FEARnyc, New York City’s biggest horror film festival, will return to the Big Apple this Halloween season. The second annual event, to be held October 23-29, 2017 at The Sonnet Theater, will feature screenings of dozens of new horror films, cast appearances, special events and a tribute to horror icon John Carpenter, creator of the “Halloween” franchise. The event is sponsored by Bloody Disgusting and Dread Central.

In its inaugural year in 2016, FEARnyc screened more than 65 films including the world premieres of “The Possession Experiment”, “Pool Party Massacre” and “Don’t F*** in the Woods”, the U.S. premiere of “Atroz” and the East Coast premieres of Jeffrey Reddick’s “Dead Awake”, The Butcher Brothers’ “A Beginner’s Guide to Snuff” and the anticipated remake of the classic splatter film “Blood Feast”. A screening of “The Exorcist” featured a live seance with the audience and numerous special events helped usher in the Halloween season.

“We scared the pants off New York City last year and we’re back to do it again,” said John Capo, founder and director of FEARnyc. “As New York’s biggest horror film festival, we’re excited to present a new batch of the best horror films and horror-related programming and to celebrate the legacy of John Carpenter.”

In 2016, Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York remarked, “A huge, authoritative horror film festival is coming to NYC next week. The significance of Manhattan hosting a major new horror film festival is not small. FEARnyc will be world-premiering several new works; the festival could grow into a launching pad like Austin’s Fantastic Fest has become.” Erik Piepenburg of The New York Times said “Horror fans are in for a macabre menu of varying flavors when FearNYC, a new film festival, makes its debut.”

Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly said “Classic big-screen shockers Night of the Living Dead, Psycho, The Exorcist, Halloween, Nosferatu, Carnival of Souls, and Tobe Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will all screen at the inaugural FEARnyc film festival.” Dread Central said “FEARnyc is the must-attend horror event of October. It’s so impressive that I’m pretty sure it’s the best thing happening in the entire country this October.”

Truly Disturbing called FEARnyc “a must for horror fans,” Wicked Horror called it “your ideal Halloween warm up event,” and Bloody Disgusting said “This year’s FEARnyc program is massive.”

The 2016 Jury for FEARnyc included Robert Eggers (Writer/Director, “The Witch”), Kate Siegel (Writer/Actress, “Hush”), Peter Phok (Producer, “The House of the Devil”, “The Sacrament”, “Stake Land”), Joshua Rothkopf (Film Editor, Time Out New York), Tuesday Knight (Actress, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4”, Wes Craven’s “New Nightmare”), tomandandy (Composers, “The Hills Have Eyes”, “The Strangers”, “The Mothman Prophecies”), Liz Vastola (Costume Designer, “The Purge: Election Year”, “The Innkeepers”, “V/H/S”, “We Are What We Are”, “Keep The Lights On”, “Cold in July”), Brian Spears (Special Effects Artist, “Jessica Jones”, “The Sacrament”, “I Sell the Dead”, “We Are What We Are”), Johnny Recher (Assistant Director, “The Purge: Election Year”, “Underworld: Awakening”), James Reyes (Light Iron Post-Production Services), DJ Hesta Prynn, Jim Klock (Executive, Terror Films) and Lee Peterson (Indie Theater Programmer).

The Sonnet Theater is located within The Producer’s Club at 358 West 44th Street.

For more information visit www.FEARnyc.com