A wide range of movies will make up the feature film slots of the event from Friday, 1 to Friday, 8 November at The Labia Theatre, Cape Town and on Thursday, 31 October at Ster-Kinekor Cavendish. From classics and rarities, to indies and underground strangeness, one won't see in any other local cinema, most making their SA big screen premiere.

Movie highlights include:

Insidious 2, a free sneak preview on Thursday, 31 Octobert at Ster-Kinekor Cavendish. To secure tickets, email [email protected]; Frakenstein's Army, amazing reanimated Nazi mayhem, linked with the Halloween dress-up competition on Friday, 1 November; Broken with the producer/lead actress attending and chatting to the audience afterwards on Sunday, 3 November; The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, a 1923 silent classic with a Makabra Ensemble live soundtrack performance on Wednesday, 6 November; The Rocky Horror Picture Show, an audience participation screening will close the event on Friday, 8 November; Shadow Realm Short Film Collection, eight hours of shorts from around the world in four feature length anthologies; The Otherworld, a mysterious documentary by South African-born Richard Stanley; and Dracula, a 1931 Bela Lugosi classic.

Other movies include:

The Battery, two conflicting ex-baseball players in a world overrun by zombies; Nightmare Box, a surreal psychological mind-trip of a woman reconstructing her memory; Judas Ghost based on bestselling author Simon R. Green's Ghost Finders series; The Taking, an art-horror film; On Air, a German serial killer ropes in a radio talk show host; Cannon Fodder, the first Israeli zombie movie; President Wolfman, a reconstructed film assembled from strange public domain films into a new comedic trip; The Eschatrilogy: Book Of The Dead, three part zombie plague tale; May I Kill U?, a Bafta-winning director's black comedy about a vigilante UK bicycle cop; The Pyramid, Italian four part anthology linked to a doomed artifact; Chimeres, a stylish modern vampire take; The Disco Exorcist, a slice of cheese and demons; Thanatomorphose, a woman's inner decay extends to her physical form; Wasteland, a post apocalyptic/zombie film; and Dark Mountain, a found-footage film reconstructing a documentary crew's disappearance near a legendary mine.

All tickets cost R35 except for The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, whichi has a live soundtrack performance and costs R50. Insidious 2 will be screened for free. To book for any of the films, click here or phone 021 424 5927.

There will be some phenomenal short films from around the globe, which will be compiled into four feature length shows, covering all kinds of Horror/Thriller/Chiller/Weird and Daring subjects, some extremely inventive and brilliantly executed, while others go for scares and shock, some for intelligent story-telling or laughs.

People underestimate short films, but you're missing out on some mind-blowing work that will put many established directors to shame.
Full 8-hour line-up soon to be announced on the website.

The Bloody Parchment literature chapter will include the live fiction reading night by local authors at The Book Lounge, to kick off the festival on Wednesday, 30 October. This will also be the launch night of the third Bloody Parchment short story collection's print version - The Root Cellar & Other Stories. The short story competition will honor the winners with the best stories compiled into the upcoming fourth anthology. To RSVP, email [email protected] or visit the Facebook page.

Bloody Parchment Volume 1 is available as a free e-book download, with Volumes 2 & 3 available as both an eBook and in limited print format. For print copies and more information, click here.

The HorrorFest will again close with an audience participation screening of the cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One can dress-up and bring the various accessories (from newspapers and rice, to toast and flashlights), or buy a kit with the essentials from the LoveCraft stall outside the theatre. Booking is essential.

As to be expected, viewers are encouraged to arrive in all sorts of Halloween outfits and garb. The official Halloween dress-up competition will happen on Friday, 1 November at 20:30, in conjunction with the South African premiere screening of the wild Frakenstein's Army. Prizes for the best dressed include a DVD collection from Ster Kinekor, Next, Nu Metro and Global Discs.

The HorrorFest posters of the last nine years (by Paul Blom, Dr-Benway, Vernon Swart), each featuring festival co-ordinator Sonja, will be on display at Mixa's in Kloof Street. Mixa's will also be the location for the Frankenstein's Army/Halloween dress-up after party. There are free bloody shooters at Mixa's for the first 50 costumed revellers and other ghoulish surpises through the night.

The Alternative Market will offer a range of exciting stalls, including clothing, accessories, books, movies, HorrorFest merchandise, food and drink and lots more on the Labia Thetare terrace, from 16:00 to 21:00 on Saturday, 2 November.

The HorrorFest will again join forces with the Cape Town Zombie Walk to get all the undead in one place for a mass stumble and lurch from Thibault Square to the Company Gardens on Saturday, 26 October.

Sponsors and affiliates include: Cosmesis Advanced Prosthetic Studio; Masque Make-Up & FX Warehouse; Visual Impact; Sound & Motion Studios; Point Blanc Event Tech Solutions; Ster Kinekor Theatres & Home Entertainment; Next Entertainment; Global Discs; SAE Institute; Paul Bothner Music; and Altstadt Printing.