Salem Horror Fest to present 100 films on six screens with premieres, retrospectives, and debut restorations

Satan Wants You, a new documentary that tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited, leads the program following its world premiere at SXSW

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Salem MA - March 13, 2023 - Named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “best genre festivals in the world,” Salem Horror Fest has announced the full lineup for their sixth annual presentation, which kicks off on Thursday, April 20, and runs through Sunday, April 30.

The official program begins with a featured showcase of Satan Wants You, a new documentary that tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited by Michelle Remembers, a lurid memoir by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith. The film, from directors Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, will have its world premiere at SXSW.

Sixty-six features and shorts will compete for jury and audience awards, and be considered for the George A. Romero Fellowship at Cinema Salem. The 2023 official selection features a 50/50 split of men and women filmmakers; one third identified as queer.

“The world is becoming an increasingly scary place, but Salem remains queer as fuck with zero tolerance for fascist bullshit,” said festival director Kay Lynch. “It’ll be wonderful for everyone to enjoy Salem in the springtime and to fully appreciate its beauty as a historic, seaside community full of welcoming weirdos.”

Filmgoers will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in two mini-festivals of international horror pictures. Weekend one showcases four Czech films: brand new restorations ofThe Ninth Heart (1979), and Morgiana (1972) from Severin Films, as well as Prague Nights (1969) and The Pied Piper (1986)  from Deaf Crocodile films. Weekend two dives into South Asian horror with a four-film retrospective of the Ramsay Brothers from the Bollywood Crypt including Mahakaal (The Monster, 1994), Veerana (The Wilderness, 1988), Aatma (The Spirit, 2006), and Purana Mandir​ (The Old Temple, 1984).

Additional repertory screenings will include The Fog (1980), Night of the Demons (1988), Demons (1985), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Fright Night (1985), Fright Night: Part II (1988), and Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. The Faculty of Horror, and Horror Queers podcasts will present The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and The Hitcher (1986) respectively for live episodes. Also from Severin Films, a new restoration of Bakeneko: A Vengeful Spirit will be followed by a Miskatonic Institute of Horror lecture entitled, “The Cat Came Back: Female Familiars in the Horror Genre,”  presented by author Alex West (“The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle,” “Films of the New French Extremity”).

For more details, and pass info, visit Salem Horror Fest. Previously, the festival announced an opening night event at the Peabody Essex Museum with Tony Todd (Candyman), and author-critic Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark & Days Bewitched) for a special screening of Candyman (1992) with a Q&A moderated by editor-in-chief Andrea Subissati (Rue Morgue Magazine). Other guests include Linnea Quigley, Amelia Kinkade, Geretta Geretta, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, and Stephen Geoffreys.

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ABOUT SALEM HORROR FEST

Salem Horror Fest is a celebration of diverse voices and innovative filmmaking within a genre that best reflects our cultural demons and anxieties. Named one of the World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals by MovieMaker Magazine, the annual event has featured hundreds of independent filmmakers and Hollywood icons such as Cassandra Peterson, John Waters, Joe Dante, Linnea Quigley, John Kassir, Dee Wallace, Rachel True, Riccou Browning, and Ken Foree.

ABOUT CINEMA SALEM

Over the last 20 years, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) has distinguished itself as one of the fastest-growing art museums in North America. Founded in 1799, it is also the country’s oldest continuously operating museum. At its heart is a mission to enrich and transform people’s lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes and knowledge of themselves and the wider world.

ABOUT KAY LYNCH

Kay Lynch is the Founder of Salem Horror Fest and Creative Director of Cinema Salem. She has launched numerous independent businesses, organizations and projects over the last twenty years. Formerly the Director of Marketing for Manhunt and Jack’d, Lynch held several marketing and PR positions for art organizations such as North Shore Music Theater, Shaolin Liu Performance Center, Salem State University, and has worked with hundreds of notable figures including Elvira, John Waters, Tony Todd, Joe Dante, Elizabeth Warren, and DeRay Mckesson.

Tony Todd to headline opening night of Salem Horror Fest with keynote speaker Kier-La Janisse at the Peabody Essex Museum

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The evening kickoff will include a screening of the 1992 film Candyman with Q&A moderated by Rue Morgue Magazine editor Andrea Subissati

Salem, Massachusetts - February 14, 2023 - Named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “best genre festivals in the world,” Salem Horror Fest has announced the kickoff to their sixth edition with an opening night program to be held at the Peabody Essex Museum on Thursday, April 20, 2023.

The event will honor Hollywood legend Tony Todd for his groundbreaking performance originating the iconic role of Candyman from the 1992 film, subsequent sequels in addition to his towering filmography of more than 250 credits including Night of the Living Dead, The Crow, Final Destination with recurring roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, The Flash, 24, Stargate SG-1, Scream: The TV Series.

Author and film critic Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror) will provide a keynote speech about the role of folklore in our history and culture followed by a special screening of the original Candyman and Q&A with Tony Todd moderated by editor and film critic Andrea Subissati (Rue Morgue Magazine, The Faculty of Horror).

“Few people embody the commanding presence, stature, and talent that Tony does. A Hollywood legend, yes, but also an educator with an extraordinary work ethic and kind soul. It is truly an honor to welcome him to Salem,” says festival director Kay Lynch. 2023 will mark an expansive return to pre-COVID levels of production. Previous opening night events honored esteemed guests such as Cassandra Peterson and John Waters.

Salem Horror Fest, in partnership with Cinema Salem and Bit Bar, will run Thursday, April 20 through Sunday, April 30 featuring dozens of premieres, filmmakers and special guests including Linnea Quigley, Amelia Kinkade, Geretta Geretta, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys with live podcasts Faculty of Horror and Horror Queers. General Admission, VIP Meet & Greet packages and weekend passes are now available for purchase at salemhorror.com. Films, programs, and additional guests to be announced soon.

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ABOUT SALEM HORROR FEST

Salem Horror Fest is a celebration of diverse voices and innovative filmmaking within a genre that best reflects our cultural demons and anxieties. Named one of the World’s Best Genre Festivals by MovieMaker Magazine, the annual event has featured hundreds of independent filmmakers and Hollywood icons such as Cassandra Peterson, John Waters, Joe Dante, Linnea Quigley, John Kassir, Dee Wallace, Rachel True, Riccou Browning, and Ken Foree.

ABOUT PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM

Over the last 20 years, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) has distinguished itself as one of the fastest-growing art museums in North America. Founded in 1799, it is also the country’s oldest continuously operating museum. At its heart is a mission to enrich and transform people's lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes and knowledge of themselves and the wider world.

ABOUT TONY TODD

Tony Todd is perhaps best known for his chilling portrayal in the title role of CANDYMAN.

Since his film debut in the motion picture SLEEPWALK in 1986, followed almost immediately by a starring role in Oliver Stone's Academy Award winning film, PLATOON. This charismatic six foot five-inch-tall actor has consistently turned in compelling performance after compelling performance.

Tony has become a film icon in the horror and sci-fi realms starring in not only the CANDYMAN franchise, the HATCHET franchise, and also in the FINAL DESTINATION franchise of hit films. Films grossing more than $6 Billion at the box office worldwide have made the name Tony Todd box office gold. Tony has embarked upon his next great franchise staring in the film HELL FEST for producer Gale Ann Hurd.

Tony has added his unique talents to the films TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, THE ROCK, THE CROW, LEAN ON ME, BIRD, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and THE SECRET from the award-winning team of Erick Zonka and Virginie Wagon (Dream Life of Angels). A few of the smaller gem films that Tony has starred in have been MANSFIELD 12, THE MAN FROM EARTH, A NIGHT AT THE BIJOU, CHANGING THE GAME, and starring and producing the cult classic SUSHI GIRL. Tony has recently completed starring in the films WEST OF HELL alongside Lance Henriksen and renewed his relationship with CANDYMAN director Bernard Rose in the reimagined FRANKENSTEIN.

Tony has also made his impact on television having recently guest starred in RIVERDALE for the CW, ROOM 104 for HBO, recurring in SCREAM for MTV, and as the Number 1 villain ‘Zoom’ on the hugely successful CW series THE FLASH, as well as in the series DEAD OF SUMMER for Freeform. Tony has also made his presence felt on the hit CBS show HAWAII 5-0, and in the NBC series THE EVENT and recurred on two television series CHUCK for NBC and 24 for FBC. Some of Tony’s past guest starring television appearances include MASTERS OF HORROR, CRIMINAL MINDS, WITHOUT A TRACE, BOSTON LEGAL, NYPD BLUE, BOSTON PUBLIC, SMALLVILLE, LAW AND ORDER, CROSSING JORDAN, HOMICIDE, XENA, HERCULES, THE X-FILES, ANDROMEDA, as well as recurring roles on all three incarnations of STAR TREK.

Tony’s television movies include starring roles in TRUE WOMEN, THE BLACK FOX, BUTTER, THE LAST ELEPHANT, BABYLON 5: A CALL TO ARMS, and CONTROL FACTOR, just to name a few.

Tony Todd is not only an icon in the Horror/Sci-Fi world, but also in the animated and gaming worlds as well. Tony has voiced many animated characters in film, television, and games the most notable being CALL TO DUTY: BLACK OPS, TRANSFORMERS PRIME, JUSTICE LEAGUE, HALF LIFE 2, DOTA and MARVEL SUPERHERO SQUAD.

Tony's passion for acting began in theater, first at the University of Connecticut, and then at the renowned Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute. Tony was at the inception of the Trinity Rep. His theater credits include originating the title role of award-winning playwright August Wilson’s KING HEDLEY II. He also received a Helen Hayes nomination for his performance in Athol Fugard’s THE CAPTAIN’S TIGER.

Other theater credits include LES BLANCS, PLAYBOY OF THE WEST INDIES, OTHELLO, ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN, DARK PARADISE, AIDA (on Broadway), LEVEE JAMES for the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Athol Fugard’s THE ISLAND, ‘Troy Maxon’ in August Wilson’s FENCES for the Geva Theatre Center, ‘Paw Siden’ in the world premiere of the Marcus Gardley play BLACK ODYSSEY at the Denver Center, and the one man show GHOST IN THE HOUSE as the late great world champ Jack Johnson. Tony made his return to the Hartford stage for the TheaterWorks production of Dominique Morriseau’s SUNSET BABY.

ABOUT KIER-LA JANISSE

Kier-La Janisse (1972-) is a Canadian film writer and programmer, founder of international horror school The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies and micro-press Spectacular Optical Publications. She has been a programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, co-founded Montreal microcinema Blue Sunshine, founded the CineMuerte Horror Film Festival (1999-2005) in Vancouver, was the Festival Director of Monster Fest in Melbourne, Australia and was the subject of the documentary Celluloid Horror (2005). She has mounted many site-specific screenings, activating film locations and showing films in a church, on a screen of snow, and with the audience in the water.

She is the author of A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (FAB Press, 2007) and House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films (FAB Press, 2012) and contributed to Destroy All Movies!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film (Fantagraphics, 2011), Recovering 1940s Horror: Traces of a Lost Decade (Lexington, 2014) The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul (University of Toronto Press, 2015) and We Are the Martians: The Legacy of Nigel Kneale (PS Publishing, 2017). She co-edited (with Paul Corupe) and published the anthology books KID POWER! (2014), Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s (2015), Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin (2017) and Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television (2017). She edited the book Warped & Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive(forthcoming 2021), and is currently co-authoring (with Amy Searles) the book ‘Unhealthy and Aberrant’: Depictions of Horror Fandom in Film and Television and co-curating (with Clint Enns) an anthology book on the films of Robert Downey, Sr., as well as writing a monograph about Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter. 

She was a producer on Mike Malloy’s Eurocrime: the Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012), Sean Hogan’s We Always Find Ourselves in the Sea (2017), Mike McKinlay’s Tights Worship: The Processes of THE RITA (2019) and David Gregory’s Tales of the Uncanny (2020), and wrote the fashion films S.W.A.L.K. and S.W.A.L.K. II (2020) in collaboration with designer John Galliano for photographer Nick Knight and Maison Margiela. In 2019 Janisse participated in the restoration and re-release of Harry Nilsson’s 1971 animated TV movie The Point, offering the use of her personal 16mm film print and contributing to several of the bonus features as a producer and editor. Her first film as director/producer, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror is due out from Severin Films in 2020.

In 2020 she released a spoken word recording of Catherine Robbe-Grillet’s “Spike Heels” on the split cassette Introduction/Immersion with noise artist THE RITA, and began the podcast A Song From the Heart Beats the Devil Every Time, expanded from a proposed book project about cult kids film and television from 1965-1985. 

She has shared her genre film expertise as a guest speaker in documentaries ranging from Eli Roth’s History of Horror (2019/2020) to Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau (2014), and in classes, conferences and conventions across the globe. There is even a character named after her on Season 2 of Torchwood.

Salem Horror Fest drops October and moves to April 2023

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Now entering it’s sixth year, the festival has announced new dates and opened their call for feature and short film submissions.

Salem, Massachusetts - April 20, 2022 - Named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “best genre festivals in the world,” the aggressively, and unapologetically queer Salem Horror Fest will return to the Halloween capital of the world for it’s sixth year next April 20 - April 30, 2023.

Addressing the move, festival director Kay Lynch said, “ Salem is a nightmare. Every October, half a million visitors descend upon a city population of 50,000 - snarling traffic, crowding the streets, and commandeering an extremely low inventory of hotel rooms driving up prices so that no one can travel to Witch City for a weekend without dropping $2,500. This is not the experience, or limited accessibility, I started the festival for.

All feature film submissions are eligible for a $1,000 jury prize and are considered for the George A. Romero Foundation Fellowship program. 2021 winners include Alice Maoi Mackay (So Vam), Gia Elliot (Take Back the Night), and Paul Owens (LandLocked).

“The team at Salem truly care about supporting indie films and filmmakers, are champions of diverse stories and storytellers, and were great at communicating both leading up to and throughout the festival,” said Krista Dzialoszynski, writer and producer of the 2020 jury winning SHUDDER Original, The Strings. “Cannot recommend Salem Horror Fest enough.”

To submit your film, please visit FilmFreeway. First deadline is June 21, 2022. For more information and announcements, visit salemhorror.com.

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SALEM HORROR FEST

Salem Horror Fest is a celebration of diverse voices and innovative filmmaking within a genre that best reflects our cultural demons and anxieties. World’s Best Genre Festivals 2021 - MovieMaker Magazine

Summoning PUMPKINHEAD: Anatomy of a Folk Monster

Written by Jason Carpenter

Like a paralytic dream, Pumpkinhead is heralded by creeping fog and winds that swirl out from another dimension, swift and merciless in its Gothic ghostliness. Director and iconic film creature creator Stan Winston weaves a story of primordial anger wrought by the grief-shocked loss of a loved one, conjuring one of horror cinema’s most visually dynamic monsters along the way. Come for the visceral, practical gore of the genre’s slay-the-youth era, stay to watch folkloric revenge give way to cosmic remorse and atonement.

If that sounds like a weirdly empathetic sharp turn for a mid-to-low budget creature feature at the tail-end of the 80s, it was. But when the late Winston—already a legend for his Terminator and Aliens designs and feeling around for his debut as a director—took hold of the project in 1987, it became earmarked as something potentially unique. Its genesis was already quirky, based as it was on a poem by Ed Justin, and was originally developed by ultra-producer Dino DeLaurentiis’s company in hopes of securing a Winston creature design. From these fires—imagery, in fact, that opens and closes the film—a memorable movie monster was forged.

A quick survey of the history of horror’s screen creatures likely won’t reveal a more spectacularly realistic example than H.R. Giger’s Alien xenomorph in Ridley Scott’s 1979 ground-zero sci-fi horror classic. Its humanoid/insect hybrid design felt rooted in organic, biological truths; the alien’s entomology made sense (only, perhaps, if you weren’t an entomologist), legitimizing the narrative and subconsciously convincing the audience that this fictional species could actually exist. Stan Winston intuitively expanded on Giger’s work in the sequel and, within a few years, would be the forever-lauded creator of the non-human characters in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park, both milestones in motion picture visual effects.  

Much of the same anatomical reasoning can be applied to Pumpkinhead’s titular demon, a  throng of long limbs and bulbous elbows and inverted knees (or heels, ornithologically speaking). In the film, it’s summoned/dug up from a decrepit pumpkin patch in the mystical woods (although its head is not a pumpkin, so stop right there) through the combined efforts of local storeowner/revenge seeker Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen), whose beloved son is accidentally killed by—what else—irresponsible youth, and witch Haggis (an effectively creepy Florence Schauffler). Pumpkinhead—a withered fetus, at first, inflated by the witch’s ancient folk blood ritual—evolves into an eight-foot manifestation of Harley’s anger and desire to kill; as the film bears on, the blurring of Harley and the demon’s spirits becomes a thematic and visual motif.

In his first foray, director Stan Winston proves to be an evocative framer of compositions, moves the camera pointedly, and, most effectively, makes sensitive character choices. In fact, the young principals here (they’re not teenagers, but early twentysomethings passing through the pseudo-Appalachian town) are mostly not assholes or unsympathetic, and the one that is douchey has a redemptive, change-of-heart arc, rare touches for the era’s genre fare. Harley, after the red haze of his son’s death lifts, eventually recognizes their relative innocence, too, and Henriksen channels his character’s mounting regret via his trademark baleful eyes. Those deep, dark-lined sockets are also where Pumpkinhead’s possession will take hold, turning Harley’s pupils inhumanly bloodshot. The design team pulls off one of the movie’s creepiest make-up moments in a third act sequence—almost subtle when it could’ve looked foolish, a sure-fire CGI-render in current cinema terms—when Harley and the monster’s faces fuse into one visage. Makes sense that Winston would go there. Noting the director’s varied interests in art before settling on make-up and creature effects, Ars Technica writer Ben Kuchera wrote after Winston’s passing in 2008, “When you dream of acting but find work in makeup, you either give up or make-do: Stan Winston created characters who could act for and with him.” 

Make no mistake, Winston has fun technically, too. A lot of the action takes place on soundstages that the filmmaker bathes in fog and shadowy light, a call back to Universal Studios’ classic monster heyday. He also color-codes the film: when the monster claims its first victim and stalks thereafter, the cinematography is awash in deep, otherworldly blue light, a stark contrast to the burnt, dusty browns and greens when Harley and his boy are living their quiet country life. And if you swear you’ve heard the sound that harkens Pumpkinhead’s arrival before, you’re probably a fan of big bug movies. The giant ants in 1954’s Them! (and 1977’s Empire of the Ants, for that matter, Bert I. Gordon’s last epic insect opus) signaled their proximity—diegetically and non-, both films seem to flip-flop on that—by emitting a high-pitched chirping. The sound was created by recording and reverbing a chorus of various species of tree frogs, and its jittery wave of wails and whoops is replicated here whenever Pumpkinhead strikes.

While the fable-like narrative and stylistic flair are welcome elements, like DeLaurentiis, we’re here for the monster. Its design was, ironically, not one of Winston’s own. The A-Team working for him at the time—Alec Gillis, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, and Tom Woodruff Jr. among them—took on full creation duty, drawing from elements of Wendigo mythology, the eastern European Lithuanian Baubus and Baba Yaga, a nightmarish amalgamation of Nosferatu and the demon from the Fantasia Bald Mountain sequence. Atop jagged shoulders and protruding joints, Pumpkinhead’s actual head is somewhere between reptilian and feline, its bi-pedal, chin-forward predatory thrust reminiscent of the raptors yet-to-come in Jurassic Park. Its tail is that of a big cat’s, too, constantly swishing, flickering, and battering shit with a mind of its own. But the monster’s long, spindly arms and nightmarishly oversized talons are what ultimately emblazon its structure onto the cine-cultural psyche. It’s Woodruff Jr. who actually is Pumpkinhead, though, layered just underneath the prosthetics; he goes full feral with his physical performance, imbuing the creature’s movements with animalistic and otherworldly biomechanics— a cock of the head here, an unfurling of bony fingers there. The only complaint is that the monster doesn’t get enough screen time, the director employing furtively-edited glances and unsustained shots that cleverly conceal any mood-busting costume gaffe.

One of the best shots in the film comes as three characters huddle around a table inside a cabin in the woods (still more evidence we’re in folk horror territory), discussing escape. As one of the women moves left in the frame towards the kitchen, she passes by a set of windows in the background. Unseen, but by the audience, Pumpkinhead follows parallel to her just outside the window. It’s a jolt; it’s also one of the first times the audience sees the true scale of the monster next to regular-sized people. In this scene and others, it appears to be aping human movements and actions, a sentient yet unconscious way, maybe, of connecting to the living things it preys on. 

But its revenge-tinged motives and singular appetite for destruction keeps it at a terrifyingly cold remove, just outside, forever threatening to tear us apart, a perfect monster for our times.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Works Cited

Kuchera, Ben. “Stan Winston Taught Us That Characters, Not Tech, Drive Movies.” Ars Technica, 19 June 2008, https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/06/stan-winston/. 

Percival, Aaron, and Adam Zeller. “Inhabiting the Alien, ADI's Tom Woodruff Jr. Talks Performing Inside the Alien Suit.” AvPGalaxy.net, 21 Nov. 2021, https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/tom-woodruff/4/.

“Baba Yaga: Slavic and Russian Witch.” Edited by MeettheSlavs Staff, Meet the Slavs, 14 May 2022, https://meettheslavs.com/baba-yaga/