The Overlook Film Festival is back in New Orleans for its 2025 fest with live performances, immersive programming, interactive events and special guests. With its main focus on horror and thrillers, it’s only fitting that Overlook take place in America’s most haunted city.
This year’s festival will be held from April 3 through April 6 at the Prytania Theatres, and will include both new and classic film offerings.
Overlook co-founder and executive director Landon Azkheim stated: “For all wayward souls and monster kids who gravitate to the macabre, we have something to satisfy your ghoulish cravings thanks to the brilliance of our artists, the passion of our tireless team, our incredible partners and this beautiful haunted city.”
For 2025, 47 films (consisting of 25 features and 22 shorts) are included in the lineup, along with three suspenseful immersive experiences and five live presentations. The opening night feature is Universal’s Drop, which is slated to run in theatres beginning on April 11. Drop’s director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, We Have a Ghost)will be putting in an appearance.
After the opening night film, fest-goers and special guests will be ushered to a party that will celebrate the start of Overlook and also the tenth anniversary of horror streaming service Shudder.
2025 Overlook lineup
40 Acres – In a post-apocalyptic future, a former soldier is determined to protect her family and land from roaming cannibals.
Abraham’s Boys – After the events of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Van Helsing and his two sons travel to the United States in an effort to move on from their traumatic past. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work. Abraham’s Boys is based on a story by Joe Hill (NOS4A2).
Chain Reactions – As a horror fan, do you remember the effect The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had on you the first time you saw it? This documentary checks in with five well-known artists who talk about how their lives were altered by the iconic horror film. Those artists are Takashi Mike, Patton Oswalt, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Karyn Kusama and the great Stephen King.
Clown in a Cornfield – This Shudder film visits Kettle Springs, in which the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. Ever since that time, Frendo the clown has emerged from the town’s cornfields regularly to commit bloody mayhem.
Dead Lover – “A heartbroken romantic embarks on a madcap mission to reanimate the love of her life.”
Drop – Violet is a widow, a single mom going on a date for the first time in years. All starts well as she meets her date at a ritzy restaurant, but things change when she starts to receive a series of anonymous drops on her phone.
Good Boy – In what sounds like a completely unique premise, we experience a ghost story through the eyes of a very good dog named Indy. When Indy’s favorite human Todd moves into his family’s quiet countryside house, Indy begins to sense that a malevolent presence is sharing their home.
Hallow Road – When they answer a distraught phone call from their daughter, her parents (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) are in a race against time trying to get to her.
Ick – When a gross gooey growth begins showing up in their time, a former science teacher (Brandon Routh) and student Grace are on a mission to find out what it is and where it came from.
It Ends – “Four recent college grads, out for an innocent late night drive, find themselves trapped in a seemingly never-ending hellscape where they are being haunted by mysterious forces.”
Monster Island – Set in 1942 during World War II, a British prisoner of war and a Japanese soldier wash up on a deserted island. They have to work together to conquer a dangerous creature called the Orang Ikan.
Redux Redux – In this sci-fi/thriller, a mother seeking vengeance travels through parallel universes. Cobra Kai producers Kevin and Matthew McManus directed Redux Redux.
The Shrouds – David Cronenberg, who rules at body horror, directed this one. A man grieving his deceased wife creates a device to help people re-connect with loved ones who have passed.
The Spirit of Halloweentown – This documentary visits St. Helens, Oregon, where the iconic 1998 Disney movie Halloweentown was filmed. Hear from the town’s residents how the movie has affected their lives.
Touch Me – “Intergalactic polyamory and one very codependent friendship collide when stoner roommates Craig and Joey have to suddenly move out of their apartment and decide to shack up with Joey’s toxic ex.”
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick – Yvonne is still recovering from a tragic event, joining friends at their home in the country. After a walk in the woods, she has what seems to be a tick bite…but is it?
The Ugly Stepsister – In this horror spin on Cinderella, Elvira is a plain girl who is determined to compete with her beautiful stepsister Agnes for the handsome prince. She will do anything, no matter how vicious and bloody to win him over.
Zodiac Killer Project – “When a passion project completely disintegrates, most filmmakers give up, move on and mourn their masterpiece that got away. But Charlie Shackleton is not most filmmakers. The wreckage of his derailed attempt at a zodiac killer documentary rises from the dead in Shackleton's devilish grip as a wry, eerie, post-modern commentary on our cultural fascination with true-crime and collective bloodlust.”
Guest Curator Presentations by Flying Lotus include the following
- Ash
- Death Becomes Her
- The Descent
- Lost Highway
Retrospective Film presentations
- The Phantom of the Opera (100th anniversary screening with live music accompaniment)
- Re-Animator (40th anniversary 4K UHD restoration, presented by Fangoria, with special guest Barbara Crampton)
- Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (30th Anniversary screening with an appearance by 2025’s Master of Horror award winner Ernest Dickerson)
Live events and special presentations at Overlook to include:
- A Conversation with Best-Selling Author Joe Hill
- Danger Stories: A Word Salad Symphony from Museum of Home Video
- Memory Hole
- Shudder Second Line Parade
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls – Live! Hosted by author Grady Hendrix