Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival Announces Full Lineup, August 18-21

Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival Announces Full Lineup, Closing night film Siren, Last Fan Standing Game Show, & Guest of Honor Barbara Crampton for Festival, August 18-21 In Chicago

Presented by STARZ Original Series ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’, in conjunction with Wizard World Comic Con

Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival today announced the full lineup for its third annual festivities on August 18-21, in conjunction with Wizard World Chicago. Sponsored by Shudder and Bloody-Disgusting.com, the festival will open with the critically acclaimed nail-biter Don’t Breathe and close with the chilling Siren. Among many other events and screenings, the festival will feature Bruce Campbell’s Last Fan Standing game show, and actress Barbara Crampton as the “Guest of Honor,” who will host a 30th anniversary screening of From Beyond along with her new film, Beyond the Gates.

“You can have your rom-coms, your indie darlings and your blockbusters,” said Bruce Campbell. “I’ll take a good old-fashioned horror movie any day or night of the week!”

Opening night will kick off with the highly anticipated shocker, Don’t Breathe, from director-producer-writer Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) and produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Alvarez and star Stephen Lang (Avatar) will be in attendance. Sony Pictures is set to release Don’t Breathe on August 26, 2016. Closing night will feature the Chicago Premiere of Siren, a feature adaptation of the segment “Amateur Night” from the 2012 critically acclaimed horror anthology “V/H/S”, with director Gregg Bishop and star Chase Williamson in attendance.

The festival will offer Bruce Campbell’s all-new game show, Last Fan Standing—a quiz show based on sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and superheroes. Last Fan Standing is the ultimate test of pop-culture knowledge. Four fans are put through their paces by host and Con-favorite Bruce Campbell, battling through devilish speed rounds and a nerve-wracking Final Confrontation until only one remains, and a Last Fan Standing is crowned. The game show will take place at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on Friday at 3 PM and Saturday at 11 AM.

Writer/director Fred Dekker is slated to receive the inaugural “Groovy as Hell” award, and the festival will host a 30th anniversary screening of the cult classic Night of The Creeps and a very special screening of The Monster Squad with actors Andre Gower (Sean) & Ryan Lambert (Rudy) also in attendance.

Popular stand-up comic and host of the Doug Loves Movies podcast, Doug Benson, will host a very special ‘Doug Benson Movie Interruption’ of Army of Darkness, with guest interrupter Bruce Campbell!

Benson and Campbell, along with mystery comedians, will riff on the film live from the front row, and say whatever hilarious thoughts that pops into their heads. Single tickets for this show are SOLD OUT, but you can still guarantee a seat with the purchase of a festival badge.

BCHFF is also thrilled to present a 25th anniversary celebration of everyone’s favorite time-traveling metalhead slackers, a screening of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey with director Peter Hewitt in attendance, along with Death himself, William Sadler!

The festival will also mark the World Premieres of Found Footage 3D, the long-awaited satirical horror film produced by Kim Henkel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and directed by Steven DeGennaro, and Show Yourself, a haunting & remarkable genre-bending feature debut from Billy Ray Brewton (subject of the wonderful award-winning 2014 documentary Skanks, and programmer for Slamdance Film Festival).

Fans in the region will also experience the Chicago premieres of:

• The Greasy Strangler – The most hilariously disturbing film of the year. From Elijah Wood’s Spectrevision, Drafthouse Films, & Ant Timpson.
• Here Alone – Winner of the 2016 Tribeca Audience Award.
• Abattoir – From Darren Bousman, the director of Saw 2, 3, 4, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Mother’s Day, and The Devil’s Carnival. Darren will be in attendance to present the film.
• Pet – The SXSW hit starring Dominic Monaghan (Lord of The Rings Trilogy).
• I am Not a Serial Killer – Starring Christopher Lloyd in yet another career defining performance.
• Beyond The Gates – Winner of the midnight audience award at Los Angeles Film Festival.
• Antibirth – Premiered at the Sundance Film & starring Natasha Lyonne & Chloe Sevigny.
• Short Trip To Hell (Shorts Block) – A stunning collection of premiere shorts that will scare you senseless!

The Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival jury this year includes a few dignitaries well-known to horror fans: Tom Holland (writer/director, Fright Night, Child’s Play); Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show); Cerina Vincent (Cabin Fever); and Zach Hagen (producer, He Never Died).

“I couldn’t be any more thrilled with this year’s lineup,” said festival director Josh Goldbloom. “There’s something here for every bloodthirsty horror fanatic: Haunted houses, serial killers, satanic board games, home invasions, monsters with demon wings, possessed guitars, portals to hell, killer clown cookie jars, and last but not least, greasy stranglers. Buy a ticket and I promise you’ll see something you won’t forget.”

Festival badges are $100, and are on sale now at www.bchff.com!

The festival and all screenings will be held at the Carmike Muvico Rosemont 18.

Fans can visit www.BCHFF.com for full details and additions to the slate as they happen and dates and times for each screening. Follow the festival on Twitter: @groovyfest

LINEUP:

INAUGURAL GROOVY AS HELL PRESENTATION:

THE MONSTER SQUAD – Fred Dekker, Andre Gower, & Ryan Lambert in attendance!

A quintet of classic movie monsters invades a small town looking for a lost amulet that will help them rule the world. A bunch of kids decide to fight back by forming the “Monster Squad.” Written by Shane Black (THE NICE GUYS, KISS KISS BANG BANG).

Prior to the screening the festival will present director Fred Dekker with the inaugural “Groovy as Hell” award. Following the screening their will be a Q&A with Fred Dekker, Andre Gower, & Ryan Lambert.

Anniversary Screenings!

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS Fred Dekker in attendance!

The night of the prom becomes the “Night of the Creeps” for a small-town college with a big-time problem! No one ever said college would be easy…Johnny (Ken Heron) and his girlfriend Pam (Alice Cadogan), the perfect co-ed couple, are enjoying Lover’s Lane one evening in 1959 when suddenly Johnny’s attention is diverted to an evil light. He leaves to explore it, never to return again. Twenty-seven years later, when two college boys, Chris (Jason Lively) and J.C. (Steve Marshall), pledge a tempestuous fraternity, they encounter Johnny’s frozen body. When life returns to Johnny’s corpse, a reign of terror begins as the mysterious” creeps” leave his brain, permeating the bodies of other frat boys and sorority girls, making zombies of their prey!

FROM BEYOND Barbara Crampton in attendance!

Obsessive scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) successfully discovers a way to access a parallel universe of pleasure by tapping into the brain’s pineal gland. When he is seemingly killed by forces from this other dimension, his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), is accused of the murder. After psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) and detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) take the case, the trio risks a return to the other world in order to solve the mystery. From Master of Horror, Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator)!

BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY Peter Hewitt & William Sadler in attendance!

Amiable slackers Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are once again roped into a fantastical adventure when De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), a villain from the future, sends evil robot duplicates of the two lads to terminate and replace them. The robot doubles actually succeed in killing Bill and Ted, but the two are determined to escape the afterlife, challenging the Grim Reaper (William Sadler) to a series of games in order to return to the land of the living.

Opening Night:

DON’T BREATHE (Chicago Premiere) Fede Alvarez & Stephen Lang in attendance

A trio of friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect heist. They’re wrong

Cast: Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovato, Stephen Lang

Dir: Fede Alvarez

Distributor: Sony Pictures

U.S. Release Date: August 26

Closing Night:

SIREN (Chicago Premiere) Gregg Bishop and Chase Williamson in attendance!

A bachelor party becomes a savage fight for survival when the groomsmen unwittingly unleash a fabled predator upon the festivities. A feature adaptation of the segment “Amateur Night” from the 2012 horror anthology “V/H/S.”

Cast: Hannah Fierman, Chase Williamson, Justin Welbourn, Michael Aaron Milligan, Hayes Mercure, Randy McDowell.

Dir: Gregg Bishop

ABATTOIR (Chicago Premiere) Darren Lynn Bousman in attendance

How do you build a haunted house? Ask the enigmatic Jebediah Crone, the main suspect in a case of stolen rooms where horrific tragedies have occurred.

Cast: Jessica Lowndes, Joe Anderson, Lin Shaye, Dayton Callie, Bryan Batt,, J. Larose

Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman

ANTIBIRTH (Chicago Premiere) Guests to be announced.

Hard-drinking, pill-popping, bong-ripping Lou (Natasha Lyonne) and her best friend Sadie (Chloë Sevigny) spend their days adrift in a druggy haze. But one wild night out becomes a bad trip that never ends when Lou wakes up with symptoms of an unexplained, highly abnormal pregnancy. Spiked with blasts of hallucinatory color, surreal shocks, and subversive comedy, the audacious feature debut is a no-holds-barred descent into delirium.

Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Meg Tilly, Mark Webber

Dir: Danny Perez

BEYOND THE GATES (Chicago Premiere) Jackson Stewart, Barbara Crampton, Chase Williamson & Brea Grant in attendance

Seven months after their father’s disappearance, two brothers reunite to liquidate the family video store. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse when they find an old VHS boardgame with evil powers, and all hell breaks loose.

Cast: Chase Williamson, Graham Skipper, Brea Grant, Barbara Crampton, Matt Mercer, Jesse Merlin

Dir: Jackson Stewart

FOUND FOOTAGE 3D (World Premiere) Cast & Crew in attendance!

A group of low-budget filmmakers sets out to make “the first 3D found footage horror film,” but find themselves *in* the first 3D found footage horror film when the evil entity from their movie escapes into their behind-the-scenes footage.

Cast: Carter Roy, Alena von Stroheim, Chris O’Brien, Tom Saporito, Scott Allen Perry, Jessica Perrin, Scott Weinberg

Dir: Steven DeGennaro

THE GREASY STRANGLER (Chicago Premiere)

The Los Angeles-set tale follows Ronnie, a man who runs a Disco Walking tour along with his browbeaten son, Brayden. When a sexy, alluring woman comes to take the tour, it begins a competition between father and son for her attentions. It also signals the appearance of an oily, slimy inhuman maniac who stalks the streets at night and strangles the innocent, soon dubbed ‘The Greasy Strangler.’

Cast: Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo

Dir: Jim Hosking

HERE ALONE (Chicago Premiere)

A young woman struggles to survive on her own in the wake of a mysterious epidemic that has decimated society and forced her deep into the unforgiving wilderness.

Cast: Lucy Walters, Adam David Thompson, Gina Piersanti, Shane West

Dir: Rod Blackhurst

I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER (Chicago Premiere) Guests to be announced!

In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer whilst keeping his own inner demons at bay.

Cast: Christopher Lloyd, Laura Fraser, Max Records

Dir: Billy O’Brien

PET (Chicago Premiere)

Seth works at an animal shelter, and for years has been secretly in love with a waitress named Holly . When he repeatedly fails in his attempts to woo her, he naturally decides to lock her in a cage at the shelter where he works. And that’s just the beginning…

Cast: Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, Jenette McCurdy, Nathan Parsons

Dir: Carles Torrens

SHOW YOURSELF (World Premiere) Cast & crew in attendance!

When his friend dies unexpectedly, Travis heads into the woods with his ashes to say goodbye. But as he deals with his grief, and the way it has affected the relationships in his life, he starts to realize that he actually might not be alone.

Cast: Ben Hethcoat, Corsica Wilson, Barak Hardley, Stephen Cone, David McElwee, Robert Longsteet.

Dir: Billy Ray Brewton

SHORT TRIP TO HELL – Short Film Block

 

DEATH METAL

A metalhead gets passed down a satanic guitar that riffs to shreds.

Dir: Chris McInroy

 

GWILLIAM

A recently released criminal is looking for a good time. He can forget his sins but he can never forget…Gwilliam.

Dir: Brian Lonano

 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH IT’S KILLING THEM

A pitch-black comedy about Vivian, a lonely serial killer whose three loves in life are math, accounting, and killing random people. This all changes when she meets Alex, the man of her dreams.

Dir: Joel Ashton McCarthy

 

KOOKIE

Bree, a dishonest 9-year-old receives a terrifying visitor after a parenting lesson goes horribly wrong.

Dir: Justin Harding

 

MADRE DE DIOS

A woman wakes up bound to an altar, helpless as she is transformed into a flesh and blood statue of Santa Muerte by two elderly Brujos whose sole purpose is to conjure the anti-Christ into our plane of existence.

Dir: Gigi Saul Guerrero

 

NIGHT OF THE SLASHER

A teenage girl must commit horror movie sins such as drink alcohol, do drugs, and have sex to lure a killer and finish him off.

Dir: Shant Hamassian

 

PORTAL TO HELL

A crusty and recluse superintendent is thrown into the ultimate fight against evil when a couple of cultists open a portal to the ancient and mysical city of R’lyeh, awakening slumbering god. Starring the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

Dir: Vivieno Caldinelli

 

 

SCHEDULE

 

8/18

7:30 PM: Don’t Breathe

10:15 PM: Night of The Creeps (30th Anniversary Screening)

 

8/19

6:00 PM: Pet

8:00 PM: Doug Benson Movie Interruption

10:00 PM: Show Yourself

Midnight: From Beyond (30th Anniversary Screening)

 

8/20

1:00 PM: Abattoir

3:30 PM: Beyond The Gates

5:45 PM: I am Not a Serial Killer

8:00 PM: The Monster Squad

10:00 PM: Found Footage 3D

Midnight: The Greasy Strangler

 

8/21

12:00 PM: Short Trip To Hell (Shorts Block)

2:00 PM: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (30th anniversary screening)

4:00 PM: Here Alone

6:00 PM: Antibirth

8:00 PM: Siren

For more info on the 2016 Wizard World Comic Con Chicago (August 18-21 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont), visit http://wizd.me/ChicagoPR.