THE HEXPLOITATION FILM FESTIVAL’s 11th YEAR TO FEATURE FIRST ANIMATED HORROR FEATURE, FIRST EVER HORROR FILM FROM PANAMA, & LOCAL PREMIERES OF AWARD-WINNING CANADIAN HORROR FILMS HUNTER’S MOON and MAKING MONSTERS!
Canadian Premieres of the hyper-violent, feature-length animated horror film TO YOUR LAST DEATH; the very witchy debut horror feature from Panama DIABLO ROJO (PTY); and the explosive action-horror-exploitation parody BULLETS OF JUSTICE are among the Hamilton festival’s First Wave of selections.
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The festival’s full lineup of shorts will be announced later in January. In the meantime, the Hexploitation Film Festival is thrilled to unveil its seven feature film official selections, along with a very special after-party event featuring the world premiere performance of horror rock group Sematary Spawn.
DEATHCEMBER: 24 INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKERS OPEN AN ADVENT CALENDAR OF HORROR
Screening Dates/Times
OPENING NIGHT FILM
Thursday, Feb 20 @ 7:30pm
TO YOUR LAST DEATH: FEATURE LENGTH ANIMATED HORROR WITH A TIME TRAVEL TWIST GOES TO THE EXTREME
In 2016, the Hexploitation Film Festival hosted the Hamilton premiere of NOVA SEED (a completely hand-animated 2D sci-fi adventure), and this year we continue to uncover ground-breaking animation with the Canadian Premiere of Jason Axinn’s hyperviolent sci-fi/horror survival film TO YOUR LEAST DEATH. After emerging as the sole survivor in a deadly revenge game set up by her wealthy industrialist father (voiced by Ray Wise of ROBOCOP and TWIN PEAKS), Miriam receives an offer from a supernatural entity (DEADPOOL and FIREFLY actress Morena Baccarin) to go back in time and try again. Now, Miriam must survive both her father’s bloodlust and the extra-dimensional Gamemaster’s everchanging rules to save her siblings as she relives the worst night of her life. TO YOUR LAST DEATH also stars the powerhouse vocal talents of Bill Moseley (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2), Dani Lennon (THE LOVE WITCH), and the legendary William Shatner (STAR TREK). Combining the gruesome violence of SAW with the time travel of GROUNDHOG'S DAY and HAPPY DEATH DAY 2 U, TO YOUR LAST DEATH is a pulse-pounding and visually vibrant fresh new entry into the genre of horror and adult animation.
Screening Dates/Times
Friday, Feb 21 @ 8:00pm
Friday, Feb 21 @ 8:00pm
BLOW YOUR MIND WITH THE EXPLOSIVE CANADIAN PREMIERE OF BULLETS OF JUSTICE FEATURING DANNY TREJO
Screening Dates/Times
Friday, Feb 21 @ 10:00pm
SAY GOODBYE TO GOOD TASTE AND HELLO TO NUDE PILLOW FIGHTS AT MIDNIGHT SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLUMBER PARTY CANADIAN PREMIERE
The perfect Midnight Movie mix of gory, gross-out horror comedy and excessive nudity, SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLUMBER PARTY (Canadian Premiere) is American writer/director Dustin Mills's ultimate lover letter to all fringe and psychotronic film-making. What starts as a debauched annual slumber party for a tight knit group of gal pals becomes a fight for their lives when supernatural evil threatens to destroy the world--and even worse, ruin the one night of the year the ladies get to have a nude pillow fight. Trapped by magic, surrounded by evil, and very underdressed, will they survive the night? Or will this slumber party become a slaughterhouse? Fusing the sensibilities of horror comedies like EVIL DEAD II with direct-to-video exploitation, SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLUMBER PARTY will screen in the festival’s coveted and very popular Midnight Movie slot.
Screening Dates/Times
MIDNIGHT MOVIE: Friday, Feb 21 @ 11:45pm
FIRST EVER HORROR FILM FROM PANAMA DIABLO ROJO (PTY) INTRODUCES CANADA TO THE DARK WORLD OF CHIRIQUÍ FOLKLORE AND MONSTERS
FIRST EVER HORROR FILM FROM PANAMA DIABLO ROJO (PTY) INTRODUCES CANADA TO THE DARK WORLD OF CHIRIQUÍ FOLKLORE AND MONSTERS
In Panama City (abbrev. PTY), a bus driver, his assistant, and two cops falls victim to a mysterious spell and end up lost in the Jungles of Chiriquí where they will have to survive from the creatures of the night, with only the old bus (one of the city's fabled Diablo Rojo aka. Red Devil buses) as refuge. The debut film from Panama director Sol Moreno, DIABLO ROJO (PTY) is a trip to the depths of the unknown that captures the vibrant culture of Panama City and explores the traditional folk monsters of Panama's cultural interior: witches and demons which have been passed down in tales for generations by oral tradition and appear for the first time on film in what is being billed as Panama's first horror film. DIABLO ROJO (Canadian Premiere) offers plentiful practical special effects and a beautiful score composed by maestro Ricardo Risco, assistant director of the Panama Symphony Orchestra.
Screening Dates/Times
Saturday, Feb 22 @ 3:30pm
Screening Dates/Times
Saturday, Feb 22 @ 3:30pm
RISING CANADIAN DIRECTOR JUSTIN HARDING RETURNS TO HXFF WITH HAMILTON PREMIERE OF AWARD-WINNING DEBUT FEATURE: MAKING MONSTERS
Ontario-based filmmaker Justin Harding (a two-time HXFF award winner for his shorts KOOKIE and LATCHED), brings to Hamilton his gripping and grisly feature film debut MAKING MONSTERS, which he co-directed with collaborator Rob Brunner. Tim Loden (BLOODLINES, VANTASTIC) stars as Christian Brand, a celebrity YouTuber known for his highly popular scare prank channel where is wife Allison (Alana Elmer) is the somewhat reluctant victim/star. When an old friend of Christian's offers to have them stay over at his rural place (a church that's been converted into a home and movie makeup studio), Christian and Allison agree to join him; however, once they arrive, things don't feel right. Christian didn't tell Allison his friend was a monster makeup artist and his studio would be full of gross, ghoulish masks and terrifying figures. It all starts to feel like a prank scare setup, especially when Allison starts to see things she can't explain in the corner of dark rooms and out the corner of her eyes. Is Christian setting her up for the scare of all scares, or is something more sinister afoot? Delivering solid frights, slasher-like suspense, and surprising twists, MAKING MONSTERS is also a meta-commentary on why we like to be scared and scare others, and to what extent that behavior is ultimately unhealthy for society.
Saturday, Feb 22 @ 5:30pm
A HOWLING GOOD TIME IN HAMILTON: WEREWOLF MYSTERY HUNTER’S MOON TO HAVE CLOSING NIGHT LOCAL PREMIERE
Screening Dates/Times
Friday, Feb 22 @ 7:30pm
HORROR ROCK AFTER-PARTY @ THIS AIN’T HOLLYWOOD: CHRIS ALEXANDER, BLOOD OPERA, SEMATARY SPAWN
The Hexploitation Film Festival celebrates its closing night with a Hex-travaganza of horror-rock starring BLOOD OPERA, SEMATARY SPAWN, and CHRIS ALEXANDER.
$10.00 at the door or FREE with a Hex Film Fest 3-day pass.
80's Horror Movie Soundtracks & Originals played live with a stage show!
Hamilton-based horror-rock for soundtracks since 2017. Songs featured in Lycanimator, Creature From Cannibal Creek, Slimoids, Exorcism of the Dead and many more!
Alexander is the former editor-in-chief (and current columnist) for FANGORIA as well as the editor and co-founder of cult film magazine DELIRIUM. He is the writer, director and composer of the films BLOOD FOR IRINA, QUEEN OF BLOOD, BLOOD DYNASTY, FEMALE WEREWOLF and NECROPOLIS: LEGION (produced for Full Moon Features). As a musician he has released the albums MUSIC FOR MURDER (Giallo Disco Records), BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (Future City Records) and THEY DRINK YOUR BLOOD. Alexander - along with drummer David Bertrand - will bring his live performance of psychedelic, post-industrial cinematic synth-rock to the Hexploitation stage. Get ready for a dark, heavy and trippy amalgam of vintage analog John Carpenter ambience and organ-fueled Goblin groove with an experimental edge.
Festival Passes are now on Sale, and the full lineup of shorts will be announced in mid-January.
The Hexploitation Film Festival returns to the Staircase Café Theatre (27 Dundurn St. N) February 20 -22, followed by an after-party of horror rock featuring Chris Alexander, Blood Opera, and the world premiere of Sematary Spawn at This Ain’t Hollywood (345 James St N)
