by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

Located in one of the central spooky locations of the United States, Salem Horror Fest is a unique festival that is always home to films you will not see showcased in other film festivals. Salem Horror Fest is a celebration of diverse voices and innovative filmmaking within a genre that best reflects our cultural demons.

Founded in 2016 as a response to the election by the incredible Kay Lynch, an outspoken leader in horror who focuses on making the fest safe and inclusive for all who attend. You can feel those political and social themes in all of the movies they decide to showcase. The fest has moved from October to April, giving horror fans a little taste of Halloween in the spring, and make it easier to not compete with seasonal crowds in Slame. This year, it ran from April 20th-30th and had plenty of great events and guests on top of their unique movie programming.

Here are 5 movies to look out for from this year’s lineup:

HeBGB TV (dir. Eric Griffin, Adam Lenhart, Jake Mcclellan)

If you love a nostalgic flick that tries to emulate the experience of 90s channel surfing, then HeBGB TV might be right for you. This is a horror anthology that centers around an evil cable box and as it flips through the channels you see an array of stories, horrors, and comedy.  If you remember the Nickelodeon shows like Kablam!, or All That, you will definitely understand the tone they are going for.  Jake Mcclellan gives several great performances throughout the movie and has the inappropriate TV show persona of a modern day Crypt Keeper. This was the perfect thing to put on first thing in the morning, and even has that Saturday morning cartoon feel. It is unapologetically silly, goopy, and queer. It mixes longer an overarching story with shorts, and fake commercials that harken back to QVC, sex phone operators, and other infomercials. There are several great musical vignettes and the entire tone of the movie is just so much fun. You will want to live in HeBGB TV. 

Guys at Parties Like It (dir. Colton David Coate, Micah Coate)

Toxic masculinity, fraternity culture, and misogyny are all on the chopping block in Guys at Parties Like It.  A party girl heads to a fraternity party in the hopes of getting wasted and hooking up with a cute guy. Things take a turn when she becomes the target of one of the pledges who hopes to get her drunk and lose his “v card” so he can become a full fledged member of the fraternity. This takes awhile to get where it is going but once it does this is full of silly haphazard deaths that are fun to watch. And it amps up the violence for its brutal finale.  It does not necessarily have a new or unique story to tell about college rape culture and those who uphold it, but it does make its themes very clear to viewers. It also makes it clear that anyone who contributes to this culture is part of the problem, no matter how innocent they seem to be. Monica Garcia Bradley gives a memorable central performance as Mary, who has a Jenny Slate in Parks & Recreation feel to her character. Slasher vibes and plenty of dead frat guys await you if you check out Guys at Parties Like It . 

Bury the Bride (dir. Spider One)

Bury the Bride begs the question “how well do you really know the person you love?” June (Scout Taylor-Compton) is about to be married and decides to get away for a bachelorette weekend with her best friends. Once they arrive, it becomes clear that her wedding party has some reservations about her soon to be husband. This is especially true of her protective older sister Sadie (Krsy Fox) who has never met June’s fiance. To everyone’s surprise, June’s fiancé David (Dylan Rourke) crashes their party with his group of friends and it soon becomes clear that David has much more sinister intentions than any of them had thought. One of the strongest aspects of this movie is the female comradery. While they do fall into some typical horror archetypes, the group of actors do feel like friends and siblings. It does feel stretched out a little too much just to make it a full length movie. Krys Fox gives a great performance as the concerned sister and it is nice to see Scout Taylor-Compton return to horror after playing Laurie Strode in the Rob Zombie Halloween movies. While the movie meanders a little bit, it all culminates in a very fun ending for its protagonists. 

The Ones You Didn’t Burn (dir. Elise Finnerty)

Generational curses and confronting the harms our families have done is a good, and important premise for a movie and that is exactly what The Ones You Didn’t Burn is all about. If the name does not tip you off, this all centers around the misdeeds done to women during the witch trials. It follows Nathan and Mirra (Nathan Wallace and Jenna Rose Sander), whose estranged father has passed away. They decide to visit his farm and clean up the property in the hopes of selling it. There, they meet two sisters who say they have been working for Nathan and Mirra’s father for some time. As they spend more time on the property Mirra grows close to the sisters and the land while Nathan becomes distrustful of them while he also confronts his inner demons and addictions. This is a great premise and confronting difficult history is important so it is great to see it represented in film. However, it would have been nice if there was a little more meat on the bones of this story. The way they showcase the feminine versus masculine reactions to history are an interesting element, but overall, the characters fell a little flat. This made it difficult to buy-in to their story or struggle, but it is a gorgeous looking movie with great cinematography and a beautiful location.

Follow Her (dir. Sylvia Caminer) 

At times Follow Her felt a little silly and forced, but in the end this was an interesting take on influencer culture and takes some twists and turns I did not see coming. Jess Peters (Dani Barker) is an aspiring actress who makes a living answering classified ads and recording them for her live stream. She finds an interesting ad that offers to pay her a decent amount of money. So she ignores some of the red flags and goes to a remote farmhouse with Tom Brady (Luke Cook). As they spend time together it becomes clear that Tom has something sinister in mind and the two become trapped in a cat and mouse game of survival. This movie certainly has layers and most things are not as they seem. It would be pretty hard to see where this movie ultimately ends, which is not always an easy feat in this day and age. The movie hinges on the central performances of Barker and Cook who have great chemistry. It is scary, sexy, and overall a fun time. While it does share similar beats as movies like Creep or more recently Fresh, it does manage to find its own tone and a different kind of story to tell. This is a solid psychological thriller with interesting performances, and its own unique spin. 

From psychological thrillers, to witchy curses, and 90s nostalgia, there are plenty of offerings for any horror fan at this year’s Salem Horror Fest. Supporting indie filmmakers like those represented at Salem Horror is so important to strengthening the horror community in general. There are more diverse voices represented here than in any sort of awards show and it is one of the reasons why this genre is so essential to exploring societal issues. If you are unable to attend this year make sure to follow their social and be on the lookout for these movies and filmmakers to support the amazing work they are doing.