---
title: "Insect Fear Film Festival"
chunk: 4/7
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_Fear_Film_Festival"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:24:47.468923+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== 33rd Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2016) ===
The 33rd Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) took place on Saturday, February 27, at 6 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium, with the theme "Exploding Arthropods." 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. Parasitoid wasps, whose larvae chew their way out of their hosts, also contributed to the theme. These natural "explosions" were mirrored in the festival's films, featuring mutant cockroaches and giant, lava-breathing tarantulas.
The evening featured three films: Palm Rot (2015; 7.5 minutes), Bug (1975), and Lavalantula (2015). The event began with Palm Rot (2015; 7.5 minutes), a short animated film introduced by the event special guest and its creator, Ryan Gillis. Following that, Bug (1975) told the story of a scientist who unintentionally created a breed of intelligent, combustible cockroaches. The evening concluded with Lavalantula (2015), in which giant, lava-spewing tarantulas wreaked havoc in Los Angeles after a volcanic eruption.

=== 32nd Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2015) ===
The 32nd IFFF was held on February 28, 2015, at 6 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium. The theme for this year's festival was Female Entomologists in Fear Films. The event featured two family-friendly short episodes from the Discovery Kids show Growing Up Creepie. Following the shorts, the festival showcased the 2005 SyFy original Mansquito. 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.

=== 31st Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2014) ===
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. One of the highlights of this year's festival was the Pesticide Petting Zoo, which featured a collection of old pesticide containers and applicators that Dr. May Berenbaum, head of the Entomology Department at UIUC, has been collecting for years. These historical items were thoroughly cleaned and emptied, allowing visitors to safely handle and examine them for a glimpse into the past.
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). In addition, short films such as Mickey's Garden (1935) and Pink Pest Control (1969) were featured.

=== 30th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2013) ===
The 30th IFFF took place on February 23, 2013, at the University of Illinois, marking a major milestone for the event. The theme of this year's festival, "The Ins-X Files: The Truth (About Insects) Is Out There,"  was dedicated to The X-Files, the iconic science fiction series known for its numerous insect-themed episodes.
Over 2,000 attendees gathered for the event, which featured special guest appearances by The X-Files creator Chris Carter and screenwriter Darin Morgan. Carter and Morgan spoke to the audience and answered questions following the screenings. One of the featured films was "War of the Coprophages" (1996) from season 3 of The X-Files, which centers on killer cockroaches. Carter personally selected this episode due to its connection to the festival's founder, May Berenbaum, a prominent entomologist. Berenbaum's research inspired the episode, and her name was used for the character of Dr. Bambi Berenbaum, an entomologist played by Bobbie Phillips. Additionally, the festival also showcased Carter's first feature film, The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998).

=== 29th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2012) ===
The 29th Insect Fear Film Festival, held at 6 p.m. on February 25, 2012, centered around the theme of "International Ants". During the event, many live ants were on display, including Dinoponera, one of the largest ant species in the world. The evening featured a mix of trailers, short films, and screenings of two films: Glass Trap (2005) is a chaotic tale involving a swarm of gigantic radioactive ants trapped in a skyscraper, where a group of employees must band together to escape in Los Angeles. The film features clumsy early CGI, and cringe-worthy, middle-school-level romantic interactions. 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.

=== 28th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (2011) ===
The 28th Insect Fear Film Festival, themed "Killer Wasps," took place on February 26, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. While many wasps are harmless, parasitic, or herbivorous, our primal fear and impression of stinging insects took precedence. The festival featured social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets, as well as the infamous velvet ant, known for its painful sting. 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.  Additionally, Swarmed (2005) depicted genetically altered, pesticide-resistant killer yellowjackets, drawn to the scent of grilling meat. An angry swarm descends on a hamburger cook-off in a small Kansas town, presenting Hollywood's take on the menace of killer wasps. Gordon Yang, the line producer of Swarmed, was invited as the special guest.