The Overlook Film Festival Recap 2025

Overlook, the great New Orleans Horror Film Festival, has delivered its goods. Long-time Patreon supporter of The Scariest Things, Robyn Marcotte, joined us to share her experiences with Eric and Liz on the festival. More than ever, I found that I didn’t have enough time to see nearly enough of the movies. Still, I was able to catch eight feature films and 23 short films. You have to pick and choose, as it is physically impossible to see all the movies. So, it became a bit of a guessing game as to what was going to be the best watch. In this episode, we share our thoughts on everything we did at the Festival. Did I make the right choices? I’d like to think so. There were some excellent movies. Here are the movies that I was able to review: Ash ★★.5 The Ugly Stepsister ★★★★★ Good Boy ★★★★.5 (with an interview with the director) It Ends ★★★★.5 (with an interview with the director) 40 Acres ★★★★.5 Clown in a Cornfield ★★★ Hallow Road ★★★★ Redux Redux ★★★.5 The Home ★★★★ (Review by Joseph for SXSW) Short Film Blocks Roundtable Other movies that we saw that don’t have reviews yet: Shrouds Abraham’s Boys Lifehack Liz and Robin weren’t particularly impressed with those movies, and in the case of Shrouds, Liz is convinced that David Cronenberg has lost a few steps. Films we weren’t able to see: Ick Drop Chain Reactions Dead Lover Touch Me Monster Island Cloud The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick The Spirit of Halloweentown Best Wishes To All Rosario The Zodiac Killer Project If you are looking for additional recommendations, the movies that we probably should have caught is Touch Me, which won the Overlook Grand Jury Award, and Best Wishes to All which took home the Jury’s Scariest Film Award. The biggest takeaway you should have is that film festivals are enthralling. It’s a bit overwhelming, and you won’t be able to see or do everything… and particularly in a tourist City like New Orleans, you should get to spend some time outside the theaters. Go to the after parties, do the trivia, and some of the panels. My experience with Crypticon (a fan convention) convinces me that you will enjoy the festival much more when you get a chance to meet and greet other festival attendees and the special guests. Overlook has been trying very hard, and has been succeeding at improving the festival experience. It’s not a cheap festival, but compared to other festivals like SXSW or Sundance, it is a bargain, and it is ALL HORROR. Thanks to Robyn for joining us this year, and we will see you all again in New Orleans Next year!