Halloween International Film Festival

The Halloween International Film Festival is happening October 2-4, 2025 at The Pioneer Theater in Manteo, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It will showcase shorts and feature works from around the world that celebrate the strange, the unusual, and the horror of the most hallowed of seasons, taking place on the historic and haunted Outer Banks, North Carolina, home of America’s first unsolved mystery, the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island, at a legendary theater that dates back over a century.

The festival features three days of independent horror and Halloween-themed films from around the world, as well as networking opportunities and extensive media exposure, all taking place as the kickoff event for the town of Manteo’s Halloween Island festivities, during which area restaurants, bars, and businesses transform into Halloween pop-ups for October. See the event website for a full event schedule and to purchase tickets in advance.

Films selected for the festival are shown on the big screen at The Pioneer Theater in Manteo, NC, including Q&A sessions with attending filmmakers, nightly meet and greets, photo ops on our Orange Carpet, an outdoor Halloween vendor market, and numerous Halloween Island festivities happening each day in easy walking distance throughout Downtown Manteo. Our iconic host venue dates back to 1918, originally showing silent films in the earliest days of moviemaking.