Prague’s Edison Filmhub will turn up the temperature with a weekend of horror movies as it hosts Heatwave Horror, a festival dedicated to the genre’s wide-ranging traditions. Organized in cooperation with the Future Gate sci-fi festival and Prague Fear House, the event will run from July 24-26 and bring together classic horror, contemporary genre cinema, sci-fi, slashers and experimental works.
The festival program highlights films spanning several decades of horror filmmaking, from Nicolas Roeg’s unsettling 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches to recent releases that have attracted attention at international festivals. Alongside screenings, Heatwave Horror will feature discussions, themed drinks and a pop-up tattoo studio at the Edison Filmhub café.
From Roeg’s horror classic to the latest Evil Dead
Heatwave Horror will open on Friday, July 24, with The Witches, Roeg’s adaptation of Dahl’s popular children’s novel. The 1990 film follows a young boy who discovers that witches are living among ordinary people, hiding their true identities while plotting against children.
Although based on a family-oriented literary work, Roeg’s version became known for its darker tone and memorable creature effects created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The film also features a flamboyant performance from Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, a role that has remained one of the most recognizable villainous performances in family horror cinema.
The opening screening will be introduced by film critic and Edison Filmhub program manager Ryan Keating. The festival will continue on Saturday evening with Evil Dead Burn (pictured above), the latest entry in the long-running Evil Dead franchise.
Directed by Sébastien Vaniček and produced by original series creator Sam Raimi, Evil Dead Burn features intense practical effects and graphic set pieces, continuing the tradition established by Raimi’s original cult classics. Following the screening, Keating will host a discussion with film critic Antonín Tesař.
The festival will conclude on Sunday with I Saw the TV Glow filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s latest work, Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, the film explores horror conventions through the story of a filmmaker tasked with reviving a fictional slasher franchise from her youth.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Queer Palm award, and later played at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. A special introduction will be presented by theater director and performer Tomáš Procházka, also known as La Cuntessa.
Expanding horror beyond traditional genre boundaries
Beyond its headline screenings, Heatwave Horror will feature a broader selection of international genre films. The lineup includes Finnish folk horror Hatching by Hanna Bergholm, as well as films exploring contemporary horror trends such as Exit 8 and Backrooms, inspired by the aesthetics of online liminal spaces.
The program also includes new releases such as Australian queer horror Leviticus and Curry Barker’s breakout hit Obsession, cult classics like Dario Argento’s influential 1977 classic Suspiria and Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, and memorable recent horror hits like Jordan Peele’s Nope and David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows.
The festival aims to showcase the diversity of horror cinema, from psychological and supernatural stories to films that examine social themes through genre conventions. The selection reflects the expanding scope of contemporary horror, where filmmakers increasingly use genre elements to explore identity, technology and cultural anxieties.
Outside the screening rooms, Edison Filmhub’s café will host additional festival activities. Resident tattoo artist Anna from Ann Tattoo will operate a pop-up studio on Friday and Saturday evenings, offering horror-inspired designs alongside other themed artwork. The café will also serve specialty drinks created for the event.
Heatwave Horror will take place at Edison Filmhub in Prague from July 24-26, 2026. The full festival program can be found at the cinema’s website.
