"One of the country's best film festivals." — Fangoria
"One of the 25 Bloody Best Genre Festivals in the World." — MovieMaker Magazine
"A definitive snapshot of everything going on in the horror genre right now." — Time Out NY
"The best time I’ve ever had at a film festival. Full stop." — Bloody Disgusting
"Literally the best fest experience I had ever been a part of." — Collider
"One of our absolute favorite festivals" — Screen Anarchy
The Overlook Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of horror held in America's most haunted city, New Orleans.
Presenting superior film programming with an expanded focus on experiential events, the festival showcases exciting new work in new and classic independent horror cinema alongside the latest in interactive and live shows for a fully immersive weekend. As a summer camp for genre fans, The Overlook is a community event bringing the best of horror in all its forms to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience within an intimate and inspirational environment.
Past honorees include Roger Corman, Jason Blum and Leigh Whannell, and guests include Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Taika Waititi, Ari Aster, Ana Lily Amirpour, Paul Scheer, Roxanne Benjamin, Darren Lyn Bousman, and more.
Past screenings include closing night presentations of HEREDITARY and THE BLACK PHONE and the world premiere of A24's IT COMES AT NIGHT. Advisors of the festival include Elijah Wood (LORD OF THE RINGS, SpectreVision), Joe Dante (GREMLINS, THE HOWLING), Leigh Whannell (SAW, INSIDIOUS), Karyn Kusama (THE INVITATION, GIRLFIGHT) and industry luminaries from organizations such as LucasFilm, Sundance, and Blumhouse.
Testimonials From Previous Accepted Submitting Filmmakers:
"The Overlook Film Festival continues to raise the bar for genre fests. Its cunning programming, unique live experiences, and devoted curators, organizers, and jury make it a thrilling event for horrormakers and our rabid fans…" — Zeke Farrow (POSSESSIONS)
"There's not enough space to write just how much I love this festival! The organizers are absolutely fantastic, and they treat their filmmakers amazingly! Even going online because of the pandemic, it was an absolute blast. I will be coming back every year to this one!" — Angel Hernandez Suarez (NOM)
"Overlook was one of my most fun festival experiences, a flavor as magical and heady as New Orleans. If you get a chance to go, DO IT." — Izzy Lee (THE OBLITERATION OF CHICKENS)
"Overlook is a blast of a film festival! It was an honor to be included in such a top notch lineup. Even beyond the films, the events programmed were some of the best and most informative I've seen. I'm looking forward to be back!" — Jorge Lucas (BAKEMONO)
The festival offers the following prizes:
Feature Film Audience Award
Short Film Audience Award
Feature Film Jury Award
Short Film Jury Award
Scariest Film Award