FrightFest · 2013
46 films · 27 reviews
Herriman is perfect in the lead.
(Country: Australia; Year: 2012; Director: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes; Writer: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes; Stars: Damon Herriman, Angus Sampson, Anna McGahan, Oliver Ackland, Paul Blackwell, Chrissie Page, John Jarrat, Reg the Dog)
Stephenson's eye picks up all kinds of telling detail to build a life-affirming picture of these individuals' heroic foolhardiness.
(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Michael Stephenson; Stars: Matthew Brodeur, Victor Bariteau, Manny Souza, Lori Souza)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Cody Calahan)
The most convincing piece of otherworldly horror for years.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Blair Erickson; Writer: Blair Erickson, Daniel J Healy; Stars: Ted Levine, Katia Winter, Michael McMillian, Jenny Gabrielle, Chad Brumnet)
Definitely one of this year’s most accomplished thrillers.
(Country: Israel; Year: 2013; Director: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado; Writer: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado; Stars: Lior Ashkenazi, Tzahi Grad, Rotem Keinan, Doval'e Glickman)
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Elliot Goldner; Stars: Aidan McArdle, Patrick Godfrey, Gordon Kennedy, Luke Neal, Robin Hill)
(Country: Chile; Year: 2012; Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza; Writer: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza; Stars: Fernanda Urrejola, Matías Oviedo, Jorge Alis, Nicolás Ibieta)
(Country: Israel; Year: 2012; Director: Eitan Gafny; Stars: Liron Levo, Yafit Shallev, Roi Miller, Emos Ayeno, Gome Sarig)
Katz keeps the suspense simmering masterfully, alternating between building dread and releasing tension through uncomfortable mirth
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: EL Katz; Writer: David Chirchirillo, Trent Haaga; Stars: Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner, Amanda Fuller)
After a couple of increasingly camp comedy-horrors, it's refreshing to see the air of menace return to this series.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Don Mancini; Writer: Don Mancini; Stars: Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, A Martinez)
De Van appears to think that throwing every horror cliche in the book at something will make for atmosphere.
(Country: France, Ireland, Sweden; Year: 2013; Director: Marina de Van; Writer: Marina de Van; Stars: Art Parkinson, Anabel Sweeney, Padraic Delaney, Mark Huberman, Marcella Plunkett, Olga Wehrly, Marie Missy Keating, Robert Donnelly, Ella Hayes, charlotte Flyvholm, Susie Power)
No less visceral and gripping for its existential concerns, this is truly epic cinema.
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Howard J Ford, Jon Ford; Writer: Howard J Ford, Jon Ford; Stars: Joseph Millson, Meenu, Anand Goyal, Sandip Datta Gupta, Poonam Mathur)
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Kit Ryan; Stars: Sam Robertson, Vincent Regan, Kal Penn, Geoff Bell, John Thomson)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: James Sizemore; Stars: Ashleigh Jo Sizemore, James Sizemore, John Chatham. Melanie Richardson, Sade Smith)
(Country: Argentina; Year: 2013; Director: Christoph Behl; Stars: Lautaro Delgado, Victoria Almeida, William Prociuk, Lucas Lagre, Maria Figueras)
It’s not entirely successful but it’s gripping entertainment that maintains a sense of mystery right up to its insane everything-but-the-kitchen-sink climax.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Renny Harlin; Writer: Vikram Weet; Stars: Richard Reid, Gemma Atkinson, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Holly Goss)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Juanra Ferandez; Stars: Ana Turpin, Ona Casamiquela, Luisa Gavasa, Jesus Caba, Sheila Ponce)
Raaphorst and scriptwriter Chris W Mitchell seem so proud of the look that they completely forget that a film also needs to have a decent plot and characters lying beneath the costumes.
(Country: Netherlands, US; Year: 2013; Director: Richard Raaphorst; Writer: Chris W Mitchell, Richard Raaphorst, Miguel Tejada-Flores; Stars: Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Robert Gwilym, Alexander Mercury, Luke Newberry, Hon Ping Tang, Andrei Zayats, Mark Stevenson, Cristina Catalina, Jan de Lukowicz, Zdenek Barinka, Linda Balabanova, Valentine Berning, Ivana Lokajová, Klaus Lucas)
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Farren Blackburn; Stars: Charlie Bewley, James Cosmo, Michael Jibson, Clive Standen, Glynis Barber)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Duane Journey; Stars: Cary Elwes, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Welch, Molly C Quinn, Yancy Butler)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: BJ McDonnell; Stars: Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Zach Galligan, Caroline Williams, Derek Mears)
Haunter is unusual in that it lays its cards on the table early, while Breslin conveys real fear in the face of supernatural goings on.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Vincenzo Natali; Writer: Brian King; Stars: Abigail Breslin, Michelle Nolden, David Hewlett, Peter Outerbridge, Stephen McHattie)
With its claustrophobic themes of madness, suffocation and despair, The House Of Usher is a classic of Gothic horror.
(Country: US; Year: 1960; Director: Roger Corman; Writer: Richard Matheson, based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe.; Stars: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe)
Everything is wreathed in snow and the crisp air seems to make the stark absence of clues even crueller,.
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2012; Director: Lasse Hallström; Writer: Alexander Ahndoril, Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril, Paolo Vacirca, based on the novel by Lars Kepler; Stars: Tobias Zilliacus, Mikael Persbrandt, Lena Olin, Helena af Sandeberg, Jonatan Bökman, Oscar Pettersson, Eva Melander, Anna Azcarate, Johan Hallström, Göran Thorell, Jan Waldekranz, Emma Mehonic, Tomas Magnusson, Nadja Josephson)
Lovering has crafted an old-fashioned thriller for those who like to be gripped without gore and which offers enough surprise and inventiveness to suggest that he has a career beckoning beyond the confines of television.
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Jeremy Lovering; Writer: Jeremy Lovering; Stars: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech) , Official site , Trailer
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Steven R Monroe; Stars: Jemma Dallander, Joe Absolom, Yavor Baharov, Aleksander Aleksiev, Mary Stockley)
A showcase for Spanish special effects and relatively slick genre cinema, but plot and characterisation required more attention.
(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor; Writer: Àlex Pastor and David Pastor; Stars: Quim Guttierez, Jose Coronado, Marta Etura, Leticia Dolera)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Anthony DiBlasi; Stars: Mitch Ryan, Connor Christie, Dawn Olivieri, Jesse Malinowski, Kip Pardue)
The movie's two main strengths are Max Schreck's compelling performance, as the eerily inhuman vampire, and Murnau's unparallelled ability to blend naturalistic and expressionistic elements.
(Country: Germany; Year: 1922; Director: FW Murnau; Writer: Henrik Galeen; Stars: Max Schreck, Gustav Von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Georg Heinrich Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, Gustav Botz, Alexander Granach, John Gottowt)
Sealing the deal is a bravura turn from Evans, always charismatic but here downright deadly, acing his American accent and conveying ice-cold menace throughout.
(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Ryuhei Kitamura; Writer: David Cohen; Stars: Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Lee Tergesen, Derek Magyar, Beau Knapp)
It's down to Yelchin to convince us to care, and it's to his credit that he generally manages to pull this off.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Stephen Sommers; Writer: Stephen Sommers, based on the novel by Dean Koontz; Stars: Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe, Shuler Hensley, Patton Oswalt, Addison Timlin)
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Kate Shenton; Stars: Kate Shenton, Tam Smith, Ana Laco, Håvve Fjell, Charlyne Chiappone)
Outpost 3's menagerie of menace is a muddle.
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Kieran Parker; Writer: Rae Brunton; Stars: Bryan Larkin, Ivan Kamaras Michael McKell, Velibor Topic, Alec Utgoff, Laurentiu Possa)
There is a great story in here somewhere.. but the combination of the two narratives - presented as tonally and visually distinct from one another - does not entirely work.
(Country: France, Spain, Portugal; Year: 2012; Director: Juan Carlos Medina; Writer: Juan Carlos Medina, Luiso Berdejo; Stars: Tómas Lemarquis, Alex Brendemühl, Derek De Lint)
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Kieran Parker; Stars: Bryan Larkin, James 'The Colossus' Thompson, Velibor Topic, Ben Lambert, Vivien Taylor)
Brightly coloured, esoteric, sometimes cheesy, with an electronic score and a lot more going on upstairs than you might expect, it suits its subject perfectly.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Josh Johnson; Stars: Atom Egoyan, Jason Eisener, Frank Henenlotter, Charles Band, Cassandra Petersen)
Reynolds is the weak element, as usual.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Robert Schwentke; Writer: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, David Dobkin, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, based on the comic by Peter M Lenkov; Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Jeff Bridges, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak)
(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Robin Etreinger; Stars: Alexandra Bialy, Chloe Gallen, Guillaume Gamand, Leon Vitale, Damien Gorce)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Youssef Delara, Victor Teran; Stars: Jake Hoffman, Nikki Reed, Scott Bakula, Thomas Dekker, Jason Priestley)
These two British upstarts show just how much can be done when you're brave enough to keep things intimate.
(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Christian James; Stars: Dan Palmer, Antonia Bernath, Tamaryn Payne, Mark Holden, Giles Alderson)
This is a showcase for ideas about new ways to approach the genre. In that regard, it is both entertaining and inventive.
(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener; Writer: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto & Gareth Huw Evans, John Davies; Stars: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, LC Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes)
Ambyr Childers conveys the pressure the world-weary Iris is under brilliantly, while Julia Garner shines as the otherworldly Rose.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jim Mickle; Writer: Nick Damici, Jim Mickle; Stars: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Wyatt Russell, Kelly McGillis)
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Bobcat Goldthwait; Stars: Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson)
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2012; Director: Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund; Stars: Patrik Almqvist, Lisa Henni, Amanda Renberg, Patrick Saxe, Ralf Beck)
This is a shocking, visceral work. There are moments of humour, here and there, but it is the gallows laughing.
(Country: Australia, US; Year: 1971; Director: Ted Kotcheff; Writer: Evan Jones, based on the book by Kenneth Cook.; Stars: Donald Pleasance, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty) , Official site
For better and worse the majority of the action is dominated by Step Up 3D wonder-woman Sharni Vinson, an impressive physical presence as Erin but not exactly the world's greatest actress.
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Adam Wingard; Stars: Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Ti West)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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