Something evil is afoot at CULTPLEX as the Manchester indie cinema’s annual STAB Film Season – the city’s biggest horror extravaganza – rises from the dead once more, bringing with it a month of sinister cinema that isn’t for the faint of heart.
This year’s STAB is the biggest yet, featuring a month of horror gems culminating in a deadly double threat of nail-biting classics The Exorcist (1973) and Alien (1979) on Halloween night.
Before that, Manchester will be kept on the edge of its seat with an onslaught of macabre marathons, creepy classics, ghoulishly one-offs and events with a terrifying twist leading all the way to the spookiest night of the year.
Launching with the annual airing of 1978’s locally-shot-yet-criminally-underseen The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974) on Wednesday 2 October, STAB keeps the chills coming thick and fast. Highlights include the return of the annual Scream Stab-A-Thon celebrating Wes Craven’s hit slasher franchise; a Zombie all-nighter boasting four of the genre’s bloodiest and best offerings including mile-a-minute Korean hit Train to Busan (2016) and handheld Spanish creeper REC (2007), and subtext-free big-screen series binge of Matthew Holness’s infinitely-quotable comedy Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (2004).
Meanwhile, Freddy Krueger’s 40th gets a nod with A Nightmare on Elm Street (1974) birthday party and Sprechen Music give German expressionist gem The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) a new lease of life via a reimagined soundtrack mixed live before your eyes, and the GASP! Horror Film Festival team will be dropping in for a rerun of Dario Argento’s supernatural giallo creeper Suspiria (1978).
When it comes to stand-alone chillers, STAB has you covered there too. It’s double-billing Letterbox hit Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) with pressure cooker drama Shiva Baby (2020) before spectral noughties classics Thirteen Ghosts (2001) and Ghost Ship (2002) get the same treatment.
Meanwhile, Neil Jordan’s ageless adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire (1994), an Interference Film presentation of infamous French horror Martyrs (2015), the twisted original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Brendan Fraser’s reappraised revamp The Mummy (1999) each make their STAB debut.
Those looking to get a little more hands-on this Halloween are in luck too. The amateur video game night MAGL gets a menacing makeover as MAGHOUL, A Lovely Time’s regular Simpson’s quiz adopts Treehouse of Horrors-themed brain teasers and Linnea Quigley’s Horror Workout (1989) promises a health kick you won’t forget in a hurry.
Tickets and further details on the website.
