Bugs are going to be crawling at the Memorial Union this weekend for the 8th annual Insect Horror Film Festival.

Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, the Iowa State Entomology Club will sponsor the event.

The festival is open to the public and completely free, but that does not mean there won’t be plenty of attractions.

ISU student Beth Butin, a senior in entomology, has been involved with the project for five years and said she thinks it is very well received by the public.

“People seem to love it, and we usually get big turnouts,” Butin said. She said last year she saw the biggest crowd in the history of the event.

Crowd size usually depends on the weekend the event is held, but with several new features this year, Butin said she hopes the turnout will be large.

The festival will start at 6 p.m. on Friday, featuring a butterfly tent, a table offering food made with insects, and an aquatic insect display, which Butin said is a new attraction this year.

“We keep coming up with new and unique ideas which we hope will attract new people,” she said.

The Committee on Lectures heads up the funding of the project. Pat Miller, program coordinator, has been involved with the festival since its beginning in 1990.

“This project has everything we love. It’s entertaining and educational and is very well received,” she said.

Although the aquatic insect display is promising, Butin said she still expects the insect food display to be the crowd favorite.

“It usually attracts the most people, especially kids. I love seeing the parents’ reaction to it,” she said.

A few of the treats to taste include Bug Brownies made of dry roasted cutworm and armyworm larvae, Chocolate Chirpies, which are chocolate-covered, dry roasted crickets, and insect coffee in a variety of bug flavors.

Miller said in 1992, the event received national publicity when the co-chairs of the club went on the Tonight Show to make Chocolate Chirpies with Jay Leno.

“It was rather interesting and I think we gave Jay a lot of material to joke about,” she said.

In addition to the display, the festival also includes several films. Friday features include the short film “Deadly Mantus,” which is new to the program this year, and the 1958 version of “The Fly.”

On Saturday will be the science fiction film “Phase IV.”

Entomology Professor Woody Hart will give an introduction before each film.

The Insect Horror Film Festival is organized, set up and run by the Entomology Club.

Additional funding to the project is provided by the Committee on Lectures and the Student Union Board.