National premiere screenings and cineconcerts at the international Fantasy & Horror film festival, DRACULA FILM FESTIVAL

The 11th edition of the international fantasy film festival from Braşov, Dracula Film Festival, will take place between October 25-29. The festival program will include a series of special screenings, including the national previews of some films that will reach cinemas in Romania: FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S, which opens the Dracula Film Festival, being a film made after the survival horror video game of the same name, released in year 2014 (often abbreviated FnaF), IT LIVES INSIDE (USA, 2023), an American supernatural horror film that will be seen on the last day of the festival, but also the war film directed by Marian Crișan, WARBOY (Romania , 2023), which tells the story of a teenager through whose eyes we see the end of World War II.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, is the day when the 11th DRACULA FILM FESTIVAL opens, with two special events. At Cinema Astra in Brașov, viewers can watch the classic film Dracula, from 1931, with Bela Lugosi in the lead role, in CINECONCERTO: Massimo Zamboni VS. Dracula, a live cinema concert Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931, live music by Massimo Zamboni, Italy). Massimo Zamboni is an Italian guitarist and composer, considered one of the fathers of Italian punk rock. The film concert Massimo Zamboni VS Dracula is presented by the Italian Institute of Culture Bucharest.

Also on Wednesday, October 25, but this time at Cinema Modern in Brașov (cinema that reopens to the public on the occasion of the Dracula Film Festival), the film based on the video game of the same name, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S, a soft production, will be shown in preview horror by the famous Blumhouse, the company responsible for franchises such as Insidious, Paranormal Activity or The Purge, but also very successful horror films with the general public, such as M3GAN or The Black Phone, where the protagonist is the young American actor Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) .

The release of Five Nights at Freddy’s around Halloween (the premiere in Romania is on October 27) promises to be a real delight for fans of the VG universe, but also a way to attract amateur horror moviegoers, who will see that this adaptation brings a dose of novelty to this cinematic genre through the macabre nocturnal events that take place in a children’s restaurant.

IT LIVES INSIDE (USA, 2023) is shown for the first time in Romania at the Dracula Film Festival. Following the international success of Get Out, production company NEON returns with a new film, director Bishal Dutta’s feature debut, which offers an immersive experience through genre conventions accompanied by Hindu mythology. A Native American teenager struggles with her cultural identity and ends up unwittingly releasing a demonic entity that the girl’s loneliness causes to have unlimited powers.

“It Lives Inside is underpinned by innovative horror visuals, a well-constructed script, and outstanding central performances that define the emotional heart of the story.” – The Washington Post. The film, which will enter cinemas across the country starting on November 3, 2023, won the Audience Award in the category Midnighter – SXSW Film Festival 2023 and was also nominated this year for the Narcisse Award at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival.

In the preview from Brașov, on October 27, the audience will also see Marian Crișan’s newest film, WARBOY, which will later enter cinemas throughout the country starting on November 17, 2023. Trying to save the family’s two horses, a teenager embarks on an initiatory journey across the wild landscape of the Apuseni Mountains. A Romanian western about a teenager through whose eyes we see the end of the Second World War, more precisely the fall of 1944.

Filmmaker Marian Crișan will be present at the screening of the Dracula Film Festival, in Brașov, for a session of questions from public side.

Scarlet Blue (France, 2023) and Post Mortem (Hungary, 2020) are two other very special films from the space of adult fantasy that can be seen in the national premiere at the Dracula Film Festival.

French filmmaker Aurélia Mengin, the author of the multi-award winning experimental fantasy Fornacis, is present in Brașov and will discuss with the spectators, in the Eastern European premiere, the newest feature film she has signed, SCARLET BLUE, a Mystery-Drama with a special aesthetic about a young depressed woman who discovers under the effect of a mystical hypnosis a dark family secret, which forces her to explore her past again.

The Hungarian director Peter Bergendy is also present at the Dracula Film Festival and will present to the public Hungary’s proposal for the 2022 Oscar Awards, the film POST MORTEM, which premieres in Brașov. The film tells the story of Tomás, a traveling photographer who tries to make a living by taking the victims of war one last photo among their families. He ends up facing ghosts in a haunted village after a world war that culminates in a flu epidemic.

After the Dracula Film Festival Awards Gala, there will be another film concert, Faust, A German Folk legend, film by Murnau, music by Murcof. The story of F.W. Murnau’s take on the classic German legend Faust is an unmissable masterpiece. Both technically and story-wise, the film excels, and despite being nearly a hundred years old, Faust still stands as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. Live music of the film is made by Murcof (Mexico/Spain), famous electronic artist.

Tickets were put on sale at www.biletebrasov.ro.

The program of screenings and activities of the Dracula Film Festival will be published soon on www.draculafilm.ro

Dracula Film Festival is a project of the Fanzin Cultural Association and is financed by Brașov City Hall.

Romania Journal supports the festival as media partner.