Solomon Kane (2009) / Red Sonja (2025)
PLUS: Q&A with James Purefoy and director MJ Bassett
Saturday 16 August 2025, Bristol Megascreen
-Forbidden Worlds to host preview Q&A screening of Red Sonja (2025) at Bristol Megascreen on 16 August
-Director MJ Bassett (Reacher, Terminal List, FUBAR) to attend screening for Q&A
-Film to be part of swords and sorcery double bill alongside Bassett’s previous fantasy film Solomon Kane (2009) starring James Purefoy
-Taunton-born James Purefoy (Rome, Sex Education) to also attend the event
Forbidden Worlds is excited to present an evening of swords and sorcery with a special Q&A preview screening of Red Sonja (2025) with director MJ Bassett, preceded by a screening of her previous Robert E. Howard adaptation – Solomon Kane (2009) with star James Purefoy in attendance.
Robert E. Howard is best known as the creator of Conan The Barbarian and writer of pulp fiction characters such as Bran Mak Morn, King Kull and El Borak. He also created Solomon Kane – a late 16th century Puritan mercenary who battles demons – and Red Sonja – who was first created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, but was partially inspired by Robert E. Howard’s Red Sonya of Rogatino.
An adaptation was previously released in 1985 with Brigitte Nielsen in the title role, but a planned reboot of Red Sonja has been almost two decades in the making.
Finally, director MJ Bassett, with Matilda Lutz in the title role, has bought the barbarian warrior back to screens.
Ahead of Red Sonja’s release on Digital Platforms (August 18) and DVD & Blu-ray (8 September) by Signature Entertainment, Forbidden Worlds is presenting a special theatrical screening of the film with director MJ Bassett, along with her previous Robert E. Howard adaptation – Solomon Kane (2009) starring James Purefoy, who will also be attending the event.
Bassett is an English screenwriter, director and producer of feature film and television. Her feature films include Deathwatch (2002), Wilderness (2006) and Silent Hill: Revelation (2012).
She was also lead director and executive producer of hit action TV series Strike Back, and has directed episodes for numerous TV shows including Da Vinci’s Demons, Iron Fist, Altered Carbon, Terminal List, Motherland: Fort Salem, Quantum Leap, Reacher (and its upcoming spin-off series Neagley) and FUBAR with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
James Purefoy starred as Mark Antony in HBO’s Rome, Joe Carroll in The Following, and Laurens Bancroft in Netflix’s Altered Carbon. Purefoy has also appeared in A Knight’s Tale, Ironclad, and John Carter, as well as the Fishermen’s Friends films.
EVENT DETAILS
Where: Bristol Megascreen, Anchor Rd, Bristol BS1 5TT
When: 7pm, Saturday 16 August 2025
ABOUT FORBIDDEN WORLDS
Launched in May 2022 at the (now named) Bristol Megascreen, Forbidden Worlds Film Festival is Bristol’s leading genre film festival dedicated to screening repertory fantasy, action, science-fiction and horror films from around the world, and celebrating the people that made them.
The festival has drawn a lot of attention for utilising Bristol’s former IMAX screen to put on showings of classic genre movies complete with special intro videos from Hollywood icons such as James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson and more. Most recently, Forbidden Worlds had legendary Aliens and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd attend as its festival legend.
