Events 2022
An Introduction to Blaxploitation Horror - Dr. Maisha Wester
Dr. Maisha Wester gives us a whistle-stop introduction to blaxploitation horror, including its background, key films and people, what defines the genre, its themes and its legacy.
Horror Between the Ears with Neil Brand
As well as being an accomplished musician, Neil Brand has also spent over 20 years honing a prolific career writing for radio. Most recently, he penned a drama for BBC Radio featuring stories from author Sheridan Le Fanu, and wrote the excellent original play “The Haunting of M.R. James” starring Mark Gatiss, part of a radio series featuring ghost stories by M.R. James that Neil adapted himself. Tonight, Neil will give us an insight into the process of writing these adaptations. How to take a classic written story and completely immerse the audience into a different audio only world in…
Mini Pub Quiz
What’s this we hear you say? A “mini” pub quiz? What are they thinking? Abertoir’s previous notorious pub quizzes, generously scheduling three hours for seven rounds, still overran! Question 1 – Was it wise to try and fit in a quiz amongst a packed schedule? Question 2 – Will they really be able to pull it off without overrunning? (Hint: The Answer begins contains two letters)
Nicko and Joe's Bad Film Club #1
Comedians Nicko and Joe know terrible cinema better than anyone, and we like to drag them here in order to demonstrate some true cinematic shit for you, complete with their own, very special, very silly live commentary. Regulars know what to expect by now – verbal abuse, free sweets and a truly terrible film! This will be film #1...if you think you can handle some more, join us in the virtual part of the festival for a completely different, and still completely awful, movie nightmare!
Party in Space!
The only way to follow a film like Voyage of the Rock Aliens is with an out of this world party…your chance to unwind with the cosmic sounds of Dellamorte’s grand return to Abertoir.
Quivering and Chill: Gothic in Games - Kristen McGorry
Games have long embraced fear as a core experience for players pulling on psychological levers to create suspense and tension. From the rust-encrusted halls of Midwitch Elementary School to the rasping doors of Racoon City PD, we designers love to build creeping dread. And often, we turn to the Gothic for inspiration. We lock you in labyrinthine castles. Corral you through fogbound graveyards. Deserted houses, quarries, villages, where the only sound is the caw of the ravens. We give you mysteries to solve. Relentless supernatural enemies to vanquish. Tell you it is an epic fight of good vs. evil as…
Who Are You Calling a Count? - Gavin Baddeley
Every self-respecting horror fan knows that Dracula takes his name from a real Transylvanian tyrant. But just how much does Bram Stoker's vampire count owe to his medieval namesake? Author and Abertoir regular Gavin Baddeley takes us back some 500 years to investigate the grisly life and crimes of Vlad the Impaler, probing the controversy over whether the world's most infamous bloodsucker was also history's most notorious despot.
