HorrorFest International Film Festival
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 – September 19, 2026 · All day
The Electric Theater Center
Southern Utah's Longest-Running Horror Festival
HorrorFest International is four days of horror cinema from around the world, screened at the Electric Theater Center in downtown St. George. It has been running for more than two decades, and it has changed shape considerably along the way.
It began as a repertory showcase — classic horror shown properly, in a theater, to people who wanted to see it that way. What it became is a competitive festival of independent work: feature and short-film blocks submitted from around the world, with filmmakers present for many of the screenings. The retrospective instinct is still visible in the programming, but the center of gravity has moved to new work.
Who Runs It
The festival is programmed by the Film and Media Alliance of Southern Utah, a nonprofit whose stated purpose is to encourage filmmaking talent and to preserve film history and the theatrical experience — two aims that explain the festival's split personality neatly.
HorrorFest is one of several dates the alliance runs across the year, alongside a summer festival, a December holiday-film program, and a filmmaking challenge. If you like this one, the organization's calendar is worth following; the same people program all of it, and the sensibility carries across.
The Venue Matters
The Electric Theater is a restored downtown theater on East Tabernacle, and choosing it over a multiplex is the point. Horror in a small old theater with an audience that has turned up deliberately is a substantially different experience from horror in a stadium-seating auditorium with eleven other people in it.
It is also within walking distance of St. George Boulevard's restaurants and bars, which means an evening block turns into a full night out without moving the car — you can eat, watch two blocks of films, and walk back. For a festival built around short-film programs with gaps between them, that walkability does real work.
Planning Your Festival
Festivals of this shape run in blocks rather than as a continuous program, so decide what you actually want to see before you go. Short-film blocks and feature screenings are scheduled separately, and the filmmaker introductions and question sessions are attached to specific slots rather than spread evenly.
If you are coming for the filmmakers rather than only the films, that is worth checking against the schedule when it is published. The submitted-work blocks are where the visiting filmmakers concentrate.
Who It Suits
Genre audiences, obviously — but also anyone interested in independent film generally, since a horror festival's short blocks are where a lot of new directors surface first. It is not a family event. Visitors staying downtown have the easiest time of it, and for anyone building a wider trip around the area's arts calendar it sits alongside the rest of the St. George arts scene and the historic downtown it takes place in.
Frequently asked questions
How long has HorrorFest been running?
Since 2002, which makes it the longest-running film festival in southern Utah. It started as a showcase for classic horror screened in a theater and grew into a competitive festival of independent features and shorts submitted from around the world.
Where is the Electric Theater?
On East Tabernacle in downtown St. George — a restored theater in the historic core, within walking distance of the Boulevard's restaurants. That location is part of the appeal: an evening of screenings becomes a night out without moving the car.
Do filmmakers attend?
Many do, and they are concentrated in the blocks of submitted work rather than spread evenly across the schedule. If meeting directors and sitting in on question sessions is why you are going, check the published schedule and pick your blocks accordingly rather than turning up for whatever is next.
Do I have to buy a pass for the whole festival?
Screenings are programmed in blocks — separate short-film programs and feature slots across four days — so it is a festival you can dip into for an evening rather than one that demands the full run. Decide which blocks you want before you book.
What is the Electric Theater like as a venue?
Small, old, and restored — which is the point. Horror in a compact theater with an audience that has chosen to be there plays very differently from the same film in a stadium-seating multiplex with a dozen strangers in it. The festival has used it throughout, and the programming is built around that room.
Is it suitable for children?
No. It is a horror festival programming independent features and shorts for an adult genre audience. Families looking for a film event should look to the alliance's other programs across the year rather than this one.
Address
68 East TabernacleSt. George, UT 84770