It was especially an honor to get to watch one of my favorite horror classics, Night of the Living Dead, up on the big screen. This was the beautifully remastered Criterion Collection edition. It was a highlight of my dorky life to get to experience this movie in a standing-room-only packed auditorium with other diehards — not to mention John Russo himself there as a guest of honor.

The Bloodlust

Speaking with organizers, they stressed that this was a festival and not a convention — while modern conventions have turned into pop culture merchandise flea markets with expensive meet-and-greets, this festival’s focus was the films being shown, with their accompanying Q&A sessions and directing and writing workshops coming a close second.

SF Weekly

Throughout the weekend, dozens of short films also screened in blocks, and selections included films by several local filmmakers like Sean Pettis, who premiered his stop-motion short film Baba Yaga Origins, and Miranda Limonczenko, who directed the Black Mirror-esque short film Sleepo. Many of the shorts were impressive exercises in horror, comedy, science fiction and drama.

North Bay Bohemian