FrightFest 2021: The online line-up and how it works
David Farnor | On 13, Aug 2021
After 2020’s success with several streaming editions, Arrow Video FrightFest will return for a second time this year for a digital event. The online five-day edition will follow August’s in-person event at Cineworld Leicester Square, running from 1st to 5th September. It will present a “best of the fest” selection of highlights that allow audiences to enjoy the festival’s programme at home, plus a handful of exclusives for good measure.
Alan Jones, co-director of FrightFest, says: “FrightFest will always see the collective theatrical viewing experience as central to our mission. Nothing can replace the anticipatory buzz waiting for the house lights to dim in a crowded cinema, or catching up with festival friends from far-flung corners of the world. But now we relish the prospect of commitment to virtual programming and how it will complement, enhance, and expand the reach of our in-person programming. So, for the first time in FrightFest’s always forward-thinking history, we have embraced the newly minted hybrid format to satisfy our past, present and future community”.
The online line-up will be split between the Arrow Video and Horror Channel “screens”, with the addition of a third Discovery screen. Viewers will be able to choose what to watch across all three sections of the programme, which will be streamed as live, with each film playing only once. All films will be geo-locked to the UK.
Movies from August’s main screens that will be repeated in the digital line-up include: Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins’ mystery fantasy The Show, the South African fantasy Gaia, the brilliantly named creature feature Crabs!, Rodrigo Fiallega’s blood-drenched shocker, The Exorcism of Carmen Farias, Broadcast Signal Intrusion (the first feature to emerge from FrightFest’s ‘New Blood’ initiative), the thriller Coming Home in the Dark, the German 70s nostalgia-fest Dawn Breks Behind the Eyes, Rob Schroeder’s sci-fi Ultrasound, extreme comedy King Knight, the cruelly comic misadventure Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It, and Dominic Brunt’s Evie, starring Michael Smiley and Holli Dempsey.
Most of August’s Discovery screen line-up will be given a digital home, including isolation thriller Motherly, As In Heaven, So On Earth, Francesco Erba’s Italian blend of live-action and Gothic puppet animation, Hotel Poseidon, Mel House’s metaphysical horror Mystery Spot, director/writers/stars Glenn Payne and Casey Dillard’s new slasher, Killer Concepr, Gonzalo Calzada’s Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night, José María Cicala’s Shadow of the Cat, starring Danny Trejo, Alejandro Cohen Arazi’s The Unburied, and Mexploitation maestro Alex Kahuam’s Forgiveness.
Other titles include Bad Candy, Antidote, Stephen King Simmons’ black-and-white feature debut The Parker Sessions, creature feature send-up Greywood’s Plot, and Touch, the winner of the NYC Independent Film Best Movie and Director awards.
The fearsome fun continues with Red Snow, Laguna Ave, Beau Ballinger’s She Watches from the Woods, the familial psychodrama Captive and Night Drive.
The three documentaries are also repeated – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, The Found Footage Phenomenon, and Paul Hunt and Julie Kauffman’s obsessive The Brilliant Terror.
First Blood selections include Seb Cox’s Are We Monsters, a unique werewolf coming-of-age saga, Ian Steele’s Boy #5, Conor Buro’s When the Screaming Starts, and Richard Waters’ Bring Out the Fear. Complementing the First Blood entries is the UK premiere of Adam Ethan Crow’s Lair, a pitch-black supernatural tale of deception, demonic devastation and death.
Other digital exclusive titles include the world premiere of Gerald Rascionato’s Claw, the creature feature Jurassic Lark, the UK premiere of Chad Crawford Kinkle’s Dementer, and two vintage slashers, which will receive their worldwide Arrow Restoration Premieres: Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge (1989) and Deadly Games (1982).
Tickets will cost £8.50 for a single film, or a pass covering the whole week will cost £80. Passes and tickets will go on sale on Saturday 14th August at frightfest.co.uk/thedigitalbit.
1st September
6:00 PM
THE SHOW
Arrow Video Screen
6:15 PM
MOTHERLY
Horror Channel Screen
8:30 PM
CRABS!
Arrow Video Screen
8:45 PM
THE BRILLIANT TERROR
Horror Channel Screen
2nd September
6:00 PM
BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION
Arrow Video Screen
6:15 PM
CAPTIVE
Horror Channel Screen
8:30 PM
COMING HOME IN THE DARK
Arrow Video Screen
8:45 PM
LAGUNA AVE
Horror Channel Screen
3rd September
6:00 PM
DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES
Arrow Video Screen
6:15 PM
SHORT FILM SHOWCASE ONE
Horror Channel Screen
6:30 PM
THE PARKER SESSIONS
Digital Discovery Screen
8:30 PM
THE EXORCISM OF CARMEN FARIAS
Arrow Video Screen
8:45 PM
BAD CANDY
Digital Discovery Screen
8:45 PM
MYSTERY SPOT
Horror Channel Screen
11:00 PM
SWEETIE, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT
Arrow Video Screen
11:15 PM
PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERICS REVENGE
Horror Channel Screen
11:30 PM
THE UNBURIED
Digital Discovery Screen
4th September
11:45 AM
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
Digital Discovery Screen
1:00 PM
KING KNIGHT
Arrow Video Screen
1:15 PM
BOY#5 (First Blood)
Horror Channel Screen
3:30 PM
THE CLAW
Arrow Video Screen
3:45 PM
LAIR (First Blood)
Horror Channel Screen
4:00 PM
SHORT FILM SHOWCASE TWO
Digital Discovery Screen
6:00 PM
GAIA
Arrow Video Screen
6:15 PM
ARE WE MONSTERS (First Blood)
Horror Channel Screen
6:30 PM
ARROW VIDEO PODCAST
Digital Discovery Screen
8:30 PM
EVIE
Arrow Video Screen
8:45 PM
WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTS (First Blood)
Horror Channel Screen
9:00 PM
NOCTURNA: SIDE A – THE GREAT OLD MAN’S NIGHT
Digital Discovery Screen
11:00 PM
SHADOW OF THE CAT
Arrow Video Screen
11:15 PM
BRING OUT THE FEAR (First Blood)
Horror Channel Screen
5th September
10:45 AM
TOUCH
Digital Discovery Screen
11:00 AM
DEMENTER
Arrow Video Screen
11:15 AM
KILLER CONCEPT
Horror Channel Screen
1:00 PM
AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH
Arrow Video Screen
1:15 PM
SHORT FILM SHOWCASE THREE
Horror Channel Screen
1:30 PM
ANTIDOTE
Digital Discovery Screen
3:30 PM
ULTRASOUND
Arrow Video Screen
3:45 PM
GREYWOOD’S PLOT
Horror Channel Screen
4:00 PM
SHE WATCHES FROM THE WOODS
Digital Discovery Screen
6:00 PM
NIGHT DRIVE
Arrow Video Screen
6:15 PM
DEADLY GAMES
Horror Channel Screen
6:30 PM
THE FOUND FOOTAGE PHENOMENON
Digital Discovery Screen
8:30 PM
HOTEL POSEIDON
Arrow Video Screen
8:45 PM
FORGIVNESS
Horror Channel Screen
9:00 PM
RED SNOW
Digital Discovery Screen