Theme – A Tentacular Touch

Take a look beyond madness!

In 2025, Imagine will be touched by the tentacles of the Elder Gods. This year’s main Imagine festival theme is inspired by the work and influence of H.P. Lovecraft. Where Lovecraft (1890 – 1937) imagined madness in the gaze of a creature beyond human comprehension, Imagine will go even further and see a glimpse of a new universe beyond it.

In a world ruled by fear and binary purity (black or white, male or female, good or bad), this programme is all about contamination. Moving beyond Lovecraft’s infamous racism and antisemitism*, the films shown in A Tentacular Touch allow you to understand your own fear of the unknown, overcome it and gain new insights. Whether it’s classic Lovecraftian tropes like mad scientists going against the laws of nature or scary cults awakening beings from another dimension, or more contemporary cosmic imaginings centred on psychedelics and eroticism, the programme will take a deep dive into our subconscious fears and desires.

The famous Dutch author W.F. Hermans once wrote about Lovecraft that the fears driving his horror stories stem from our greatest uncertainty: what if the things we believe in are not what they seem? This is exactly what makes Lovecraft so attractive to a contemporary audience, made to question everything in the wake of a pandemic, climate crises, and political upheaval.

Through classic and new films, A Tentacular Touch takes a clear-eyed look at a complex world full of multi-faceted experiences, with all of us questioning our sanity. Is the monster your friend or your worst nightmare? Perhaps madness is wisdom? Perhaps you are the monster? Touch the tentacles and find out!

Titles and specials in the programme

• Straight to Video: The Alien Factor (Don Dohler, 1978)
• Re-Animator – 40th Anniversary (Stuart Gordon, 1985)   
• From Beyond (Stuart Gordon, 1986)  
• Cinema Literair presents: The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)  
• InScience presents: Jacob’s Ladder – 35th Anniversary (Adrian Lyne, 1990) – introduced by Patricia Pisters 
• In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter, 1994) – introduced by Evert Jan van Leeuwen 
• Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend (Hideki Takayama, 1989) – introduced by Rabia Sitabi Stigter 
• Film concert: The Call of Cthulhu (Andrew Leman, 2005) – with live music by Kevin Toma   
• Man Finds Tape (Peter S. Hall, Paul Gandersman, 2025) 
• RFX Workshop: Applying A Tentacular Touch

*For another take on Lovecrafts legacy and the way indigenous filmmakers use genre to reclaim their histories and change the narrative, check out our other theme programme, Reversing the Gaze.