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Scares and surprises at Dundead Halloween 2025

We take a look back at a successful spooky season for Dundead

October has come to an end and we wanted to take a look back at all the frights and films of Dundead Halloween 2025.

From Sat 11 to Fri 31 October 2025, we brought a spooky selection of six films to DCA cinema for the creepiest time of the year. We also took 1925's The Phantom of the Opera on tour with our newly-commissioned score created by Scottish musicians Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman, which was performed live at five cinemas across Scotland.

Published

Wed 5 Nov

Written By

Dundead

Dundead Halloween 2025

Dundead programmer Michael Coull with CLIMAX Dundee drag performers St Salvatore and Eden Spaghetti
Photo by Helen Macdonald
Dundead Halloween cocktail and mocktail on the bar at Jute Cafe Bar
Photo by Helen Macdonald
Person dressed u as Frank n Furter at The Rocky Horror Picture Show screening
Photo by Helen Macdonald
Person holding an Evilspeak VHS infront of a video player
Photo by Helen Macdonald
Michael Coull introducing The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Photo by Helen Macdonald
People dressed up in the audience of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Photo by Helen Macdonald
Dr Lucy Fife Donaldson introducing The Descent
Photo by Helen Macdonald
The Phantom of the Opera screen slide in Cinema 1 as viewed from the projection room
Photo by Helen Macdonald
St Salvatore performing on the stage at Dundead Halloween's screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Celebrating Halloween at DCA

Our six Dundead Halloween screenings started off with a bang at our sold out 50th anniversary showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was a delight to welcome St. Salvatoré and Eden Spaghetti of CLIMAX Dundee to start the screening with live drag performances and an introduction. And the audience brought their fishnets and sequins, with some amazing Rocky Horror looks. 

Dr Lucy Fife Donaldson, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at University of St Andrews, gave a fantastic introduction at our 20th anniversary screening of The Descent, at which the audience got a special preview of the film's new 4K restoration. And audiences loved revisiting their childhood fears at our 40th anniversary screening of Return to Oz - it was The Wheelers that got the most votes in our poll of the scariest aspect of the film.

Dundead knocked it out of the park this year with its surprise screening / Scottish premiere of Honey Bunch. It was such a solid and mesmerising mystery drama (& comedy) that had us gasping, laughing and in total suspense. I love when I don't know what's going to happen next and this was such a fun and tragic and deranged and inspired journey that left me saying - GOOD FOR HER!
@tombirdwords Instagram
Michael Coull introducing The Phantom of the Opera

There were lots of lovely Letterboxd reviews left for Mark Reyes’ short film The Nightwalker, which screened before our special VHS screening of Evilspeak. And after the screening, fans enjoyed posing with the original tape we sourced for the occasion. 

Our Surprise Preview was unveiled as the Scottish Premiere of weird Canadian thriller Honey Bunch. Audiences took to our comment board and Letterboxd to review the film. And we kept the surprises coming at this screening by revealing the dates for next year's Dundead Film Festival - make sure to add Thu 7 - Sun 10 May 2026 to your diary.

Our Halloween season culminated with a sold out screening of The Phantom of the Opera. To celebrate the film's 100th anniversary, we commissioned Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman to create a new score for the film and took it on tour. More on that below but first, here's more from Dundead Halloween 2025...

Dundead Halloween text in red

Dundead Halloween 2025

2m09s
 Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman playing their score in DCA cinema

The Phantom of the Opera on tour

Thanks to support by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of Screen Scotland and the BFI National Lottery, we commissioned Scottish composers Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman to create a brand new score for 1925's silent horror classic The Phantom of the Opera.

Mixing acoustic and electronic instruments with elements of sound design, Andrew and Tommy created a score with a present-day approach. Together, we took this special cinema event on tour to venues across Scotland, visiting Filmhouse in Edinburgh, GFT in Glasgow, The Hippodrome in Bo'ness and Eden Court in Inverness, plus appearing in DCA Cienma for a sold out event on Halloween itself.

We received some fantastic feedback from each performance. Read some of our favourites below and watch our interview with Andrew and Tommy for more about how the score was created.

Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the opera b EdWouldnt: Watched @ the GFT with new score by Tommy Perman & Andrew Wasylyk.  I'm so incredibly glad to have seen this on the big screen, not just because the 20s 'Phantom had always been a bit of a blind spot for me, but also because something inside me now feels complete. Wasylyk and Perman's dark-ambient live score walks an awesome line between expressionist abstraction and pulsating modern club beats; all the mannered and dreamlike qualities of silent cinema sampled and filtered and amplified through a totally fresh vision of a 100-year-old story. And I absolutely *loved* being able to watch Andrew and Tommy at their console in the wings beneath the screen- massive props to them for doing it fuckin' live. As for the film itself... no notes. The cinematography is dripping with wit, the tinting is delicious, the sets are like something out of a studio accountant's nightmares (compliment), and Chaney is just incomparable. THAT climactic scene where he taunts the angry mob by brandishing his closed hand, grinning evilly, and opening his fist to reveal that it was empty all along, only for them to rip him to pieces...? That's pure cinema, my friend. I love movies.
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by Ruthie: I had the unique experience of seeing this picture at a special 100 year anniversary screening at the GFT. There it was accompanied by a brand new score composed and performed live by Scottish artists Andrew Wasylyk and Thomas Perman.   It was so beautifully gothic and weird. I felt totally immersed in the feeling of the film. Visually I was mesmerised. And the contemporary music, I feel, only elevated the aesthetics. The soundtrack was always atmospheric and haunting but also felt kinetic and cool. It was always fitting with the darkness and the tragedy of the story but also at times the freshness of the sound posed a stylish contrast to the very classical visuals.  This was one of my favourite cinema experiences of all time and I feel my horizons have broadened as it has activated my interest in a genre I’ve never before explored which is silent film.  I’m definitely curious how my experience of the story may differ with the original score although I have no doubt it’ll be equally as bewitching!!
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by Lustful Mirage: Glasgow Film Theatre: Dundead Presents: The Phantom of the Opera 100 Anniversary + live score.  Before I get into the version I watched, I just want to say what an monumental achievement in cinema this film is. I cam only imagine how it was seeing it back in 1925.  100 years later this film is still a grand piece of art, filled with lavish sets, really phenomenal shots for the time and having a mesmerising performance by the one and only, Lon Chaney, one of the absolute kings of cinema. Just the way he moves, even if it's just his eyes, he commands every scene he appears in.  Onto the 100th anniversary + Live performance by Dundead. As is with the case with many silent films, due to having differing soundtracks, to varying results, it can be always be a bit dubious adding new scores to them. Thankfully, Dundead's Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman new score does the film justice, it's different, but really captures the bizarre dreamlike quality so many silent films have.  The colouring (tinting) was really good too, colouring silent films can have varying results, but the vibrant colours here looked amazing, especially the technicolor ballroom dance scene. It was a phenomenal experience I'm glad to have witnessed.  Happy 100th anniversary Phantom of the Opera, a masterpiece for the time and a masterpiece still.
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by Caitie: Dundead's anniversary screening of The Phantom of the Opera with the new score from Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman was a stunning way to spend Halloween.   The film itself is remarkably adventurous for its era, with a multitude of detailed, complex sets, and impressive costume and make up design. If you love a trapped door moment, or an array of dramatic curtains, you are in for a treat.   Accompanied with the modern-day score, the masquerade segment is a standout for the technical designs, costumes and absolutely banging score.   The new score definitely came across as more sympathetic to the Phantom, which the team highlighted as an aim as often physical disfigurement is regularly associated with villiany.   I would love to rewatch it with the original   music and compare it to this production, but regardless, the film itself is so engaging, and a beautiful adaptation.
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by Scot Tares: One of the best cinema experiences I’ve ever had.  That shot of the Phantom in the cloak of Red Death was incredible.  As it started, it took me a minute to get my head into the space of the live score pairing with this film. Once I was there, it became essential and blended seamlessly.  Just a thought, but a collectors Blu-ray release of this with vinyl soundtrack? ❤️❤️❤️  Thank you everyone involved. That was incredible.
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by frankobox:  this was my first time seeing any iteration of phantom other than Phantom of the Paradise so there were so many moments where i was like 'damnnnn this is just like potp' fr though this was such an amazing experience. saw at dundead with a live score from Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman, such a haunting and surreal addition to the movie that I don't think I could experience the film in the same way with it's traditional score. absolutely brilliant
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by AGordon8:  We saw this alongside a brand new, live score put together by two talented musicians from Dundee. Having never seen the film before, I was unsure what to expect - from the film or from an attempt to re-contextualise a set of images that we would typically tie inextricably with a traditional, orchestral soundtrack.  This was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had at the cinema, maybe the greatest. From the get go, the new score breathes an overwhelming melancholia into the film, it flips what could be approached as a straight up creature-feature horror flick, into something much more sincere and disturbing. Instead of building distance between the ‘monster’ lurking beneath the Paris Opera House and the viewer, the score creates an empathetic space to engage more with the film’s true horror - unrequited love.  The production design is jaw-dropping; a full scale opera house was built for the film and was the world's oldest surviving structure built specifically for a movie, at the time of its demolition in 2014. Hundreds of extras fill the screen for some of the lavish set-pieces, including perhaps the most impressive scene - the two strip technicolour ball.
Letterboxd review of The Phantom of the Opera by A Gordon 8 continued: Countless stills stick in the mind after the film; the phantom hanging from the statue on top of the Opera House whilst his red cape flies in the wind; the shadows descending the stairs to the torture chambers below; a behemoth chandelier crushing members of the audience; a hand reaching out from a curtain to place a cursed letter on a desk; the phantom sitting in his bay overlooking the opera; the final scenes which are a pure shot of adrenaline (beyond any blockbuster I’ve seen in recent years) - the score pulses to a frenetic crescendo, as the fury of the mob builds.   Given this is a live performed score and in all likelihood will never be released in any widely accessible format, it feels perhaps even more special. A unique experience, and one that shows the power of music to give meaning to film, and to, at times, reframe art in a whole new light.
 Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman in their studio

Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman on their score for The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

4m04s
 Andrew Wasylyk, Michael Coull and Tommy Perman standing in front of The Phantom of the Opera poster displayed outside of Filmhouse E=dinburgh
Filmhouse
 Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman at the entrance to Glasgow Film Theatre
GFT
 Andrew Wasylyk, Michael Coull and Tommy Perman standing on the stage at The Hippodrome
The Hippodrome
 Andrew Wasylyk, Michael Coull and Tommy Perman beside The Phantom of the Opera poster outside DCA Cinema
DCA
 Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman on the stage at Eden Court in front of The Phantom of the Opera Screen slide
Eden Court

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of Screen Scotland and the BFI National Lottery.

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