David Farnor | On 28, Jul 2020

For the October 2020 Halloween event, click here.

FrightFest officially goes online this August, taking the UK’s biggest horror and fantasy film festival into cyberspace. The 21st edition of the festival, which joins other film events in going online during the coronavirus pandemic, will showcase 25 films from 10 countries, including 7 world premieres and 16 UK premieres.

Running from Thursday 27th to Monday 31st August, the event begins with a live-streamed quiz from Mike Muncer, host of the podcast Evolution of Horror. This is followed by the UK premiere of Sky Sharks, a film that features – yes – Nazi zombie piloted killer sharks.

Friday features four films: the world premiere of action horror There’s No Such Thing As Vampies, the UK premiere of Brea Grant’s organ transplant shocker 12 Hour Shift, the UK premiere of Alistair Orr’s Triggered and the world premiere of Patrick Rea’s I Am Lisa, a lycanthropic homage to Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.

Saturday features black comedy The Columnist, US genre doc The Horror Crowd, plus Marcel Walz’s blood-soaked Hollywood nightmare, Blind, the UK premire of Australian anthology feature Dark Place, the Canadian internet chiller Don’t Click, and the UK premiere of sci-fi horror The Honeymoon Phase (think Fatal Attraction meets Black Mirror), as well as dark fairytale They’re Outside – starring FrightFest favourites Emily Booth and Nicholas Vince – and spooky Scottish castle mystery Playhouse.

Sunday sees carnage, cannibalism and contagion spread through Jesse O’Brien’s Two heads Creek, slasher riff Aquaslash, Armando Fonseca’s Skull: The Mask and Steve Villeneuve’s documentary Hail to the Deadites, plus a chance to catch a new cut of FrightFest Glasgow 2019 breakout hit A Ghost Waits.

There’s also the world premiere of Francesco Giannini’s Hall, a live panel, Horror in Lockdown, discussing the pandemic’s effect on horror, and Clapboard Jungle, providing filmmakers with an insight into the low-budget film industry through the career of indie helmer Justin McConnell (Lifechanger).

FrightFest climaxes on Monday with five UK premieres: the honour killer thriller AV: The Hunt, Dean Kapsalis’ debut The Swerve, Tyler Savage’s Blinders, mutant sci-fi thriller Enchanced, and Dark Stories, an anthology from France. Arrow Video will also present a podcast with co-hosts Sam Ashurst and Dan Martin.

Also available on-demand throughout the weekend will be two Short Film Showcases.

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. A festival pass will allow viewers to watch 15 films/events in total: 13 features/events plus the two short film showcases. Each short film showcase will otherwise require one ticket. All film screenings will be geo-locked to UK audiences.

Read on for the full programme:

THURSDAY 27TH AUGUST

Evolution of Horror YouTube Channel
7:00 pm THE EVOLUTION OF HORROR FRIGHTFEST LIVE PUB QUIZ

Opening Film
9:15 pm SKY SHARKS
Read our review

Friday 28th August

Arrow Video Screen

6:00 pm THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS VAMPIRES
8:45 pm 12 HOUR SHIFT
Read our review

Horror Channel Screen

7:00 pm I AM LISA
Read our review
9:30 pm TRIGGERED
Read our review

SATURDAY 29TH AUGUST 2020

Arrow Video Screen

12:00 pm THE COLUMNIST
Read our review
3:00 pm THE HORROR CROWD
Read our review
6:00 pm BLIND
Read our review
8:45 pm DON’T CLICK
Read our review

Horror Channel Screen

1:00 pm THE HONEYMOON PHASE
4:00 pm PLAYHOUSE
Read our review
7:00 pm THEY’RE OUTSIDE
Read our review
9:30 pm DARK PLACE
Read our review

SUNDAY 30TH AUGUST 2020

Arrow Video Screen

12:00 pm SKULL: THE MASK
Read our review
3:00 pm HAIL TO THE DEADITES
Read our review
6:00 pm HALL
8:45 pm A GHOST WAITS

Horror Channel Screen

1:00 pm CLAPBOARD JUNGLE: SURVIVING THE INDEPENDENT FILM BUSINESS
4:00 pm TWO HEADS CREEK
Read our review
7:00 pm PANEL: HORROR IN LOCKDOWN (feat. Saint Maud director Rose Glass, Host director Rob Savage)
Watch here
9:30 pm AQUASLASH
Read our review

MONDAY 31ST AUGUST 2020

Arrow Video Screen

12:00 pm ARROW VIDEO PODCAST
3:00 pm AV THE HUNT
6:00 pm DARK STORIES

Horror Channel Screen

1:00 pm ENHANCED
4:00 pm BLINDERS
7:00 pm THE SWERVE

Short Films

Available from 6 pm Thursday 27th to 9 pm Monday 31st August

Short Film Showcase 1

Bark (European Premiere)

Director: Ryan Irving. Cast: Ryan Irving, Alexia Lavigne, Anna Barker. Canada 2019. 6 min.

It’s a beautiful day in the park, one that our hero usually enjoys. And he could, except for the terrible event he will have to witness, helpless to intervene.

A Bit of Fun (World Premiere)

Director: Florence Kosky. Cast: Elizabeth McCafferty, Roxana Chakrabarti, Tess Annan, Tallulah Bond. UK 2020. 9 min.

It’s just another fun girls’ night in, to talk about school, sex, and raising the dead. You know, the usual.

Breakfast (European)

Directors: Paul Beattie, Melanie Rios. Cast: Rebecca Smee, Brendan Donoghue, Jaxson Dimitrov. Australia 2019. 11 min.

After being bedridden for months, Katherine is finally awake. And she’s hungry. And not just for bacon and eggs.

FLESH Control (European Premiere)

Director: Christopher McSherry. Cast: Clark Chambers, Joseph O’Hagan. UK 2019. 9 min.

It’s a typical day of fumigation for these two exterminators. But who is being exterminated and what is doing the job?

Subject 3 (International Premiere)

Director: Teresa Decher. Cast: Teresa Decher, Steven Cox, Paul Greene. USA 2019. 12 min.

A young woman needs to say her last goodbye to an old friend, as she traverses a world in the midst of a pandemic.

Polovotron 500

Jeff Drives You (UK Premiere)

Director: Aidan Brezonick. Cast: Addison Heimann, Tanner Rittenhouse. USA 2019. 17 min.

David thinks he just got lucky when he gets to take a fancy driverless car to a wedding. But the AI has more to offer than just a smooth ride.

Ouzo and Blackcurrant (UK Premiere)

Director: Nat Luurtsema. Cast: Cherelle Skeete, Sara Huxley. UK 2020. 7 min.

Esta and Jeanie just want to reminisce about the good old days; but they weren’t all good, as something wants them to remember.

Tarrare (World Premiere)

Director: Brian Gillespie. Cast: Ian Lassiter. USA 2020. 6 min.

Based on the terrifyingly true story of a man afflicted with unceasing hunger…

Guest (European Premiere)

Director: Finn Callan. Cast: Melania Crisan, Jessica Munna, Anna Fraser. UK 2020. 12 min.

Something just won’t leave Mary alone, no matter how long she keeps her eyes closed. Drastic measures must be taken.

The Beholder (World Premiere)

Director: Shaun Clark. Cast: Melvyn Ternan. UK 2020. 1 min.

The eye is the window to the soul. That is why it terrifies us.

Short Film Showcase 2

Werewolf (World Premiere)

Director: Markus Meedt. Cast: Will Seaward, Katie Redford. UK 2020. 10 min.

It’s game night for a group of friends, and while the rivalry is light, the dangers are increasing.

The Motorist (London Premiere)

Director: Ciaran Lyons. Cast: Douglas Russell, John Cooke. UK 2019. 10 min.

After a man accidently hits someone on a lonely country road, a group forms to exact an odd form of justice.

Love Bite (UK Premiere)

Director: Charles de Lauzirika. Cast: Carlee Baker, Cuyle Carvin, Bella. USA 2019. 16 min.

A weary couple bickers over how to survive the zombie apocalypse. Not everyone is surviving the night.

The Gift (UK Premiere)

Director: Laura-Beth Cowley. Cast: Rowan Carmichael. UK 2019. 3 min.

Monthly cycles may be a literal and metaphorical pain, but through that comes power.

Wash (UK Premiere)

Director: Kristofer Kiggs Carlsson. Cast: Amelia Clay, Ida Lungqvist. Sweden 2019. 7 min.

It’s laundry day for this single mother. But this might be a far more dangerous activity than she fully realizes.

Fuel (International Premiere)

Director: Hermione Sylvester. Cast: Olivia Vinall, Angus Wright. UK 2019. 9 min.

The lines between art and reality are blurred as a woman copes with an uninvited man from her past, and dangerous strangers in the present.

Polvotron 500 (London Premiere)

Director: Silvia Conesa. Cast: Nuria Deulofeu, Gerard Matarí. Spain 2019. 11 min.

Charly just wants a quiet night’s sleep. Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen a holographic booth that provides intimate services.

Keith (International Premiere)

Director: Alex Baro-Cayetano. Cast: Bear Winter-Perreau, Mia Hemerling. UK 2019. 3 min.

A little girl is about to discover more than she dreamed about the monster under her bed.

Death Walks on Nitrate (European Premiere)

Director: Kevin Fermini. Cast: Katie Carpenter, Sasha Friedman, Anna Bishop. USA 2020. 8 min.

A photographer is about to enter a giallo-esque world where nothing is as it seems.

The Afterlife Bureau (London Premiere)

Director: Dimiter Dimiroff. Cast: Sue Appleby, Gordon Peaston, Richard Cunningham. UK 20219. 13 min.

No one appreciates how hard it is to be a civil servant. Especially on the other side.

 

Arrow Video FrightFest goes online this August

24th June 2020

This year’s Arrow Video FrightFest will go ahead this August, but in a special online edition.

The UK’s leading horror film festival is a staple of the summer cinema calendar, bringing together genre fans in London’s Leicester Square for the latest offerings from the sinister side of the big screen. This year, with cinemas closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, FrightFest has delayed its in-person event with plans to instead extend its Halloween programme in October.

However, the festival has confirmed that it will now be going virtual over the Bank Holiday too, presenting up to 25 films online from Friday 28th August to Monday 31st August.

The digital event will offer additional online content alongside the films, including special guest intros, Q&As, and a short film showcase, as well as some free live events. Passes and individual tickets will be available from early August, with each film only available to watch in the UK.

Ian Rattray, FrightFest co-director says: “Although we can’t recreate the special atmosphere of our public gatherings, we hope our online event will go some way to bringing the fans and filmmakers back together, not just to watch some great new films but also to carry on the community spirit that FrightFest is famous for. And, of course, we welcome genre fans who have been unable to attend in person before and who will be joining us for the first time”.

Arrow Video will continue as headline sponsor of the festival.

Mike Hewitt, Head of Sales & Marketing, comments: “We’re incredibly proud to be acting as headline sponsor of the UK’s premiere genre event, FrightFest, for a third year running. In these changing and challenging times, we need to adapt to new ways, and although we are clearly sad that this year’s August event will not be in a physical form, we are really pleased and excited that the team have decided to retain the summer genre festival spirit in a new online format. We hugely look forward to working with the team in making Arrow Video FrightFest Digital Edition a hugely engaging and successful experience this August Bank Holiday.”

It joins a number of other film festivals holding digital editions, from the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest to the Annecy Film Festival, Cheltenham International Film Festival, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and We Are One, a global festival co-curated by Tribeca, Venice, Cannes and more.

Stay tuned for the full line-up of films and ticketing information in the coming weeks.

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