Bristol Film Festival’s spooky Halloween

Following its successful launch back in March, the Bristol Film Festival returns for a packed Halloween weekend of spine-chilling horror, leavened with a few larfs.

The centrepiece on Saturday, October 29, is the first ever screening at Bristol Cathedral of Jack Gold’s 1978 supernatural thriller The Medusa Touch, starring Richard Burton as a telekinetic nutter. If you saw our definitive list of the 27 movies shot in Bristol, you’ll know that the film’s climax was filmed in the Cathedral, doubling for ‘Minster Cathedral’, which collapses into a mountain of bouncing rubber bricks as a consequence of Mr. Burton’s evildoing. The Cathedral will be bathed in candlelight for the screening, with live music, a wine reception and self-guided tours. Before the main feature, they’ll be showing a short documentary, specially produced by the Bristol Film Festival, in which locally recruited extras recall their experiences.

Around 15 extras got in touch following an appeal on Bristol 24/7. These included the son of the verger at the time of filming (who was instrumental in putting the Cathedral forward as a location) and somebody who apparently still has a piece of the foam ceiling in his garage.

“It’s brilliant to be working with Bristol Cathedral again after a successful Buster Keaton screening there during our inaugural weekend,” Festival Director Owen Franklin told us. “What makes this event particularly special is the chance to show a movie within the space it was filmed in, and to hear stories from some of the locals involved – this is as ‘on location’ as Bristol Film Festival gets, and it’s sure to be a fantastic experience that will bring Bristol’s close relationship with the film industry to life.”

BFF’s ongoing series of cinematic booze-ups in Averys wine cellar continues with a ‘drinkalong’ screening of the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows on Friday, October 28. Participants will be lubricated with a glass of Cava on arrival and then, this being a Kiwi film, get to sample a selection of New Zealand wines.

Following the huge success of Horror in the Caves back in March, the Festival also returns to Redcliffe Caves for a series of subterranean screenings. These range from the brilliant Gene Wilder/Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein to the ever-popular The Descent (a horror set in a cave, screened in a cave – geddit?).

Should these prove insufficient to scare the crap out of the jaded, actors will be on hand to facilitate bowel-loosening terror with the BFF’s own horror story. Admission to each screening is £18. Here’s the line-up in full:

Friday, October 28

Friday the 13th (6pm-8pm)

The Descent (8.15pm-10.30pm)

Saturday, October 29

Beetlejuice (1pm-3pm)

Poltergeist (3.15pm-5.30pm)

Shaun of the Dead (5.45pm-8pm)

Dawn of the Dead (8.15pm-10.45pm)

Sunday, October 30

Young Frankenstein (1pm-3pm)

Scream (3.30pm-5.30pm)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (5.45pm-7.45pm)

The Exorcist (8pm-10.30pm)

Read more: find Halloween screenings and more in our comprehensive daily film listings starting here