FRIGHTFEST IS UPON US
Sixteen candles make a deadly light….
Film4 FrightFest turns sweet sixteen in August and to celebrate this important coming of age milestone we have assembled what is without doubt the greatest and most comprehensive line-up in our entire event-packed history comprising 19 World, 16 European and 24 UK premieres.
By progressively embracing everything outstanding about horror, fantasy, thriller and suspense, we have continually built our reputation as the UK’s biggest, brightest and best genre festival. Whether mainstream mayhem, director’s daydream, quirky independents or major talent detection, the Temple of Terror that is Film4 FrightFest has cherry-picked the scrème de la scrème for sixteen years now gaining a globally acclaimed reputation that is second to none.
And we return with a vengeance on August 27th – August 31st 2015 to the flagship Vue Cinema in London’s Leicester Square, which has rapidly become the much-beloved hub of all FrightFester action. Here, for the second gala year in a row, you will be able to see everything that’s brand spanking new in the genre universe – First!
After many months of painstaking trawling through all submissions sent to us and attending the world’s film market places and other banner festivals, FrightFest is delighted to announce the genre rocket fuel that will put every FrightFester on a fast and furious ride through five days of extreme mind-melting mystery, fear and excitement.
Team FrightFest has been struck this year by the sheer quality, unique imagination and technical ingenuity in the ever-burgeoning independent arena. From Australia and France, Mexico and Russia, Argentina and Peru, it’s clear the genre is in wild, wonderful and diverse hands and we are pleased to showcase the most electrifying examples. CURTAIN, HOSTILE, SUMMER CAMP, BODY, THE ROTTEN LINK, THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE, GODDESS OF LOVE, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB, SUN CHOKE, NIGHT FARE, RABID DOGS, LANDMINE GOES CLICK, POD, TURBO KID, DEATHGASM, III, HELLIONS, JERUZALEM, SOME KIND OF HATE, EMELIE, SLUMLORD, THE SHELTER, ANOTHER ME, WIND WALKERS, BITE, BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS, ZOMBIE FIGHT CLUB, THE ENTITY and INNER DEMON are just astonishing and are bound to cause much heated debate and ecstatic discussion.
Of course we always take great pride and pleasure in presenting the latest work from British artists and 2015 is an outstanding year in that department too. You already know we are opening FrightFest with David Keating’s CHERRY TREE. But Dominic Brunt’s BAIT, Ben and Chris Blaine’s NINA FOREVER, Mark Murphy’s AWAITING, Paul Hyett’s HOWL, Adam Levins’ ESTRANGED, Howard J. Ford’s NEVER LET GO, Corin Hardy’s THE HALLOW, Ruth Platt’s THE LESSON, Eugene McGing’s THE UNFOLDING, Robin Schmidt and Gez Medinger’s AFTERDEATH and Liam Regan’s BANJO continue Film4 FrightFest’s commitment to platform the brightest sparks on the UK homefront. Oh, and wait until you see Steve (SIGHTSEERS) Oram’s AAAAAAAAGH!, which we guarantee will World Premiere to a sea of open-mouthed astonisment.
Other stellar productions include our closing anthology TALES OF HALLOWEEN and our festive attraction A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY. Plus Iain Softley’s CURVE, Bernard Rose’s FRANKENSTEIN, Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s SCHERZO DIABOLICO, Abner Pastoll’s ROAD GAMES, Alistair Legrand’s THE DIABOLICAL, Ted Geoghegan’s WE ARE STILL HERE, Adam Schindler’s SHUT IN, Padraig Reynolds’ WORRY DOLLS, Zak Hilditch’s THESE FINAL HOURS, April Mullen’s FARHOPE TOWER, Takashi Miike’s OVER YOUR DEAD BODY, David Gelb’s THE LAZARUS EFFECT and JAMES WAN’S DEMONIC.
You want monsters? Try the giant wasps in STUNG or what lurks beneath THE SAND. You want documentaries? Look for FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD and THE NIGHTMARE. You want even more stalk-and-slash? Well, there’s also SUSPENSION, FINAL GIRL, MOST LIKELY TO DIE, HANGMAN and LAST GIRL STANDING to sate your appetites. You want special events? How about veteran artist Graham Humphreys, who provides our poster every year, discussing his new book ‘Drawing Blood’, Film4’s Catherine Bray hosting a guest panel on DIY Filmmaking, the return of the Duke Mitchell Club and an in-depth Q&A with our Special Guest Icon who we are keeping under wraps at the moment. Not to mention our hugely popular Short Film Showcases.
If our Discovery Screen Strand has increased in popularity, so has our Retrospective selection. This year you will be able to dip in and out of an eclectic programme stradding grindhouse to art-house with brand new restorations of the classic HELLRAISER, the giallo masterpiece YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, the exploitation duo MADMAN and THE MUTILATOR, the cult Hammer Horror CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER, the high camp HAWK THE SLAYER and the high-end horrors TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES and THE REFLECTING SKIN.
During the five glorious days of Film4 FrightFest we invite you to face your deepest fears, confront your darkest fantasies, sublimate your desires and indulge your guilty pleasures. Or do all four at the same time!
We look forward to seeing you once more at what has become the UK’s unanimously acclaimed, always highly anticipated and always friendly cocoon of genre cinema.