- Classic horror films
- Talks
- Locally made short films
October 24th 25th & 26th
Festival programme
Those familiar with the Fear in the Fens format know that we like to offer great value entertainment and we have an especially packed programme for you this year!
Note: we try our best to stick to our busy programme, but we can be subject to technical or other issues beyond our control.
Friday October 25th
How to get your wristbands
Friday October 24th
Access to all events is through your wristband. Day tickets for Saturday are RED, and full-festival tickets are GREEN.
We will also be at the start of each of that evening's events. Look for someone wearing a 'STAFF' lanyard.
Saturday October 25th
Make your way to the cinema on the first floor of the Alive Corn Exchange King's Lynn.
Bring your proof of purchase and you will given your wristband and goody bag.
Friday October 24th
7.30pm Marriott's Warehouse King's Lynn
The 10th Fear in the Fens Film Festival opens with a very special evening exploring the Witchcraft Acts and the East Anglian women who were tried and executed down the centuries.
The evening will feature a screening of the acclaimed short film: Gossip:
East Anglia, 1584. When a young woman goes into labour a group of women, led by the local midwife, guide her through the trials of labour. But as they celebrate the safe arrival of new life, a greater danger arrives at the door.
Writer and director Hannah Renton will introduce her film.
Hannah's work has screened internationally at festivals including BFI Flare, LSFF, Aesthetica, Rhode Island and Kiev Molodist, as well as in museums, archives, and community and art spaces. She is a graduate of the NFTS and considers the Essex mud her muse.
We will also be hosting a talk and Q&A from Ruth Dillon from the We Are Witch Quilt , a new artistic collaboration honouring those tried as witches in East Anglia.
This remarkable piece of work is touring the country and we are proud to host part of it in a capsule exhibition at Marriott's Warehouse while we are working to find a venue to bring the whole exhibit to King's Lynn.
Both Hannah and Ruth will be taking part in a Q&A session where we will explore these two artists' different approach to the subject.
The quilt panel pictured right is by Lily Doble and honours Margaret Read (Shady Meg), who was burnt to death in 1590 in Kings Lynn.
This event and exhibition has been made possible with the support of Visit West Norfolk.
Saturday October 25th,
The Alive Corn Exchange
10am to 10pm
Fear in the Fens Film Festival main event.
A packed day of vintage horror films, speakers and locally made horror shorts)
10am to 11.00 am
Opening comments and talk
Selene Paxton-Brookes
Something ‘Orrible!
Carry on Screaming and the monstrous link between horror and humour.
15-minute break
11.15 am to 1.00 pm
Film 1: Carry on Screaming (1966)
Simply one of the best Carry-On films and also one of the best horror comedies of all times.
This homage to Hammer Horrors is the perfect tribute to the Creature Feature genre.
15-minute break
1.15 pm to 2.00 pm
Nasty, Brutish and Short
Fear in the Fens brings you the cream of locally made horror shorts - with your chance to vote for the winner of this year's Golden Shuck award.
Lunch until 3pm
3pm to 3.45pm
Talk: Becoming Wolf: The English Eerie and History of the UK Werewolf
Sam George is Associate Professor of Research at the University of Hertfordshire and the Co-Convenor of the Open Graves, Open Minds Project. Her research focusses on the intersection between folklore and the gothic. Her books include Representations of Vampires, 2013, In the Company of Wolves: Werewolves: Wolves and Wild Children, 2020 & The Legacy of John Polidori: The Romantic Vampire and Its Progeny, 2024. She is the co-editor of the first ever issue of the journal Gothic Studies on vampires (2013) and werewolves (2019).She uses her research into wolf folklore and werewolf myth to promote ecological conservation, working with the UK Wolf Conservation Trust to help inform public perceptions of wolves.
15-minute break
4pm to 5.35 pm
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Featuring a superb Anglo-American cast with outstanding British supporting actors, American Werewolf is the rarest of rarities - a comedy horror which is both very funny and very scary.
This film was also noted for it's ground-breaking use of practical effects, which still look great when subjected to the scrutiny of a Blu-ray transfer 40 years later.
15-minute break
Dinner until 7.15pm
7.15 pm to 8pm
Gavin Baddeley: Occult Zoology 101
Fear in the Fens are delighted to welcome back festival veteran Gavin Baddeley to take this class on the most bizarre and macabre lore concerning all creatures great and small.
From the mystical secrets of Ancient Egypt’s animal kingdom, to the weirdest entries to be found in medieval bestiaries, Gavin gives us the kind of priceless (un)natural knowledge you’ll never find in a David Attenborough documentary.
15-minute break
8.15 pm to 9.50pm
Film 3: The Fly (1958)
A true classic of the Creature Feature genre, an intelligent story that builds tension throughout the film, a great cast that takes the material seriously, ... and some genuine moments of horror.
10pm - Close
Sunday October 26th,
Norfolk Ghosts Myths and Legends / The Grey Men
10.30am to 12.30pm
The Globe Hotel Function Room Tuesday Market Place.
Visit West Norfolk’s booklet on the many myths and legends of the region is an excellent guide to some of the more hidden and interesting places to visit on the Norfolk Coast.
Kit Lewis and Christine (LadyChillers) Pike will be taking you on a prose-poem journey through Weird West Norfolk.
Expect ghosts, hikey-sprites, wizards and paintings that can't be left on their own...
But what is real... and what is fiction?
Philip Eke of Visit West Norfolk willintroduce Norfolk Coast: Myths and Legendswhich has been revised and expanded for 2025.Christine Pike will conclude with a readingof The Grey Men, a lost story of horror in Hunstanton from the Coulson Archive.
This event is open to all.
Tickets are £5 including a complimentary copy of Norfolk Coast: Myths and Legends
Followed by:
Fear in the Fens Social
Something new for this year's event, after the final event on Sunday and before you return home, we're going to give you a chance to regroup, gather what's left of your sanity and prepare yourself for the real world again.
You're invited to a friendly meet-up at The Globe pub just next to the Corn Exchange.
We'll be meeting up at the haunted part of the pub - the former stables at the rear.
This is not a ticketed item, so feel free to bring friends.