Director Sean Cisterna
Rated E15+
Score 5/6
A heartwarming and spine-tingling documentary that follows a spirited group of older adults who set out to make a horror film, stepping far outside their comfort zones. Led by a local filmmaker, they navigate the challenges of low-budget movie-making with humour, heart, and resilience. Along the way, they discover newfound confidence, forge meaningful friendships, and prove that creativity knows no age. Silver Screamers is a joyful celebration of second acts and fearless reinvention.
Silver Screamers is currently featured at the 2026 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. When going to a film festival there are certain genres that you should always watch. The most cliched example I can think of is watching a samurai movie at a Japanese film festival. For a documentary film festival? I’d recommend a documentary, about an interesting project or journey. For the record I don’t watch many horror films, it’s been awhile since I last watched one.The seniors had some interesting stories about their lives that were creatively highlighted by the filmmakers through the use of storyboard animatics. I thought that the post production footage for The Rug was extremely interesting. I thought that the Foley recording sessions looked to be extremely fun in a leave your ego at the door sort of way. I also enjoyed the recording of the soundtrack and they made a great point about singing. The design of the movie’s poster seemed to match the overall tone of the project. I thought that Silver Screamers was an interesting documentary offering a glimpse into the behind the scenes of film production and I loved that in the final 5 to 10 minutes of the film there was a genuine heartfelt moment that will have some people tearing up and it was great that the filmmakers pivoted to some horror related silliness.
