Beyond Fest to Feature Screenings of Halloween Kills, Titane, and More

Few film festivals manage to bring together as impressive of a slate of genre films as the Los Angeles-based Beyond Fest, which announced its exciting roster of screenings it has planned for this year’s festivities. While this year’s festival will feature not only screenings of highly anticipated films like Halloween Kills, Titane, and The Black Phone, it will also honor a number of classics, like Possession, Collateral, and A Clockwork Orange. Additionally, the event will feature multiple in-person special guests and Q&As, allowing audiences to gain insight into iconic films. Check out the collection of films below and head to Beyond Fest’s official site to grab tickets, which runs from September 29th through October 11th.

Per press release, “With a diverse slate celebrating the most transgressive cinema, Beyond Fest is proud to open with the West Coast Premiere of Julia Ducornau’s Palme d’Or Winner Titane at the historic Hollywood Legion Theater with the director in attendance. This screening also represents two world-firsts with Titane playing in-theater for the first time on a never-before-seen 35mm print, while a drive-in screening simultaneously takes place outside.

“Horror heroes Blumhouse return to Beyond Fest with two of the year’s most-anticipated features: Halloween Kills and The Black Phone. Director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum will join in-person for the U.S. Premiere of Halloween Kills and participate in a post-screening Q&A that will be live-streamed globally as the culmination of the super-producers’ annual Blumfest. The latest shocker from power duo Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, The Black Phone, delivers the scares in their adaptation of Joe Hill’s beloved ghost story. Director Scott Derrickson will be attending the films’ West Coast Premiere.

“Following its electrifying Cannes debut, jaw-drop cinema Lamb, will receive its West Coast Premiere with director Valdimar Jóhannsson and star Noomi Rapace joining in person, and agent provocateur Gaspar Noé is once-again championed with the West Coast bow of his devastating Vortex featuring an astonishing performance from the maestro, Dario Argento. Lucile Hadžihalilović promises to shake the audience to its core with the U.S. Premiere of her hallucinatory and mesmerizing Earwig, and acclaimed director Bernard Rose will be in attendance with his cast and crew for the world premiere of his latest film, Travelling Light. We descend into the frighteningly brilliant world of V/H/S with the West Coast Premiere of the brand new V/H/S/94 with talent in attendance, and an incredibly rare 35mm screening of the franchise’s original shockfest, V/H/S.

“Icons of Cinema will be honored via a series of screenings over the course of the festival with the first being a celebration of four-time Academy Award® nominee Michael Mann with screenings of Collateral and the 40th anniversary of Thief with the director in attendance. VFX master Phil Tippett is joining us for a career-spanning Q&A between the West Coast debut of his highly-anticipated, magnum opus Mad God and his sci-fi-chef’s-kiss, Starship Troopers. See the world’s greatest Droog, Malcolm McDowell in the 4K restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and the legendary Udo Kier will discuss one of his most audacious roles with the theatrical World Premiere of the newly restored Blood for Dracula. For the duration of the festival, the Aero Theatre will be rebranded as the ‘MUBI Theatre’ in keeping with the streamers’ mission to help cinema-lovers discover and watch beautiful, interesting, incredible films.

“Celebrating repertory classics from the beloved to the newly discovered with a series of screenings, Beyond Fest will be home to the West Coast Premiere of the new 4K Restoration of Andrzej Żuławski seminal work, Possession, the World Premiere of the newly discovered, never-finished until now(!) ’80s Kung-fu-sploitation New York Ninja from the brilliant minds at Vinegar Syndrome with cast members Leon Isaac, Cynthia Rothrock, and original cast member Adrienne Meltzer in attendance, and the World Premiere of the new 4K Restoration of ‘Alison’s Birthday’ as part of a folk horror double-bill, and a very special screening of 2020’s cult sensation The Empty Man with the director David Prior on-stage for an extended Q&A.

“As a give-back to the film community of Los Angeles, all Beyond Fest programming at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre will be 100% free to all guests courtesy of our friends at Shudder. Rebranded as the ‘Shudder Theatre,’ we will be screening a series of hotly anticipated titles spanning the World Premieres of Aharon Keshales tough-as-nails neo-noir South of Heaven starring Jason Sudekis and Evangeline Lilly and Sam Walker’s eye-popping midnight sci-fi chiller The Seed, to the highly anticipated West Coast Premieres of SXSW sensation The Feast, Ruth Paxton’s bone-chilling A Banquet, Dasha Nekrasova’s hallucinatory Berlin winner The Scary of Sixty-First (on brand-new 35mm with the director in attendance), extreme horror The Sadness, Kier-La Janisse’s definitive folk-horror doc Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, the Midnight Madness breakout Saloum, in addition to three shorts blocks celebrating up-and-coming filmmakers.

“Celebrating a commitment to the most transgressive cinema we have curated the ultimate late night sidebar with IFC Midnight to commemorate their 10-year anniversary. Reflecting their endlessly provocative slate, six free screenings, courtesy of IFC Midnight, will begin at the stroke of midnight: the brand-new restoration of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, The Babadook, Kill List, Maniac, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Berberian Sound Studio.

“Another significant 20-year anniversary is that of the world’s leading genre website, Bloody Digusting, who have joined us to program a day dedicated to three of the most important films in their celebrated history hosted by Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast. Opening the day is the battle between the king of the monsters, Freddy vs. Jason with writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift in-person, genre superheroes Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett will be on hand to discuss You’re Next after a rare 35mm screening, and closing out the event will be Fede Álvarez with world’s first theatrical screening of his uncut Evil Dead in all its glory.

“In the digital space, Beyond Fest is presenting with Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Television the virtual panel ‘Women In Horror: The Female Perspective.’ Featuring an all-female roster of filmmakers including Gigi Saul Guerrero (Writer/Director, Bingo Hell), Axelle Carolyn (Writer/Director, The Manor), Maritte Lee Go (Director, Black as Night), Marcella Ochoa (Writer, Madres), and Lisa Bruce (Blumhouse Television), ‘Women In Horror’ delves deep into the process, challenges, and cause for celebration experienced by female genre filmmakers. The panel will be available to watch for free online from 1st October on beyondfest.com and americancinematheque.com.

“Despite all of the adversity of the last 18 months, we’re incredibly thankful to have built a program that is as diverse and progressive as anything we’ve accomplished in our past nine years,” Beyond Fest Head of Programming, Evrim Ersoy shared in a statement. “Recognizing this adversity, the generous support of filmmakers, studios, distributors, and our partners has also given us the opportunity to make over half of the program free to the film community of Los Angeles. It’s so good to be back in theaters where we belong.”  

“As an institution that values and champions the communal theatrical experience above all, it’s a joy to bring Beyond Fest back to our theaters,” American Cinematheque Creative Director, Grant Moninger added. “With the Aero Theatre, the Los Feliz 3, and our partnership with the Hollywood Legion Theater, film lovers across LA can experience Beyond Fest’s incredible immersion of cinema together and on the big screen.” 

Tickets for Beyond Fest go on sale on Friday, September 17th at beyondfest.com.

Are you looking forward to the festival? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!