[2] The Festival's origin is in 1973, with the celebration of the first horror film marathon in Catalonia, organised by the local cinephile association.
That year, the event offered films like Alfred Hitchcock's Psicosis and Horror Express by Eugenio Martin, among others.
[8] The end of the film brought two hooded men holding chainsaws in the middle of the theatre room among a terrified audience.
[9] The 1981 edition hosted more than four hundred aficionados who witnessed the horror setting along with a very special programme[10] for thirteen hours and a half[11] in two parallel film theatres: Joventut Catòlica (La Peni) and the Cinema Versalles Palace.
That year, the marathon started out with Nosferatu by Werner Herzog and closed with Alien El 8º pasajero by Ridley Scott, including performances at the end of each screening plus a lecture at 3:00 am.
Further films where The Hills Have Eyes by Wes Craven, Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Philip Kaufman and The Fury by Brian De Palma, among others.
[14] On this occasion, the Joventut cinema included Hera group's performance and a trip to Count Dracula's homeland Transilvania was offered to be won on a raffle.
More than one thousand people attended the screenings of Halloween by John Carpenter, The Funhouse by Tobe Hopper, Scanners by David Cronenberg, Friday the 13th by Sean S. Cunningham and e Stanley Ku by ick.
[20][21] This time controversy was present again for several reasons: the use of an obituary to promote the event, the use of the town funeral service including a coffin, funeral wreath as well as an actor playing a priest, mourning parade and local police vehicles closing the event around the town streets.
[25] The 1986 programme consisted of recently premiered successful films like Re-Animator by Stuart Gordon and Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street among others.
The 1993 edition programme included films such as Bram Stoker's Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Acción mutante by Alex de la Iglesia, Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.
On this occasion, actor Luis Posada introduced the best works and an exhibition celebrated the last thirty years presenting billboard posters and hand leaflets from all the editions.
Moreover, the Festival paid tribute to movie maker Jesús Franco, who would also be the president of the Horror Short Film Contest.
[36][37] In 2005, there was no doubt of the national and international of the Horror Short Film Contest, when 110 works were submitted to assess their inclusion to competition.
The film The Raven by Roger Corman was on the big screen and there was a horror short story session narrated by Ferran Martín on Halloween night at the Sala Gòtica.
The Festival had Montse Ribé, a makeup artist who had worked on films like Fragile by Jaume Balagueró and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.
In collaboration with the public library "Pere Vila", today renamed "Biblioteca el Molí", the short story contest was back on schedule.
[44] La Peni, film theatre venue of the marathon became a field hospital, to stop a presumed virus which might have been spreading around the town.