Horror Events

From horror conventions and film festivals to special screenings and immersive experiences, this is where you’ll find the horror events I’ve attended and covered for Clarissa’s Corner.

Some are huge fan conventions, some are film-focused festivals, and others are one-off spooky experiences. I’ll keep adding reviews, previews, practical visitor details and accessibility notes as this part of the archive grows.

Horror conventions and film festivals: Browse our permanent year-by-year hub for upcoming editions and past recaps.

Gothic culture and festivals to plan for 2027

Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival, Whitby — 29–31 October 2027: Live Gothic and post-punk music at Whitby Pavilion on Friday and Saturday, with a free Gothic and Alternative Market (10am–5pm Friday to Sunday). The official 2027 programme includes Anja Huwe, Chameleons, David J, New Model Army, Heartworms, Corpus Delicti, Mouth Ulcers and Mercy Girl. This is a Gothic music and culture festival rather than a horror convention. Find the confirmed day-by-day line-up, tickets, age guidance and accessibility notes in our 2027 horror and Gothic events planning guide, or visit the official festival site. Our separate Whitby Halloween 2026 guide remains an archive of that edition.

Current Horror Events to Start With

Looking ahead to more horror discoveries? Explore Soho Horror Film Festival 2026 and the Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy in Cambridge in 2027. Check each guide for dates, booking and access details.

Planning something spooky now? Start with Whitby Goth Weekend & Halloween 2026, horror at BFI London Film Festival 2026, Dark Matters: Frankenstein & Dracula, The Nightmare Realm at Avery Hill, or City of Ghosts Canterbury. There are also guides to GrimFest, Quex Halloween Fest, Maidstone Museum Ghost Hunt, Dead Northern, Grimmfest and Necropolis Festival, plus Strange Little Obsessions in Nottingham for horror and alternative artists, makers and community.

BFI Spooky Season 2026 — Halloween Screenings at BFI Southbank

General sale update — checked 25 September 2026. BFI Southbank’s Halloween programme is now live, with a week of spooky-season screenings alongside wider Roger Corman, horror and cult-film programming. For Clarissa’s Corner, the priority picks are the Ghosts: The Possession of Button House preview, Reece Shearsmith presenting Creepshow, Hammer’s newly restored and uncut Dracula, and silent classic The Cat and the Canary.

Ghosts: The Possession of Button House + Q&A — 21 October

BFI Southbank · 21 October 2026 · 97 mins · preview + Q&A · £17 / £14 concessions

The big-screen Ghosts adventure gets a BFI preview followed by a Q&A with guests. BFI explicitly confirms Audio Description for this screening. Members pay £2.50 less. Check live Ghosts tickets at BFI → You can also see the film in our October 2026 UK cinema releases guide.

Reece Shearsmith presents: Creepshow — 30 October

BFI Southbank · 30 October 2026 · 120 mins · 15

Reece Shearsmith presents George A. Romero and Stephen King’s 1982 horror anthology Creepshow. After the screening, Shearsmith is due to sign copies of his book Things I Took from the Dark: The Museum of Me, with copies available from the BFI Shop. Check the live Creepshow booking page → The indexed BFI event page does not currently expose a reliable event-specific start time or price, so those are not being guessed here. For more literary horror in October, see our Gothic & Horror Book Events guide.

Dracula: Restored and Uncut + extended intro — 31 October

BFI Southbank · 31 October 2026 · 4K restoration · 82 mins · 12A

Hammer’s 1958 Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, returns in a new 4K restoration that reinstates footage unseen since 1958 outside Japan. The BFI screening includes an extended introduction with special guests. Check live Dracula tickets at BFI → The indexed BFI event page does not currently expose the event-specific price or start time. For more Hammer and Dracula coverage, see our Grimmfest 2026 Dracula guide and Bram Stoker: Father of Dracula.

The Cat and the Canary + intro — 1 November

BFI Southbank · 1 November 2026 · 4K restoration · 80 mins · PG

Paul Leni’s 1927 old-dark-house classic screens with an introduction by Patrick Stanbury of Photoplay. Current BFI booking information lists an original pre-recorded score by Neil Brand. An earlier BFI programme announcement described live piano accompaniment, so the individual booking page is the detail to follow unless BFI updates it again. Check The Cat and the Canary at BFI → The indexed individual page does not currently expose its event-specific price or start time.

Access note: only event-specific access information that BFI has explicitly published is stated above. Ghosts has Audio Description confirmed. No Halloween-specific BSL, relaxed, captioned or sensory-adjusted provision is being assumed. For wider cinema-planning help, see our cheap and accessible cinema guide.

Images: an existing Ghosts: The Possession of Button House poster is already in the Clarissa’s Corner Media Library. No matching Creepshow, Reece Shearsmith or The Cat and the Canary image was found during this update. Existing Dracula imagery belongs to other Dracula coverage and is not being relabelled as BFI/Hammer restoration artwork. New BFI, Hammer, studio or archive imagery should only be uploaded once editorial reuse permission and the exact supplied credit are confirmed.

For the wider seasonal diary, continue with Halloween 2026 in London & the South East or our existing BFI London Film Festival horror guide.

Horror Events to Know About

For the Love of Horror

A full-on horror fan convention packed with genre guests, photo opportunities, signings, traders, cosplay and plenty for horror collectors. This is the kind of event that mixes fandom, celebrity guests and spooky shopping into one very busy weekend.

Grimmfest

A horror film festival built around new genre cinema, cult discoveries, filmmaker appearances and the sort of screenings that can introduce you to films long before they become wider horror talking points.

FrightFest

One of the best-known horror film events in the UK, bringing together premieres, independent genre films, filmmakers and fans. It is especially useful for discovering what is coming next in horror rather than only revisiting established favourites.

Halloween Horror Film Festival 2026 — Loughborough Junction

On Friday 30 October, Halloween Horror Film Festival brings an evening of independent short horror to Coldharbour Blue Cinema in South London. The 2026 event also has a 48-hour filmmaking challenge running 9–11 October, with team registration due by 8 October. Check the organiser’s latest programme and accessibility information before travelling.

Special Horror Screenings

Anniversary screenings, mystery horror nights, cast or filmmaker events and unusual cinema experiences all belong here too. These posts capture the extra atmosphere around seeing a horror film as an event rather than simply watching it at home.

Immersive Horror & Spooky Attractions

Walk-through scares, themed attractions, interactive horror, Halloween experiences and other live spooky events sit here when the experience itself is the main event. I’ll include what it was actually like to attend, plus practical details where they are useful.

Horror Pop Culture & Fan Events

Not every horror event fits neatly into a convention or film-festival box. Exhibitions, collector events, themed launches and other horror pop-culture experiences can live here too when they make sense for Chill & Thrill.

Latest Horror Event Coverage

Browse the horror events I’ve attended and covered below. New convention, festival, screening and immersive-horror posts will join this archive as they’re published.

Spooky Silent Disco @ Bristol Museum — 30 October 2026

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery · Friday 30 October · 18+ · two 2-hour sessions

Bristol Museum gets an after-hours Halloween takeover with wireless LED headphones and multiple DJs. The Early Session starts at 7pm and the Late Session at 9:30pm. Current Fever bands checked 4 October are Early £21 · Early VIP £26 · Late £16 · Late VIP £21; VIP includes priority entry, an LED foam baton and free cloakroom. Check live Spooky Silent Disco tickets → No tested Clarissa’s Corner Fever affiliate deep link is confirmed, so this is the direct event route rather than unverified affiliate tracking.

Access: Bristol Museum confirms level entry through electronic doors, a platform lift into the museum, passenger-lift access to almost all public areas, a wheelchair-accessible toilet, assistance dogs welcome and some seating with more available on request. The event listing describes the venue as wheelchair accessible. An event-specific companion-ticket position has not been confirmed, so it is not being assumed.

Sensory note: the event uses illuminated/spooky lighting and LED headphones. Clarissa’s Corner has not independently recovered the event FAQ wording needed to verify the supplied “no strobes/no haze” statement, hearing provision, sighted-guide/audio-description position or outside-break arrangement, so those remain flagged for confirmation rather than being presented as settled fact.

Photography: venue/event photography and filming rules should be checked before attending. Do not plan on bringing a tripod unless the organiser explicitly confirms it is permitted.

From the Horror Events Archive

World Zombie Day: London 2026 — past event

10 October 2026 · 12pm–7pm · Central London · FREE

A community-horror crossover: World Zombie Day returned with a free, family-friendly and dog-friendly zombie walk raising funds for The Dead Good Club. Registration is essential because the meeting point is confidential. Step-free routes are planned for wheelchairs and pushchairs, with alternative routes possible if public-road obstructions arise.

See our World Zombie Day London 2026 guide →