If you’re looking to get into the Halloween spirit early, you’re in luck. The New York City Horror Festival kicks off this Wednesday, October 24th at The Cantor Film Center (36 East 8 Street, New York), and runs through Sunday October 28th. This year’s schedule of events include the world premiere SEED the latest from critic pummeling director Uwe Boll, a special screening of the director’s cut of HOSTEL, with an alternate ending and a Q&A session with director Eli Roth afterwards. The highlight of the fest will be A Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Herschell Gordon Lewis, director of such drive in classics as WIZARD OF GORE and BLOOD FEAST. A true independent, Lewis is credited with innovating the ultra-violent grindhouse cinema that has decades later, become a fashionable part of the mainstream. There will be a special screening of Lewis’s 2000 MANIACS with a Q&A session with the director afterwards.
Also on the program are dozens of short films, the premiere of Sean Tretta’s DEATH OF A GHOST HUNTER and Frank Zagarino’s BLOOD RAILS, Gregory Wilson’s THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, Jesus de Sica’s ALONE, Sean Linden’s NOBODY, as well as a filmmakers’ panel and an opening-night party at Don Hill’s Nightclub on the 24th.
For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.NYCHorrorfest.com.