David Farnor | On 17, Aug 2020

Grimmfest is going online for 2020, joining a number of film festivals taking place in the digital ether due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While cinemas are reopening across the UK, festivals are a trickier proposition, cramming swathes of fans into one building to watch collectively the latest movies and shorts from new and established talent. In this streaming age, though, there is the opportunity to join others online to stream your way through your favourite fest, and Grimmfest is venturing into that new territory with a packed programme of 20 features and 2 shorts.

Running from 7th to 11th October, Grimmfest 2020 will stream seminars and Q&As as well as films and will kick off with the European premiere of John Hyams’ psychological thriller, Alone, featuring Jules Willcox.

A focus on iconic female horror stars will include Adrienne Barbeau confronting a Faustian pact with a fracking company in the UK Premiere of Unearth. Grimmfest favourite Pollyanna MacIntosh (The Walking Dead) revs up for the European premiere of girl-gang biker revenge flick Revenge Ride and, 34 years after Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Caroline Williams returns to Stretch’s midnight DJ slot for the European Premiere of vampire flick Ten Minutes to Midnight. Writer-director Brea Grant and actress Angela Bettis will team up for the blisteringly brutal hospital-based black comedy 12 House Shift, and Fiona Dourif stars as a troubled psychic in the world premiere of The Medium.

Other UK premieres include Ropes, about a wheelchair-bound woman trapped in an isolated house with a rabid dog, I Am Ren, in which an alienated young housewife begins to fear she’s a malfunctioning android, It Cuts Deep, about a commitment-phobic boyfriend whose relationship descends into paranoid jealousy, the synapse-sizzling South African drug-trip/possession movie Fried Barry, and The Oak Room (from Grimmfest favourites Cody Calahan and Chad Archibald) about a bar-room shaggy dog story that escalates into a gory nightmare.

There’s also the European premiere of Rent-a-Pal, about a middle-aged loner’s disturbing relationship with a VHS tape, HP Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones, from Chad Ferrin, black comedy An Ideal Host, and the world premiere of B Harrison Smith’s The Special (think Fatal Attraction meets The Blob).

The Big Chill meets Battle Royale as a college camping trip turns into a fight for survival in Triggered, while an African American family on the run collide with cannibal Klansmen in the world premiere of Death Ranch. 1970s cult cinema is evoked, too, in the UK premiere of Urubu, Alejandro Ibáñez Nauta’s homage to his own father, Spanish genre legend Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, while 1980s nostalgia is served up by They Reach, another world premiere. You can also spy Lancy Henriksen in a supporting role in high school horror The Unhealer.

All films will stream live from their start times, and will then be available to watch for 24 or 48 hours after that point – with each film geolocked to the UK and Ireland. You can expect a short pre-show recorded intro before each film, while some will be followed by an online Q&A with the filmmakers. (Note: Alone, 12 Hour Shift and The Medium will only be available for a limited time after their streaming premiere.)

A single ticket to watch one film costs £4, or a festival pass is available for £65.50. Passholders will also get access to exclusive content that’s available on-demand throughout the five-day event – including demon child flick Stray, documentary The Horror Crowd, the UK premiere of Anonymous Animals, long-form shorts Blue & Malone, Patrick Is Outside, Hungry Joe and The Alruist – plus an exclusive panel on iconic women in horror, featuring some of the stars of this year’s festival line-up.

Speaking of guests, as well as Henriksen, you can expect to see Pollyanna McIntosh, Caroline Williams and Adriene Barbeau all taking part in Q&As to accompany their films.

Steve Balshaw, chief programmer, said: “It’s been a challenging process translating the Grimmfest experience into an online festival, that people can enjoy from the safety of their own home, but we’re truly proud of this year’s line-up. We’ve secured some fantastic feature and short film premieres, and we’ll also have guests galore joining us via live linkups for Q&As and seminars”.

The festival will be powered by Eventive, which has an app for Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV, or you can stream it via a browser on your computer or iOS or Android device and stream to your TV via Airplay and Chromecast.

Here’s the full line-up:

7th October

5:00 PM
SHORTS PROGRAMME ONE + Q&A

7:10 PM
ALONE + Q&A

9:50 PM
12 HOUR SHIFT + Q&A
Read our review

8th October

5:00 PM
THE SPECIAL + Q&A

7:30 PM
UNEARTH + Q&A
Read our interview

10:00 PM
IT CUTS DEEP + Q&A

9th October

11:20 AM
ROPES + Q&A

1:40 PM
THE OAK ROOM + Q&A

4:00 PM
H.P. LOVECRAFT’S THE DEEP ONES + Q&A

6:30 PM
FEMALE HORROR ICONS PANEL

8:20 PM
THE UNHEALER + Q&A

10:50 PM
AN IDEAL HOST + Q&A

10th October

11:30 AM
I AM REN + Q&A

1:30 PM
RENT-A-PAL + Q&A

4:10 PM
THE MEDIUM + Q&A

6:40 PM
AN AUDIENCE WITH MICK GARRIS (Pass holder exclusive)

8:30 PM
TRIGGERED + Q&A

11:00 PM
THEY REACH + Q&A

11th October

11:30 AM
SHORTS PROGRAMME TWO

1:30 PM
DEATH RANCH + Q&A

4:00 PM
URUBU + Q&A

6:30 PM
FRIED BARRY + Q&A

9:00 PM
TEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT + Q&A

11:00 PM
REVENGE RIDE + Q&A

Pass holder exclusives

Available from 11.30am on 7th October

ANONYMOUS ANIMALS
BLUE & MALONE: IMPOSSIBLE CASES
PATRICK IS OUTSIDE
HUNGRY JOE
STRAY
THE HORROR CROWD
THE ALTRUIST

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