About

The Overlook Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of all things horror held in America’s most haunted city, New Orleans. Each spring, genre fans and cinephiles from the world over convene in the heart of the French Quarter, home to countless apparition sightings, voodoo legends, vampire curses and even some lore related to our namesake, horror fiction’s most frightening creation. The festival is produced in partnership with The Prytania Theatres.

Presenting superior film programming with an expanded focus on experiential events, the festival showcases exciting work in new and classic independent horror cinema alongside the latest in interactive and live shows for a fully immersive weekend. As a summer camp for genre fans, The Overlook is a community event bringing the best of horror in all its forms to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience within an intimate and inspirational environment.

The Overlook has been listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Best Genre Festivals in the world every year of its inception and has been called “one of the world’s best festivals” by FANGORIA and “America’s most exciting new genre fest” by IndieWIRE.

Past guests to our events also include Nicolas Cage, Jim Jarmusch, John Goodman, Roger Corman, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Taika Waititi, Ari Aster, Ana Lily Amirpour, Paul Scheer, Roxanne Benjamin, Darren Lyn Bousman, Simon Barrett and Jason Blum in addition to our illustrious advisory board, who include Elijah Wood, Karyn Kusama, Leigh Whannell, Mick Garris, Larry Fessenden and Joe Dante along with industry luminaries from the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Blumhouse Productions, CAA, Endeavor Content, Neon, 30 West, XYZ Films and SpectreVision.

As part of the virtual collaborative initiative NIGHTSTREAM, a digital genre festival created in the wake of the pandemic, The Overlook spearheaded the virtual events component which included John Carpenter, Nia DaCosta, Mike Flanagan, Mary Harron, David Dastmalchian, Ernest Dickerson, John Landis, Issa Lopez, David Lowery, Greg Nicotero, Peaches Christ and many more.

Praise for our past projects

“I’ve been traveling the world going to genre festivals since Cabin Fever and this was one of the most fun, creative and cool events I’ve ever been a part of.”

Eli Roth, Filmmaker, Producer, Actor (Hostel, Cabin Fever, Inglorious Basterds)

“It was literally the best fest experience I had ever been a part of. It was thrilling to be able to celebrate the kinds of movies I love in a way that really focused on the films and the experience."

Collider

"You seriously are doing something special out there."

Ana Lily Amirpour, Filmmaker (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night)

"The best time I’ve ever had at a film festival. Full stop. It’s just such a great environment to view movies in, but the people make it truly special... I really felt like I was among friends the entire time."

Bloody Disgusting

"The geniuses behind the festival go all out to make it live on beyond the theater, bringing in great music, featuring the latest in technology, and holding a weekend-long interactive mystery game....what I really want to sell you on is the experience."

Birth.Movies.Death

"It was one of the best weekends of my life! I had such a wonderful time. The whole experience was just magic!"

Jason Eisener, filmmaker (V/H/S 2, The ABCs Of Death, Hobo With A Shotgun)

“The mix of stunning location, well-curated programming, pragmatic panels, live performances and enthusiastic crowds provides a wonderful structure to the festival's secret charm--the intense camaraderie.”

Travis Stevens, Producer (Jodorowsky’s Dune, We Are Still Here, Starry Eyes)

“I think that if we sat down to plot our dream weekend, it would look exactly like this - smart, kind people who love horror for all the right reasons, coming together in an intimate way at a beautiful, historic hotel for a four day celebration of film and community.”

Daniel Noah, Founding Partner of Spectrevision (Cooties, The Boy, The Greasy Strangler)