Last Updated on August 26, 2025 by FANGORIA Staff
Don't overlook the Overlook Film Festival. Nestled in one of the most haunted cities in America, the New Orleans-based festival is entirely volunteer-run, created by fans for fans. But make no mistake — these guys know what they're doing. Festival co-founders Landon Zakheim and Michael Lerman are festival veterans.
Zakheim, “a short film programmer at Sundance, an associate programmer at Tribeca and a senior programmer for the Philadelphia Film Festival, while Lerman is the artistic director of the Philadelphia Film Society and has also programmed for the Toronto International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest.” You can read more about that in the recent Overlook Film Fest Variety article.
For fans, by fans may seem like an easy tagline, but stepping foot into the festival, I'd bet good money that you would feel the authenticity of that statement pretty immediately.
This year's opening night film was Christopher Landon's Drop. The Freaky and Happy Death Day director tends to play in the horror comedy sandbox. Drop is a departure from his signature humor, focusing on a woman on a first date who is terrorized by an unseen culprit sending her threatening airdrops from inside the restaurant.
Everyone is a suspect, and the stakes are high when the digital assailant reveals there's a masked gunman in her home, holding her sister and son hostage. The catch? They can go free IF she kills her date.
Due to the premise, Landon is primarily working in a single location here — the restaurant where this date is taking place. Landon and team constructed the space from scratch, with a beautiful design that allows for some very specific camera movements and a location we don't get sick of looking at. Restaurant scenes in movies tend to consist of a cacophony of sounds, showcasing everything from murmured chatter to utensils scraping on plates.
Landon does something very interesting here with sound isolation that heightens the suspenseful atmosphere. Drop has been touted as a Hitchcock-style thriller, but during a post-screening Q&A, the director said, “This felt like the Wes Craven movie I was supposed to make,” and that felt pretty fitting.
If you're a fan of Landon's horror comedies, don't fret. While Drop is by no means a comedy, the prime first date banter lends itself to a healthy amount of charm and laughs.
The Drop premiere was followed by a 40th anniversary 4K restoration screening of Re-Animator with our Queen Barbara Crampton in attendance and FANGORIA's very own EIC Phil Nobile Jr. presenting. Phil opened up the screening with an incredible tribute to both Re-Animator and Crampton.
If you're familiar with the movie, you'll know there's an iconic scream at the end when the screen cuts to black and the credits begin to roll. Since Barbara was in the house, Phil thought it would be fun to have her do the scream live. And right on cue, she did. Now, I've seen Re-Animator many times, but I can say with absolute certainty this is the only time I've had Barbara Crampton do the scream live.
The post-screening Q&A was lively and entertaining, and there was even a Dr. Herbert West and Dan Cain cosplay in the audience. Barbara shared some stories from the set, and the queen held court until we had to vacate the theater. If you're a subscriber to the weekly FANGORIA newsletter, Terror Teletype, you were treated with Phil's heartfelt Re-Animator and Barbara Crampton introduction the morning after the screening.
On the other side of town, Shudder hosted a tenth-anniversary party, which began with a good old-fashioned New Orleans second-line parade marching through the French Quarter. The parade included a gaggle of Frendo clowns, an homage to Clown In A Cornfield, and Grand Marshalls The Boulet Brothers, culminating at the Toulouse theater.
Friday was a good day indeed, and the programming included two of my favorite movies of the fest. But first, we started the day with a quick cemetery tour. This was our Fango subscriber community manager Kimberly Leszak's first visit to this beautiful city, and there are certain things you've just gotta do. After taking in a bit of New Orleans history and marveling at the resting places of Marie Laveau and Nic Cage's massive pyramid, we stopped in for a lovely brunch with festival folks.
We followed up our festival brunch with a cup of the best coffee in the city and hopped a streetcar Uptown. I have spent two years thinking about a specific flavor that this coffee shop had the last time I was here. Alas, it was not on the menu, and nobody in all of French Truck Coffee knew what I was talking about, so it's very likely I had a ghost barista on my last visit.
We headed back to the Prytania Uptown for a twisted body horror take on the classic Cinderella fairytale, The Ugly Stepsister. Emilie Blichfeldt's feature directorial debut contains equal parts Czech New Wave echoes and body horror so repulsive that folks have reportedly puked in the aisles. It's a perfect blend of beauty and body horror. Blichfeldt's incredibly specific vision bleeds into every frame, solidifying Von Stepsister as one of my favorite things I've seen this year.
From this point on, I'll be first in line for anything Blichfeldt does. During the post-screening Q&A, Blichfeldt shouted out Coralie Fargeat. Of course, she didn't know about The Substance while making Stepsister, but she figured Coralie is paving the way for theatrical releases of body horror for the masses. Blichfeldt was clear about making a distinction between gore and body horror, where gore can be done for the sake of gore and gross-out factor, but body horror means something. People may be puking in the aisles, but it's puking with a purpose. And we can get behind that sentiment.
I closed out Friday night with Addison Heimann's psychosexual Touch Me. Heimann has managed to make something that feels so deeply personal, while simultaneously being relatable and incredibly strange. I did not expect “relatable“ to be high on my list of descriptors for a movie containing so much… well, you'll see.
Make this psychosexual alien horror a priority watch the first chance you get. Wrapped within a tale of tentacles and extraterrestrial master plans, is an exploration of toxic relationships (both platonic and romantic) amongst other intense issues and how we grapple with them. And if that sounds heavy, don't worry; there's also a lot of alien hip-hop dancing and practical FX by our pals at Russell FX.
Saturday afternoon, it was back to Prytania Uptown for Natasha Kermani's Abraham's Boys. Adapted from a short story by The Black Phone author Joe Hill, the tale is a sequel to Dracula. Abraham Van Helsing and his two sons flee to the US to escape their past, and if that worked out well for Abraham and his boys, well then Joe Hill wouldn't be writing about it and Kermani's film wouldn't be World Premiering at the Overlook Film Festival. If the idea of a Western and Gothic Horror mashup excites you, you're in for a treat.
Saturday night's “closing night film“ was Eli Craig's highly anticipated Clown In A Cornfield. Adapted from Adam Cesare's YA novel, the movie strips the book down to the core concept and heightens the humor. Not surprising, considering Craig helmed one of the most successful contemporary horror comedies, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Clown did not disappoint, and this is absolutely one to see with a crowd.
It's highly unlikely the average multiplex crowd will be as dialed in as the Overlook crowd, but it is a movie enhanced by hootin' and hollerin' featuring some gnarly kills and some real cheer-out-loud moments. So, I hope you are surrounded by a good bunch when you sit down to venture out into the corn for the first time.
Director Eli Craig and the novel's author, Adam Cesare, were on hand for a post-screening Q&A, and it was an absolute delight. I won't spoil anything here, so suffice it to say I had a wonderful time and can't wait to talk with you about it.
Saturday night clownery turned into a Splatterday Night goth party back at the Toulouse Theater. The goth tunes were flowing, the dance floor was thriving, and the good folks at Splatterday Night cut together a killer horror movie montage for some stellar visuals to accompany the music.
Sunday had us back at the Prytania Theater Uptown for the 30th-anniversary screening of Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight with director Ernest Dickerson in attendance. Not only was Dickerson attending for the Q&A, but he was also this year's recipient of the Overlook Film Festival 2025 Master of Horror award. And yours truly was honored with the task of introducing the screening and the award, as well as moderating the post-screening Q&A.
Now, let me tell you. Ernest was all over this festival, sitting in on Flying Lotus' Ash along with FlyLo's curated screenings, and I saw him at Natasha Kermani's Abraham's Boys (which he spoke very highly of, check it out). The man is a fan, and it's a delightful thing to see. Overlook Festival Director Landon Zakheim took to the stage to introduce me, where I said a few words about Mr. Dickerson to introduce him, but really, how can you sum up that sort of career without being afforded the opportunity to wax on for an hour or two?
When Ernest Dickerson came up on the stage to accept his award (which happens to be in the form of a giant axe) he propped that thing up on his shoulder and strutted to center stage with so much swagger, it's like he was born to showcase that award. He stayed and watched the film with fans, and it was my first time seeing it on the big screen, which is always a treat. It's so much fun with a crowd, and seeing all the magic Dickerson and his team were able to create with old-school camera tricks and practical FX was even more special projected on that theater screen with Dickerson in the house.
He was an absolute delight during the Q&A, and my only regret is that I wish we had more time to chat because these things are never long enough, and I had so much more to ask/discuss. But I am glad and grateful to have even a small part in giving this man his well-deserved flowers. Big thanks to Overlook for a bucket list moment. Vaya con diablos. Now, how the hell do we make a sequel happen? Jeryline was set up for so much more Demon Knightery across the world. That's an adventure I'd very much like to go on.
With business attended to and no more Fango-hosted screenings, it was time to relax. We stayed at the Prytania Uptown for Phantom Follies with Zabrecky, a comedy magic show where we may or may not have been touched by some of the 100-year-old theater's phantoms.
The wonderful Zabrecky was followed by a special screening of William Castle's original 13 Ghosts. I have seen this movie more times than I can count. It was a staple in our home as a horror-loving kid, not allowed to watch R-rated movies. We rented it almost every Friday the 13th and piled into the living room to cuddle under blankets for safety, while also inevitably becoming covered in Cheeto dust.
But most of us (myself included) have never seen it with the special “Illusion-O Ghost Viewer” Mr. William Castle showcases at the beginning of the film. Armed with ghost viewers in hand, it was such a special experience to watch the movie as Castle intended. Your girl loves a gimmick and some stellar showmanship! Two traits Mr. Castle had in spades.
The Overlook Film Festival is an intimate experience. There's something about the energy of New Orleans as a whole that lends itself to the fest. And I'm not even solely referring to the city's haunted and spooky elements. (Though those are obvious pros.) The local folks are so darn friendly, I lost track of how many wonderful encounters I had with strangers.
And the festival itself is a uniquely intimate experience. I was able to have the loveliest extended conversations with the likes of Adam Cesare and Eli Craig (Clown In A Cornfield), Joe Hill (Abraham's Boys), Good Boy director Ben Leonberg, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis who you may know from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Ellis was attending the fest with the short film she directed, Last To Leave. Check all of those out when you have the opportunity!
I made lots of new friends while standing outside the theater (this is also where I lost a battle with a fire hydrant; my thigh is still paying the blackened bruise price) while also celebrating friends from home. Natasha Kermani and Fayna Sanchez (Abraham's Boys), Addison Heimann (Touch Me), and Adam Murray (short film The Traveller and the Troll) were all in town with new films I hope you'll have a chance to watch.
Thanks to the Overlook volunteers, organizers, teams, filmmakers, festival attendees, and really everyone for an entire weekend of amazing movies and wonderful conversation. The Overlook Film Festival has managed to create something very special carved out in this vast festival space, and I'll be there whenever I can make it so.
For more, and to see a list of this year's winning films, check this out.
