Lambertville Halloween Film Festival Celebrates Five Frightful Years

Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 10/08/2026

(LAMBERTVILLE, NJ) -- The Lambertville Halloween Film Festival (LHFF) returns for its 5th anniversary edition, October 16–18, 2026. Three days of horror, thrills and Halloween spirit kick off Friday night with the Monster Bash, the festival's opening party.

Five years of scares - What began as a small celebration of spooky cinema has become a fixture of Lambertville's Halloween season. This year's milestone edition brings independent horror films, filmmakers and fans to town for a full weekend.

Monster Bash: Opening Party - The festival opens with the Monster Bash on Friday, October 16th, a costume party kickoff for filmgoers, filmmakers and the community. Prizes for the Best Vincent Price costume and Best Overall. Featuring MC Adam Toscani and DJ Luis Reyes. Roxey Ballet’s Dracula will join us in anticipation of their Draculas’ Lair event.

Photo booth, a silent auction, Fright Bites by Starving Artist Café, Tarot by Vicki and The Reiki School and other surprises fill the night.

The party takes place at 57 Bridge Street in Lambertville, starting at 6:30pm. General admission is $35. A VIP package is available for $55, which includes a festival T-shirt and complimentary beverages

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Juried Film Shorts - Saturday afternoon at Acme Screening Room (25 S Union Street in Lambertville) belongs to the juried short film program, with selections competing in four categories: Heart Stopping Horror, Dead Funny, Mind Games, and Twisted Visions. Screenings take place from noon to 5:40pm.

Judges this year included Joe Gioconda of Nightmare in New Hope Gallery, Damien Glonek of Living Dead Dolls, and Brad Anderson filmmaker best known for The Machinist (2004) starring Christian Bale, and The Call (2013) with Halle Berry.

New Jersey Premiere: Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive - On Saturday, October 17 at 6:00pm, LHFF presents the New Jersey premiere of Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive, the fully authorized documentary on Hollywood's master of the macabre.

The film reveals far more than the man behind the legend. It traces a life of elegant contradictions: a classically trained actor who redefined screen villainy with charm and intelligence, and an erudite art lover and seasoned gourmand who found equal joy in low-budget horror and high culture. Ironically, in his later years he became a warm, avuncular patriarch to generations who grew up on his films, television appearances and iconic voice.

The documentary is directed by Matthew Miele, an award-winning filmmaker whose work explores the lives, institutions and cultural figures that leave a lasting imprint on our collective memory.

Spotlight on Cinema: Revenge - Saturday night at 8:15pm, closes with a Spotlight on Cinema screening of Coralie Fargeat's Revenge. Before the film, Dylan Mayer gives a presentation celebrating Toronto's Midnight Madness program and Fargeat's style and influences. Audiences are invited to stay for a post-screening hangout.

Sunday, October 18: The Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger with film scholar Matthew Sorrento - Hitchcock later called this silent film the first true "Hitchcock picture." It has his first cameo and the wrongly accused man he'd return to for fifty years. It also has some startling visual inventions, including a glass floor that lets us watch the lodger pace from below. A hundred years on, it's still a tense, stylish thriller and a perfect introduction to silent cinema.

Matthew Sorrento, PhD joins us for a post screening discussion. Matt is an American film scholar, critic and editor whose work centers on genre cinema, especially crime film and noir. He is editor-in-chief of Film International and Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of NoirCon, and teaches film and media studies at Rutgers University.

Made possible by Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission, NJ State Council on the Arts, Hunterdon County, Tito’s Vodka and Collective Beleaf Dispensary.

More info, events and tickets available on the website at www.AcmeScreeningRoom.org/LHFF