Soho Horror Film Festival, the world's biggest LGBTQ+ horror film festival, returns this 13 – 15 June for its 6th annual online celebration of queer horror with Sohome Horror Pride, for which we're proud to bring you the the exclusive lineup reveal.
Before we jump into the reveal, here's what festival director Mitch Harrod has to say of this year's edition, and the importance of a festival like Sohome in this current climate:
“Times may feel like the apocalypse with rights being revoked, sponsors jumping ship, books being banned and narratives being erased, but let the horror history books set the record straight: queer is here- always has and always will be. It is an honour always to get to stand with the forefront of the genre and especially platform so many incredible filmmakers and voices from our LGBTQ+ creatives, as well as always provide a safe space for our queer community. The festival will never not stand proud with that at its dark bleeding heart”.
This year, Sohome Horror Pride boasts 10 feature films and 25 short films from around the world, showcasing the best in LGBTQ+ filmmaking. Taking place thematically over the Friday the 13 th of June weekend, Sohome is putting the camp in Camp Crystal Lake with a festival strand focus on “Queering the Slasher”, including the European Premiere of Tim Connolly’s Black Theta, described as “a gnarly flaming love-letter to 00s post modern slashers.”
There's also the International Premiere of The Brooklyn Butcher, which Sohome irresistibility describe as “if Abel Ferrera made a bear-filled version of Paris, Je T'aime.” Following up, Mary Beth McAndrews' rape revenge saga Bystanders brings feminine fury and vigilante vindication to the cabin in the woods killer trope.
The slasher theme continues with The Premiere from writer, director, star Sam Pezzullo, a mockumentary of a documentary of a musical of a film that finds one hilariously narcissistic Scream fanatic taking a stab at stardom as he seeks to make a Broadway smash out of Ghostface. Doubling down on the Scream fandom, the festival will host a live edition of the Horror Queers Podcast, where the inimitable hosts Trace and Joe will hold a live commentary of Scream 3 and finally settle the score: are Gail Weather’s bangs really that bad?
Sohome Horror Pride will also host two exclusive live events as part of it’s slasher focus: ‘FriGay The 13th ’ a tongue in cheek journey through the queerest moments in slasher history, and for the 40 th anniversary of the “gayest horror ever made”A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2, there will be a very special homage to and revision of the film featuring guests and surprises in the unmissable Jesse’s Revenge.
Other UK Premieres include the the Fiona Douriff-starring mind-bending sapphic sci-fi noir Psychonaut, a poetic and romantic sail into a vampire death cult from Aaron Pagniano with their feature debut Sunset on the River Styx, David-Jan Bronsgeest's Binary which sees body dysmorphia takes monstrous form in a trans reckoning industrial nightmare, and Marwan Mokbel’s haunting and healing The Judgement, which sees the ghosts of both hereditary fears and ancestral folklore collide.
Also screening at the festival, portmanteau hits the road in Parker Brennon’s chilling compendium of campfire fear Hauntology, a low budget horror director gets lost in his work with the meta-textual nightmare There's a Zombie Outside from Michael Varrati. Closing the event are festival favourites Kaye Adelaide and Mariel Sharpe with their feature debut The Rebrand, a hilarious and jump filled evisceration of social media influence culture that you’ll be left quoting all year.
Sohome Horror Pride offers a Pay-What-You-Can price basis for accessibility and inclusivity. A recommended donation of £50 will both help cover the costs of the festival, with a proportion of all donations will be given to Not A Phase, a charity that provides support for Trans, Non Binary and Gender diverse adults across the UK.
