It’s Alive! Highlights from The 2025 Overlook Film Festival

Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West in Stuart Gordon’s 1985 horror film “Re-Animator”

I am back (after far too long), and although it’s not October, it was recently time for the second-most spooktacular time in New Orleans: The Overlook Film Festival! While I usually buy individual tickets for the movies I REALLY want to see at the festival, this year I decided to splurge and buy a pass to see as much as I could.

Here’s a breakdown of the best films I saw at Overlook this year:

DROP (dir. Christopher Landon) Happy Death Day and Freaky’s Christopher Landon is back with the crowd-pleasing Drop. The film follows widow Violet (Meghann Fahy) as she braves her first date in years with Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a handsome photographer with whom she’s been messaging for months. Things take a turn for the (truly absolute) worst when she begins receiving threatening messages from an anonymous fellow diner in the restaurant. Like many of Landon’s films, not only are there some thrills and plenty of laughs, but there’s also heart. Fahy and Sklenar’s chemistry is exceptional, both portraying survivors of various forms of abuse. They anchor the film with well-acted, emotional scenes that give you a sense of who these characters are. Clearly inspired by Wes Craven’s 2005 thriller Red Eye (one of my personal favorites), Landon has mastered the balance between tension and relief. Perfectly paced with a climax that will make you hoot and holler, Drop is a great time at the movies, and you need to see it with a packed house. Drop is in theaters now.

40TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF RE-ANIMATOR (dir. Stuart Gordon) I put off watching Re-Animator and other Stuart Gordon films because I know they tend to be nasty and over the top. But after watching this, I can’t wait to seek out the rest of his work. Inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft novella, the film follows medical student Herbert West (played by a young and awkwardly handsome Jeffrey Combs) who has created a serum that re-animates dead bodies. When he transfers from Switzerland to Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, fellow medical students Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and his girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton) get roped into his gruesome schemes. The film was much funnier than I expected it to be, and is full of your typical, fun 80s schlocky gore. Since it was an anniversary screening, Barbara Crampton was in attendance and stayed for a Q&A after the film. She even executed a well-timed scream from the back of the theater towards the end of the film. Buyer beware, though: animal deaths usually don’t bother me too much in horror movies, but there is an EXTENSIVE cat death scene that caused even me to have a nightmare about my cat that night. So if animal death bothers you, maybe close your eyes! But don’t let it drive you away completely. Re-Animator is definitely worth a watch for lovers of cult horror.

ICK (dir. Joseph Kahn) Music video director Joseph Kahn returns with his latest film Ick, a lightning-speed ride that follows Hank (Brandon Routh), a washed-up, former high school football star in the early aughts. After a devastating injury during his senior year, Hank winds up as a science teacher at his alma mater, watching Gen Z-ers highlight how quickly his life is flying by while he remains trapped in the memory of his pop-punk teenage glory days (hairspray, side swoop, and all). While right up my alley, with the film’s soundtrack being entirely pop-punk bangers from the early 2000s, even opening with “Swing, Swing” by The All-American Rejects, I didn’t love the film as much as I wanted to. The satire is whip-sharp and hilarious, and the performances are equal parts zany and sincere. There’s even a cameo from my early '90s horror favorite, Jeff Fahey! And while the film forced me to examine the reasons for my own reluctance in breaking out of the pop-punk prison of my own making, Kahn’s filmmaking style was a little overwhelming. Fast-paced is truly an understatement, and it takes a solid 20 minutes or so to adjust to the aggressive pace of the film, but all in all, I had fun and laughed a lot, which is really all I can ask for in a satirical horror comedy. 

LIFEHACK (dir. Ronan Corrigan) I ended up seeing LifeHack last minute on a whim after a glowing review from the queen HERSELF, Barbara Crampton, at the Re-Animator screening, and boy, am I glad I did. Although not technically a horror film, LifeHack is a riveting cyber heist film about a group of amateur teenage hackers (script kiddies, if you will) who decide to steal 24 million pounds from the wallet of a British tech magnate (a clear fictional stand-in for Elon Musk). From the very first scene, you know that these kids aren’t going to pull this off– but that doesn’t stop you from being on the edge of your seat waiting to see how it all falls apart. It’s a true Gen-Z Icarus tale. Corrigan spent years developing and polishing the film, and it shows–the performances are believable and well-directed, and the pacing is impeccable. LifeHack premiered at SXSW but hasn’t attained distribution yet, so cross your fingers!

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (dir. Eli Craig) Eli Craig (Little Evil, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) returns with Clown in a Cornfield, adapted from the eponymous Adam Cesare novel. It follows teenager Quinn (Katie Douglas), who moves to Kettle Springs, Nowhere, with her father, looking for a fresh start. They quickly learn that the town isn’t all that it seems and that the townsfolk have a strange reverence for “Frendo the Clown”, the mascot of the town’s corn syrup factory that recently burned down. I haven't read the book, so I can’t speak on comparisons, but the film adaptation is a rowdy good time with hysterically funny jokes and gruesome kills. Almost in the same camp as Ick, Clown in a Cornfield spends some time examining the generational divide between Gen X/Baby Boomers and Gen Z. Our Gen Z heroes dream of creating a better future for their town of Kettle Springs and the world at large but struggle to reverse the damage the previous generations created. There are a few jokes at Gen Z’s expense (one involving a rotary phone that had me cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West), but Craig has lots of respect for his young protagonists. I laughed, I “ew’d”, and I cheered. See it in a packed theater when it comes out on May 9th. 

30TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT (dir. Ernest Dickerson) A first-time watch for me, Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight is a gonzo cult classic. With a stacked cast of huge names in the very beginnings of their careers (Jada Smith! Thomas Hayden Church! Billy Zane!) as well as some veteran character actors (CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, and William Sadler), the film follows Frank Brayker (Saddler), a mysterious drifter on the run from the demon know as The Collector (Billy Zane). Seeking shelter in a boarding house in New Mexico, Brayker and the other tenants fight for their lives against The Collector, who is trying to bring about the apocalypse. Full of disgusting practical effects and the most bonkers, Beetlejuice-esque performance from Billy Zane (who Dickerson said brought a suitcase full of wigs to their first meeting), Demon Knight is genuinely the ultimate gross-out, hilarious cult classic. You can stream Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight on Apple TV+ if you have it.

Another year, another scary good time at the Overlook. Feels like I’ve always been here, though…..