From July 31 to August 4, 2024, the very first edition of the Santecchia Horror Festival took place, the first festival dedicated to horror cinema in Cilento, specifically in the village of Gioi.
When I discovered the existence of this festival, I was hesitant: it was a first edition held in a village with just over a thousand inhabitants and difficult to reach by public transport. Past experiences with very small festivals had often been disappointing, with the effort and costs never directly proportional to the festival experience. However, finally, a horror festival in Campania – it was my absolute duty to support this project.
But, it wasn’t that hard to change my mind. I know I wrote that I was initially hesitant, but a single message requesting information from the Santecchia Horror Festival team showed such organization that I thought, “Okay, I can’t not go.”
Let me elaborate for a moment because these absolute horror-loving and non-horror-loving madmen didn’t do things on a small scale. They didn’t leave anything to chance and managed to put on a wonderful event. It felt nothing like a first edition, damn it, you must have done some trial runs before the official one because it was anything but improvised or unprepared.
These madmen organized shuttles to transport participants from Vallo station directly to Gioi, arranged accommodations with locals to make up for the lack of facilities, providing rooms and beds in some of the villagers’ homes. They transported a piano into a damn forest to musically accompany the screening of Nosferatu. I’ll stop here for now because I’ll talk more about it later in the article, but in short, I am incredulous.
The synergy and involvement of all the villagers, the mayor, and the members of the Anatema di Santa Santecchia association brought to life what the festival director, Luigi Scarpa, envisioned – an experience, not just a simple film festival. As a participant, I can say that you succeeded in your intent.
The Enchanting Locations of the Santecchia Horror Festival
The Abandoned Convent of San Francesco and the Church
Do I even need to explain this? The Santecchia Horror Festival took place mainly in the Convent of San Francesco, which features a beautiful and very eerie well and a church. There’s no more fitting and evocative location than this. The Santecchia Horror Festival has set a new standard for horror festivals that I don’t know how easily I will find elsewhere.
Most of the convent is used as a location for the escape room run by the Anatema di Santa Santecchia association, so many rooms are furnished “ad hoc.” In fact, right after the screenings, a horror tour of the convent was conducted.
The Pine Forest and Lake Lavinia for the Screening of Nosferatu
There is nothing more beautiful and evocative than watching a horror film (and what a horror film) in the heart of a forest, at night. It’s pretty much the dream of every fan of this genre. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a live piano accompaniment by maestro Lucio Grimaldi that was absolutely masterful.
Gioi
I understand why all the horror enthusiasts have gathered here. The village of Gioi itself lends well to the atmosphere – silent, perched, sparsely inhabited, and extremely fascinating.
The Events of the Santecchia Horror Festival
Besides the cycle of short film screenings common to every film festival, the Santecchia Horror Festival offered much more to its participants. Here are some of the events I had the pleasure of attending.
The Two Workshops: Creative Writing with Antonio Tentori and Horror Make-Up with Rosalba Ruggiero and Armando Parrillo
A very sober start to the Santecchia Horror Festival. On the second day of the festival, this writing workshop was organized, essentially a lesson, a dialogue, and a discussion with Antonio Tentori, a prominent name in the Italian horror scene. At the end of the lesson, an interesting experiment was conducted: we participants were given an input, with the Convent of San Francesco as the location, and asked to write a subject, obviously horror-themed.
On the third day, we were treated to a workshop on horror make-up, conducted by Rosalba Ruggiero and Armando Parrillo, who first showed us how to make up an actress and then spread various wounds, cuts, and bruises on the arms of the happy festival participants.
Night Trek and Screening of Nosferatu
This was perhaps the most magical event of the entire Santecchia Horror Festival. Participants were divided into groups and taken into the woods of Gioi, amidst suggestions, folkloric tales, legends, and a couple of jumpscares, to the pine forest near Lake Lavinia, where the screening of Nosferatu awaited us, with live musical accompaniment by maestro Lucio Grimaldi.
Script Moments – Reading and Interpretation of Scripts in Competition
For the first time, the Santecchia Horror Festival dedicated space to scripts. Ilaria and Alessandra had the opportunity to briefly present all the scripts in competition and read in full those of the authors present in the hall: an exciting moment for both parties, the writers who heard their work read in public by others for the first time, and the actresses, Ilaria and Alessandra, who gave voice to the works and characters of the writers.
Screenings, Screenings, and More Screenings
Of course, the screenings of the competing shorts could not be missed. Not only that! Despite being a first edition, we had the chance to meet many directors who came from all over Italy and beyond! In the hall with us were:
- Neagu Eugen for “Braccato”
- Salvatore Iodice for “Aprendo gli occhi”
- Francesco Gabriele for “Cul-de-sac”
- Daniele Nicolosi for “Scomparire”
- Michele Martino for “Finché morte non ci separi”
- Ugo Puglisi for “Ego te absolvo”
- Simon O’Neill for “Dispensary of Death”
In addition to the competing shorts, we had three screenings of the classics of the horror genre: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene, Night of the Living Dead by George Romero, and Nosferatu by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.
The intimate and convivial atmosphere of the Santecchia Horror Festival allowed all participants to interact with guests, directors, and judges!
Curiosity: Why is it Called the Santecchia Horror Festival?
Before concluding, I want to write a few lines about the choice of the festival’s name, as I appreciated the story very much.
The name comes from a legend, the legend of Santecchia, a “ianara” (a sort of witch). Santecchia was a resident of Gioi, beautiful, incredibly beautiful, and obsessed with her beauty. So obsessed that she would do anything to maintain it, including making a pact with the devil: eternal beauty in exchange for the souls of Gioi’s newborns.
Every night, exploiting a system of underground tunnels, she roamed the village in search of babies to offer to the devil. No one could stop her until one day a mysterious knight arrived. The knight entered the cave, captured the witch, and imprisoned her in a chest, tightly wrapping it with chains. Before leaving, the knight warned the inhabitants: the chains needed to be changed every hundred years, or Santecchia would be free again.
But the years passed, and the people of Gioi soon forgot about Santecchia and the chains. At the end of the century, Santecchia, deformed by time and thirsty for revenge, returned to terrorize the population. No knight came to Gioi’s aid.
Desperate, the inhabitants turned to Saint Nicholas to be freed from the witch. At the mere sight of the saint, Santecchia was petrified.
An element that might have been inspired by the legend of Santecchia is a panel of majolica tiles in the church of the Convent of San Francesco. This panel depicts a woman who is half skeleton. The belief that stepping on this figure brought bad luck contributed to the good preservation of the tiles.
Santecchia Horror Festival: A Well-Successful Experience
You can understand that I really liked this festival a lot. It’s undeniable that the convivial and social aspect added something that made the festival shine even more. I met and chatted with many wonderful people, who became my companions in this beautiful festival. Pardon, not a festival, an experience. See you at the next edition!
