Mayhem Film Festival announces 2019 dates + film recommendations

We're excited to announce our 2019 dates! We'll be back at Broadway Cinema, Nottingham on 10-13 October 2019!

In the meantime, we have a number of recommendations for you for the next few weeks.

Our co-directors, Chris Cooke and Steven Sheil, will introduce a screening of Lars Von Trier's The House That Jack Built on Sunday 10 March.

In a mesmerising career best, Matt Dillon plays failed architect turned serial killer Jack who leads us through the thought process behind his increasingly more depraved acts of murder which he names "incidents". As he retells his crimes to Verge, as if they were all individual works of art in themselves, the audience is invited to question the nature of artistry, where its limits lie and when is far too far? And with pitch black humour and undeniable cinematic vision, von Trier delights in taking us there.

There's no redemptive narrative arc to The House That Jack Built; it's murder as farce, and if you can stomach it, you're in for one hell of a trip." – Sci-Fi Now

Feminist horror film collective The Final Girls present a selection of short films from some of the most exciting new female voices in international genre cinema. Films that delve deep into the darkest corners of the human existence, bringing an unforgettable array of monsters and horrors to the screen. The Final Girls bring the second edition of their sold-out tour We Are The Weirdos to Broadway, Nottingham on Thursday 28 February, shining a spotlight on some of the up-and-coming filmmakers and their fresh (and perverse) takes on the horror genre.

The programme is touring the country. Click here to check your nearest screening.

In space no one can hear you scream… By transplanting the classic haunted house scenario into space, Ridley Scott produced a work of genuinely original cinematic sci-fi that remains shockingly fresh even after repeated viewings. Alien is back on the big screen nationwide for its 40th anniversary and in glorious 4K on Friday 1 March.

Broadway, Nottingham are bringing back Shin'ichiro Ueda's fantastically inventive One Cut of the Dead by popular demand from Monday 4 March. The film is still being shown around the country so check your local listings if you're not in the Nottingham area.

It starts as a zombie apocalypse film shot in one take until… well, until it isn't anymore. We can't tell you much about this one, you're just going to have to trust us when we tell you this is one of the most joyous, inventive and laugh-out-loud funny films of the year. Made on a tiny budget, the film became an instant box office hit in Japan despite its complete lack of marketing campaign. It's just *that* brilliant!

"The only thing more fun than the 37-minute single-take opening is what comes next." - Film School Rejects

Opening around the country on Friday 8 March is Ali Abbasi's astonishing new film Border.

Tina is not like everyone else. She looks different and she can sense or smell how people feel – a skill that makes her an invaluable border control agent. When she meets Vore, who shares her physical traits and seems to know things she doesn't, her life is disrupted completely. Equal parts folktale, harrowing crime drama, love story and pitch-dark fantasy, Border is a remarkable film challenging the borders of morality, beauty, gender and sexuality in the most unexpected manner.

"An exciting, intelligent mix of romance, Nordic noir, social realism, and supernatural horror that defies and subverts genre conventions." - Variety

Finally, Jordan Peele's highly-anticipated follow-up to Get Out, Us, hits British screens from Friday 22 March.

After spending a tense beach day with their friends, the Tylers, Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway. Us pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.