This programme of events will focus on the creatures which have haunted our screens and dreams for over a century. These choices will chart how the monsters of horror have made physical the anxieties of their times, and how we react when faced with the monster within.
As part of In Dreams Are Monsters, Foyle Film Festival 2022 will present a programme of horror films this November, taking place at Nerve Centre.
Thursday 24 November 2022 7pm:
Foyle Film Festival in partnership with Ulster University presents: Candyman & Bloody Women
Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror (Critical Conversations in Horror Studies)
This event is dedicated to women who have played an integral part of horror cinema, as creators, consumers, and critics, from the very start - shaping and supporting what horror cinema is. A screening of Nia DaCosta’s Candyman (2018) is followed by a discussion on the women that have defined the genre of horror as a cultural institution, scholarly discipline and site of pleasure. The event is curated and presented by Dr. Victoria McCollum, Ulster University and Director Aislinn Clarke.
McCollum and Clarke are co-editors of Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror (2022 University Press). The book, published as part of the Critical Conversations in Cinema series traces changing gender dynamics in the horror film industry.
Bloody Women traces changing gender dynamics in the horror film industry to explore how women have played a crucial role in defining the genre of horror understood as a scholarly discipline, cultural institution, and site of pleasure.
Candyman (2018)
Anthony McCoy, a visual artist, gets obsessed with the legend of the Candyman. He soon stumbles into insanity, unravelling some unknown truths. A sequel to the horror film Candyman (1992) which returns to the now-gentrified Chicago neighbourhood where the legend began.
“DaCosta’s visual flair is apparent, from the way she details flesh turning to rotten honeycomb, to the visceral squelch of pressing open a wound.” - Simran Hans, The Observer.
Saturday 26 November 2022 8pm:
Foyle Film Festival & In your Space Circus present Nightmare On Elm Street – Interactive Cinema Experience
Teenager Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
“Craven creates a believable suburban world for his characters, who behave and act far more realistically and sympathetically than the [folks] who populated most slasher movies. And more importantly, the dream sequences are surreal and engrossing, giving the film an offbeat yet totally engaging feel.” - Eric Goldman, IGN.
Supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.