Terror-Fi Film Festival has just announced its 2024 line-up. Liam Maguren guides you through all the lovingly sick-n-twisted films the fest is bringing to NZ cinemas.
Beloved genre film festival Terror-Fi returns with another strong line-up of hotly anticipated horror cinema treats, destined cult favourites, and a couple of significant retro screenings as well as a free showcase of local NZ short films (AK & WGTN only).
The fest kicks off 30 October in Wellington (30 Oct – 3 Nov), Auckland (30 Oct & 7 – 10 Nov), and Christchurch (30 Oct & 14 – 17 Nov). You can grab tickets, a fan badge (which will get you into all the films), and merch over at the official site.
Here’s absolutely everything playing at Terror-Fi Film Festival 2024:
Heretic
NZ Premiere | Opening Night Film #1
Notting Hill heartthrob and theatrical Paddington 2 villain Hugh Grant shows his sinister side in this A24 horror. Here he plays Mr. Reed, a man who welcomes two young door-to-door missionaries into his home. They’re intent on spreading the word of their Lord. He’s intend in upending their entire belief system… through a diabolical game of cat-n-mouse.
Terrifier 3
NZ Premiere | Opening Night Film #2
Taking Joker’s spot as cinema’s most profitable lunatic clown in 2024, Art brings his ridiculously gory US box office hit to Aotearoa. Technically the fourth film in the franchise (if you include All Hallows’ Eve), this ho-ho-horribly violent envelope-pusher sets the scares during Christmas.
Strange Darling
NZ Premiere | Closing Night Film
This word-of-mouth wonder has been steadily collecting buzz on the film festival circuit. Starting with a one-night stand, it doesn’t take long for this psychological thriller to spiral the situation out of control. Where exactly, we won’t say. Do yourself a favour and go into this one cold.
Nightbitch
NZ Premiere
Amy Adams leads filmmaker Marielle Heller’s (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) unique take on a creature feature about an artist who had to hit pause on her career and become a stay-at-home mum. When she finds a nightly routine, her domesticated life takes an unusual turn.
U Are the Universe
NZ Premiere
One for those who adore independent filmmakers taking giant sci-fi swings with crafty ideas. Earth has exploded, leaving a Ukrainian space trucker as the only person in the universe. That is, until he receives a call from someone on a distant space station…
Things Will Be Different
NZ Premiere
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time in this SXSW hit. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.
Else
NZ Premiere
This indie French feature brings romance to the body-horror genre. A meet-cute like no other, the story follows two lovebirds during a viral outbreak where people’s bodies merge with inanimate objects.
Gut Instinct
World Premiere
The only film in the festival where you—the audience—are a character in the movie. This heady mix of sci-fi, documentary, and faux public service announcement aims to educate its participants on the invisible aliens who have been lurking in our stomachs for decades while simultaneously using light and sound to purge these invaders from your body.
UFO Sweden
NZ Premiere
Terror-Fi describes this one as having “Super 8 vibes and a Scandi sense of humour” which is quite the sell. A man is assumed dead. His daughter suspects a UFO abduction. This sends her on a journey filled with UFO expeditions, conspiracies and inexplicable phenomena.
The Waves of Madness
NZ Premiere
Boasting the unique title of The World’s First Side-Scrolling Horror Movie, this Aussie-made flick revolves around a special agent who answers a distress call from a round-the-world cruise, only to find the ship eerily abandoned and haunted by a malevolent force that twists sanity into terror.
Black Sheep
4K Remaster
This glorious restoration of the Kiwi black comedy horror classic makes its World Premiere at Terror-Fi. Director Jonathan King channelled the spirit of early splatter-lovin’ Peter Jackson with this specifically-New-Zealand twist on the zombie genre. The tagline says it all, really: “There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand… and they’re pissed off!”
Scarfies
25th Anniversary
The feature debut from local filmmaking legend Robert Sarkies turns 25 this year. This comedy thriller centres on six Otago Uni students who stumble upon a crime they should never have discovered. Keep an eye out for a young Taika Waititi.
