Grimmfest’s Grim Tidings from Adrienne Barbeau

Few names arriving at Grimmfest this year carry quite as much horror history as Adrienne Barbeau. Across a career spanning stage, television, film and voice work, the actress has become a genre icon thanks to roles in John Carpenter’s The Fog and Escape from New York, George A. Romero’s Creepshow and Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing.

This year’s festival gives Manchester audiences the chance to celebrate both Barbeau’s past and present. Alongside a screening of Carpenter’s The Fog, followed by a Q&A with Barbeau herself, Grimmfest will present her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

She can also be seen in Tyler Savage’s new feature Oddities, which screens at the festival on 9 October. Expanded from Savage’s 2023 short of the same name, the film follows two best friends whose attempt to escape the consequences of accidentally killing their drug dealer leads them to an isolated roadside antique shop. Barbeau plays its mysterious elderly proprietor, alongside Lovie Simone, Lilimar and Xander Berkeley.

With all that bringing her to Grimmfest, who better to face our five Grimm Tidings questions?

Grimmfest’s Grim Tidings from Adrienne Barbeau, star of ‘Oddities’

Tell us why you are at Grimmfest.

I’m excited to be at Grimmfest for three reasons: my latest film Oddities, written and directed by Tyler Savage, will be screening on October 9th; my very first film The Fog, written and directed by John Carpenter, will be screening on October 8th (and I’ll be doing a Q & A afterward); and — I am honored to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the festival! I’m sort of overwhelmed by that, to tell the truth. And extremely grateful.

How did you get into horror?

I got into horror as an actress (because anyone who knows me knows I am not “into horror” as an audience member) when John Carpenter cast me in his first studio film Someone’s Watching Me. It was more suspense than horror, but it brought us together and resulted in John asking me to do The Fog. Then, since that was my first feature and I was associated with a master horror director, I began getting more and more offers in the genre.

What scares you the most?

What scares me the most is losing a loved one to an accident or ill health. Not much else really scares me. Well, you probably won’t find me mountain climbing (although I did climb Mt. Whitney back in the 80s) or jumping off a cliff into waters below, but I like to think it takes a lot to really scare me.

Who or what is your favourite horror character?

You know, I’ve seen so few horror films that I don’t have a favorite horror character but I do get a kick out of Wilma Northrup in Creepshow. “Just call me Billie, everyone does.”

What is the grimmest thing you have ever seen?

It’s funny, I don’t think of things in terms of being grim. My mind immediately goes to the state of the world and the acts of war and inhumanity we see all around us. That’s grim in the most horrendous sense of the word.

More from Grimmfest

Adrienne Barbeau appears in Oddities, screening at Grimmfest at the Odeon Great Northern on Friday 9 October at 5.50pm. Festival audiences can also revisit one of her most celebrated roles when John Carpenter’s The Fog screens on Thursday 8 October, followed by a Q&A with Barbeau.

Keep checking Love Horror throughout Grimmfest for more Grimm Tidings, as we put our five questions to the filmmakers, actors and horror favourites descending on Manchester for this year’s festival. We’ll also be bringing you interviews, reviews and more coverage direct from Grimmfest throughout the weekend.