The most popular offering at the festival, according to the National Wildlife Federation's magazine in 1995, has been Beginning of the End (1957), which features giant grasshoppers invading the city of Chicago after consuming radiation-treated vegetables.

The festival serves as a bridge between technical knowledge and its real-world significance, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the natural world and the vital role insects play in it.

Guided by graduate students from the UIUC Entomology Department, attendees can handle and interact with live insects and arthropods, including tarantulas, large ants, beetles, and other fascinating species, while learning about their biology.

The petting zoo offers a unique opportunity for attendees to gain a firsthand understanding of these creatures, helping to dispel the fears and misconceptions many people have about insects.

This interactive experience allows participants to remotely control the SEM and explore insects and arthropods, such as bees, beetles, flies, mosquitoes, and spiders, at sizes as small as 0.5–4 nanometers.

The display typically included diverse collection of exotic insects and rare specimens from across the globe, spotlighting unique species that either tie into the festival's focus or appear in the annual feature films.

[22] In 2023, the 40th annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) focused on "living fossil" arthropods - species that have remained largely unchanged for millions of years.

Featured films included Joe's Apartment (1996), in which cockroaches help their roommate fight developers, and The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), in which giant velvet worms wreak havoc in California.

[8] The 38th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF), themed "Featuring Fleas," was held for the first time online via Zoom on February 27, 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival focused on fleas, exploring their fascinating biology and behavior, including their role as blood-feeding parasites and their remarkable ability to jump up to 50 times their body length.

This year's theme was "Crustacean Fear Films," highlighting the diverse group of arthropods, including crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and many others, with over 42,000 species in total.

The second film, The Bay (2012), is presented in "found footage" style and depicts an ecological disaster in a small Maryland town, caused by the deadly tongue-eating fish louse.

The event, hosted by the Entomology Graduate Student Association, highlighted real-life explosive insects, such as bombardier beetles, which spray hot chemicals as a defense, and exploding carpenter ants, which sacrifice themselves to protect their colonies.

In the film, Dr. Allen (Musetta Vander) is trying to find a cure for mosquito-borne Gillan's disease when an explosion in her lab exposes Ray Ericson (Matt Jordon) to high levels of radiation, gradually transforming him into a half-man, half-mosquito hybrid known as the Mansquito.

[30] The 31st Annual Insect Fear Film Festival was held on February 22, 2014, at 6 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium, with a focus on pesticides and the evolving public perception of their use, particularly DDT—a chemical compound banned by the USDA due to its harmful environmental effects.

[31] The festival also showcased a selection of films that explored the role of pesticides in society, including Riders of the Whistling Pines (1949), in which DDT is used to save the day, and Locusts: The 8th Plague (2005).

The theme of this year's festival, "The Ins-X Files: The Truth (About Insects) Is Out There," [33] was dedicated to The X-Files, the iconic science fiction series known for its numerous insect-themed episodes.

The Bone Snatcher (2003) depicts an African ant colony that unites like Voltron to sabotage a Namibian mining operation, driven by a disturbing fascination with human skeletons.

The evening also included wasp-related animated shorts and featured the screening of Monster from Green Hell (1957), where truck-sized mutant wasps terrorize the African savannah, seeking revenge for a failed cosmic science experiment.

The event offered an intriguing look into the origins of today's insects, with highlights including fossils like Meganeura, a dragonfly-like creature with a wingspan of nearly 30 inches that lived around 300 million years ago, and trilobites—ancient arthropods that once inhabited the seas.

The festival showcased heroic insect characters like Mothra (1961), the giant silkworm, who defends humanity despite causing destruction due to her enormous size, comparable to that of a Boeing 747.

Despite Hollywood's exaggerations, such as the myth of sexual cannibalism, this year's festival aimed to correct misconceptions and showcase the true nature of these fascinating insects.

With the rise of gene manipulation in the early 1980s, genetically modified insects became a new horror movie trope, reflecting public fears about the potential risks of emerging technologies.

This year showcased three featured films: The Tuxedo (2002), in which Jackie Chan stars in a story where genetically engineered water striders grow to enormous size and threaten freshwater supplies.

Mimic (1997), suggested by movie critic Roger Ebert, follows an entomologist who creates genetically modified "Judas Breed" cockroaches to combat a deadly disease, only for the bugs to evolve into human-like creatures that prey on people in New York City's subways.

Tail Sting (2001), a cult film produced by University of Illinois alumni, features genetically altered scorpions escape during a flight and begin attacking passengers, turning an ordinary journey into a deadly ordeal.

With over 20 films, including at least ten focused on giant insects, Gordon was celebrated as the special guest for the festival's 20th anniversary and was presented with a plaque and certificate of appreciation for his lasting impact on the "big bug" genre.

[51] The 17st IFFF, held on Feb. 26, 2000 focused on "bees", highlighting their ecological importance—pollinating a third of the food we eat and producing honey, royal jelly, and propolis—while also exploring how they are often depicted as sinister in films, particularly low-budget horror movies.

[52] The festival featured a variety of short films, including Winsor McCay's How a Mosquito Works (1912) , Betty Boop’s There’s Something About a Soldier and Walt Disney’s The Winged Scourge (1943).

[52] Short films of this year included animated Raid commercials from the 1960s, Warner Brothers' Bingo Crosbyana, episodes of Santa Bugito, and the trailer for Twilight of the Cockroaches.