Culture Shock: Festival of Fantastic Film

Culture Shock: Festival of Fantastic Film is here! A brand new event on the UK genre festival calendar, Culture Shock brings together a broad range of film genres including sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, martial arts and cult film in a weekend-long celebration of weird, wild world cinema. The inaugural edition of Culture Shock features a dizzying array of premieres, previews, rare retrospective screenings and more.

Friday 25 April

7.00PM - Opening Gala: Brush of the God (European Premiere)

8.35PM - Terror of Mechagodzilla (50th Anniversary Screening)

10.30PM - Seven to One

Saturday 26 April

11AM - In the Dust of the Stars

1.00PM - Culture Shock Shorts: Block 1

2.00PM - The Black Hole (UK Premiere)

5.00PM - Milano Calibro 9

7.45PM - Culture Shock Secret Screening

10.00PM - Fatal Termination

Sunday 27 April

11AM - Culture Shock Shorts: Block 2

12:40PM - The Last Sacrifice

2.45PM - Psychomania

4.45PM - U Are the Universe

7.30PM - Somnium

9.30PM - Closing Gala: Marshmallow (UK Premiere)

Full programme details can be found here: www.celluloidscreams.com/cultureshock

Purchase your pass online
A Culture Shock festival pass gives you access to all films and special events during the festival. To book a full pass online, just click on the 9am screening time for 25th April and you'll be taken through to our secure payment page. After you have made your booking, you'll receive a confirmation email - please bring this with you to our Box Office, along with the card you used to make the booking, and you'll be issued with your festival pass. Festival passes will be available for collection from the festival desk on Friday 25th April.

Purchase your pass in-person
Alternatively, you can book a pass over the phone, 0114 275 7727, or in person from the Showroom Box Office.

Seat allocation
• You will select your seat when booking, which will be your seat for the duration of the festival.
• If you plan to sit with friends, we strongly advise booking your passes together in one transaction, so that your group can be seated together

Get a notification when new films are scheduled

Upcoming films & events

Culture Shock - Full Festival Pass 18: This pass entitles you to entry to the full Culture Shock festival.

culture shock festival of fantastic film

Culture Shock - Day Pass - Friday 18: This pass entitles you to entry to all Friday films in the Culture Shock festival.

Culture Shock: Opening Gala - Brush of the God (European Premiere) 18: Japanese; After encountering a mysterious stranger at her grandfather’s memorial, Akari is given a prop from an unfinished film - an innocuous-looking ink brush - and is told that it is the key to preventing the end of the world.

Culture Shock: Terror of Mechagodzilla (50th Anniversary) 12A: Japanese; This 15th film in the Godzilla series finds Interpol searching for the remains of Mechagodzilla in the waters off of Okinawa, only to discover a new monster instead... the aquatic dinosaur, Titanosaurus.

Culture Shock: Seven to One 18: Mandarin; An early film from the director of Shaolin Invincibles, Seven to One finds Ting (martial arts whirlwind Polly Shang Kwan) on a revenge-fueled rampage following the murder of her father.

Culture Shock - Day Pass - Saturday 18: This pass entitles you to entry to all Saturday films in the Culture Shock festival.

Culture Shock x Masters of Cinema presents: In the Dust of the Stars 15: German; After intercepting a distress signal, the Spaceship Cyrno lands on the planet TEM 4, but the planet’s inhabitants deny having sent any such message.

Culture Shock: Short Films - Block 1 18: Various; Culture Shock’s short film programmes will take place in two blocks across the festival weekend.

Culture Shock: The Black Hole (UK Premiere) 18: Estonian; When aliens land on Earth, they will change the lives of everyone they meet in this absurdist sci-fi comedy from Estonia.

Culture Shock: Milano Calibro 9 15: Italian; The first film in director Fernando Di Leo's ‘Milieu Trilogy’, Milano Calibro 9 is a gritty, ultra-violent masterpiece and an essential entry in the canon of the poliziotteschi subgenre (Italian crime thriller).

Culture Shock: Secret Film 18: TBC; An annual tradition at Celluloid Screams, the secret film slot makes its debut at Culture Shock 2025. It could be a film from any number of genres, a brand-new sneak preview or a restoration of a stone-cold classic. You'll have to wait and see...

Culture Shock: Fatal Termination (35th Anniversary) 18: Cantonese; The bodies of cops, gangsters, and civilians alike begin to pile up when the goods required for a high-stakes arms deal go missing as part of an elaborate scheme to screw over its vicious middleman.

Culture Shock: Zombie Flesh Eaters (UK 4K Restoration Premiere) 18: Italian; Lucio Fulci’s seminal zombie spectacular returns to the big screen at Culture Shock 2025, in a UK-first screening of a brand-new 4K restoration. Screening courtesy of Arrow Films.

Culture Shock - Day Pass - Sunday 18: This pass entitles you to entry to all Sunday films in the Culture Shock festival.

Culture Shock: Short Films - Block 2 18: Various; Culture Shock’s short film programmes will take place in two blocks across the festival weekend.

Culture Shock: The Last Sacrifice 18: English; The Last Sacrifice uncovers the real-life witchcraft killing that inspired The Wicker Man and birthed the folk horror genre.

Culture Shock: Psychomania 15: English; Upon discovering a dark family secret, Tom Latham (Nicky Henson), the leader of hell-raising teen motorcycle gang The Living Dead, decides to take drastic measures to ensure his gang’s superiority.

Culture Shock: U Are The Universe 18: Ukrainian; After Earth explodes, Ukrainian space trucker Andriy Melnyk becomes the last person in the universe until he receives a call from Catherine, a French scientist on a distant space station.

Culture Shock: Somnium 18: English; At experimental sleep clinic, Somnium, dreams are made real.

Culture Shock: Closing Gala - Marshmallow (UK Premiere) 18: English; At a secluded summer camp, timid and introverted 12-year-old Morgan is thrust into a waking nightmare when a once-fabled campfire tale becomes real.