The eighth-annual Kimberley Horror Fest took place on Saturday, Nov. 2 and the party was a huge hit in its new home, having moved to the Kimberley Shared Ministry after seven years at Centre 64.
"The new venue was great," said co-organizer Natalie Skokan. "It was a little nerve-wracking having been in the same space for so long. We had our systems dialed at Centre 64 so to have to revisit how the event runs took a lot of extra planning. The biggest pro was that the Shared Ministry Church was absolutely lovely to work with. They were positive, helpful, and we shared some wonderful laughs about the fact that a Horror Fest was being held in a church."
"We have since sent them some photos of the church after we decorated it and they couldn't believe it was the same space."
Another unforeseen positive was that all of the event's volunteers had their own seating in the choir pews at the front of the church.
"At Centre 64 volunteers often have to hang in the back of the theatre, or sit on the stairs, this year they had their own space to watch and hang out," Skokan said.
One challenge that arose with the new venue was figuring out all the technical side of things. Organizers had rented a reversible screen from Ray's Music, but then discovered the HDMI cable wouldn't reach, so they had to pivot on the fly and change how they did the sound for the films.
Mile High Club, the band for the night, had done their setup and sound check earlier on the day of the event, but just before they opened the doors to the crowd, it was discovered that when the house lights were switched off, the band equipment also went.
"Being in a new space you can't really test out the technology until you are setting up so it's a bit of a gamble," Skokan said. "Turns out a bunch of the outlets were connected to other random switches. It was a 6pm panic. We had a little nervous laugh and figured it out."
Horror Fest 2023 saw a record 11 films submitted for the film contest, while this year they received 9 films, which all combined to be just over an hour.
"We felt that was a perfect length of time," co-organizer Chantel Delaney said. "We did get a few submissions this year that couldn't enter because they exceeded the 10-minute maximum length. "We might have to limit the films in the future but this isn't an issue yet. If the time comes, we will prioritize local films for screening."
One of the submitted films, entitled "Hanging On", had a rather shocking scene at the end, tackling subject matter that some viewers could have perceived as triggering. While the only rule for submissions is films must be under 10 minutes long, Delaney said they will be including disclaimers at the beginning of the screening to prep people, if they feel a certain film could be particularly upsetting, and added they do reserve the right not to show films they feel aren't a good fit for the event.
"This particular film was really well done," Delaney said. "The acting, cinematography and editing was fantastic.
"Horror is a broad genre. It's not always monsters and make-believe. Very often it is exploring realistic life experiences. The horror genre provides a safe place for people to experience feelings of terror and shock, the thrill of danger and sometimes grief and devastation. It is a unique genre in that sense because it can seamlessly blend humour and silliness into the complex emotions of fear and loss."
The winners of this year film contest, and not for the first time, were Inveremere's The Helmers with their submission "Need Not Invite His Crooked Bite" — a hilarious take on the idea that vampire's must be invited in — that had the audience in stitches.
While they've won multiple times in the past, this was the first time they were selected unanimously by the panel of judges and awarded a grand prize of $1800.
The panel this year was comprised of Andra Louie, the Kimberley representative on the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA) committee; Ellie Irwin, a film programmer and event manager based in the U.K.; Brena Lieberman, the lead programmer for the Calgary International Film Festival and founder of the Calgary Underground Film Festival; and Cameron MacLeod, an actor, writer, producer and director who has made projects for CBC, Just For Laughs and many more.
The Local Love prize this year went to "Rain" by SIL, who took home $888.
"We were pumped for these guys," Skokan said. "They are huge supporters of KHF and they have submitted a film every year so we were very happy about that. "Crowd favourite went to "The Return of the Evil Killings at Cursed Camp Blood Lake; The Reckoning" by Keegan Hughes. Keegan took home bragging rights as the crowd was laughing and cheering like crazy for this film.
"Overall, the films were so great."
In addition to a great slate of films this year, the attendees of Horror Fest outdid themselves with their costumes this year.
"I honestly don't think there is a Halloween party in the country that sees better costumes then we do at Kimberley Horror Fest," Skokan said. "They are scary, hilarious, clever and people stay in character all night. I just can't say enough about them. I always try to take a half hour break from the bar and walk around just to scope the costumes."
Some of the winning costumes this year included Gollum and the One Ring, Jack and Rose from Titanic (complete with door) and the whole squad of astoundingly-yellow Simpsons characters.
As the theme this year was "'Till Death Do Us Part," there were also several undead married couples and one divorce attorney.
As always, an event of this scope and longevity could not exist without the support of its community and a whole host of sponsors.
"We always laugh about our first year when we did the whole thing pretty much on our own," Skokan said. "I can't believe a second year happened for how much work it was. Now we have 20 amazing volunteers, hired decorating coordinators ,Megan and Jacob MacPhee, security... It takes a village, or should I say community!"
This year the event was bolstered by a Redi grant from the Regional District of East Kootenay, allowing organizers to boost the prize money for the films. They also reached out to the business community, many of whom donated prizes for the costume contest.
Some of their sponsors include Bohemina Spirits, Overtime Beer Works, Grow, Kootenay Disaster and Restoration, the Larix/Stonefire and the CKCA.
While Delaney said plans for next year are already brewing, she and Skokan need about a month of recovery before they can even talk about Horror Fest again.
"Overall it was a great success and we've been getting really good feedback from folks," Skokan added. "Just a lot of gratitude to everyone involved."
