Dunoon Film Festival Screams! is back for 2026.

Hannah Clinch
22 minutes ago
3 min read

Local horror movie enthusiast and Dunoon Film Festival volunteer, Andrew Leitch, tells us why you won’t want to miss out.

What do you think of when you hear the words ‘Horror Movie’?

A woman screaming in the shower as a knife plunges into her, over and over? A horde of rotting zombies shambling through a graveyard? Hissing vampires? Killer clowns? Perhaps you see blood, guts and gore, spilled by the chugging, high-pitched whine of a chainsaw?

Horror cinema has been ingrained in Western culture since Dracula and Frankenstein resurrected Hollywood in the 1930s. Right from the beginning, horror movies have gifted us with some of our most memorable images, catchphrases, and characters: Frankenstein (the doctor, not the monster) deliriously crying “It’s alive! ALIVE!” is famous to the extent of parody. So too Roy Scheider’s shellshocked line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat…” from Jaws. Or how about Jack Nicholson’s psychotic, axe-wielding (and improvised) delivery of “Here’s Johnny!” in The Shining? All ubiquitous, indispensable, iconic.

Dunoon Screams! is a project born from my own personal love of horror movies, says Andrew Leich, volunteer curator and promoter of the Dunoon Film Festival’s Screams series.

Andrew approached Dunoon Community Development Trust, which now leads Dunoon Film Festival, to explore the potential of establishing a season of horror film screenings locally. With support from Barbara Henderson, DCDT’s Volunteer for Wellbeing Coordinator, the Screams season was tested out with Andrew curating and promoting the films at Studio Cinema Dunoon.

“This is a great example of how Dunoon Community Development Trust aims to develop new volunteering roles, use our incredible local venues and develop the cultural offering for Dunoon” says Ann Campbell, DCDT’s Partnership Manager. We developed the What’s On Dunoon website to help promote all the great things that are happening here. The site features these screenings and the many cultural activities available across our community”

Andrew’s passion for the horror genre is clear.

“To watch a horror film is to ride a rattling ghost train, where your fears, anxieties and uncertainties jump out at you from the shadows. Understandably, then, you might be asking yourself: Why the hell would I subject myself to that?! That sounds horrible! To which I would answer simply: Because it’s bloody good fun."

According to Andrew

“Horror is like spicy food: initially unpleasant, even painful. But the more we dare to expose ourselves to its unique sensations, the more we come to need it, to crave it. It’s cathartic too – even psychologically beneficial. Horror movies act as a release valve for our darkest pent-up fears and worries, the things we dread most. We see the helpless victim murdered, we see the blood and hear their screams, and we empathise with them and imagine ourselves in their position. To quote horror writer Jonathon Penner: Horror is your fear realised. Horror is the promise fulfilled. But unlike the victims in the movie, you walk away unharmed. Horror acts as a safe space for us to examine and prepare ourselves for the very real terrors that life holds in store. Horror movies can be therapeutic.’’

One of Andrew’s greatest joys is to watch a horror movie with a big group of people, preferably in a cinema, and to share the tension, dread, and giddy, nervous laughter that only horror can provoke.

“Most fun of all is to hear everyone collectively groan in revulsion, or to see rows of people jump out of their seats in unison – ideally with an involuntary squeal of terror.”

This is what lies at the palpitating heart of Dunoon Screams!

So, both Andrew and Dunoon Community Development Trust extend this personal invitation:

Come along and scream with us.

You might just never leave…