Halloween is here... but spooks and ghouls roaming the streets of Southend won’t stop this weekend.

January 2020 sees the UK’s largest independent festival devoted to horror movies poised to come back for ‘gore’.

Horror-on-Sea will showcase almost 40 feature films, more than 50 short movies and will screen six world premieres.

The event opens on Friday, January 10, and runs through Saturday 11 and Sunday 12, before reopening on Friday 17 to Sunday, January 19.

The festival’s director and creator, Paul Cotgrove, has hand-picked a programme of new films spanning the horror genre – from perennial-favourites zombies, vampires and monsters, to psychopaths, superhuman soldiers and even a killer panda.

Mr Cotgrove said: “Since we started Horror-on-Sea eight years ago, it has gradually built up to become a major event within this particular aspect of the movie industry.

“Every year now, I receive submissions from both established and up-and-coming film makers and producers that we can easily screen six film per day of the event.

“For horror film lovers, that equates to a twelve-hour frenzied feast of slicing, dicing, drilling, killing and general murderous mayhem each day of the festival.”

In keeping with its worldwide draw, this year’s event will screen films from the UK, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Peru and the USA.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the closer-to-home flicks too.

‘I Scream on the Beach’, which is set in Southend, will have its world premier as will ‘We Wait in the Woods’, which was filmed in Hockley woods.

Movie maker Pat Higgins will also be on hand to answer burgeoning film makers’ questions.

The legend will present a Masterclass on Saturday, January 18.

Once again, the festival will be hosted by Southend’s iconic Park Inn by Radisson Palace hotel – which overlooks the town’s world-famous pier and seafront.

Tickets are on sale now, and unlike the flesh-eating fish mutants in The Barge People, the prices won’t bite you where it hurts. Prices start at just £6 per film, from £25 for a Day Pass and, for serious fans, a Mega Festival Pass - that gets you into everything – offers unbeatable value deal at £100 for the entire festival.

Tickets are on sale now and prices start at just £6 per film, from £25 for a Day Pass and, for serious fans, a £100 Mega Festival Pass - which allows for access into every event.

For a full list of all the films, including Monster Island, Inner Ghosts, The Barge People, Blood Tulips, Echoes of Fear and Bite Night, go to www.horror-on-sea.com where you can find the full festival schedule and advice on how to pre-order tickets.

Information and ticket bookings can also be made over the phone on festival hotline 07981 824283.