By Marnah Lissiley
On the 24th of November, I attended the Queer Horror Film Festival ‘Out for Blood’, a dedicated effort of horror cinema centered around the queer community and a DIY labour of love spanning the cities of Cambridge and Leeds. I was invited to attend this year’s Leeds Festival, at The Attic. Sam Whitaker, the Festival Director, was incredibly involved with audience interaction and care, making sure to let people know food was available between breaks and added interesting trivia for some of the films on show. Vendors such as Misery Gutz, Rinky Dink Candles, Karley’s Krafts, Interference Films, and Steel Kill were in attendance. Sixteen short films were screened, split into blocks of four across the night. As an autistic person with sensory difficulties, I did struggle with the venue’s insistence on bringing the lights back on during the credits of each short as opposed to the end of each block of shorts.
The sixteen films screened were Sarah Carlot Jaber’s Olga’s Eyes (2023), Paul Jacob Presley’s Scrumptious (2024), Carter Amelia Davis’ Homemade Gatorade (2025), Aaron Lovett’s Demonboy (2025), Adam Van Dyke’s In the Valley (2025), Ben Almeida’s The Mandrake Machine (2025), Brittany Ashley’s Take Care (2025), Esteban Powell’s Hemorrhage (2025), Tajo Hurrle’s Fuck the Cistem (2025), Katrina Cecilia Larner’s Play Fight! (2025), Claren Grosz’s Cat Sitters (2025), Tabitha Carless-Frost & Theo Rollason’s Out of the Peat (2025), Maddie Macloud’s They Slay (2025), Zachary Green’s Cancer Szn (2024), Kaye Adelaide’s Trans Vengeance (2025), and Alejandro Alberola’s Black Hole Barry (2024). I will be covering some of the shorts from this festival that stood out for me.
Homemade Gatorade (2025) dir. Carter Amelia Davis
To begin with, we have Homemade Gatorade. In this mixed-media animation, Daniella goes on a gruelling road trip to deliver eleven gallons of her homemade creamy Gatorade to a stranger on the internet – who unsettles as a disturbed chaser. Low-polygon pet simulators and Instagram Reels, which had the audience howling with laughter, swept aside the sense of impending dread and obvious red flags from Daniella’s “customer”. The way Daniella grasps for meaning by selling her Gatorade, despite the increasing warning signs, speaks to how many of us want connection that we impulsively seek out – in ways that are dangerous and harmful to us. The world is portrayed through uncanny images and warped icons we see in daily life, which matches the equal parts hilarious and terrifying tone of this techno-absurdist nightmare. It reminded me of classic web shorts ‘Salad Fingers’. The director’s statement in the pamphlet describes ‘Homemade Gatorade’ as being “informed by my experience as a trans woman in the States during the first four months of Trump’s second term.” In a year where we have blatantly witnessed how America has descended into fascism, it is not only comforting but extremely necessary to see art like this that reflects this inner experience of dissonant terror in our current times. GET IN THE HOLE!
You can watch the film on the director’s YouTube channel here.
In the Valley (2025) dir. Adam Van Dyke
Next up, we have ‘In The Valley’. Lost in the desert, Josh walks into a gay bar, and becomes involved with a cowboy who takes an interest in him, before finding himself in a world of pain and confusion. I found the slow and sensual dance that doesn’t have to mean anything at first between two strangers such a beautiful image to hook me in. The film uses this brilliant metaphor of queer abduction to showcase a raw pain of gay love. Jorgie Gioco who plays Josh delivers a ripping, vulnerable performance in reaction to the waking nightmare of the world around him. Whether it’s a stetson hiding a flower growing in the sand, a pair of glowing eyes looking at the stars, a passionate love scene or a peek into a cosmic underworld, ‘In the Valley’ is strikingly visual, using neon purples and greens to highlight and accentuate this film’s considered aesthetic. The scene where he gushes blood out of his mouth is intense! I look forward to seeing what Adam Van Dyke does next.
Play Fight! (2025) dir. Katrina Cecilia Larner
Making its UK premiere here, ‘Play Fight!’ stands out as a hand-drawn on paper animation about a sleepover told through the eyes of five little girls on a bed playing around with each other. Fittingly, the art style is akin to children’s drawings and uses abstract imagery to show how girlhood can feel animalistic. As a big fan of animation, I really appreciated ‘Play Fight!’ for its frenetic, subjective stream of consciousness pace of storytelling. The bed comes to feel like everything, as it stretches, shrinks, warps and dissolves with the children’s emotions, becoming both tiny and infinite at the same time, as if it is being experienced in this way. There is no clear-cut dialogue as there are mini soundbites from the girls. Following two of the girls kissing each other, one of them literally vomits out her coming out moment – “I like like like girls!” This leads to the girl’s mother targeting her, stuffing the vomit back into her mouth, making the girl swallow her confession. Witness to this abuse, the hoodie girl is forced to be a bystander to the violence as she is terrorised by the mother.
You can watch the film on the director’s YouTube channel here.
Out of the Peat (2025) dir. Tabitha Carless-Frost & Theo Rollason
‘Out of the Peat’ is about an archaeologist who arrives at the atmospheric backdrop of Lancashire’s Chat Moss, a 10,000 year old lowland bog, to remove a body from the peats. Drawing from folklore mysticism, the foggy peatlands are depicted as having a spiritual presence. Miners manifest as ghosts of the past, looking on hauntingly, almost expectantly, at our gob-smacked protagonist, as if they’re asking to be seen and acknowledged for their humanity. This short’s black and white Super 16mm film lends itself to the experimental visuals to capture this feeling of “Flesh as film, film as flesh”. The most evocative visual was this practical effect of our protagonist pulling a strip of film reel out of the boggy excavated corpse. The film was shot in collaboration with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, highlighting this as more than just an eco-horror film, but as an incentive for people to invest back into the environment. ‘Out of the Peat’ is an absolute treat of a visual ghost story.
Cancer Szn (2024) dir. Zachary Green
‘Cancer Szn’ is set from the perspective of Patty, a modern day witch, whose ex, Elaine, has a new girlfriend, Lauren, who shares the exact same birthday as her. Patty performs a witch’s ritual to transport her mind into the body of her ex’s new girlfriend, granting her the relationship of her dreams. This soft and tender psychosexual body swap fantasy doesn’t go quite as expected for Patty, as she finds she cannot fulfill the role of Lauren even when she is literally in her shoes. ‘Cancer Szn’ is a beautiful call out to those jealous, obsessive and clingy exes you could never quite shake off – a horror story of its own. Patty’s introspective narration adds to this brutal lesson on how the soul is more attractive than the way a person looks and how it outshines superficiality any day.
Trans Vengeance (2025) dir. Kaye Adelaide
‘Trans Vengeance’ is a proof of concept short about a trans woman who is seen for facial feminisation surgery, but the operation goes wrong and said trans woman is promptly thrown into a body bag before coming back to life. This was the only film where the makeup and prosthetics made me recoil in my seat and go “Eww…” to the sight of said trans woman’s forehead skin getting peeled off by the surgeons. I enjoyed how much this film feels like it personally involves the audience, with the protagonist facing directly towards the camera in every shot. We share in the rising anger and injustice our protagonist feels, with Kaye Adelaide herself calling the film “an act of vengeance”. But the film ends just as soon as it feels like it starts. ‘Trans Vengeance’ is in development to turn into a feature film vendetta, which I feel has lots of potential and I’m personally excited to see it made. As a short, it struggles to feel like a complete narrative on its own merit.
Black Hole Barry (2024) dir. Alejandro Alberola
And lastly, I’d be completely remiss not to talk about the winner of “Best Film” of Out For Blood Film Festival 2025… ‘Black Hole Barry’ is another proof of concept! Scott, whose boyfriend is set to move in with him, decides to spend his last week living on his own going on a series of hookups one after the other all the while ignoring his partner. While finding himself lips deep into another man, he eventually finds himself on a hookup with Satan himself! It’s no surprise this cathartic film won as it had the audiences laughing louder than any other film preceding it. How this could spawn into a feature film has yet to be seen…!
In conclusion, the selection of films Out for Blood was well-balanced to reflect the many corners of the community, providing an incredibly entertaining night from many different perspectives. The tones of each film ranged from vulnerable stories of hardship and campy romps to some genuinely profound avant-garde pieces, with laughter and good spirits being mainstays of the whole experience. With this festival, I’ve ended up discovering some filmmakers and projects I want to follow along with, which is always an exciting feeling to find. Queer films are often still seen as “niche”, especially trans-led films, so it’s just as important as ever that we have these events where such films are going to be met with open arms – and that people keep showing up to them. You can feel Out For Blood’s self-proclaimed labour of love in this festival’s choices and arrangement.
Marnah Lissiley (Instagram: @motherlissiley) is a Leeds-based filmmaker, with a passion to add to a “trans-surrealist” film movement. She created Still Time Productions as a way to champion trans stories, both the silly and the macabre. She is currently working on ‘Show Me What Makes You Burn’ a documentary about trans creativity and human expression.
Leave a comment