Announcement: Hellfire HORRORfest

As you are no doubt aware the submissions deadline for the Hellfire HORRORfest came and went as did the date for the the event itself. Neither actually happened. Here’s why.

The co-founder/executive director and host of the event, Gary Ingoldby-Spate, has been quite seriously ill for several months and was due to undergo spleen removal surgery in October. However following further tests he was given an unwanted diagnosis weeks before he was due to have the surgery. Gary was diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. As such he is now undergoing a harsh treatment of immunotherapy and chemotherapy and is currently not in the best of health. He should improve in the coming months and fingers crossed will be in full remission soon. However as is the nature of cancer, treatment and results aren’t straight forward so until he has further tests in the next couple of months it would be foolhardy to make arrangements to rearrange the dates.

As such, all submitted films are still being considered but being completely honest due to Gary’s health and being the main selector of the films he hasn’t watched them all yet. He is slowly watching them when he has his good days and will hopefully get through them all in the coming weeks.

Once Gary receives positive test results the date for the event will be arranged.

We apologise for keeping this all quiet but as you can imagine it has been a very tough time for Gary and his family so in the interest of privacy we haven’t told you the whole story until today. Gary, his family and the whole Hellfire team thank you for your understanding and patience during this difficult time.