BIFF’s Bradford After Dark: Horror films from all around the world

James Voller (@James_Voller) previews the Bradford International Film Festival’s Bradford After Dark strand. Old to new, spooky to slashy, British, American, French and Cuban; not just for horror aficionads, but for fans of cinema in general. See bottom of post for dates and times of each film. (image above taken from French horror film

Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF April 19 – 29) has recently started catering for horror fans. Bradford After Dark, now in its second year, is BIFF’s fantastic films section. This year it has quite a brilliant selection: Hammer horror’s The Reptile, the brilliant creature feature, arrives in Bradford. What did zombies look like pre Night of the Living Dead? Find out by watching The Plague of Zombies, a wonderful look at the zombie genre, and shows zombies in a way you’ve probably never seen them before: as mining slaves! Well worth watching. You can also see what zombies look like today… in CUBA!! With the country’s very first zombie film: Juan of the Dead or Juan De Los Muertos. Compared to our very own Zom-Com Shaun of the Dead, this is Cuba’s very fist Zombie comedy and it looks (un)dead funny. Ti West, who has recently been tagged ‘One of America’s best horror directors’, brings his new nerve shredding ghost story The Innkeepers to Bradford. If you are a fan of European horror, fear not; you are also well catered for with Britain and France both represented. Britain has The Devil’s Business, directed by Sean Hogan who combines organised crime and black magic rituals. If you like Kill List, this will definitely be one for you. Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury bring their joint directed horror Livid , and they will be in attendance at the festival on the 21st April for a special Q+A after their film. The film is a promising take on the ‘old dark house’ sub-genre. Not many good ‘old dark house’ films have been released in recent years so we should all be excited by how this one looks. You can check out the trailer for it here

I urge everybody, horror fan or not, to take a look at Bradford After Dark, after all there are six films playing and BIFF are doing a deal if you buy five tickets you get a sixth free. Sound good to you? Of course it does, especially as with all the horror films playing, you will be treated to a short film for free!

Personally, I am most looking forward to The Innkeepers. I am a huge Ti West fan and love all of his films to date, he understands what makes a good horror film. The House of the Devil was a fantastic piece of horror film making and it was a breath of fresh air in a remake-filled genre. I can’t wait to see the film that has got America hiding behind their sofas and earned West that rather large tag. If The Innkeepers doesn’t appeal to you, my second recommended ‘must see’ is Livid, which looks equally excellent, scary and atmospheric.

Whatever you decide to see at Bradford After Dark, I am sure you will have a fantastic time but don’t forget to sleep with the lights on when you get home.

The Reptile (Sat 21st 14:15  & Sat 28th, 18:55)

The Plague of Zombies (Sat 21st 12:00 & Thurs 26th 21:20)

Juan of the Dead (Fri 20th 20:30 & Sun 22nd 18:25)

The Innkeepers (Sat 21st 16:30 & Mon 23rd 21:00)

The Devil’s Business (Sat 21st 19:15 & Fri 27th 21:00)

Livid (Sat 21st 21:30 & Sun 29th 17:20)

Read more of James’ blogging at Wrestle With the Question