Abertoir Horror Festival Celebrates Twenty Terrifying Years

Opening with The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale), in its 90th anniversary year, the festival’s gothic strand will also include screenings of The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932), Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960) and the UK premiere of Severin Films’ brand-new 4K restoration of Riccardo Freda’s The Ghost (1963).

Director Taratoa Stappard will join the festival for a Q&A following the UK premiere of his modern Māori gothic, Mārama (2025).

Major performances at the festival include BAFTA-nominated film composer Simon Boswell (with over 150 scores to his name including Shallow Grave, Santa Sangre and Phenomena). With a powerhouse roster of musicians who have worked with the likes of Mick Jagger, Liam Gallagher, Madonna and Paul Weller, his full band will be playing an immersive live show that’s been described as “Pink Floyd meets the Velvet Underground, conducted by Bernard Herrmann on acid.”

In addition, cult horror author Garth Marenghi (Channel 4’s Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) will be stopping by on his UK tour to present his latest one-man book show, This Bursted Earth, following on from the runaway success of his critically acclaimed Terrortome and Incarcerat tours, which sold over 50,000 tickets across the UK and Europe.

Other premieres at the festival include out-of-this-world drama Touch Me (Addison Heimann, 2025), Indian folk horror film Bokshi (Bhargav Saikia, 2025), and documentary Theatre of Horrors (David Gregory, 2025), which outlines the history of Paris’ Grand Guignol theatre.

Also screening are the hugely popular debut of Japanese comedian Yuriyan Retriever, Mag Mag (2025), Eurospy homage Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, 2025), and a hotly anticipated mystery film. Closing the festival is Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead (2025).

Cult star Lynn Lowry returns to the festival for a screening of George A. Romero’s The Crazies (1973), and long-time friend of the festival, Victoria Price – daughter of Vincent Price – will present a very special live commentary screening of Theatre of Blood (1973), as well as a presentation on her father’s films highlighting the 20-year period he was at the height of his career.

Celebrating a cult classic with an incredible link to Wales, the Abertoir 2025 programme also features a screening of Michael Mann’s cult classic The Keep (1983), along with the UK premiere of the long-awaited A World War II Fairy Tale (Stewart Buck & Stéphane Piter, 2025), a brand new feature length documentary about the troubled making of the film, and will explore its unexpected Welsh connection in the featurette Into the Darkness: On-set in Wales (2025).

As ever the festival also includes a short film competition, showcasing 28 films from around the world, with the European entries competing for the prestigious Méliès d’argent award.