FrightFest 2020: 10 films to stream
David Farnor | On 23, Aug 2020
This week sees FrightFest go online for the first time, as one of the UK’s biggest horror film festivals takes to the web for a digital edition. From 27th to 31st August, the festival will stream 25 films – including seven world premieres and 16 UK premieres.
It begins with a live-streamed quiz from the host of the podcast Evolution of Horror, followed by the UK premiere of Sky Sharks. Passes and tickets are available now at frightfest.co.uk, with an overall pass costing £60 and single tickets costing £5. Each film will stream once at the advertised time and, as with the physical festival, if you join after the advertised time, you will miss the start of the film. That also means you’ll have to choose between films as different streaming premieres clash with other films also streaming.
You can see the full line-up here, but to help you find your way through the forest of new frighteners, we’ve picked out top 10 things to stream over the Bank Holiday weekend:
12 Hour Shift
Heroes’ Brea Grant and David Arquette team up for this dark comedy horror about a nurse pulling a double-shift – while trying to find a last-minute replacement kidney for organ trafficking.
Streaming at: 8.45pm, 28th August
Aquaslash
If you’re already nervous about the idea of going to a theme park, this thriller about high school students who discover the water slides in an amusement park have been rigged to hurt the guests won’t get you rushing back any time soon.
Streaming at: 9.30pm, 30th August
They’re Outside
A YouTuber sets himself the challenge of getting an intensely agoraphobic woman to leave her home in this unsettling (and unexpectedly topical horror.
Streaming at: 7pm, 29th August
The Columnist
Anyone who’s left a comment online or had their work or social media account trolled will find much to enjoy in this film about a newspaper columnist who is flooded with anonymous nasty messages and death threats – and decides to take revenge.
Streaming at: 12pm, 29th August
AV: The Hunt
A young couple are making love when suddenly a cop barges in. Young and athletic Ayse escapes but her lover is murdered. Now all the men in her strict family are chasing her around the city and the countryside to kill her in order to avenge their honour. A survival thriller about a woman on the run from the toxic patriarchy? Colour us interested.
Streaming at: 3pm, 31st August
Two Heads Creek
Australia has emerged in the past decade as a cinematic force to be reckoned with. This new chiller follows two people who leave the UK post-Brexit to find their biological mother – but the small town they encounter doesn’t have the appetite for visitors that they expect.
Streaming at: 4pm, 30th August
Playhouse
A famous horror writer stages a new Theatre show in a haunted Scottish castle, only for things to take a cruelly personal, demonic twist. Honestly? It has us at “haunted Scottish castle”.
Streaming at: 4pm, 29th August
Dark Place
Some of the best horror explores political and social issues through a dark, twisted lens. This landmark Australian anthology brings together a collection of tales exploring post-colonial Aboriginal history to thought-provoking, horrifying effect.
Streaming at: 9.30pm, 29th August
Sky Sharks
A film that features – yes – Nazi zombie piloted killer sharks. Need we say more?
Streaming at: 9.15pm, 27th August
Blinders
Meet Andy Escobedo, moving to Los Angels fresh from a messy break-up. He befriends Roger, a rideshare driver, but when he dumps Roger, Andy discovers he has no intention of being ditched that easily…
Streaming at: 4pm, 31st August
