By DEIRDRE CRIMMINS
The OVERLOOK FILM FESTIVAL again lurches to life in New Orleans next month. Taking place from April 3 through 6, the festival has grown over the years and now features an impressive feature film lineup, shorts program, and immersive experiences over a tight weekend schedule. This year’s highlights include a guest-curated track from filmmaker and musician Flying Lotus, who will personally present an eclectic selection, featuring Death Becomes Her, The Descent, Lost Highway, and Lotus’ film, Ash.
Highly anticipated films abound in addition to repertoire gems. Clown in a Cornfield from director Eli Craig might be horror’s answer to Snakes on a Plain, sporting a literally representative title. Alexandre O. Philippe’s latest doc, Chain Reactions, looks at The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with an impressive lineup of horror royalty discussing the impact of the film on their lives. And speaking of horror royalty, David Cronenberg’s new body horror The Shrouds will play as well. Director Christopher Landon (best known for his two Happy Death Day films) kicks off the fest with his latest thriller, Drop.
OVERLOOK is also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking horror streaming platform Shudder. (It’s difficult to imagine a world without Shudder bringing classic and contemporary horror to our homes 24/7, but this event is sure to remind all us gorehounds how good we have it with the streamer in our lives.)
Full Feature Lineup
Opening Night Film:
DROP (United States, 2025)
Director: Christopher Landon
Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson
On her first date in years, a widowed mother arrives at an upscale restaurant, where she meets her handsome suitor. However, their chemistry curdles when she is terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.
40 ACRES (United States, 2024)
Director: R.T. Thorne
Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O’Connor, Leenah Robinson
Danielle Deadwyler anchors this heart-pounding post-apocalyptic genre-blender as Hailey Freeman, a ferocious matriarch and former soldier, hellbent on protecting her family and their farm from a band of marauding cannibals in a world ravaged by plague and famine. Thriving in survival mode, the Freemans must draw blood to secure their future and preserve the legacy of their past.
ABRAHAM’s BOYS (United States, 2025)
Director: Natasha Kermani
Cast: Titus Welliver, Jocelin Donahue, Judah Mackey, Aurora Perrineau, Brady Hepner
Following the events of Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing moves his sons, Max and Rudy, to the U.S. to escape their past. It does not work. Based on the spine-tingling story by Joe Hill, fest alum Natasha Kermani (Lucky) directs this terrifying continuation of a classic tale.
CHAIN REACTIONS (United States, 2024)
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Featuring Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, Karyn Kusama
For 50 years, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has terrified audiences. In this documentary, analyzing its profound influence, director Alexandre O. Philippe (78/52, Overlook ’17) dives into the memories of five iconic artists whose lives were forever altered by seeing it.
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (United States, 2025)
Director: Eli Craig
Cast: Katie Douglas, Carson MacCormac, Aaron Abrams, Cassandra Potenza, Verity Marks, Vincent Muller, Will Sasso, Kevin Durand, Ayo Solanke, Alexandre Martin Deakin
The residents of Kettle Springs can’t catch a break. Nothing has been the same since the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down, and now, a mysterious, grinning figure has emerged from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens – one bloody victim at a time. In Eli Craig’s (Tucker & Dale vs Evil) newest outing, the real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play.
DEAD LOVER (Canada, 2025)
Director: Grace Glowicki
Cast: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Leah Doz, Lowen Morrow
True eternal love conquers all, including a gravedigger’s stench, a tragic shipwreck, and even death! With only a severed finger as a remembrance, a heartbroken romantic embarks on a madcap mission to reanimate the love of her life. Co-written, directed, and starring Grace Glowicki, this peculiar tale is grotesque, delightful, raunchy and surreal.
GOOD BOY (United States, 2024)
Director: Ben Leonberg
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Hunter Goetz, Max
Indy is a good boy. A faithful dog, he is always by his human Todd’s side. When Todd seeks solace in an empty family home in the countryside, Indy finds a strange, malevolent presence lurking in the shadows – an evil only he can sense. Shot entirely from Indy’s perspective, Ben Leonberg’s first feature balances bark with bite.
HALLOW ROAD (United Kingdom, 2025)
Director: Babak Anvari
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Paul Tylak, Stephen Jones, Megan McDonnell
Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys shine as distraught parents in a race against time as they speed through the night to reach their daughter after a distressing phone call. Lauded director Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow, Wounds) lends his signature tension to this disturbing pulse-pounder.
ICK (United States, 2023)
Director: Joseph Kahn
Cast: Mena Suvari, Brandon Routh, Malina Pauli Weissman, Mariann Gavelo, Cory Hart
Hasbeen science teacher Hank (Brandon Routh) is the only one suspicious of the “ick,” a pervasive gooey growth that has permeated his town. Teaming up with student Grace, Hank must fight to stop this parasitic alien. Laced with 2000s emo and pop-punk hits, Joseph Kahn (Bodied) brings frenetic energy to this sci-fi horror satire.
IT ENDS (United States, 2024)
Director: Alexander Ullom
Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
Four recent college grads out for an innocent late-night drive find themselves trapped in a neverending hellscape where they are haunted by mysterious forces.
MONSTER ISLAND (Orang Ikan – Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, United Kingdom, 2024)
Director: Mike Wiluan
Cast: Dean Fujioka, Callum Woodhouse, Alan Maxson
During World War II, a Japanese soldier and a British POW find themselves washed ashore on a dangerous deserted island. As these sworn enemies soon discover, they are not alone.
REDUX REDUX (United States, 2025)
Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Cast: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings, Grace Van Dien, Taylor Misiak, Dendrie Taylor
Revenge is hard. Doing it again and again is harder. Emmy-nominated brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus (American Vandal, Cobra Kai) present a gritty sci-fi thriller that follows a mother on a warpath through parallel universes in a desperate attempt to quench her thirst for vengeance.
THE SHROUDS (France, Canada, 2024)
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt
All hail! The reigning king of body horror returns with another tale of corruption, greed, conspiracy and technology. Vincent Cassel stars as a grieving widower who develops a device that allows the bereaved to connect with their deceased loved ones in David Cronenberg’s most personal film to date.
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEENTOWN (United States, 2024)
Directors: Brett Whitcomb, Bradford Thomason
Cast: Chris Cannard, Colleen Ohler, Saydra Manning, Darrin Scholl, Holcombe Waller
What does it mean to live in a place known for Halloween? Set in St. Helens, Oregon, the film location of the 1998 Disney Channel movie Halloweentown, this heartfelt documentary follows local residents and the impact the movie has had on their lives and traditions. The Spirit of Halloweentown is a colorful love letter to the town’s legacy and dedication to our favorite holiday.
TOUCH ME (United States, 2024)
Director: Addison Heimann
Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jordan Gavaris, Marlene Forte, Paget Brewster
In Addison Heimann’s wild and absurd new feature, intergalactic polyamory and one very codependent friendship collide when stoner roommates Craig and Joey have to suddenly move out of their apartment and decide to shack up with Joey’s toxic ex – who happens to be a horny, narcissistic alien from outer space. Tale as old as time.
THE TRUE BEAUTY OF BEING BITTEN BY A TICK (United States, 2025)
Director: Pete Ohs
Cast: Zoë Chao, Callie Hernandez, Jeremy O. Harris, James Cusati-Moyer
Zoe Chao (The Afterparty) stars as Yvonne, a woman reeling from a tragedy who takes some much-needed time away with a group of friends at their home in the countryside. After a walk through the woods, what seems like an innocuous tick bite has grotesquely unexpected consequences in this creepy little shocker from fest alum Pete Ohs (Jethica).
THE UGLY STEPSISTER (Norway, 2024)
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Cast: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger
In this warped, sinister spin on Cinderella, plain-faced Elvira is willing to do whatever it takes to compete with her enchantingly beautiful stepsister, Agnes, to win the prince’s heart. No procedure is too gruesome, too bloody or too painful to attain her happily ever after in this visceral body horror from Norway.
ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT (United States, United Kingdom, 2025)
Director: Charlie Shackleton
When a passion project completely disintegrates, most filmmakers give up, move on and mourn their masterpiece that got away. But Charlie Shackleton is not most filmmakers. The wreckage of his derailed attempt at a Zodiac Killer documentary rises from the dead in Shackleton’s devilish grip as a wry, eerie, post-modern commentary on our cultural fascination with true crime and collective bloodlust.
Guest Curator Presentations:
ASH (United States, 2024 – Special Screening presented by the director)
Director: Flying Lotus
Cast: Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais, Kate Elliott, Beulah Koale, Flying Lotus
Mind-shredding multi-hyphenate Flying Lotus pours the psychedelic contents of his galaxy brain into this sci-fi nightmare starring Eiza González as a sole surviving astronaut waking to discover her crew has been mysteriously murdered. Psychological space terror ensues – as does the cryptic arrival of Aaron Paul. Together, they must work to survive the neon-splattered horrors of the cosmic unknown.
DEATH BECOMES HER (United States, 1992 – Introduction by Guest Curator Flying Lotus)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini
Some people will go to any lengths to stay young forever.
THE DESCENT (United Kingdom, 2005 – Introduction by Guest Curator Flying Lotus)
Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring
The scariest movie in Earth.
LOST HIGHWAY (United States, 1997 – A Tribute to David Lynch with an Introduction by Guest Curator Flying Lotus)
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, Robert Blake, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Gary Busey, Robert Loggia
Dick Laurent is dead.
Additional Retrospective Film Presentations:
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (United States, 1925 – 100th Anniversary Screening with Live Music Accompaniment by Think Less, Hear More)
Director: Rupert Julian
Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards, Bernard Seigel
“Feast your eyes! Glut your soul on my accursed ugliness!” The Man of a Thousand Faces stars in this seminal work of horror cinema that heralded the age of Universal Monsters.
RE-ANIMATOR (United States, 1985 – 40th Anniversary 4K UHD Restoration Presented by Fangoria with Barbara Crampton in Person)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson
Herbert West has a very good head on his shoulders… And another one in a dish on his desk in this all-time classic from Master of Horror recipient and founding festival advisory board member Stuart Gordon.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT (United States, 1995 – 30th Anniversary Screening with Ernest Dickerson in Person)
Director: Ernest Dickerson
Cast: Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, Thomas Haden Church
Hello kiddies! Fasten your drool cups and ready your vomit bags. We’re going to the movies! Frights! Camera! Action! It’s time for the feature horror debut of the legendary Ernest Dickerson.
Click here for more information and passes.
