Photo: Kamloops Film Society

A selection of Canadian horror films, including the work of young local filmmakers, will be screened at the Paramount Theatre next month as part of Darkfest during the Kamloops Film Festival.

This year’s Darkfest will see popular Kamloops-based podcast Drunk in a Graveyard present curated Canadian horror films, and DIAG creator Robin Goodfellow said they plan to bring the thunder.

The first film to be screened on March 2 will be Quebecois French-language vampire film Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.

Goodfellow says the film is about a “vegetarian” vampire who doesn’t want to kill humans who becomes entangled with a young man hoping to end his own life. “Ghoulish and wholly vegetarian” snacks will be served at the screening.

A short horror film titled Occult Vortex will also be screened the same night. Goodfellow said the short was made by a troupe of local teenage filmmakers and directed by Riley Journe.

“I think it's really cool to give props to local people who are making things and I think that this group of kids is going to do something and I won't be surprised if in five years they're making horror films,” Goodfellow said.

The following weekend, the horror film Zoe.mp4 by Vancouver director Jeremy Lutter will be screened at the Paramount. Lutter will be in attendance and a live Q&A will be held following the screening.

“We will also be screening a short of his called Giltrude's Dwelling. It’s a little bit older, but it's actually the short film that kind of made us fall in love with Jeremy and his work,” Goodfellow said.

Goodfellow said it was the sixth time Drunk in a Graveyard has hosted Darkfest during the festival, and their goal is highlight achievements in Canadian filmmaking.

“We are very lucky and really, really proud to say that all of the short films and the films that we're screening this year are Canadian made,” Goodfellow said

“We really think that Canadian cinema is really, really important and valuable and we have a lot of seminal cinema in our cinematic history and I think the stories of Canadians are important, and it's important that they're told by Canadians.”

Photo: Robin Goodfellow

Drunk in a Graveyard