who diligently runs… Continue reading YOUNGER AND YOUNGER

RADIOACTIVE DREAMS

Locked up by themselves in a fallout shelter, two four-year-olds escape the disaster of World War III (a thermo-bacterio-nuclear war, that is). For a while, their universe will only consist of documents stored in the shelter: a collection of detective movies and music from the ’40s. Living this way for fifteen years leaves marks: they wear… Continue reading RADIOACTIVE DREAMS

THE KINDRED

John’s mother is really, really not okay: after being the victim of a car crash, she only wakes up from her coma to mumble a seemingly incredible confession: he might indeed have a brother named Anthony! Only child for almost 35 years, John is confused. But when his mother asks him in a roundabout way… Continue reading THE KINDRED

SOMETHING ELSE

Buffalo Bull is an unhappy child: he cannot handle the sun nor the sight of a cross, and he has a hard time repressing his desire for biting, especially when the full moon comes. The two emerging canines will definitely not help him fit in, and through his tragic destiny he will only dream of… Continue reading SOMETHING ELSE

THE SEVEN VAMPIRES

A scientist turned into a vampire is terrorizing the “girls” of a trendy nightclub… “As sete vampiras” is the first South-American movie that the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival will screen. If such numerous and cosmopolite fantastic movies are being screened to a Brazilian public fond of that genre Brazil, unlike other South American nations,… Continue reading THE SEVEN VAMPIRES

BIGGLES: ADVENTURES IN TIME

Jim could be a normal man. That is actually what he is convinced of: a successful professional life, a wonderful girlfriend, everything that makes life heaven on earth and that we never know we will reach when we grow up. But the day a noble man played by Peter Cushing comes to his house to… Continue reading BIGGLES: ADVENTURES IN TIME

VAMP

Keith and A.J. are willing to do anything instead of sitting and waiting in their bedrooms—even getting admitted as members of a really mysterious and really old school student club. But first, they need to be “initiated” and A.J. has the “greatest idea ever” just before the test gets too “boring”: they are going to… Continue reading VAMP

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS

Aliens are running after each other in poorly-lit corridor. One of them gets stuck but manages to send out some genetic junk into the atmosphere… the poisoned gift is left stranded in the meadow of a tiny village in the USA: Sonority Row. It’s the middle of the Beach Boys period with hair gel and… Continue reading NIGHT OF THE CREEPS

DE WISSELWACHTER

Somewhere outside of time, in a desert land. A railway line and a tiny train station. Just like Robinson on his island, the pointsman is spending his time hunting down rats. One day, on the brink of winter, a woman gets off the train here by mistake. The train leaves and is only coming back… Continue reading DE WISSELWACHTER

STARSHIP

2084: to Earth, planet Ordessa is nothing but a mine, one of the many factories needed for its survival. It does not matter if its people are treated like slaves: all that matters is productivity! Jowitt, a shameless explorer, has understood that well: he took over the planet with the help of his droid police… Continue reading STARSHIP

JOEY

Who would not be traumatized by the death of their father as a child? To young Joey this reality sounds like injustice and represents a remote, malefic world that he can only escape through dreaming. His bedroom is filled with toys, stuffed animals, robots and small cars that turn the room into a fantastic universe… Continue reading JOEY

THE VINDICATOR

The works of Carl Lehman, a young and brilliant scientist, are overshadowing the merits of Alex Whyte, CEO of the “Aerospace Research Corporation”. Moreover, Carl refuses to work with his boss. That is something that Alex does not tolerate: combining the useful with the pleasant, he forces Carl into a deadly accident only to use… Continue reading THE VINDICATOR

THE HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS

Kenneth Magee, a young and ambitious best-selling author, bets with his editor that he can write a novel in 24 hours for the modest sum of $20,000. In order to benefit from isolating condition favorable to his inspiration, the writer retires to an ancestral home in Wales, which has been uninhabited for more than 40… Continue reading THE HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS

LA SEPTIÈME DIMENSION

Henri is a young and laborious pharmaceutical lab assistant and has a personal and very fanciful chemistry: he is in love with Hélène, a celebrity from the 50s who mysteriously disappeared more than 30 years ago… One evening of thunderstorm, destiny knocks on his door: it is Louis, Hélène’s ex-boyfriend. Together, they look for her… Continue reading LA SEPTIÈME DIMENSION

CONTAGION

Mark Clifton, an ambitious sales executive, witnesses an aggression along a deserted road: a young woman hitchhiker is dragged by three shadows towards the country. He gets out of his car and tries to intervene, but the aggressors brutally tackle him, and things get worse: Mark kills two of the aggressors, the young lady also… Continue reading CONTAGION

NEAR DARK

Caleb, a young farmer, falls in love with a strange girl, Mae, who loves going on hikes at night. She introduces Caleb to her “family”, some young lunatic folks who wonder at night, but hibernate during the day. Caleb does not take too much time to realise that her “family” is composed of vampires only.… Continue reading NEAR DARK

GHOST CHASE

Warren is a movie director. His bosom buddy, Fred, is specialised in special effects. Together, they should have it all tied up in Hollywood! But their horror movies are all flops, and they don’t even manage to earn enough money for their last project. At this point, only some serious help from destiny can save… Continue reading GHOST CHASE

RETRIBUTION by Guy Magar

Being a looser, like George Miller is, in a country where individuals are condemned to success can only lead to a deadly end. George Miller has decided to speed things up and suicides himself… But he’s stuck with bad luck and his way out is a failure: he ends up with a swollen face and… Continue reading RETRIBUTION by Guy Magar

AMERICAN GOTHIC

Cynthia and her friends, although not clerks, instantly noticed that the middle-aged couple receiving them is very peculiar: their house seems straight from the 20s (no power, no phone), “Pa” only talks in a religious way, and “Ma” treats them as prepubescent children. At first, the atmosphere was great (they were offered some delicious traditional… Continue reading AMERICAN GOTHIC

THE MEDIUM

A tragedy of jealousy: in the late nineteenth century, a doctor, his wife and her lover are savagely killed by the doctor’s hunchbacked secretary. Once his desperate act is accomplished, he suicides himself, leaving only one survivor behind – Orwitz, the couple’s child. Forty years later, Orwitz, diabetic like his father, is living his last… Continue reading THE MEDIUM

OPERATION DEAD END

In a remote house on a deserted island, three people – two men and a woman – participate as volunteers in a 70-day scientific experiment. They know that the air on the island is infected and that it could kill them. They are watched through video cameras and microphones permanently. The light and temperature in… Continue reading OPERATION DEAD END

MAN FACING SOUTHEAST

One day, the man facing southeast somehow ends up from somewhere in a psychiatric hospital. He says that his name is RANTES and that he comes from another planet. Doctor Denis, chief of the psychiatric unit, is used to seeing lots of aliens, spirits and ghosts haunting the corridors of the clinic. At first, he… Continue reading MAN FACING SOUTHEAST

CREEPSHOW 2

“Stephen KING’s macabre humour handed on a silver plate by ROMERO… We were waiting in delight that our kind little scamp ventures to reopen CREEPSHOW’s script… and we are not disappointed! There are three stories this time: the revenge of an Indian chief statue… better than the real thing; the trap set for some swimmers… Continue reading CREEPSHOW 2

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM

Katherine White is of interest for the journalist Beth Chandler for two reasons: she killed about twenty people of her own and is from OLDFIELD, a dark little village of the American countryside, which is famous for its incredibly high number of bloody murderers. This is a gold mine for Katherine who, during her investigation,… Continue reading FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM

BRAIN DAMAGE

Brian and Elmer are neighbours. Brian is 20 years old and is an average boy. Elmer, however, who lives in the same building and in the sink of an old couple, is a vaguely reptilian creature of about 1,000 years old, whose origins must come from South America, somewhere from the Reconquista. As centuries went… Continue reading BRAIN DAMAGE

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR

Twelve-year-old David falls in the woods and faints… When he wakes up, it is dark. His parents must be worried, he hurries up home and… finds out that his parents do not live there (anymore, yet?). Chaos! Police “take him in” and discover that it has actually been a while since his parents stopped worrying… Continue reading FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR

IN THE AFTERMATH

Earth might well always follow the same orbit, but it still fell into despair. Only some humans, whose face is permanently covered with a gas mask, survived. A tiny angel, with a woman-like body, is scratching her head: she was sent on Earth to save it. With her lack of experience, she is wondering if… Continue reading IN THE AFTERMATH

DISTANT LIGHTS

“Young Giuliano lost his mother. Yet he says that he saw her in a park near the house he is living in with his father and maternal grandmother. And his mother effectively comes back; at first, in her own body, but then with someone else’s face. Soon, other “dead people” will tend to reappear too,… Continue reading DISTANT LIGHTS