NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE
OPENING NIGHT FILM

Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Runtime: 110 minutes
Rating: TBC
Director: Emma Tammi
Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Mary Stuart Masterton, Matthew Lillard

What a way to kick off Terror-Fi 2023! The diabolical team at Blumhouse are at it again. Animatronic mascots running amok… creepy ghost children… what’s not to love!?! And you’ll be one of the first in the world to see it all go down! 

Mike Schmidt, a troubled security guard, accepts a night-time job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a once-successful but now abandoned family entertainment center. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE
CLOSING NIGHT FILM (WGN/AKL)

Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Country: USA
Runtime: 88 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: FrightFest 2023
Director: Samuel Bodin
Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Woody Norman

A fresh and sinister look at the family dynamic and the secrets we keep. Another blockbuster horror that we’ve refused to let bypass our cinemas. This exclusive will be your only chance to see it on the big screen! 

Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall – a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter’s fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?

“Cobweb is a cult classic in the making. It’s an absolute delight and a blast to watch, highlighted by stellar performances from its cast.” – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

“If you like horror or mystery or just like to be kept guessing, then this is a movie that you’re going to need to see.” – Crocket Houghton, Film Enquiry ” – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Thriller
Country: Canada
Runtime: 118 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Fantasia 2023, Monster Fest 2023
Director: Pascal Plante
Cast: Juliette Gariepy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maswell McCabe-Lokos

See the winner of Best Picture at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival (the world’s biggest genre festival) exclusively at Terror-Fi. This unique and gripping thriller draws you in with incredible performances and keeps you guessing right to the very end. 

The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.

“Out-Finchers Fincher… very good at digging its finger around under the skin of everybody’s salacious relationship with true crime.” – Jason Adams, Mashable  

“Red Rooms is taut, tense, shocking, dripping with dread, and, most importantly, it’s very, very good.” – Matt Hudson, What I Watched Tonight 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Horror
Country: USA
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: R18
Festivals: Sundance 2023
Director: Laura Moss
Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool, Monique Gabriela Curnen

This fresh and unique twist on Mary Shelly’s classic Frankenstein will have you shuffling in your seat. This Terror-Fi exclusive will be your only chance to see the highest rated horror of 2023 in the dark and on the big screen. 

A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead. 

“Truly haunting stuff.” – Candice Frederick, Huffington Post

“Birth/Rebirth is effectively creepy and all kinds of thrillingly wrong, with a riveting ensemble and top-notch craftsmanship” – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Thriller, Heist, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Country: Australia
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Monster Fest 2023
Director: Sam Odlum
Cast: Freya Tingley, Charles Grounds, Joshua Morton, Elise Jansen

A true genre-bender, TIME ADDICTS is easily one of the most entertaining films of the year and destined to be a cult classic. A gripping story, superb lead performances, and a story with plenty of twists and turns. Thrilling, touching, and hilarious… this film has it all! 

In desperate debt to their volatile drug dealer, best friends, Denise and Johnny, agree to a sketchy job to pay off their last hit – breaking into a decrepit stash house to steal a bag of mysterious drugs. But whilst getting into the house may be easy, escape proves more troublesome, as the pair find themselves trapped inside with a deranged fiend.  

With no way out and not one to miss an opportunity, Johnny smokes the new drug and promptly travels into the past, triggering alarming new events in the future. Separated through time, Denise is left alone to confront her past, their dealer Kane’s real identity, and her very own existence.

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Horror
Country: Argentina, USA
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Toronto International Film Festival 2023, Sitges 2023, Beyond Fest 2023, Monster Fest 2023
Director: Demián Rugna
Cast: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Luis Ziembrowski, Federico Liss

The eagerly anticipated new film from Demián Rugna (‘Terrified’) shows us how films about possession should be done. The perfect late night horror, where not even the audience can escape from the clutches of this evil. 

When brothers Pedro and Jimmy discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse. They attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to, and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.

“The central theme of infectious evil and a gruesome commitment to gore carries Rugna’s latest far, making for a Halloween season treat.” – Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting 

“A no-holds-barred demon-slaying nightmare of blood and guts and unstoppable evil.” – Jonathan DeHaan, Nightmare on Film Street 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Thriller, Horror
Country: Australia
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Tribeca 2023, Bucheon 2023, Fantastic Fest 2023
Directors: Josiah Allen, Indianna Bell
Cast: Brendan Rock, Jordan Cowan 

One of those indie gem discoveries that completely blows you away – YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME was the first film selected for Terror-Fi 2023. It constantly keeps you guessing as to where it’s going, thanks to riveting performances from the two leads. Single location filmmaking at its finest! 

Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality.  

 “Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen blend grim, contemporary horror with a classic haunted house aesthetic, resulting in a claustrophobic, oft-unsettling chamber piece.” – Meagan Navarro, Blood Disgusting 

 “So much of the joy of You’ll Never Find Me comes from an overwhelming sense that you never really quite know what’s coming next.” – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Runtime: 108 minutes
Rating: tbc
Festivals: Fantasia 2023, Sitges 2023, Fantastic Fest 2023
Directors: Mike Cheslik
Cast: Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Olivia Graves, Wes Tank, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico

A truly unique creative vision that had the Terror-Fi team in stitches. We‘ve never laughed so hard and so loud watching a screener… ever! Do not miss your only chance to see this in a cinema full of people.  

 A drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers. 

 “An unexpected visionary work that will rip you a new perspective on classic cinematic art. It is exciting in ways you cannot imagine and must be seen to be believed.” – Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat 

 “Hundreds of Beavers exists at the crossroads of Looney Tunes, Benny Hill, Cannibal: The Musical, Blazing Saddles, and Adult Swim.” – Matt Donato, Slashfilm 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Dark Comedy
Country: USA
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Tribeca 2023, Bucheon 2023, Fantasia 2023, FrightFest 2023, Fantastic Fest 2023, Sitges 2023
Directors: Joe Lynch
Cast: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Davidson

Get ready for a twisted, throwback, Lovecraftian tale from writer Dennis Paoli (‘Re-Animator’, ‘From Beyond’) and director Joe Lynch (‘Mayhem’, ‘Victor Crowley’). Heather Graham, Barbara Crampton, H.P. Lovecraft… it was a “Hell Yeah!” from the Terror-Fi team. 

Psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby becomes obsessed with helping a young patient suffering extreme personality disorder. But it leads her into dark occult danger as she tries to escape a horrific fate. 

 “A fun horror flick, one I could imagine finding on VHS in 1989 and losing my mind over.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com 

 “Lynch captures the humorous, oft-sexy tone of Gordon’s ‘80s/’90s Lovecraftian horror output while putting his own stamp on it through keen instincts and modern storytelling.” – Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting 

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: Belgium
Runtime: 118 minutes
Rating: R18
Festivals: Fantasia 2022, Sitges 2022
Directors: Karim Ouelhaj
Cast: Eline Schumacher, Benhamin Ramon, Helene Moor, Wim Willaert, Pierre Nisse

The most controversial film we’ve ever played. MEGALOMANIAC is film that many would be afraid to make these days. Uncomfortable yet riveting, the film plays on the themes of Nature vs. Nurture and the passing down of family genes. If Terror-Fi handed out a Best Actor award, Eline Schumacher would win it hands down. 

 Martha and Félix are the children of the Butcher of Mons, a notorious Belgian serial killer from the 1990s. Unstable and riddled with insecurities, Martha lives vicariously through social media. Her brother, crushed by the family legacy, takes over their father’s killings. Harassed and violently assaulted at work, the docile Martha falls into madness and goes through the looking glass into the strange and terrifying world inhabited by her brother. 

 “Megalomaniac is top-tier European arthouse feel-bad horror cinema that, paired with stunning cinematography, will thrill extreme horror fans.” – Mary Beth McAndrews, Dread Central 

 “Megalomaniac is a step towards making horror more visually disturbing again and its defiant grimness a reminder that happy endings are not always the most satisfying ones.” – Chris Ward, Flickering Myth  

NEW ZEALAND THEATRICAL PREMIERE

Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Country: USA
Runtime: 93 minutes
Rating: M
Festivals: Fantasia 2022, SXSW 2023
Directors: Franklin Ritch
Cast: Tatum Matthews, Franklin Ritch, Lance Henriksen, Sinda Nichole, David Girard

Like whispers on the (digital) wind, we’d heard talk about this little indie gem and just how good it was. When we finally got to see it, THE ARTIFICE GIRL did not disappoint. A truly special piece of cinema.  

A team of special agents discovers a revolutionary new computer program to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program’s troubled developer, they soon find that the AI is rapidly advancing beyond its original purpose.

“The Artifice Girl is engaging & compelling, bolstered by stellar performances from its cast & exceeds where other AI-focused stories might falter.” – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant 

“A stellar sci-fi drama as compelling as it is provocative, The Artifice Girl explores the intersection of AI and human ethics — treading into profound philosophical considerations regarding the value of existence and what it means to be happy.” – Stephanie Malone, Morbidly Beautiful  

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: R16
Festivals: Tribeca 2023
Directors: John Slattery
Cast: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Nick Mohammed, Mary Holland, Louisa Krause, Christopher Denham

Coen brothers comedy sensibilities abound in this engaging crime thriller. Jon Hamm teaming with Tiny Fey is worth the price of admission alone. Another exclusive that you’ll only get to see on the big screen at Terror-Fi! 

 A bizarre double murder in an otherwise quiet desert town has rattled local Police Chief Jordan Sanders. The two dead women have no connection to each other – except they’re both named Maggie Moore. The investigation gets even more complicated when Jordan begins a romantic relationship with one of the murdered women’s neighbour, who is also a witness in the case.

“An engaging romp of a thriller. But it’s the performances — especially the rapport between Hamm and Fey — that really makes Maggie Moore(s) pop.” – Belen Edwards, Mashable 

 “Maggie’s crackling cast, including Tina Fey and Nick Mohammed, handles the clever dialogue with aplomb.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times 

RETRO (1988)
DRESS UP – IF YOU DARE!

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Country: USA
Runtime: 88 minutes
Rating: M
Directors: Stephen Chiodo
Cast: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon

Ridiculously fun yet truly haunting, KILLER KLOWNS makes for one killer retro flick. It’s long overdue that this genre classic played on the big screen again. Come along in costume as there’ll be prizes for the best dressed ‘Creepy Clowns’. 

In Wellington we’re screening the film as a special Halloween Night Event.

When teenagers Mike and Debbie see a comet crash outside their sleepy small town, they investigate and discover a pack of murderous aliens who look very much like circus clowns. They try to warn the local authorities, but everyone assumes their story is a prank. Meanwhile, the clowns set about harvesting and eating as many people as they can. It’s not until they kidnap Debbie that Mike decides it’s up to him to stop the clowns’ bloody rampage.

 “Truly something special for genre fans or for those with a love of fun, imaginative films with a ridiculous premise, classic soundtrack, and a blackly humorous edge.” – Andrew Pollard, Starburst

RETRO (1994)
EXTENDED CUT

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Country: USA
Runtime: 130 minutes
Rating: PG
Directors: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jay Davidson, Viveca Lindfors, John Diehl 

We’re bringing back the OG Stargate, the blockbuster sci-fi that started a global phenomenon. This is a big screen retro delight if we’ve ever seen one… and it hasn’t played on our screens in decades! 

In modern-day Egypt, professor Daniel Jackson teams up with retired Army Col. Jack O’Neil to unlock the code of an interstellar gateway to an ancient Egypt-like world. They arrive on a planet ruled by the despotic Ra, who holds the key to the Earth travellers’ safe return.

“Stargate is a blast from the past in many ways, but it imaginatively employs the latest special effects technology to give audiences new thrills.” – David Hunter, Hollywood Reporter 

FREE SESSION

Genre: Various
Runtime: 80-90 minutes
Rating: tbc
Directors: Various
Cast: Various
Cities: Wellington and Auckland only

Enjoy a range of incredible genre shorts from New Zealand and around the World at Terror-Fi for free at our special Short Film Showcase. 

This signature Terror-Fi event is carefully curated to showcase a range of new talent across a wide mix of genres…. filmmakers to look out for in the future! 

Please note: the session is free but a booking fee applies both for online and in-person ticket sales

See all 14 Films for just $175!

With the Terror-Fi Fan Badge you can enjoy every film at the festival for a fraction of the price – only $12.50 per ticket.

Not only that, every Fan Badge holder receives a special swag bag full of goodies.

Christchurch: you can still see the remaining 13 films at Terror-Fi for just $165!