screams by the sea festival 2025

This past Saturday (29th March), I attended the Screams by the Sea International Horror Film Festival. Having attended last year for the inaugural festival, I was looking forward to another day filled with horror films. So at 9.30am, I was sat in a darkened cinema ready for the festival to begin.

Unfortunately, only one out of the five films was a true horror film. I was a little disappointed, to be honest. While I try to see all sorts of films at the cinema, the whole premise of the festival is around horror - the mascot is a ghost! I appreciate that this is still a young festival and it might not be able to attract big name films, I would still hope that they would prioritise horror films over other genres.

Despite that, I had a good time and watched a couple of good films. Seeing these pieces that clearly took a lot of personal sacrifice, dedication and hard work to get made is really inspiring. Makes me want to try harder to get my own projects off the ground and to a position where they can be shared with an audience like this.

I'll definitely think about attending next year if it runs, but I'll probably wait to see which films are being shown before buying my ticket.

Some brief thoughts on the films screened below:

Scarlet Blue - a psychological thriller with a dreamlike atmosphere. Some great visuals but the story left me a little cold and the big twist at the end wasn't that surprising.

Suicide for Beginners - a pitch black comedy about a man trying to fake the suicide of the woman who rejected him. Some really big laughs in this film, and there's a sequence where the main character goes on an unintentional killing spree that was really hilarious.

The Daemon - a Lovecraftian cosmic horror about a family falling apart next to a huge lake. Some great atmospheric moments and tension, let down slightly by one repeated practical effect that had people laughing rather than recoiling in horror. If you liked The Void or The Color Out Of Space, then you might like this.

Time Travel Is Dangerous - a sci-fi comedy mockumentary with some big names in the cast (Johnny Vegas, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Mark Heap, Jane Horrocks). This was where my bad mood about the lack of horror films hit its highest, so perhaps it tainted my attitude to the film. But it wasn't really my sort of comedy.

Strange Darling - the highlight of the festival and the one film I had heard of outside of the festival programme. A smart, brutal thriller that is best to go into with zero knowledge.

I missed most of the short film programme as we went for lunch, but the two I did see were great - Transylvanie and Tasty Tongue.

Shout out to Ross Cleaver (@generalwitch1) and Richie Adams (@thewhitleylakeband) for the company and the drinks!

Cheers,

James