Grimmfest Returns with Piven, Possessions and Plenty of Gore for Halloween Season

As the leaves turn and October approaches, horror lovers in the UK have one thing circled in blood-red ink on their mental calendars: Grimmfest. Returning with its 2025 edition, the UK’s premiere celebration of genre cinema is once again rolling out a fearsome feast of premieres, talent and terror from across the globe. This year’s guest list and screening slate promise to blend star power with visceral storytelling in the festival’s most ambitious line-up to date.

Opening night sets the tone with the world premiere of Past Life, the latest project from Grimmfest regulars Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones. A slow-burn dive into regression therapy and psychological manipulation, the film brings Hollywood sheen to Manchester with Jeremy Piven (Entourage, Smokin’ Aces), Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) and Tim McInnerny (Blackadder) all attending in person.

Equally ambitious is Weekend at the End of the World, an absurdist apocalyptic horror comedy making its international debut. Director Gille Klabin (The Wave) joins stars Cameron Fife and Clay Elliot in what promises to be one of the festival’s most offbeat offerings.

Friday leans into experimentation and edge, with Landlord, a politically charged vampire rework from director Remington Smith, and I See the Demon, a psychological descent introduced by filmmaker Jacob Lees Johnson and lead Alexis Zollicoffer. Genre boundaries continue to blur with Tribe, an international premiere mixing found footage, conspiracy and folklore, and Frankie Maniac Woman, Pierre Tsigaridis’ latest dive into female-driven horror chaos.

Saturday sees a shift toward global carnage and surrealism. Japan’s Kenichi Ugana presents Incomplete Chairs, a dark satire on ambition and consumerism, while The Driftless, from Tim Connery, brings an anthology of Midwestern unease to UK audiences for the first time.

Closing out the weekend on Sunday is Lily’s Ritual, a throwback horror with a twist, making its world premiere in the presence of director Manu Herrera and a large creative team. The North West premiere of Kombucha offers up corporate satire soaked in Cronenbergian body horror, while Wormtown delivers Southern Gothic meets sociopolitical allegory, guided by director Sergio Pinheiro and his creative crew.

Grimmfest continues to distinguish itself from more commercial horror events. There’s no velvet rope here. Guests mingle, discuss their work over drinks, and make the experience feel like a creative exchange rather than a transaction. Autographs are signed, yes. Photos are taken. But this isn’t a convention – it’s a community.

Tickets for Grimmfest 2025 are already selling fast, and this year’s line-up ensures the four-day event won’t just be a gathering of horror cinema’s most daring voices, but a meeting place for the bold, the bloody and the brilliant.

For more information and tickets, visit: grimmfest.com/