Hysteria Fest 25' Brings Gore, Panels & Prom-Ready Mayhem to STL
- Horror Movies Uncut
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
By Travis Brown | HMU
St. Louis, MO — July 12, 2025
The first two days of Hysteria Fest 2025 are in the books—and yes, the sweat has dried just in time for prom. From packed screenings to chaotic trivia, from FX gore to filmmaker gems, this year’s fest is already a wild ride.
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THURSDAY | JULY 10
Venue: Arkadin Cinema
Highlights: Short film block, The Baby, Dead Ringers screening
The fest kicked off Thursday night with an opening short film block, capped off by Taylor Bustamante’s The Baby—a tightly wound slice of psychological horror (read our full review now). Bustamante was in attendance and graciously took questions from the audience before the lights dimmed for a sold-out screening of David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers at the Arkadin. If you weren’t already squirming from the on-screen trauma, the energy in the room made it feel like everyone was breathing in the same clinical dread. Welcome to Hysteria.
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FRIDAY | JULY 11
Venues: Arkadin Cinema + The Heavy Anchor
Highlights: Trivia, Filmmaker Panel, Dooba Dooba, FX Demo, Dead Lover outdoor screening
Friday brought the chaos over to The Heavy Anchor, our second venue and home of the fest’s live events. While the Arkadin screened analog horror standout Dooba Dooba, the Anchor crowd got their brains grilled by Frightful Femme’s horror trivia, hosted by Cori—normally of Terror Tacos, one of this year’s key sponsors.
Let’s just say… some festival organizer hiccups kept things spicy (Paul Hibbard, you know what you did). Wrong films, fam. Wrong films. But Cori powered through with her usual mix of obscure horror deep cuts and crowd banter.
INDIE HORROR FILMMAKER PANEL
Right after trivia, I took the stage (well, I was on the mic all night anyway) to host the Filmmakers Panel featuring Jackie Kelly, Eric Stanze, Mando Franco, and Douglas Wicker. This one ran deep. We talked about what it really takes to stay in the indie horror game—not just break in. Studio pressure, creative integrity, and the long-haul sacrifices that come with being your own damn brand. We laughed, we geeked out, we even got some great audience questions in before time ran out. Mad love to the panelists for showing up with honesty and heart.
DEAD MEAT & GORY TREATS
Back at the Arkadin lot, the late night crowd sweat it out for Dead Lover—a solid turnout considering it was 88 degrees and muggy as hell. If you stayed for the outdoor screening: respect. You earned your indie badge.
Inside, things closed down with another short film block while over at The Anchor, Logan Cole—local FX guru—gave a hands-on tutorial on crafting a neck-slit effect. With help from his wife (and fellow gore-head) Jackie Kelly, plus Douglas Wicker, Logan walked the crowd through a full effect from prep to execution. The process took time, but the result? Worth every second. Groans. Applause. Phones recording it all.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Saturday’s stacked:
🎞 12PM Shorts Block @ Arkadin
🩸 1PM Girls Just Wanna Have Kill
🍷 2PM The Hedonist @ Arkadin
🎤 6PM Free screening of Play Along + Director Q&A @ The Heavy Anchor
🔊 7PM Live podcast taping by Destroy The Brain @ The Heavy Anchor
👑 9:30PM PROM NIGHT II: Hello Mary Lou (outside 9.00 and free at The Heavy Anchor
Then it’s on to the Horror Prom After Party. You do not want to miss this.
Follow @hysteriafilmfestival and @HMUNCUT on all socials for the latest updates, interviews, recaps, and moments you’ll probably regret in the morning.
We’ve got two more days of horror mayhem ahead. Let’s get weird.
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