Celluloid Screams 2025: QUEENS OF THE DEAD And ALPHA Bookend Sheffield Horror Film Festival

 

CELLULOID SCREAMS: SHEFFIELD HORROR FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2025 PROGRAMME!

 

A drag zombie extravaganza on opening night with the UK Premiere of Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead, followed by a live drag monster show from local legends Cryptid Queers and the regional premiere of Julia Ducournau’s Alpha are among the highlights at Celluloid Screams 2025 (Presented by Arrow Video), along with premieres of gory revenge comedy Hacked, fantasy horror epic Deathstalker and Korean creepfest Noise, plus classic screenings of Martyrs, Return of the Living Dead and Tales from the Crypt.

 

Founded in 2009, the festival has become a destination for horror fans seeking the very best the horror genre has to offer. Recently voted one of the Top 40 horror festivals in the world by Dread Central, Celluloid Screams: Sheffield Horror Film Festival returns to Showroom Cinema, Sheffield from 23-26 October 2025 with a terrifying array of premieres, previews, terrifying short films, classic screenings and special guests. 

 

“This year, we’ve pulled out all the stops to curate our most thrilling lineup to date.” says festival director and founder Rob Nevitt. “Once again, we have scoured the earth to find the true gems of the horror genre for your viewing pleasure. With a whole host of premieres and previews, plus a handful of classics thrown in for good measure – not to mention a live horror drag show on our opening night - Celluloid Screams 2025 is set to be one of our most memorable festivals to date and not to be missed.”

 

Here’s the full line-up of what’s in store for Celluloid Screams 2025…

 

Thursday 23 October

 

OPENING GALA: QUEENS OF THE DEAD (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Tina Romero  |  USA  |  2025  |  99 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

Drag queens and club kids battle zombies craving brains during a zombie outbreak at their drag show in Brooklyn, putting personal conflicts aside to utilize their distinct abilities against the undead threat. With a phenomenal cast including Katie O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls) and Drag Race royalty Nina West, Tina Romero’s (daughter of the late, great George A. Romero) Queens of the Dead combines zombie carnage with a fierce sense of humour and a lot of heart. 

 

Screening with short film PEARLS

 

 

CRYPTID QUEERS: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DRAG (LIVE SHOW)

 

To kick off our opening night in style, we've teamed up with Sheffield's drag monster legends CRYPTID QUEERS to bring some of the region's best drag monsters to the stage for a very special live show.

 

 

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD

Dir. Dan O'Bannon |  United States  |  1985  |  91 mins  |  40th Anniversary screening 

 

When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.

 

Screening with short films FEED + STRIP MALL

 

 

 

Friday 24 October

 

 

SILVER SCREAMERS (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Sean Cisterna  |  Canada  |  2025  |  95 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

Silver Screamers is a heart-warming and spine-tingling documentary that follows a group of spirited senior citizens as they embark on an extraordinary adventure far outside their comfort zones: creating a horror film.

 

MOTHER OF FLIES + Q&A

Dir. John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser  |  USA  |  2025  |  85 mins 

 

When a young woman faces a deadly diagnosis, she seeks dark magic from a witch in the woods. But every cure has its cost.

 

Screening with short film WHITCH

 

We are delighted to welcome back John Adams and Lulu Adams to Celluloid Screams to introduce MOTHER OF FLIES and take part in a Q&A after the film.

 

 

MARTYRS – 4K RESTORATION

Dir. Pascal Laugier  |  France, Canada |  2008  |  99 mins  |  4K Restoration Premiere

A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity, in Pascal Laugier's infamous horror masterpiece. Screening courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

 

Screening with short film LENNOX-FRIEDKIN TAPE #004

 

 

THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM + KIER-LA JANISSE IN CONVERSATION

Dir. Kier-La Janisse  |  Canada  |  2025  |  29 mins 27 seconds  

 

A schoolteacher's late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps without a reservation leaves him with no option but to accept the room of a missing hotel guest — leading to a sleepless night full of strange and uncanny occurrences. Based on the classic chiller by Algernon Blackwood.

​

We are delighted to welcome director Kier-La Janisse to Celluloid Screams for a post-screening discussion of The Occupant of the Room and the influence of the Christmas ghost story tradition on her work.

 

 

HACKED: A DOUBLE ENTENDRE OF RAGE FUELED KARMA + Q&A (EUROPEAN PREMIERE)

Dir. Shane Brady  |  USA |  2025  |  85 mins  |  

 

In 2021, ordinary people Shane Brady and Emily Zercher were hacked. $20,000 stolen. This story begins based on those true events. The rest? What we wish we could have done to that bastard.

 

We are delighted to welcome Shane Brady and Emily Zercher to Celluloid Screams to take part in a post-screening Q&A.

 

Screening with short film OBEY!

 

 

CELLULOID SCREAMS SECRET FILM

Directed by TBC  |  TBC  |  TBC  |  TBC  

 

A festival tradition since our first edition in 2009, our secret film is kept under wraps and only revealed as it is about to begin.

 

Screening with ATOM & VOID

 

 

Saturday 25 October

 

MAN FINDS TAPE

Dir. Paul Gandersman, Peter S. Hall  |  United States  |  2025  |  84 mins  

 

After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.

 

Screening with short film SLEEPEATER

 

 

SCARED SAFE VOL. 2

Dir. Various  |  United Kingdom |  Various  |  70 mins  

 

Ten years after the first instalment, Celluloid Screams presents a second collection of horrifying and often unintentionally hilarious public information films to scare you into submission. The perils of careless driving, petty crime and the dangers of playing on farms are just some of the gruesome delights we have in store. 

 

 

HEAD LIKE A HOLE (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Stefan MacDonald-Labelle  |  Canada  |  2024  |  93 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

In financial dire straits, a man accepts a strange, high-paying job where he must take up residence in a home and measure a hole in the wall of the basement to determine whether or not it's growing in size.

 

We are delighted to welcome Stefan MacDonald-Labelle to Celluloid Screams to take part in a post-screening Q&A.

 

Screening with short film POLY BAGGAGE

 

 

BLOOD AND GUTS: THE FILMS OF CHRIS MCINROY + Q&A

Dir. Chris McInroy  |  United States  |  2014-2025  |  70 mins  

 

Celluloid Screams regulars will be familiar with the films of director Chris McInroy, and with two new short films in this year's programme, we thought it was about time to resurrect our short film retrospective slot and welcome the man himself to Sheffield.  Expect, blood guts, gore and plenty of laughs, plus a Q&A after the screening.

 

 

DEATHSTALKER (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Steven Kostanski  |  Canada  |  2025  |  104 mins  |  

 

A powerful swordsman known as Deathstalker recovers a cursed amulet from a corpse-strewn battlefield. Marked by dark magic and hunted by monstrous assassins, he must face the rising evil and break the curse. Director Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman) delivers a riotous reimagining of the 1983 cult classic, complete with his trademark humour, outrageous creature design and gore galore.

 

 

IT ENDS (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Alex Ullom  |  United States  |  2025  |  87 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

Friends on a late-night food run become trapped on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond. Confined in their Jeep Cherokee, they must decide whether to accept their fate or attempt escape, in Alex Ullom’s cosmic existential horror.

 

Screening with short film STEAK DINNER

 

 

CELLULOID SCREAMS MYSTERY 35MM GRINDHOUSE FILM

Dir. TBC |  TBC  |  TBC  |  TBC

 

Following on from last year’s mystery 35mm screening (which was revealed as the one and only Pieces), the craziest screening of the festival is back for 2025. What cinematic brainmelter do we have in store for you this year? We’ve trawled the vaults to find a film that you absolutely won’t want to miss, so be sure to grab a ticket.

 

 

Sunday 26 October

 

DESCENDENT (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Peter Cilella |  USA  |  2025  |  93 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

A troubled LA school guard, haunted by family tragedy, experiences strange visions after a mysterious light appears in the sky. As his wife's due date approaches, he races to face his demons before his growing obsession consumes him.

 

Screening with short film SKULK

 

 

TALES FROM THE CRYPT

Dir. Freddie Francis  |  United Kingdom  |  1972  |  92 mins

 

After last year’s screening of From Beyond the Grave, we’re delighted to bring another of Amicus Productions’ 1970s anthologies back to the big screen. Five strangers get lost in a crypt and, after meeting the mysterious Crypt Keeper, receive visions of how they will die.

 

Screening with short films THE WOMAN IN THE BED + THE FAIRY MOON

 

 

CONFESSION (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita |  Japan  |  2024  |  74 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

Jiyong is seriously injured in a blizzard during a mountain trek with Asai, an old friend from college. Believing his injuries to be fatal, Jiyong makes a shocking deathbed confession to his friend, but when the wind suddenly weakens, the two find refuge in an empty hut nearby. Stranded in the isolated cabin by the blizzard, the two men struggle under the weight of Jiyong's confession and are thrust into a deadly fight for survival as Jiyong goes to extreme lengths to ensure his dark secret remains untold.

 

Screening with short films JACQUES THE GIANT SLAYER + THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

 

 

NOISE (UK PREMIERE)

Dir. Kim Soo-jin  |  South Korea  |  2024  |  93 mins  |  UK PREMIERE

 

A woman with a hearing impediment is haunted by sounds linking to her sister's disappearance and the presence of a malevolent spirit, in this eerie South Korean shocker.

 

Screening with short films GRANDMA IS THIRSTY + HEY BABE

 

 

CLOSING GALA: ALPHA

Dir. Julia Ducournau  |  France/Belgium  |  2025  |  128 mins 

 

After closing past festival with her films Raw and Titane, we’re thrilled to be closing Celluloid Screams 2025 with director Julia Ducournau’s latest vision of horror. Alpha, 13, is a troubled teenager who lives alone with her mother. Their world comes crashing down the day she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm.

 

 

Festival passes and day passes are on sale now and selling fast.

https://showroomcinema.org.uk/festivals/celluloid-screams-sheffield-horror-film-festival

 

Individual Tickets are on sale Friday 26 September at 12 noon.

https://showroomcinema.org.uk/festivals/celluloid-screams-sheffield-horror-film-festival

 

Follow along on socials and visit https://www.celluloidscreams.com/ for details of this year's festival.