Ghosts, vampires, and mail-delivery mysteries: Brooklyn Horror Film Festival returns with a frightful lineup Oct. 17-24 • Brooklyn Paper

Spooky season is upon us, and so is the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival — almost.

The eight-day festival is set to return to Kings County on Oct. 17 with a frightening slate of films and events, all hosted at Nitehawk Cinema’s theaters in Williamsburg and Prospect Park.

The festival is bookended with a pair of chilling new movies. Indie comedy-horror “Dead Mail” will make its New York debut on opening night, and “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” starring period drama favorites John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, will close the festival out.

But the thrills will continue all week long. The lineup is packed with new films like Tiago Teixeira’s “Custom,” Sasha Rainbow’s “Grafted,” and Phillip Escott and Sarah Appleton’s new documentary “Generation Terror,” all making their North American debuts. 

Another three horror flicks will make their world premieres at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival: “House of Ashes,” the first feature by director Izzy Lee; “Lilly Lives Alone,” an atmospheric ghost story; “Psychonaut,” a queer science fiction romp. 

What’s old is new again as the festival celebrates an old scary movie favorite: vampires. The 1970s vampire classics “Vampyres” and “The Blood Spattered Bride” will be screened in 35mm, but perhaps the highlight of vampire programming is the Spanish version of “Dracula” with a live score by The Flushing Remonstrance. Stepping away from film, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies will present a lecture by Dr. Leah Richards titled “Queer Vampires, Queer Liberation, Queer Futurity.”

Other festival highlights include the Turkish revenge flick “Sayara,” a screening of several episodes from the new horror anthology series “Tales from the Void,” and and a special presentation of prolific horror director Larry Fessenden’s 1995 vampire film “Habit,” followed by the presentation of the festival’s Leviathan Award and a Q&A with Fessenden and Jenn Wexler.

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival runs from Oct. 17-24 in Williamsburg and South Slope. The full lineup and schedule of events is available online.