FrightFest Halloween 2020: 12 films to stream
David Farnor | On 21, Oct 2020
FrightFest is back for a second bite this week, with another online showcase of the latest and greatest horrors from the UK and around the world. The Halloween event, which has gone online after original plans to screen the films in Cineworld Leicester Square were cancelled, runs from 21st to 25th October, with a whopping 45 films lined up to stream.
You can see our guide to how it all works here – and book tickets (£5.99 per film or a festival pass for £66.66) here – but that doesn’t answer the other key question: what films are worth checking out? We dive into the line-up and pick out the movies we think will get your skin crawling, your nerves jumping and maybe even your funny bones doing whatever funny bones do.
From fresh-faced debuts to new films from Chris Smith and Neil Marshall, here are the 12 films to stream at FrightFest this week:
Relic
Fresh from the London Film Festival, Natalie Erika James’ thoughtful, terrifying debut combines a haunted house with a heart-wrenching meditation on the alienating nature of dementia.
Streaming at: 9.30pm, 24th October
Held
This year’s October festival kicks off with a world premiere, so you expect it to be a good ‘un. The thriller follows a couple who go on holiday to liven up their marriage, only to find their smart house vacation home is a little too technologically advanced.
Streaming at: 6.30pm, 21st October
Hosts
Another world premiere, this debut from Adam Leader and Richard Oakes finds horror not only in the threat of possession but in the unnerving thought of having your neighbours in your house to share dinner.
Streaming at: 9.45pm, 24th October
The Owners
Sylvester McCoy and Maisie Williams star in this home invasion horror based on the graphic novel Une Nuit de Pleine Lune, which sees a young gang infiltrate the home of a retired couple in 1990s rural England.
Streaming at: 6.15pm, 23rd October
Concrete Plans
This world premiere comes with the FrightFest Presents seal of approval. It follows five builders who are brought together to renovate a sprawling old farmhouse in the Welsh mountains – but class conflict soon leads to dark moral dilemmas.
Streaming at: 7pm, 23rd October
Benny Loves You
What if Chuck was a teddy bear? That’s the irresistible hook behind Kari Holt’s expansion of his 2006 short, which sees Jack moving on from the death of parents – only for his childhood stuffed animal to spring to life.
Streaming at: 4.30pm, 24th October
The Banishing
From Severance and Triangle to Creep and Black Death, Chris Smith is a director always worth watching. Here, he travels back to WWII for a haunted house story about a priest and his family who move into a manor with a nasty secret – and find themselves having to turn to black magic to save their daughter.
Streaming at: 9.15, 22nd October
Honeydew
A young couple seek refuge in a house belonging to an unforgettable new geriatric horror villain in this backwoods horror starring Sawyer Spielberg.
Streaming at: 5pm, 25th October
Slaxx
Billed as “the couture horror comedy of the year” by FrightFest, this is the latest from Turbo Kid duo Anne-Marie Gélinas and Shaked Berenson and follows a possessed pair of jeans – a premise so attention-grabbing the film’s already been snapped up by Shudder.
Streaming at: 2.30pm, 25th October
The Reckoning
Neil Marshall returns to his horror roots with this plague-driven thriller starring Charlotte Kirk and Dog Soldiers veteran Sean Pertwee.
Streaming at: 9pm, 23rd October
The Stylist
12 Hour Shift director Brea Grant stars in Jill Gevargizian’s debut horror, which expands her 2016 short into the tale of a hairstylist with a lethal cutting edge technique.
Streaming at: 11.45am, 25th October
Dune Drifter
Colin director Marc Price returns with a much bigger budget for this tale of a group of rookie space pilots facing an armada of unbeatable ships, only to be shot down and crash land on a planet where the only help lies with an enemy. Expect invention and ambition aplenty.
Streaming at: 4.45pm, 24th October
Skylin3s
FrightFest bows out for the year with this third entry in the unlikely sci-fi franchise, which promises to keep getting better with every sequel. Written and directed by co-creator Liam O’Donnell, it follows Captain Rose Corley on a 72-hour mission to save humanity.
Streaming at: 8pm, 25th October