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October
15-19
The Knoxville Horror Film Fest returns Wednesday October 15 thru Sunday October 19 for its seventeenth annual horror cinema celebration, taking over Knoxville’s Central Cinema and Maryville’s Parkway Drive-In for three days and five nights of cosmic terror and violent delights!
Flashback Feature Presentations
This year’s repertory lineup finds us exploring the outer reaches of horror with an emphasis on science fiction frights, including David Cronenberg’s THE FLY (1986), Philip Kaufman’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978), Paul W.S. Anderson’s EVENT HORIZON, Tobe Hooper’s INVADERS FROM MARS (1986), Chuck Russell’s THE BLOB (1988) and Ted Nicolaou’s TERRORVISION. These classics will be peppered throughout the weekend’s lineup, headlined by Thursday and Friday “Science Fiction Double Feature" centerpiece events at the Parkway Drive-In. (Venue-specific lineup information will be announced when tickets go on sale Monday, September 1.)
2025 Feature Film Competition
This this year’s Feature Film Competition slate of festival circuit standouts includes Grace Glowicki’s celebrated Frankenstein riff DEAD LOVER, Addison Heimann’s sci-fi addiction comedy TOUCH ME, Todd Rohal’s demented comix adaptation FUCK MY SON! and Ross Kennedy & Skinner’s stunning stopmotion mini-feature SHRINE OF ABOMINATIONS, plus new films from returning KHFF audience favorites the Adams Family (MOTHER OF FLIES) and Anthony Cousins (FROGMAN 2).
Short Film Competition + Tennessee Terrors
Our feature film programming will be supported throughout the weekend with selections from 2025’s Short Film Competition, curated by the KHFF team to present the year’s best touring horror shorts across a broad spectrum of styles and sensibilities. And as with last year's festival, we'll be kicking the whole thing off Wednesday with a full evening dedicated to our Tennessee Terrors program, spotlighting DIY horror films produced in Tennessee.
Grindhouse Grind-Out Filmmaking Contest
Friday night's centerpiece event at the Parkway Drive-In will kick off with the twisted trailers of Knoxville's wildest filmmaking contest: the Grindhouse Grind-Out! Now in its fifteenth year, the Grind-out prompts teams of local creatives with a film genre (selected draft-style at our kickoff event) then gives them two weeks to shoot all the best parts of an imaginary movie and cut them down to a three-minute trailer! (For a better idea of what to expect, check out last year's "Nostalgia-sploitation" Audience Award winner and "Erotic Thriller" Grand Prize winner.) This year's sci-fi heavy competition kicks off Wednesday, September 17... watch this spot for signup info & more!
Tickets on Sale September 1
Passes to this year's festival will go on sale Monday, September 1 via FilmFreeway, offering a limited number of full Festival Passes (including exclusive admission to most Central Cinema screenings, including the entirety of our Feature Film Competition) as well as standalone admission to Thursday and Friday’s centerpiece events at the Parkway Drive-In, which accommodates many more guests for high-profile flashback features and Friday's Grindhouse Grind-out. (We're still tweaking the schedule, but nightly Parkway lineups will be detailed once tickets go on sale.
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In addition to advance ticketing, we will also be offering walk-up admission to Wednesday night’s Tennessee Terrors programming and Sunday night’s closing ceremonies at Central Cinema.
About KHFF
Debuting in 2009 as a single-evening program of short films, the Knoxville Horror Film Fest has grown steadily into a multivenue, nearly week-long celebration of horror cinema and the wonderful weirdos who create it. It’s been named one of the “Best Genre Film Festivals on Earth” by Dread Central, and is the longest-running film festival in East Tennessee. In 2018 the KHFF team opened single-screen theater Central Cinema in North Knoxville’s Happy Holler neighborhood, proudly sharing the fest’s spirit year-round with a wide range of local audiences.
ALL ABOUT KHFF
Launched in 2009 with a single evening program of local & touring short films, the Knoxville Horror Film Fest has grown into a four-night extravaganza of exciting features and unmissable short films, including special events like live podcasts, trivia sessions and our annual Grindhouse Grind-out filmmaking competition. We’re proud to be not only East Tennessee’s longest-running film festival but also one of the Southeast’s premier annual genre film events.
After a decade of screening at local venues like the Pilot Light, Relix Variety Theatre, Scruffy City Hall and Regal Cinemas Downtown West 8, the KHFF crew in 2018 opened single-screen moviehouse Central Cinema, which now serves as the festival’s home base. Between our theater’s intimate 88-seat setting and high-profile festival screenings at larger venues like Downtown West, the Bijou Theatre and Maryville’s Parkway Drive-In, hundreds of horror fans from around the region enjoy KHFF’s offerings every October.
Despite its ever-growing scale, KHFF remains a DIY labor of love for the small crew that puts it on each year, and we like to think the result is a film festival clearly run by fans, for fans.
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Please reach out via email to knoxhorrorfest@gmail.com if you'd like to contact us for any reason.