The 2025 Dead Northern Horror Film Festival celebrated a year of boundary-pushing horror cinema, showcasing a remarkable mix of feature films, shorts, international entries, and music videos. From tense psychological thrillers to gory comedies and folkloric nightmares, the festival highlighted the diverse talent emerging in the genre. Audiences were treated to films that tested nerves, challenged perceptions, and redefined what modern horror can achieve. With its carefully curated lineup, Dead Northern 2025 proved that horror remains a fertile ground for inventive storytelling, exceptional performances, and striking visual craft.

We open with most of our characters in jail, paying the price for their sins. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is now fully in her God Complex era - potentially nodding to the Elouise storyline from the Alien comics (1997) and still refusing to make peace with Hermit (Alex Lawther). Meanwhile, Morrow (Babou Ceesay) lies beaten and restrained with a device blocking his cybernetic enhancements. Somewhere, Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves) is filing a formal complaint.

Head to City Screen York for a special screening of The Severed Sun, the feature debut from writer-director Dean Puckett — a haunting British folk horror set deep in a world of faith, fear, and folklore. Produced by Rebecca Wolff (Grasp the Nettle Films) and Jude Goldrei (Lunar Lander Films), the film premiered at Fantastic Fest 2024 and has been turning heads on the festival circuit.

''He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich W. Nietzsche

The legendary ‘Dracula: Prince of Darkness’ (1966) returns to the big screen at this year’s Dead Northern Film Festival

Fractured psyches and lingering dread are rife throughout the chilling ‘Inside the Mind’ short films at this year’s Dead Northern Film Festival

Haunting tales of uncanny worlds and frightening discoveries are aplenty throughout the ‘Spectres and Shadows’ screening of short films at this year’s Dead Northern Film Festival.

Watch the array of haunting ‘Twisted Tales’ at this year’s Dead Northern Film Festival

Watch the bloodiest of short films in the Flesh & Bone segment at this year’s Dead Northern Film Festival

Catch the must-see 'Student Shorts and Music Videos' at this year's Dead Northern Film Festival

Flies have always been horrid, but this week Alien: Earth takes things to a new extreme. Next time one lands on your burger, take a moment’s silence for our boy Tootles (Kit Young).

Joining the line-up for short films at this year's Dead Northern Film Festival are an array of gnarly horror's filled with teeth, claws, tentacles & clowns