David Farnor | On 01, Oct 2020

Arrow Video FrightFest will go virtual for the second time in 2020, having taken the decision to cancel its planned physical event at Cineworld Leicester Square, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Running from 21st to 25th October, the event will merge some of the in-cinema selection with other titles to provide an online celebration of horror, with a total of 45 films lined up to stream.

FrightFest co-director Alan Jones said: “The latest safety regulations and social distancing measures brought in to contain the spread of Covid-19 meant we had no other choice but to cancel our much-anticipated physical edition of FrightFest in October. So the only option open to Team FrightFest, despite all the hard work everyone has put in over the past months, was to take the new normal by its devil horns and reconfigure FrightFest 2020 once more to give everyone an important horror fantasy lifeline. Our virtual event in August was so well received that we knew we had to do it again – with even more picks of want-to-see new releases, hot previews, unusual options and first-rate titles. Enjoy”.

How It Works

The programme will be split between three screens: an Arrow screen, a Horror Channel screen and a Zavvi Discovery Screen. Each film, including two short film showcases, 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. All films are geo-locked and can only be viewed in the UK.

As well as being compatible with web browsers, the festival platform (Eventive) is available as an Apple TV, Fire TV or Roku apps, or you can cast the content to your TV through Apple Airplay or Chromecast.

Tickets

Single tickets for individual films cost £5.99 and passes for the event cost £66.66. Passholders will be able to choose what to watch across all three screens with the additional bonus of Wednesday night features.

Passes and tickets are now on sale here.

The Films

Read our streaming recommendations from the line-up here.)

Things kick off on Wednesday night with the world premiere of Held, described as “Parasite and Get Out meets The Stepford Wives”, from The Gallows franchise directors Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff. It’s followed by the UK premiere of Courtney Paige’s The Sinners, a gripping occult take on the Seven Deadly Sins.

On Thursday be prepared for vengeful spirits, evil awakenings, ghost cops and disappearing synchronised swimmers as four UK Premieres are presented, including Chris Smith’s pre-World War II horror The Banishing, Hayden J. Weal’s hilariously ghoulish murder mystery Dead, cosmic chiller Sacrifice, starring Barbara Crampton, plus Lynchian fantasy thriller Stranger. There is also a European premiere for The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, a recreation of the 1962 cult classic, and a world premiere for Dangerous to Know, David Simpson’s three-hour journey into a dark psychological labyrinth of murder, madness and revenge.

Crazy cultists, wicked witch hunters and brutal home invaders are on show in Friday’s line-up, headed by the UK premieres of Neil Marshall’s plague-driven tour-de-force The Reckoning and Julius Berg’s The Owners, in which Sylvester McCoy takes on Maisie Williams and her invading gang. Home invaders also cause trouble in the world premiere of Kohl Glass’ Babysitter Must Die.

Then there are UK premieres for Andrew Thomas Hurt’s body horror actioner Spare Parts, Aaron B Koontz’s Western horror The Pale Door, Takeshi Kushida’s Woman of the Photographs, Lodewijk Crijins’ Tailgate, Adrian Langley’s Butchers, Jens Dahl’s biohacking thriller Breeder and The Returned from Laura Casabé. There is also a European premiere for Jeffrey Reddick’s Don’t Look Back and a world premiere for Will Jewell’s Concrete Plans.

Saturday brings 14 more deadly choices, led by Relic, including one-take haunted house horror Let’s Scare Julie, Canadian entry For the Sake of Vicious, Broil and Blood Harvest (known as The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw in the US).

Marc Price is back with the World Premiere of his space survival thriller Dune Drifer, Adam Leader and Richard Oakes’ present their possession pandemic debut feature Hosts, while other Brit entries include Heckle, which stars Steve Guttenberg, Toyah Wilcox, Nicholas Vince and Dani Dyer, and The World We Knew, where gangsters battle demons in a neo-noir. Patricio Valladares’ Embryo and the world premiere of Tyler Russell’s Cyst follow.

Also on the Saturday is the announcement of the inaugural FrightFest First Blood: Horror Channel Best Film Award 2020, via a filmed presentation. Up for the prize are the world premieres of Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey’s Alien on Stage, David Ryan’s Redwood Massacre: Annihilation, the UK premiere of Karl Holt’s Benny Loves You, and – from the August online event – They’re Outside and Playhouse.

Sunday draws things to a close with Luciana Garraza’s Scavenger and Funeral Home, both from Argentina, and Origin Unknown from Mexico. From Canada, there’s the UK premiere of Elza Kephart’s Slaxx, The Nights Before Christmas and from Britain, Damian McCarthy’s debut Caveat. From the USA are the UK Premieres for Honeydew, Jill Gevargizian’s debut The Stylist, and Lucky from Imitation Girl helmer Natasha Kermani. Also from the USA and closing the festival, is the World Premiere of Skylin3s, the third entry in the Skyline franchise. Once again written and directed by co-creator Liam O’Donnell, we see Captain Rose Corley on a 72-hour mission to save humanity.

The Short Film Showcases comprise 12 chilling choices, including the world premieres of Dan Auty’s detection thriller Watch, William Allum’s lockdown horror Night Feed, Crystal Yu’s waking nightmare Are You Sleeping, James Charalambides’ journey into musical madness with Melomaniac and Daniel Rands’ Peeking. Four extra shorts have also been added to the programme: Italian director Federico Zampaglione’s Bianca: Phase 1 and Bianca: Phase 2, Little Willy and Why Wake a Sleeping Chinchilla?.

 

The Schedule

Here’s the rundown of what’s showing when throughout the event:

Wednesday 21st October

Arrow Video Screen

6:30 PM HELD
9:00 PM THE SINNERS

Thursday 22nd October

Arrow Video Screen
6:00 PM SACRIFICE
9:30 PM DEAD

Horror Channel Screen
6:15 PM STRANGER
9:15 PM THE BANISHING

Zavvi Discovery Screen
6:30 PM THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE
9:00 PM DANGEROUS TO KNOW

Friday 23rd October

Arrow Video Screen
1:00 PM DON’T LOOK BACK
3:30 PM THE PALE DOOR
6:15 PM THE OWNERS
9:00 PM THE RECKONING

Horror Channel Screen
1:15 PM THE RETURNED
3:45 PM BREEDERS
6:45 PM BABYSITTER MUST DIE
9:30 PM SPARE PARTS

Zavvi Discovery Screen
1:30 PM WOMAN OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS
4:00 PM TAILGATE
7:00 PM CONCRETE PLANS
9:15 PM BUTCHERS

Saturday 24th October

Arrow Video Screen
11:30 AM SHORT FILM SHOWCASE ONE
2:00 PM FOR THE SAKE OF VICIOUS
4:15 PM BLOOD HARVEST
7:00 PM BROIL
9:30 PM RELIC

Horror Channel Screen
11:45 AM THE WORLD WE KNEW
2:15 PM ALIEN ON STAGE
4:30 PM BENNY LOVES YOU
7:15 PM REDWOOD MASSACRE: ANNIHILATION
9:45 PM HOSTS

Zavvi Discovery Screen
12:00 PM HECKLE
2:30 PM CYST
4:45 PM DUNE DRIFTER
7:30 PM EMBRYO
10:00 PM LET’S SCARE JULIE

Sunday 25th October

Arrow Video Screen
11:30 AM SCAVENGER
5:00 PM HONEYDEW
8:00 PM SKYLIN3S

Horror Channel Screen
11:45 AM THE STYLIST
2:30 PM SLAXX
5:15 PM CAVEAT
7:45 PM SHORT FILM SHOWCASE TWO

Zavvi Discovery Screen
12:00 PM FUNERAL HOME
2:45 PM ORIGIN UNKNOWN
5:30 PM LUCKY
7:30 PM THE NIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

 

FrightFest Halloween event moves online

23rd September 2020

FrightFest has cancelled its planned Halloween celebration at Cineworld Leicester Square, instead moving the event online.

For the second time this year, the horror fest will go virtual, after coronavirus restrictions made the event “socially, practically and commercially untenable”.

The weekender was going to run from 22nd to 25th October in London, kicking off with Yeon-Sang-ho’s follow-up to Train to Busan and closing with Chris Lofting and Travis Cluff’s Held. The plan was then to hold the digital event the following weekend, with some of the 34 Cineworld films streaming, along with additional titles.

Now, those two events are being combined instead, with the digital event set to run on the same dates – from Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th October.

Ian Rattray, co-director, said: “It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of the Cineworld event. Although cinemas are not affected by the new hospitality rules, it was the tipping point in terms of what kind of event we were comfortable in presenting to the fans. And with the threat of further London lockdown rules being imposed, it was felt the best plan was to move everything online.”

The digital line-up will include more than 40 films and will be announced on Thursday 1st October, with tickets going on sale the same day. As with the August online event, passes as well as individual tickets will be available. Prices for the summer event were £60 for a pass and £5 for a single ticket, with each film streaming once at a specified time. Stay tuned for more details on how the Halloween event will work.

 

Train to Busan: Peninsula to open FrightFest Halloween event

10th September 2020

Train to Busan is docking into FrightFest’s station this October, opening the horror festival’s Halloween event.

FrightFest went online last month for its first digital festival over its usual August Bank Holiday weekend, a five-day virtual event that kept the festival’s spooky spirit alive during a global pandemic. This October, FrightFest is expanding its normal Halloween event into a full-on weekend affair, running from Thursday 22nd October to Sunday 25th October. The event will have an online component, as well as taking place at the Cineworld Leicester Square, and if there were any doubts that FrightFest wasn’t meaning business, its opening film makes it clear that it will be taking no prisoners, with Train to Busan: Peninsula opening the Halloween weekender.

Four years after Train to Busan was voted the most popular FrightFest Closing Night film to date, the standalone sequel picks up four years after South Korea’s total decimation in Train to Busan. Director Yeon Sang-ho catches up with Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland but relives the horror when assigned to a covert operation on the quarantined peninsula with two simple objectives: retrieve and survive. When his team unexpectedly stumbles upon survivors, their lives will depend on whether the best— or worst — of human nature prevails in the direst of circumstances.

The film co-stars Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Re and Kwon Hae-hyo and will later be released in cinemas nationwide on 6th November, before it heads to digital and disc on 30th November.

FrightFest co-director Alan Jones commented: ”Ask any die-hard FrightFester what their favourite ever Closing Night film was and they will say the fabulous Train to Busan. The continuous standing ovations, cheers and applause engendered by our sell-out screenings of that instant genre classic has become the stuff of FrightFest legend. So we are delighted Studiocanal is granting us the opportunity of opening our Arrow Video FrightFest October event with the epic stand-alone sequel. The FrightFest audience really connects with Korean director Yeon Sang-ho’s stellar work and we have no doubt his latest Asian blockbuster will raise the roof once more with his resonant brand of turbo-driven, fantasy action entertainment.”

The full-line up for the October event, and how the digital element will work, will be announced on Thursday 17th September.

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