Horrifyingly entertaining and entertainingly horrifying, Horror-on-Sea returns to Southend at the start of 2025 with its biggest slate ever.
A blood red alert will be issued for the South Essex coast when vampires, viruses, and… a Volkswagen Beetle… descend for the 12th annual film festival celebrating all things terror.
Two weekends of guts and gore will be served up when one of the UK’s biggest genre film festivals takes over the Park Inn by Radisson Palace Hotel. Screening on the seafront will be 37 feature films and 60 short films from across the world, encompassing both low and high budgets, including homegrown showings from Essex and the UK.
Over 2,000 people are expected to swoop over Southend with the opportunity to see both rare and fan-favourite films, as well as a chance to network amongst other horror aficionados and filmmakers.
And the number 7 may be associated with deadly sin, but at Horror-on-Sea it promises affordable cinema-going for everyone with prices frozen with fear at £7 per film. And unlike some of the residents of the graveyard, pass prices have not risen again, with day passes at £32, weekend passes at £80, and a festival mega pass at £130.
Paul Cotgrove, Director and creator of Horror-On-Sea says: “With more features and shorts than ever before, this year’s Horror-On-Sea will leave no excuse for anyone who hasn’t yet experienced the chills on the coast. And for those who are returning, we promise even more shlock, screams and sacrifices that is sure to have you smiling.
“There’s a big variety of films on offer this year that will appeal to all tastes. We’ve got British landmarks from the 90s with a 4K restoration of cult classic ‘Razor Blade Smile’ and a Director’s Cut of the Cool Cymru horror ‘Darklands’. As well as the latest releases from some of the biggest names in horror right now, like ‘1978’ from the Argentinian Onetti brothers which premiered at Cannes last year, and ‘Hell Hole’ from horror punk heroes the Adams family.
“Along with World and UK premieres, these are six days that no diabolical devotee can dare to miss.”
The body count begins on Friday 12 January with short-film anthology Very Frightening Tales (2024) featuring seven tales of terror including an assassin, a deadly nightmare and a fortune-teller. This is followed by three international short films, from Canada Karak (2024) involves a horrifying encounter with a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, while from Spain Deliver Me (2024) features a struggle with the self and Off the Page (2024) focuses on a fictional character who finds out he is in a novel and has to battle the author to save his wife.
The first feature film of the festival is indie director Zachary Snyggs’s The Cigarette (2024) in which an unsuspecting woman finds herself involved in a plot to sell cigarettes causing murder and mayhem in Manhattan. Accompanied by three short films, in the Colombian stop-motion Garu & Ponki (2024) two badly behaved cousins are sent to a nightmarish town, in Kazakstan’s Drop (2024) unsolicited creepy videos will be received, and in Spain’s The Companions (2024) a surreal accident confronts a couple on date night.
Mid-afternoon sees the UK premiere of Love Dogs (2025). This gripping US thriller follows a grieving man selling his old farmhouse to a mysterious woman who may be more than she seems. Accompanied by short film Red Now (2024), this Spanish animated story depicts a friendship between a vampire and a little girl where memory may disrupt the future.
As day turns to night Germany’s Erbsünde – Veil of Sin (2024) sends a group of journalism students into the woods where they accidentally awaken a Nazi experiment and spend the rest of the night running from a sadistic “superhuman”. More Spanish short films will be shown, with The Classmate (2024) thrusting a bully and their former victim together and Superhost (2023) putting a touring couple in a free private house that turns out to not be the peaceful stay they were hoping for.
Its an all-British fare for most of the night with the world premiere of Wrath of Thorn (2025), where the battle for a town’s soul will incorporate gods and sacrifices. Three short films by festival favourite Molly Brown will also be shown, including one that was shot on a mobile phone during last year’s festival where regulars may be able to spot themselves on screen. And another short film Psycho Dater (2024) will reveal a dark truth during a conversation about dating. The final feature of Friday is The Containment (2024), a Mexican film where a sinister series of drownings in a water tower is only the beginning for a young woman and her brother.
Saturday 11 January will showcase some of the best of new British horror, along with some creepy North and South American fare.
A triple showing of UK short films begins in the morning with Breakfast (2024), where a supernatural force disrupts the first meal of the day, Trapped in Time (2024) turns a tube ride into a historical nightmare as a passenger tries to outrun a group of Victorian thugs, and in For the Commune (2024) a hiking couple stumble upon a sacrificial ceremony in the woods.
A joint UK/US production is the first feature of the day with Bring me a Skin for Dancing In (2024) full of witchcraft, paganism and mythological creatures in an English village. Another UK film and a world premiere will follow with She’s a Bitch (2025), in which a picturesque setting is overrun by werewolves. Two UK short films accompany the screening, with a cheating husband a victim of revenge in The Deceit (2023) and a trio of girls offering a unique brand of hospitality to a stranger in The Domestication of Vampires in Essex (2025).
In the afternoon Argentinian feature film Saint Catherine (2024) will unleash satanism and exorcism in a secret institution training survivors of possession to help fight evil. American short film Baby Blues – Going Dark (2024) takes the audience on a horrifying trip to the dentist, and the UK’s Bon Appétit follows up with a culinary artist’s terrible treat.
The world premiere of UK film A Final Exorcism (2025) sees a priest have to decide whether he is confronting a true encounter with evil or unwittingly participating in a sinister manipulation. A trio of UK short films follow, with One Night Only (2023) and a mother’s celebrity delusions playing out in a pub, Slaypril Fools 93 – D!!! (2024) sees the 3D return of a deadly jester, and Don’t Look (2024) delves deep into spirit communication and a game with deadly consequences.
The world premieres continue, with Horror-Scopes: Volume 3 – Dark Zodiac (2025) telling 12 horror stories all based on the signs of the zodiac. Director MJ Dixon will also be represented by short film The Midnight Movie Mausoleum (2024) when a cursed VHS tape draws the viewer in – literally. The evening finishes with US feature New Fears Eve (2024) as a murderer sets his sights on the annual festivities, and UK short film Neighbourhood Horror (2024) is 60 seconds of terrifying doorbell cam footage.
Sunday 12 January starts with slasher feature When the Trash Man Knocks (2024). The titular villain has been terrorising a town for over two decades and still wants more limbs and souls for his trash-bag. Referencing the fear of being stared at, Welsh feature Scopophobia (2024) locks four women in an abandoned factory, and UK’s Protein (2024) follows a gym obsessed serial killer who sparks a drug war after he murders and eats a local drug dealer.
During the day a number of British short films from 2024 will be shown including a spooky stay at a night shelter (Sour Milk), a mysterious tape player (Good Choice, Joseph) and a romantic re-animated head (Adam & Eve).
The evening kicks off with a brand new 4K restoration of British cult classic Razor Blade Smile (1998/2024) with contract killer vampire Lilith Silver hunting down members of the Illuminati. Launching the career of director Jake West, who went on to make an entry in the Pumpkinhead franchise, this is a unique opportunity to see a festival classic that has continued to entertain for over 25 years.
Christmas may be over by January, but a Santa serial killer will still be on the loose in He Sees You When You’re Sleeping (2024), while a model husband and father who sneaks off during Christmas dinner for a liaison will find himself held captive by a depraved duo in Deviant (2024) from Spain. The evening will be accompanied by British short films Billy (2022), when a piece of a man’s childhood returns, Safe (2024) as a woman fights against a masked killer, and Nervous Ellie (2024) depicting a struggling date that turns shocking, as well as Finnish short film Tekenu (2024) with a title that refers to obelisks and sky piercing.
Southend becomes 19th century Southern Appalachia when Bloodspawn (2024) unleashes a ravenous creature that a group of US soldiers and a Cherokee warrior will have to battle, in the first feature film of the second weekend on Friday 17 January. The short films stay on that side of the Atlantic with a killer clown in Pizza Girl: Kill, Kill (2022), a creepy theatre mogul in The Gilded Monster (2023) from Canada, and a Cherokee curse in Fools Gold (2025).
A copycat serial killer is on the loose in The Omicron Killer (2024), featuring a “covid cult” and scream queens Lynn Lowry (The Crazies), Bai Ling (The Crow) and Felissa Rose (Terrifier 2). This is accompanied by short film David Isn’t Here Anymore (2020)following a struggling realtor who is trying to sell a haunted house.
A joint Hungarian/USA production A Stranger in the Woods (2024) sees a young film student attempt to make a documentary about a loner, screened with German short Forever Yours (2024) telling a tale of obsession, and the Spanish Set a Date (2023) where a young police officer finds out he will die in 20 minutes.
Into the evening and Transmission (2023) will mesmerize and bewilder in equal measure when a cursed film takes over in Michael Hurst’s (Pumpkinhead 4, House of the Dead 2) latest. There are also two Spanish short films with Sincopat (2023) and a new way to listen to music with devastating consequences, and Divine Accounts (2022) finding a new morality code for a woman who murders her husband. British short Disappearance at the Rock (2024) will also have its premiere, following a private investigator searching for clues in Gibraltar.
The world premiere of UK film Virus Detected (2025) features a radio station in an electrical storm, and the mysterious caller who has various stories about electrical appliances causing mayhem. And three 2024 UK shorts will also be shown with paranormal investigations (Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4), social media toxicity (Shhhhh) and a full moon (Don’t Watch on a Full Moon).
And the feature closing the day is Argentina’s 1978 (2024) when the military dictatorship kidnaps the wrong group of young people, who turn out to be part of a macabre cult guided by a supernatural force. Directed by Nicolás and Luciano Onetti, the film includes performances by Agustín Pardella (Society of the Snow), Gustavo Bonfigli (Wild Tales) and Mario Alarcón (The Secret in their Eyes).
Attendees can wake up with the heroine of The Cellar (2024) on Saturday 18 January who finds herself imprisoned underground and must unravel the mystery for a chance of survival. More UK films will also be seen with trio of short films. In Soul Train (2024) two strangers will battle fate at a train station, and there’s more travel mystery in The Station (2024), while a new worker is drawn to the door he was told not to open in Inferis (2024).
A fracking crew will unleash not only a Napoleonic solider but the thing that has invaded him in the Shudder Original Hell Hole (2024), the new film from Horror maestros The Adams Family (Hellbender). Then French short The Camping Dead (2024) follows three not-so-smart survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Another French short Amor (2024) centres on a murderous wife, and accompanies the US feature The Protos Experiment (2024) where four death row inmates attempt to escape from a dystopian future prison.
Festival favourite Pat Higgins will be giving his masterclass for all budding filmmakers interested in how to realise their horrifying visions with Pat Higgins Masterclass: Indie Horror vs Money at The Laurel & Hardy Suite, full of budget tips, revenue ideas and creative crowd interaction.
The world premiere of Torture Day (2025) from the UK sees two murderers attempt to retrieve a body after a carjacking, and two more offerings from Britain in the short category includes a creepy automaton (The Diabolical Doctor Montague and Roach) and a cleaner in way over her head (Roach).
The video dungeon opens in the evening with the world premiere of Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge (2025) featuring four entries and a host of faux trailers. Accompanied by another world premiere, Open your Eyes (2024) is a tale of motherly grief and obsession.
The final film of the day will be France’s Take Your Bible and Run (2024), an extravagant journey through an apocalyptic small town with alien emissaries, cannibal chasers and a humanoid monkey. Two animated shorts from the UK will also see out the day, with Mr M (2024) set in an unusual shop with a very unusual shopkeeper, and Troma Versus Witches (2024) in which an irate audience battle with the cast of a badly made film.
For the final day on Sunday 19 January Santa comes back to town in US creature-feature Santastein (2023) when a young man tries to right a wrong in his past with chilling results. Irish short thriller I am an Island (2024) subverts reality and the UK’s All the Music You Need (2022) sees a man descend into madness after a mystery woman from the sea disappears.
US film Marginalia (2025) is a medieval mystery with a silent nun, stop motion creatures and witchcraft, all told in atmospheric black and white. The Lights (2023) is a Scottish folklore war horror in which terrifying creatures from the North Sea battle the inhabitants of a small town. And Advent (2024) is a UK ghost story in which a woman is faced with 24 challenges behind a cursed advent calendar. A triple showing of British shorts accompanies the screening with spaceships (The Harrowing), a surprise party secret (Surprise!) and a food critic meeting a murderous chef (1 Star Review).
A new Director’s cut of the Welsh horror classic Darklands (1996/2025) by Julian Richards will be shown, full of pagan rituals, human sacrifice and a performance by Hitchcock and Hammer Horror actor Jon Finch. UK short films Do Not Open (2024) with an invisible and unwelcome guest, and Collection Only (2024) with a creepy house, accompany the screening of the classic.
An Estonian mash-up of Monty Python-esque laughs and Texas Chainsaw gore will be getting audiences singing along in Chainsaws Were Singing (2024), followed by a satanic bloodbath in US offering Lust, Magic and the Witches Sabbath (2023). And in the UK’s I Won’t Be Long, Love (2024) a grieving widower will resort to horrific measures to keep a relationship alive.
Grab your ticket now for Horror-on-sea 2025 via the website.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
