DUNDEAD Halloween returns to DCA with cult classics, banned films and a mystery screening

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Dundee horror fans won’t be short of things to watch this October.

DUNDEAD Halloween is returning to DCA with a programme that stretches from a 100-year-old silent horror film to controversial cinema, cult zombies, live drag and a screening where nobody in the audience will know what they’re about to watch.

Running from Friday 9 to Saturday 31 October, this year’s festival has a particular interest in horror’s more troublesome history – the films that were banned, censored, cut or simply caused a stir when they first appeared.

There are some familiar favourites in there too, including The Omen and Christopher Lee’s Dracula, both returning in 4K.

And with a few late additions now joining the original programme, there’s even more packed into the three weeks.

Here’s what’s coming to DCA.

The Phantom of the Opera — Friday 9 October

DUNDEAD begins by going right back to the silent era.

The 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera will be accompanied by a live score performed in the cinema by Scottish musicians Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman.

The pair originally created the score for the film’s centenary in 2025 and are bringing the project back to DCA following the release of their album House With A Curse.

There will also be a Q&A after the screening.

It’s probably about as far from an ordinary Friday night at the pictures as DUNDEAD could begin.

Audition — Monday 12 October

Three days later, the mood gets considerably darker.

Takashi Miike’s Audition has earned a formidable reputation since its original release in 1999.

The Japanese film begins in relatively restrained fashion before heading somewhere altogether more disturbing, with its sudden change in tone and graphic violence becoming a major part of its notoriety.

It reportedly prompted walkouts among early audiences but went on to become an important title in the wave of Japanese horror that gained international attention around the turn of the millennium.

More than 25 years later, it hasn’t exactly become an easy watch.

Dracula — Friday 16 October

Christopher Lee’s Count Dracula is heading back to Dundee – but not quite as audiences saw him in 1958.

Hammer’s Dracula, starring Lee opposite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, has undergone a new 4K restoration which includes footage originally removed by censors and later thought to have been lost.

According to DCA, this particular version has never previously been screened in the UK.

There will also be a cinema-exclusive short film exploring the work that went into restoring the horror classic.

For a film approaching its 70th birthday, there’s something rather fitting about previously lost pieces of it coming back from the dead.

The Return of the Living Dead — Saturday 24 October

Things should get rather louder the following weekend.

DUNDEAD is teaming up with Climax Dundee for a screening of 1985 zombie comedy The Return of the Living Dead – and the film isn’t the only entertainment planned.

There will be a live drag performance before the screening gets underway.

Mixing zombies, punk music, comedy and a generous amount of gore, The Return of the Living Dead has developed a devoted cult following in the four decades since it first appeared.

It’s also a film that had a surprisingly lasting effect on zombie culture.

Anyone who has ever heard a zombie demanding “brains” has this film, at least partly, to thank.

Surprise Preview — Monday 26 October

Then there’s the one film that no one knows about!

DUNDEAD’s Surprise Preview returns with another mystery film being shown ahead of its general release.

Audiences buy their tickets knowing they’re going to see a brand-new film – but that’s about it.

The title stays secret until the screening actually begins.

Whether that makes it more exciting or slightly terrifying probably depends on how much you like knowing what you’ve paid to see.

The Devils — Friday 30 October

One of the most intriguing additions to this year’s programme arrives the night before Halloween.

Ken Russell’s notoriously controversial The Devils is returning to UK cinemas following more than half a century of censorship and cuts.

Released in 1971 and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, the film became infamous for its provocative treatment of religion, sexuality and institutional power.

Now, 55 years later, it has been fully restored in 4K and cut according to Russell’s direction.

The result is being presented as the first publicly released version of The Devils shown as its filmmaker intended.

Given the film’s history, its appearance in a Dundead programme devoted partly to banned and censored cinema feels particularly appropriate.

The Omen + Season’s Greetings — Saturday 31 October

And then it’s Halloween itself.

DUNDEAD closes on Saturday 31 October with The Omen, returning in 4K for its 50th anniversary.

Richard Donner’s 1976 supernatural horror stars Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as Robert and Katherine Thorn, whose seemingly ordinary young son Damien becomes the centre of a series of increasingly disturbing events.

It’s one of those films where even people who haven’t watched it probably know the name Damien isn’t a particularly reassuring one.

But DCA has added something extra before the main feature.

Michael Dougherty’s animated short Season’s Greetings will also be shown, newly remastered in 4K for its 30th anniversary.

The 1996 short introduced a mysterious little trick-or-treater named Sam, who would later become one of modern Halloween horror’s most recognisable characters following Dougherty’s 2007 anthology Trick ’r Treat.

And because watching horror films apparently isn’t enough for Halloween night, audiences are encouraged to dress up too.

Dundead treats will be waiting for some of the evening’s best-dressed cinemagoers.

DUNDEAD Halloween 2026

DUNDEAD Halloween runs at Dundee Contemporary Arts from Friday 9 until Saturday 31 October.

A Dundead Halloween Pass covering five of the main screenings costs £40, or £37.50 for DCA Members.

The Phantom of the Opera event and The Devils aren’t included in the standard pass.

Pass holders can, however, add The Devils for £8, or £7.50 for DCA Members.

Individual tickets are also available across the programme.

So whether your taste in horror runs to silent cinema, Japanese shockers, Hammer vampires, punk zombies or films so controversial they spent decades being censored, DUNDEAD has managed to squeeze quite a lot into October.

And if none of those quite does it for you, there’s always the mystery film.

You’ll just have to buy a ticket to find out what it is.