by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

After attending many wonderful film festivals virtually over the pandemic, I am very much looking forward to traveling to my first festival. While Brooklyn Horror Fest is only a few hours ride from Philadelphia, it is a great opportunity to check out an area of New York I am less familiar with and get a chance to check out some of the incredible films the festival is offering this year. The festival has a huge selection of new horror features as well as different curated shorts blocks and several different repertory screenings. And if you are still interested in checking out what is being offered, there are still tickets on sale and they have added additional showings of several of their offerings. To find out more details about what is being offered this year, check out the Brooklyn Horror Fest website. My schedule will be jam packed with films over the coming days and I am excited to highlight some of my most anticipated features.

Huesera (dir. Michelle Garza Cervera)

Huesera is a Spanish language film that delves into the scariness of impending motherhood. The movie follows a young woman who is excited to finally start a family with her husband. The pregnancy initially seems like good news but as the baby grows inside of her doubt and dread overtake the woman, it puts a dark cloud over the happy couple. The simple concept certainly draws on classic horror films revolving around monstrous motherhood, but this also has the extra layer of adding Hispanic folklore. Throw in a queer romance on top of that and you have a horror combination that I am fully on board with. There has been a lot of great Hispanic/Latinx horror coming out this year and it makes me extra excited to check out this movie.

Sick of Myself (dir. Kristoffer Borgli)

Next we travel to Scandinavia for a taste of body horror, my favorite subgenre! This is another area of the world that has been killing it with horror this year from Hatching, to The Innocents, to Speak No Evil; Scandinavian horror has been chilling and bleak. A young woman becomes jealous of her boyfriend's increasing fame, and in order to steal back the spotlight, she devises some plans to gain sympathy. The social media/influencer fame phenomena has become so great that it is seeping into much of our mainstream media, and there have been several horror films in recent years that have taken on the influencer (including another film premiering at the fest). It is ripe territory and the added relationship dynamic of this one makes me excited to see where it goes.

Give Me an A (dirs. Hannah Alline, Avital Ash, Bonnie Discepolo)

I am sure I have stated this sentiment before, but I love a good horror anthology. Especially one that is directed and written by women. Give Me an A is the horror filmmaker's response to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade here in the United States. With real world horrors recently feeling scarier than anything a film can dream up, this is another area that is great to have represented on film. It is a scary time to be a person with a uterus in the U.S., so I am very much looking forward to how these creatives are responding to and dealing with their emotions around recent legislation.

Mother, May I? (dir. Laurence Vannicelli)

Kyle Gallner is having a great year, having appeared in several great genre films; Dinner in America, Smile, and an appearance in the new Scream. So obviously I was excited to see that another one of his films will be showing at Brooklyn Horror Fest. This psychological thriller focuses on a young couple; Emmett and Anya. After the death of her mother, Anya begins to take on the personality of her recently deceased matriarch. The couple goes into therapy to work through this new issue, but this problem might take more than couples counseling to solve. Motherhood, relationship drama, and monstrous femininity are all themes of horror I love so this should be an interesting one to dive into.

The festival also has several shorts blocks showcasing at the festival, and the shorts are often some of the most memorable parts of my festival experiences. Currently I am planning on seeing the “Nightmare Fuel” block, which will showcase some of the more scary and bone-chilling shorts the fest has to offer. I will also be seeing the “Slayed” block, which will feature several LGBTQ horror shorts. If a festival has a queer horror block then I will almost always check it out. But there are several other blocks to check out if you want to see what other horror shorts Brooklyn Horror has to offer.

There will also be several late night repertory screenings, including several from Italian horror favorite, Lucio Fulci. The New York Ripper, Zombie, and City of the Living Dead are just some of the classic Fulci films that fans can see this year. So make sure to see what else is available. A non Fulci I will be checking out, is Baise Moi, a French rape revenge film I have been struggling to find for some time now. Gems like this are an essential part of the horror festival and while I am excited for all the new films premiering, I am also thrilled to get a chance to see this.

Again, make sure to check out the Brooklyn Horror Fest website and make sure to follow them on social media for updates on additional screenings, tickets available, and more! I will report back soon on all the exciting films I get to see this year.