It's hard to believe it was only a few months since the New Zealand International Film Festival finished for 2022, leaving movie buffs somewhat bereft on the festival front.
However, fans of genre films in Aotearoa are about to get a quick blast of their cult favourites to satiate themselves in the coming weeks.
The Terror-Fi Film Festival is about to kick off its run in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch with its usual mix of the best genre offerings that aren't necessarily about to get a wider release on the big screen.
After scouring the programme for the 2022 event, here are five of the best films to strap in for at the Terror-Fi Festival.
Barbarian
The opening night film in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, this latest horror is bound to find favour with Kiwi audiences.
As the recent release Smile showed, there is still an appetite for the horror genre, and Barbarian is arriving on these shores with plenty of buzz, as well as ahead of Halloween.
The film's synopsis is enough to unsettle the hardest of hearts - a young woman travelling to Detroit for a job interview books a rental home. But when she arrives late at night, she discovers the house is double booked, and a strange man is already staying there.
Screen International says the latest horror is a "nerve-shredding horror film whose greatest shock is its unpredictability." Challenge accepted.
The Novice
A film about obsession and freakish drive, The Novice stars Orphan and Orphan First Kill's Isabelle Fuhrman as freshman Alex Dall, who finds an extra curricular interest in the college rowing team.
Driven to succeed, Alex keeps pushing herself further and further toward the edge of what's reasonable.
Director Lauren Hadaway brings a stylish sheen to the fore in this her debut, but it's Fuhrman who impresses greatly with a physicality that's compelling throughout and a drive that's utterly unnerving.
More psychological than jump scares, The Novice shows off a new talent behind the camera - and shows her off well.
Vesper
High concept sci-fi is all too common these days.
But Vesper is somewhat different, melding the visuals of a District 9 with a survival story that shows a society in freefall and those scrambling to live within its confines.
Centring on a 13-year-old girl, Vesper, who's struggling to survive with her paralysed father, this indie sci-fi story has a vein of unpredictability coursing through its veins.
With the ever-wonderful Eddie Marsan playing a morally corrupt and vicious villain, the character-led Vesper brings the post-apocalypse to light on a budget - and does it unnervingly well.
Fall
Fall represents the Terror Fi Festival's biggest gamble in many ways.
Becky and Hunter are two friends who are adrenaline-seekers. Looking to push themselves to the limit, they climb 2000 feet to the top of a remote abandoned radio tower.
But when they find themselves stranded, it becomes a case of how to survive when help is clearly not coming.
If The Shallows made you frightened of the water and the terrors within, Fall looks likely to stop anyone ever being tempted to scale buildings again. Possibly vertigo-inducing on the big screen, this cinematic chamber piece looks like it could be nail-bitingly unsettling.
The Cabin in the Woods
As well as the chance to catch a free one-hour session of genre movie short films, the Terror-Fi Festival also does a few retro screenings.
One of those lined up for 2022 is Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods, wherein five friends go to a cabin in the woods and "bad things happen".
It has been 10 years since this release, and while a lot of the film's debut was spent puzzling over its intricacies and mysteries, seeing it again in 2022 with a crowd should prove to be a highly energetic and adrenaline-filled romp.
The Terror-Fi Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, October 26 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. For more, visit https://terrorfifest.com/#2022