(And yes, I can rightly say that, because I live in York…)
In many respects, it’s strange that a city like York – professedly the most haunted city in England – went for so many years without hosting a horror film festival of its own, but since 2020, Dead Northern has been steadily growing in size and reputation as a regional festival, there for both the avid festival-goers to fill the void between London’s FrightFest and the Halloween-season horror festivals which get going in October, and for those cinema-goers who simply want to support a wide range of genre cinema and events in a very beautiful city (again, bias acknowledged).
For anyone who hasn’t been here, York is a genuinely great place to visit. It has a long and illustrious history, vitally important to the Romans, Saxons and Vikings in turn, with that history visible to a greater or lesser extent in every street and space. All of the following are within easy walking distance of the festival: York Minster, one of the greatest European cathedrals of the medieval period; Museum Gardens – monastic ruins from the Tudor-era Dissolution – and the Yorkshire Museum; the city walls, which are walkable; Clifford’s Tower, the remains of the castle first established by William the Conqueror, and let’s not forget the grave of Dick Turpin – well, the stone at least, as his body was exhumed and moved around by York residents after his first burial, as you do.
But back to the festival! Hosted at York City Screen, Dead Northern runs for three full days – Friday 25th September through Sunday 27th – and will be running a diverse programme of short films and features, with a number of premieres and supporting events. There are two world premieres: Evil Thread, a sentient fashion horror in line with the likes of Slaxx, and Darling, as well as three UK premieres. These are: Free Buffet (a couple with an All-You-Can-Eat buffet facing down bankruptcy, murderous plans and a dark night of the soul); The First Day (an apocalyptic horror we can all enjoy while we hope we don’t face down a real one) and Game Over, where an urban myth meets grisly gamer lore. You can also look out for marine horror, found footage horror, a mockumentary, Wicker-Man adjacent folk horror in Wrath of the Gods, some Filipino mythological horror in Aswang and a late-night screening of the classic sci-fi horror Aliens.
The festival clearly has a lot of love for the short film format – rightly so – and will be running more than fifty short films (including a block of music videos) across the three days: these run in separate screening blocks, organised broadly by theme – so take your pick between body horror, comic carnage, terrifying futurescapes, psychological meltdowns and monsters. Around the schedule, there will be Q&As, talks and a ghost story event – Spirits with Spirits – plus a range of vendors. York City Screen is a Picturehouse cinema, so the food and drink available are really good, too. It’s a good place to be.
If that sounds interesting, then take a look at ticketing options and get it in the calendar!