By KEVIN HOOVER
The cat’s out of the bag! SALEM HORROR FEST has announced plans for the upcoming ninth outing of their event in Witch City, and this year’s rendition is the cat’s meow. Thursday, April 30th—Sunday, May 3rd, film buffs will have the opportunity to indulge in various activities spread across nine different locales around Salem, MA, which is but the first of many nods to a feline motif capped off with the tagline “Scratch the Surface.”
Central to the event is a veneration of the life and work of Mick Garris, who’ll host a screening of his early-‘90s Stephen King collaboration, Sleepwalkers, before sitting for a Q&A with Rue Morgue’s own Andrea Subissati. Victoria Price, the daughter of film legend Vincent Price, will deliver the keynote address, and genre mainstays Michael Berryman and Linnea Quigley pull together the guest roster and pitch in with ventures of their own.
Programming includes:
- Nine repertory films, including Sleepwalkers, which is playing opening night, Thursday, April 30th
- Podcast Girl, That’s Scary! will be discussing 1982’s Cat People
- Nine feature-length official selections and over 40 short-film official selections, from filmmakers across the globe
- Book talk with various authors and a screenwriting discussion featuring Garris and Clay McLeod Chapman (Wake Up and Open Your Eyes)
- New collaboration with The House of the Seven Gables on Sunday afternoon with Victoria Price, followed by dinner and a screening of a documentary on her father’s film legacy
- Listening party with Michael Berryman and raffle tickets to win a tarot reading with Linnea Quigley
- Continued collaboration with the George A. Romero Foundation, which provides mentorships to up-and-coming filmmakers
SALEM HORROR FEST Co-directors Leslie Adams and Brody Bellamy. Photography courtesy of Chris Diani.
Overseeing the festivities are Co-directors Leslie Adams and Brody Bellamy, Founder and Artistic Director Kay Lynch, Submissions Coordinator Steve Kleinedler and Production Manager Luisa Cornish.
“We’re proud of our work on SHF 8 last year, which laid the groundwork for making our work this year more streamlined. The programming is more expansive this year; we’re incorporating live theatre pieces, we’ve expanded the talk and lecture series and we’re opening up new venues and horizons,” says the team. “We’re focusing on a craft and filmmaking as a whole by emphasizing education and process. We’ve scratched the surface of what Salem has to offer, digging in deep to provide festivalgoers with new events, new venues and new perspectives.”
Artwork designed by David Dembowski.
