Here are 5 films we’re excited to see at Nightstream 2020

God bless virtual festivals like Nightstream, bringing a slew of horror’s next iconic features to the small screen. 2020 is a very strange, sad, and long year, and the genre we love so much is certainly bringing a little distraction. Much like such festivals as Fantasia Fest, which we covered this year, Nightstream promises to inject the fall with a necessary shot of ghoulish adrenaline through numerous feature films and delightful, terrifying shorts.

Nightstream 2020 runs October 8 through 11. Attendees will be able to unlock content and features until the 14th. More information here.

Below, B-Sides & Badlands picks out 5 films we’re most bloodthirsty to see this year.

Detention

Not far removed from Guillermo del Toro’s universe of gruesome fantasy, DETENTION is at once a shocking historical tale, a melancholy coming-of-age drama and a terrifying horror film. Set during one night in Taiwan in 1962, at a time when martial law was heavily enforced, two classmates look into the disappearance of their friends and teachers, all of whom took part in an illegal book club. Wandering the darkened hallways, they must confront the ghosts and deformed monsters that have taken over the school in order to discover the truth. Based on the hugely popular video game of the same name.

An Unquiet Grave

Unable to come to terms with the death of his wife from a car accident a year prior, a man (Jacob A. Ware) recruits his late spouse’s sister (Christine Nyland) to visit the place where she died to perform an ill-fated ritual. Director Terence Krey and screenwriter/star Nyland’s two-handed chamber horror lays terrifyingly bare the dangers of extreme grief; specifically, the unrelenting desperation, loss of self and evil that exists in our darkest moments of despair.

Darkness

As far as 17-year-old Stella (Denise Tantucci) and her two younger sisters know, civilization is ending outside of their house. Yet they can’t see it for themselves. Under their father’s tyranny, the siblings are forced to remain indoors, with all views of the outside world blocked off. Stella, though, suspects that something isn’t right about her dad’s rules. Director/co-writer Emanuela Rossi cleverly uses the guise of post-apocalyptic paranoia to look at both domestic abuse and the resolve needed to overcome it.

It Cuts Deep

While on Christmas vacation, Ashley (Quinn Jackson) tells her boyfriend, Sam (Charles Gould), that she hopes to tie the knot and start a family, a thought that terrifies him. When the attractive and seemingly omnipresent Nolan (John Anderson) shows up and alludes to potentially violent ties to Sam’s past, Sam’s world begins to close in around him in terrifying ways. Both horrifying and hilarious, IT CUTS DEEP plays upon the fears of both parenthood and manhood, and flips the tables on the classic “good guy vs. bad guy” trope. A Dark Sky Films release.

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist

In perhaps his most penetrating interview ever, director Alexandre O. Phillippe, quickly making a name for himself as a predominant genre film historian with memorable works like DOC OF THE DEAD, 78/52 and MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN, ploughs deep into the filmmaking process of director William Friedkin through the tumultuous and terrifying production of one of the most iconic horror films ever made. Candid and eye-opening, LEAP OF FAITH is telling of history that compels you to watch it at every turn.

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