A good touchstone to measure a festival's international prestige is to look at the list of guests. As ever, that list for the 28th edition is suitably impressive. From Japanese horror meister Takashi Shimizu and the American godfather of the slasher movie, Tobe Hooper, via French director-producer Luc Besson to the (relatively) new Danish kid on the block Nicolas Winding Refn.

Of course, real movie buffs in the end care only about one thing: the films. The two latter directors above have new films: the comic adaptation Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) and the already much-lauded Viking film Valhalla Rising (Refn). Watch out also for the ruthless, extremely confrontational new Michael Winterbottom The Killer Inside Me; the gruesome but funny vampire film Thirst by Korean master Park Chan-wook; and George Romero's new zombie flick Survival of the Dead.

Or just go with the flow and let yourself be surprised. But keep in mind that the BIFFF has a peculiar atmosphere. The true festival aficionados express themselves very loudly, shouting advice at the characters on the screen or flat out mocking them. Not everyone, to say the least, is fond of this behaviour. And it will be very much present during the “X-treme and funny midnight screenings”, which include ZMD: Zombie of Mass Destruction, Life and Death of a Porno Gang and The Human Centipede.

But BIFFF is more than films: there's the traditional Vampire's Ball for which you'd better dress up as a monster, the body painting competition or, on 10 April, the big Zombie Day Parade. Hundreds of horror fans with heavy make-up (they do you for free at festival headquarters) swarm out into the centre of Brussels. So be prepared, if you plan to do some shopping that day: the guy losing his arm next to you at the bus stop, isn't really.

Although, in the end, you never can be sure, of course.

8-20 April
Tour & Taxis
Havenlaan 86c Brussels
www.bifff.org