As if the upcoming edition of the Overlook Film Festival , taking place April 3 – April 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana, wasn’t stacked enough, the festival announced today the full schedule, including some surprise new films and live events. The full festival schedule can be found at overlookfilmfest.com/schedule. The new additions to the lineup bring the festival total to […]
As if the upcoming edition of the Overlook Film Festival , taking place April 3 – April 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana, wasn’t stacked enough, the festival announced today the full schedule, including some surprise new films and live events.
The new additions to the lineup bring the festival total to 56 films (34 features and 22 shorts) from 15 countries, as well as twelve live events and four immersive experiences, making this the largest Overlook lineup in the festival’s nine year history.
“This year’s giant lineup brings into focus all of the ways we love to be scared, regardless of what flavor of spooky is your jam” said Sheryl Santacruz, festival director of The Overlook Film Festival. “We can’t wait to join with the greatest, most dedicated genre fans in the world to celebrate this sensation that we all love in ways that we never imagined possible, all thanks to these brilliant artists.”
New additions to the programming include Kiyoshi Kurosawa’sCloud, SXSW Midnighter The Home, supernatural horror movie Rosario, screenlife thriller LifeHack, Irish-language Frewaka, and so much more. That also includes a slew of immersive experiences that includes being presented in it’s original intended form of ILLUSION-O!
Audience members will be given exclusive “ghost viewers” and get to choose whether or not they’re brave enough to see the terrifying spirits as they watch the film.
Read on for the new feature films, repertory screenings, live events, and immersive experiences that have joined the lineup:
Feature Film Presentations
International Titles Presented by MUBI
Best Wishes to All
Director: Yûta Shimotsu
Cast: Kotone Furukawa
Japan, 2024
A young nursing student gets an unexpectedly twisted dose of reality when she visits her grandparents in the countryside, only to uncover the secrets to their exceedingly happy life. Director Yûta Shimotsu’s unsettling debut draws from classics like Audition and The Wicker Man to create a wholly unique vision.
Japanese horror legend Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) returns to his trademark discomfort zone in this unpredictable psychological genre-bending, screw-turner following an online reseller whose bogus products land him in the crosshairs of mysterious violent threats which reach increasingly close to home.
Frewaka
Director: Aislinn Clarke
Cast: Clare Monnelly, Bríd Ní Neachtain, Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya
Ireland, 2024
Irish folkloric terror awaits in this remarkably atmospheric bone-chiller about a care worker who, after suffering a personal tragedy, leaves her Dublin home for a remote assignment in the north country to look after an elderly shut-in… Deep inside her new abode, she finds a portal to something far more sinister.
The Home
Director: Mattias J Skoglund
Cast: Philip Oros, Anki Lidén, Gizem Erdogan, Malin Levanon, Peter Jankert, Lottie Ejenbrant, Ayan Ahmed, Bengt CW Carlsson
Terrified of facing the scars from his past, alcoholic Joel returns to his small town to move his dementia-ridden mother Monica out of her elderly care facility to look after her himself. When he starts to experience strange visions, he begins to realize she might have brought something else with her.
LifeHack
Director: Ronan Corrigan
Cast: Georgie Farmer, Yasmin Finney, Roman Hayeck-Green, James Scholz, Jessica Reynolds, Charlie Creed-Miles
United Kingdom, 2025
From the producers of former Overlook opener Unfriended: Dark Web comes a non-stop, high tension thriller following four slacker teens as they descend into the darkest corners of the internet to plan one of the greatest cyberheists of all time.
Predators
Director: David Osit
United States, 2025
Director David Osit’s unnerving, intricate examination of the once lauded To Catch a Predator delves deep into the real life horrors of how far one tv show will go to turn disturbing crimes, and disturbed people, into entertainment. As heartbreaking as it is chilling, this shocking documentary explores the thin line between “monster” and human.
Rosario
Director: Felipe Vargas
Cast: Emeraude Toubia, David Dastmalchian, Paul Ben-Victor, José Zúñiga, Diana Lein
United States and Columbia, 2025
When the grief-stricken young Rosario is forced to wait overnight with the body of her deceased grandmother until an ambulance can get to her through a severe snowfall, she falls prey to ghoulish attacks from supernatural possessors determined to wreak havoc on her.
Additional Retrospective Film Presentations
13 Ghosts in ILLUSION-O!
65th Anniversary Screening
Presented by The Academy Of Magical Arts
Director: William Castle
Cast: Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Rosemary DeCamp, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Woods
United States, 1960
13 times the thrills! 13 times the screams! 13 times the fun! See the ghosts in ectoplasmic color in gimmick king William Castle’s original ILLUSION-O! Yes, 13 times the entertainment when you use the new ghost viewer provided to you by this very theater!
The Short Films of David Lynch
Tribute to David Lynch
Director: David Lynch
United States, 1967-1995
David Lynch lives forever in this disturbing collection of formative nightmares, showcasing his short-form roots spanning back to his art school days years before and during the making of Eraserhead and beyond. Is it future or is it past?
Live Events and Special Presentations
Panels presented by SAGIndie
16MM Camera Workshop
Presented by Kodak
The sold out sensation is back! Horror filmmakers, fans and enthusiasts have long embraced the medium of celluloid as a choice to ramp up tension, serve up scares, and capture a feeling that’s all too important to the tone of genre filmmaking. Thanks to our friends at Kodak, 15 lucky registrants will be able to participate in this special 16mm demo and workshop to learn to capture the stories of moving images of tomorrow on film today!
DIY Until You Die: True Indie Horror
Presented by SAGIndie
Whether it’s The Blair Witch Project, Skinamarink, or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the DIY spirit of horror filmmaking has never required a studio budget in order to deliver unforgettable scares. Join us for a panel discussion featuring filmmakers from this year’s program to discuss the thrills, spills, and chills of making nightmare fuel on a dime.
Horror Trivia
Presented by Daily Dead
Hosted by B Mac’s
Test your fright — if you dare. Join Shudder’s senior curator, trivia host extraordinaire Sam Zimmerman, for our annual horror trivia night. Prizes, drinks, and four ghoulish rounds of only mildly obscure nuggets you’ll definitely know, and all of those sequel subtitles you’ll definitely wish you didn’t. Scare yourself with how much you actually know about horror.
Immersion Nation Podcast
Presented by American Immersion Theater
Join Immersion Nation hosts Emma Sheridan and Scott Cramton as they discover how immersive entertainment is changing our culture, the way we interact, and the way we play. For this special Overlook Film Festival edition, they welcome horror filmmaker and immersive maverick Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II – IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera, St. Agatha which premiered at Overlook 2019) the deranged mind behind iconic Los Angeles theater events The Tension Experience, The Lust Experience, Theatre Macabre, and most recently, the secretive EXILED: Crooked Rose Woods which took place in Kansas City last spooky season.
The Late Great Midnite Spook Show with Zabrecky: A Multimedia Illustrated Talk
Presented by The Academy of Magical Arts
From the 1930s to the 1960s, macabre-themed magic shows, known as Spook Shows, were presented alongside horror films in movie theaters across the United States. These late-night spectacles combined live magic, comedy, hypnosis, and Grand Guignol theater with a horror film finale. Spook Shows became a unique form of immersive theater, captivating audiences with séance-themed performances and eerie thrills. Though their popularity faded, they influenced later midnight cult films like Rocky Horror Picture Show and inspired iconic TV hosts such as Vampira and Elvira. In “The Late Great Midnite Spook Show” Zabrecky explores this forgotten cultural phenomenon, sharing its origins, impact, and legacy through slides, film excerpts, and analysis.
Phantom Follies with Zabrecky: A Midnight Spook Show & Film Spectacular
Presented by The Academy of Magical Arts
Creator: Zabrecky
Step into the eerie and enchanting world of “Phantom Follies with Zabrecky,” where the supernatural meets showmanship in a thrilling, one-of-a-kind midnight experience magic performance and film screening. Zabrecky, a six-time Magic Castle award-winning magician and master of theatrical séances, brings his unique brand of Spook Show magic to the historic Prytania Uptown Theater. This spine-chilling event pairs mind-bending magic and audience interaction with William Castle’s 1960 supernatural horror classic 13 Ghosts, creating an unforgettable evening of haunted spectacle and cinematic terror.
Splatterday Night at the Overlook Film Fest
Host and Curator: Destryur
Mix and mingle with the creatures of the night as we bring one of New Orleans’ most popular goth nights to the Toulouse Theater with Splatterday Night at Overlook Film Fest. Give us your best Robert Smith or Siouxsie Sioux and come dance the fright away at our Closing Night party. Hosted and curated by electronic artist Destryur, Splatterday Night is a Synthwave party that will keep you up at night, and a must-see for fans of Kavinsky, Carpenter Brut, Dance With The Dead, Power Glove, Perturbator, GosT, 80’s movie soundtracks, and all things synth.
Immersive Presentations
Presented by American Immersion Theater
The festival’s unique interactive live theatrical horror experiences for small audiences return with fresh offerings for the brave and mysterious.
Undersigned
Creator: Yannick Trapman-O’Brien
The most popular, limited edition, impossible to get into show of Overlook 2023 is back by special arrangement for an all new audience (Remember the rules: no one who goes through this show is ever allowed to do it again!) Undersigned is a psychological thriller for an audience of one. Depending on your choices, it will last between 45-55 minutes. Your participation will involve an invocation, a blindfold and a pointed discussion. The topics of this discussion will vary based on your input, and may include — but are not limited to — Money, Power, Sex, Pleasure, Violence, Blood, Body Horror, Moral Horror, Economic Horror, Wild Conjecture and the Occult. A waiver is required for participation, and boldness is recommended; you stand to gain as much as you are willing to venture.
