Newly added features include The Howling, An American Werewolf In London, Mad God and Hellbender
The Knoxville Horror Film Fest will present its lucky 13th annual weekend of cinematic scares Thursday, October 21 through Sunday, October 24, with events split between Maryville, Tennessee’s Parkway Drive-In and the festival’s home base at Central Cinema in Knoxville.
It was COVID-era necessity that drove last year’s premier programming to the Parkway, but it’s pure pleasure that brings it back for a second year. Thursday night’s lineup will kick off the festival with a triple feature of John Carpenter’s ghostly 1980 classic The Fog, Rialto Pictures’ new 40th anniversary 4K restoration of Joe Dante’s The Howling (1981), and heavy metal horror cult itemTrick Or Treat (1986). Friday night will continue the fun with the trailers of the 2021 KHFF Grindhouse Grind-out, followed by another triple feature of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), An American Werewolf In London (1981) and SFX genius Phil Tippett’s years-in-the-making Mad God. Both evenings at the Parkway will also include a host of horror-adjacent vendors; table signups are now open.
These drive-in programs are just the beginning for full KHFF passholders, who will rejoin the festivities through the weekend at Central Cinema. Over the course of Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday this crew of horror diehards will enjoy KHFF’s storied one-track marathon of short films, feature presentations and special events. Titles confirmed for this year’s feature competition include John Adams, Zelda Adams & Toby Poser’s Hellbender, Richard Bates Jr.’s King Knight, Jim Cummings & PJ McCabe’s The Beta Test, Lee Haven Jones’s The Feast, and Philip Gelatt & Morgan Galen King’s The Spine of Night, mixed in with cult flashback favorites Popcorn (1991) and a 40th anniversary restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 classic Possession.(Short film programming, including a dedicated program of local “Tennessee Terrors” submissions, will be announced along with the festival schedule in early October.)
KHFF Festival Passes ($100 standard, $150 deluxe “RIP”), Two Night Drive-In Passes ($45) and Single Night Drive-In Tickets($25) are available now at KnoxHorrorFest.com via Film Freeway. Due to the nature of the event and Central Cinema’s intimate setting, proof of full COVID-19 vaccination will be required of full festival passholders at time of check-in; Thursday and Friday’s drive-in screenings will be open to the public regardless of vaccination status.
The tenth annual KHFF Grindhouse Grind-out Filmmaking Competition (in which teams of local creatives are given two weeks to produce a fake movie trailer) will kick off at 6pm on Wednesday, September 22 at Central Cinema and shoot through October 6, with the resulting trailers screening at Friday’s KHFF drive-in program. Teams can register now for $40 through the KHFF website.
Founded in 2009, the Knoxville Horror Film Fest has grown from a single short film program into a multi-venue weekend event celebrating the best in horror cinema. It is the longest-running film festival in Knoxville, and recognized as one of the southeast’s premier genre movie destinations. In 2018 the KHFF team opened Central Cinema to local acclaim, and are excited to bring KHFF back to the venue in full force after a capacity-limited 2020 festival.
The 2021 Knoxville Horror Film Fest is sponsored by Xul Beer Co, Cherokee Distributing, Dogfish Head WUTK 90.3 Volunteer Radio, Fangoria, Ancient Lore Village, Southland Books, The Bird & The Book and Salsarita’s.
