This week we’ll be bringing you some of the latest coverage from Sheffield’s Celluloid Screams Film Festival! The festival itself had an amazing line-up of feature films programmed across four days, but it was the impressive short horror films that really stood out from everything else. Being on the judging panel meant I was lucky enough to watch every single short they had playing, and the overall quality of each short was phenomenal. I was pleasantly surprised to sit through about 40 short films and enjoy almost all of them - there was perhaps only one, maybe two, that weren’t my particular taste.

Joining myself on the jury were two incredibly talented women, which felt completely inclusive and diverse - a refreshing jury compared to many other film festivals! Maritte Sørensen has been involved in several film festivals in Sweden, including Lund International Fantastic Film Festival where she was formerly Festival Director. There was also Rose Butler, Programme and Audience Development Coordinator at The Showroom Cinema, which was the venue for this year’s festival. Rose is also a visiting lecturer in Film and Television studies at Sheffield Hallam University. Together we were given the opportunity to discuss the films and choose the best of the bunch - it wasn’t easy but there are the ones we felt really deserved a high recognition.

Honourable mention: The Thing That Ate The Birds

The first aspect that stood out the most was the title, The Things That Ate The Birds, which just screams horror and mystery. Dan Gitsham’s short horror film is a creepy little short that will really leave you with some nightmarish memories to haunt your evenings. The imagery is truly terrifying and there are some stand-out visual effects featured too. It captures the bleakness of the barren Yorkshire landscape and has an equally bleak ending.

3rd: Please Hold

The most interesting and harrowing horror-of-the-near-future short to come from this year. KD Davila’s short, Please Hold, shows Mateo as he starts his ordinary day heading out to work, only to find himself arrested by the police robots and thrown in jail without an explanation as to his crime, and with a sentence of nearly 50 years looming. We all found this one to be particularly important, not only in how it questions the digitalisation of our world, but also the political message it delivers by drawing parallels to prejudiced policing and the industrial prison system. Even though it’s a tough watch, there is some humour thrown in and Erick Lopez gives a fantastic performance.

2nd: Lilias Adie

Every one of us felt like this one was one of the most powerful and moving recounts of witchcraft and the horrific torture that numerous women were put through before ultimately coming to their demise. Lilias Adie from Elize du Toit, is a true retelling of how a woman named Lilias Adie was accused of witchcraft and died after a month of imprisonment and torture. Although it’s a story that feels like it’s been told before, this portrayal is a refreshing take with its atmospheric yet warm depiction of women and the environment of that time, with stunning cinematography from Laura Bellingham. Kate Dickie is absolutely astonishing in this, bringing so much raw emotion to the role.

1st: You’re Dead Helene

This was an unanimous decision from Maritte, Rose and myself, with us all immediately detailing it as our top film. You’re Dead Helen is from Michiel Blanchart, and follows Maxime as he tries to navigate leaving his girlfriend Helene, but there’s one big problem that makes this break-up tougher than normal - Helene is dead. This one is something a little different to your typical horror story by balancing humour, horror and the power of human connection and emotion. A flawless portrayal of grief and mourning, with two amazing performances from Theophile Roux and Lucile Vignolles, who breathe live and death into their characters. This is a beautiful horror short that will make you jump, laugh, scream and cry.

When people think of horror films, slashers are often the first thing that comes to mind. The sub-genres also spawned a wealth of horror icons: Freddy, Jason, Michael, Chucky - characters so recognisable we’re on first name terms with them. In many ways the slasher distills the genre down to some of its fundamental parts - fear, violence and murder.

5 Oct 2023

3 Oct 2023

[Ghouls Podcast] Maniac (2012) with Zoë Rose Smith and Iona Smith

3 Oct 2023

Throughout September we were looking at slasher films, and therefore we decided to cover a slasher film that could be considered as an underrated gem in the horror genre. And the perfect film for this was Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 remake of MANIAC.

3 Oct 2023

24 Sept 2023

[Editorial] If Looks Could Kill: Tom Savini’s Practical Effects in Maniac (1980)

24 Sept 2023

In the late seventies and early eighties, one man was considered the curator of all things gore in America. During the lovingly named splatter decade, Tom Savini worked on masterpieces of blood and viscera like Dawn of the Dead (1978), a film which gained the attention of hopeful director William Lustig, a man only known for making pornography before his step into horror.

24 Sept 2023

11 Sept 2023

[Editorial] Deeper Cuts: 13 Non-Typical Slashers

11 Sept 2023

Looking for some different slasher film recommendations? Then look no fruther as Ariel Powers-Schaub has 13 non-typical slasher horror films for you to watch.

11 Sept 2023

10 Sept 2023

[Editorial] Editor’s Note: Making a slash back into September

10 Sept 2023

Even though they are not to my personal liking, there is no denying that slasher films have been an important basis for the horror genre, and helped to build the foundations for other sub-genres throughout the years.

10 Sept 2023

31 Aug 2023

[Editorial] 8 Mind Horror Short films

31 Aug 2023

But some of the most terrifying horrors are those that take place entirely under the skin, where the mind is the location of the fear. Psychological horror has the power to unsettle by calling into question the basis of the self - one's own brain.

31 Aug 2023

20 Aug 2023

[Editorial] Eat Shit and Die: Watching The Human Centipede (2009) in Post-Roe America

20 Aug 2023

On Saturday, 17th June 2023, I sat down with two friends to watch The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) and The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2012). I was nervous to be grossed out (I can’t really handle the idea of eating shit) but excited to cross these two films off my list.

20 Aug 2023

13 Aug 2023

[Editorial] Top 15 Female-Focused Mind Horror Films

13 Aug 2023

Many of the most effective horror films involve blurring the lines between waking life and a nightmare. When women in horror are emotionally and psychologically manipulated – whether by other people or more malicious supernatural forces – viewers are pulled into their inner worlds, often left with a chilling unease and the question of where reality ends and the horror begins.

13 Aug 2023

31 Jul 2023

[Editorial] 8 Body Horror Short films

31 Jul 2023

Body horror is one of the fundamental pillars of the horror genre and crops up in some form or another in a huge variety of works. There's straightforward gore - the inherent horror of seeing the body mutilated, and also more nuanced fears.

31 Jul 2023