+ A Ghost Story Reading by Adam Z. Robinson from The Book of Darkness & Light and The Ghost Story Book Club podcast

What a way to kick off SHOX 23! After last year's amazing performance at SHOX 22 we just had to invite the supremely talented writer and performer Adam Z. Robinson for another truly unforgettable night of spine-tingling story telling to get us right in the mood for the horror movie which changed everything! If you've never seen Adam live before, act quick as this will sellout in a flash!

The Blair Witch Project • Daniel Myrick / Eduardo Sánchez • 1999 • 1h 27m

Three students decide to go into the Maryland backwoods to cover the mystery behind the Blair Witch incidents. However, they lose their map and things take an unexpected turn.

“I have seen the new face of movie horror and its name is The Blair Witch Project, a groundbreaker in fright that reinvents scary for the new millennium.” - Rolling Stone

"The Blair Witch Project" is the scariest movie I've ever seen. Not the goriest, the grossest, the weirdest, the eeriest, the sickest, the creepiest or the slimiest... Just flat out the scariest." - Washington Post

"A movie which scared the crap out of everybody from Cannes to Sundance, and which is definitely worth the hype." - Film

WITH INTRO BY MIKE MUNCER FROM THE EVOLUTION OF HORROR PODCAST

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS • Chuck Russell • 1987 • 1h 36m

A psychiatrist familiar with knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.

"Arguably the most imaginative of the horror franchise, with a fair number of truly resonant scenes." - Empire Magazine

"A better reason to see Dream Warriors, if indeed there is one, is that it's really pretty gross and neat." - Miami Herald

"The franchise's third (and best) entry..." - The Ringer

WITH INTRO BY BECKY DARKE FROM DON'T POINT THAT HORROR AT ME

NEAR DARK • Kathryn Bigelow • 1987 • 1h 34m

A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.

"As a kid, I was spellbound. As an adult, each revisit brings me new pleasures as I discover layers to Bigelow’s chilling horror masterwork I hadn’t noticed before." - moviefreak.com

"The film’s purgation of terror is as vital and energizing as can be possible. This is one hell of a movie." - Chicago Reader

"Near Dark has filmmaking finesse to spare, but puts its dank characters on display rather than cadging sympathy for them. It is the Blue Velvet of date-night spook shows." - Time

WITH LIVE FOUR-PIECE ORCHESTRA MINIMA!

A true bucket list event for the horror aficionado!

“Minima are one of the leading bands accompanying silent film in Europe.”

NOSFERATU • F. W. Murnau • 1922 • 1h 28m

Nosferatu is one of the silent era’s masterpieces. Its eerie, Gothic feel – and chilling performance from Max Shrek as the vampire – set the template for horror films that followed. Darkly humorous and tender too – this is a story of yearning and the search for fulfilment. 

“Minima’s unmistakeably spine-tingling music clung to each twist of the movie… spellbinding accompaniment.” The Guardian

“A superbly sinister live score by the soundtrack group Minima.” Financial Times

“The atmosphere was absolutely magical, hundreds of people seemed utterly spellbound.” East End Film Festival

+ INTRO BY SINGER-SONGWRITER JACK SAVORETTI AND CHANNEL 4 CEO ALEX MAHON!

SUSPIRIA • Dario Argento • 1977 • 1h 40m

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

"Suspiria is a baroque piece of esoteric expressionism that you enter - and exit - without understanding so much as feeling." - Little White Lies

"There are horror films that scare and there are horror films that quake the senses; Suspiria still rattles decades after its original release." - Slant magazine

"What lingers is not a sense of evil but exhilaration in how far Argento and his fellow filmmakers were willing to go to shock and delight; the movie's sheer exuberance is the cinematic equivalent of a blood transfusion." - The Ringer

+ Our EL GORDO raffle prize draw! On top of the crazy amount of wonderful prizes the winner will take, it’s THE GOLDEN CUTS SLUT IDOL what everyone is dying for this Shocktober!

Also we hand out the coveted ‘SHOX 23 Certificates‘ for the brave folks who purchased the Festival Pass, true CUTS SLUTS!

The Thing • John Carpenter • 1982 • 1h 49m

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

"Every October, I revisit John Carpenter’s “The Thing” to celebrate the month of Halloween, and every year I arrive at the same conclusion: it's one of the most effective horror films ever made." - RogerEbert.com

"The Thing is a peerless masterpiece of relentless suspense, retina-wrecking visual excess and outright, nihilistic terror." - Empire magazine

"While the close-quarters direction is stellar, full of tight, terrifying spaces, and the cast is excellent (led by Kurt Russell), the real strength of the film lies in the special effects by Rob Bottin." - CBR