- Classic horror films
- Talks
- Locally made short films
October 23rd 24th & 25th
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
Access to all events is through your wristband. Day tickets for Saturday are RED, and full-festival tickets are GREEN.
Friday 23rd October
Your festival wristband will be available on the door.
Look for someone wearing a 'STAFF' lanyard.
Saturday October 24th
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.
Sunday October 25th
If you have still not collected your festival wristband, it will be available on the door.
Look for someone wearing a 'STAFF' lanyard.
Friday October 23rd
Doors at 7pm
We are very pleased to announce that the internationally respected artist, musician and author Cosey Fanni Tutti will open this year's #FearintheFens festival with a talk on the King's Lynn mystic, Margery Kempe.
Cosey’s prolific music and art career began in 1969, and she has been acclaimed for her Art; as co-founder of Industrial music and Throbbing Gristle; her pioneering electronic music - both as a solo artist and as Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti, and for her books, ’Art Sex Music’ and ’RE-SISTERS’.
Cosey’s work has featured in institutional exhibitions around the world for over three decades.
Works by Cosey have been acquired for the Tate Britain Collection and The Arts Council Collection, Centre Pompidou as well as other institutional and private collections.
Cosey’s work pushing the boundaries of art and music has been a personal inspiration for us for decades, and we are delighted to welcome her to Fear in the Fens for the first time.
Margery Kempe was a 14th century mystic, who wrote, through dictation The Book of Margery Kempe, considered to be the first autobiography in the English language.
In her book she relates her deeply intense spiritual experiences, which resulted in profound religious visions.
Her dedication to her vision led her to carry out extensive pilgrimages to Europe and the Holy Land. In addition to causing domestic tribulations, her unflinching faith brought her the scrutiny of both secular and religious authorities at a time when a careless answer could lead to being burnt as a heretic.
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 10.40 am
Opening comments and talk
Kit Lewis
Bloody Kids! CULTure Babylon founder Kit Lewis takes you on a whistle-stop tour of children in horror films, taking in classics such as The Bad Seed, The Innocents, Rosemary's Baby, and of course The Exorcist, and the many 'evil child' films they spawned
10 minute break
10.50 am to 12.30 pm
Film 1: The Omen (1976)
Hot on the heels of 1973's The Exorcist, unlike many wannabee Satanic shockers, this film boasted a stellar cast, including many great English actors, and a truly chilling script rooted in biblical prophecy.
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10-minute break
12.40 pm to 1.30 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 3.40pm
Talk: TBC
10-minute break
3.50 pm to 5.20 pm
The Innocents (1961)
A pysychological horror story with a true twist of the supernatural.
A briliant cast, including Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave and Peter Wyngarde, and a script by way of Henry James make this a perfect chiller.
Dinner until 7.00pm
7.00 pm to 7.40 pm
Gavin Baddeley: Nursery Crimes - the ABC's of Subversion
Until comparatively recently, the books you'd find in nurseries were devoid of the sentimentality that characterises the genre today.
Rather they were filled with lurid, sadistic cautionary tales, designed to terrify naughty children.
The tradition goes back to the roots of children's literature. For many years, outside of the aristocracy and the clergy, literacy was seen as a useless skill for most kids.
The exception was among radical Protestants, who regarded actually reading the Bible as essential to being a good Christian. These were also the people who believed in fear and rigid conformity as key virtues - hence the earliest children's books were full of hair-raisingly brutal morality tales.
The tradition continues well into the 20th Century. Authors like Hilaire Belloc and Edward Gorey were satirising sadistic children's books that could still be found in many nurseries. In turn, Belloc and Gorey inspired filmmakers like Tim Burton, and echoes can be heard in the current vogue for horror films riffing on classic kids' characters like Pinnochio and Winnie the Pooh.
10-minute break
7.50 pm to 9.45pm
Film 3: The House by the Cemetery (1981)
You spoke, we listened! Fear in the Fens introduces its first Euro-Horror, by way of Fulci's The House by the Cemetery.
Heavy with mood, dread, and meaningful looks, this splatter-fest once briefly had the distinction of being on the UK's official video nasty list.
Dr. Norman Boyle leaves New York for Boston to resume research about Dr. Freudstein after his colleague Dr. Petersen commits suicide. Dr Boyle, his wife and their son Bob move to an isolated house in the woods that belonged to Dr. Petersen.
Confusing and at times nonsensical, this is a true classic of 80's horror, and it's influence can be found in films such as Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses
10pm - Close
Sunday October 25th,
Ruined Childhood - how public information films gave 70s kids nightmares
10.30pm - 12.30pm
Nothing was safe in the 70s, crossing the road, playing with a frisbee, a walk by the river - they could all kill you stone dead, and there was a whole government department dedicated to making you ensure you never forgot.
There was no-where safe from this psychological warfare, they'd get you while watching children's television during the holidays, or during the interval at the cinema - they'd even wheel a television into your classroom and make you watch them...
Includes the Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water and the nightmare fuel Indians.
Followed by:
Fear in the Fens Social
Last year's social went well, so we're keeping it for this year!
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 downstairs at Marriott's Warehouse.
This is not a ticketed item, so feel free to bring friends.