It’s not just the rotten weather that is turning our heads this summer. Belfast Film Festival’s latest season of screenings includes The Exorcist (19th August) and The Omen (20th August) in the stone cold surroundings of the abandoned Holy Rosary Church on the Ormeau Road. Where better to experience these devilishly good 1970s movie classics?

Famous for young Linda Blair’s facial contortions and bed-ridden acrobatics, Max von Sydow on that iconic film poster and Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, The Exorcist (1973) was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

The Exorcist rides its supernatural theme to magical effect, with remarkable visuals and an eerie atmosphere, resulting in one of the scariest films of all time.

Cinema-going audiences barely had time to catch their breath before The Omen appeared on screens three years later.

The young son of an American diplomat (Gregory Peck) and his wife (Lee Remick) turns out to be marked with the sign of Satan, the infamous “666”. It soon becomes apparent that he possesses the evil powers to stop anyone who stands in his way.

Holy Rosary Church screenings have been made possible with the kind participation of Fratelli Belfast. Tullymore House Ltd are delighted to transform the church into a Fratelli Restaurant, opening 2018.   The group plans to invest more than £1 million improving and enhancing the site, which has been derelict since 1980, converting the church building.

Belfast Film Festival will also be transforming the new South 13 venue on Boucher Road (formerly B&Q warehouse) into a Central American jungle for a 30th anniversary screening of Predator (26th August).

Directed by John McTiernan and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predator was one of the 80s greatest sci-fi action horror thrillers.

This special screening features full cosplay, interactive events and set design to bring you into the experience!