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FrightFest · 2015

FrightFest 2015

Discovery 1

Programme

22 films · 12 reviews

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Aaaaaaaah!

Review preview for Aaaaaaaah!

Aaaaaaaah! is a beautifully crafted piece of work masquerading as an ethnological study made by chimpanzees.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Alpha Male Smith and his Beta, Keith, move to take over a local community. They hook up with restless Female, Denise, igniting a deadly feud in which emotions run high and deep-seated grudges resurface amongst the tribe. Are we not men?

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Steve Oram; Writer: Steve Oram; Stars: Steve Oram, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Toyah Willcox, Noah Fielding, Julian Barratt)

Full review

Awaiting

Rescued by his psychotic kidnapper's innocent daughter, a travelling businessman finds himself trapped in a house full of secrets.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Mark Murphy; Stars: Tony Curran, Diana Vickers, Rupert Hill, Peter Woodward, Adrian Bouchet)

Bloodsucking Bosses (Bloodsucking Basards)

Review preview for Bloodsucking Bosses

The best combination of loser comedy and gore since Shaun Of The Dead.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A vampire infestation in the office is the last thing our hard-pressed hero needs.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Brian James O'Connell; Writer: Dr. God, Ryan Mitts, Ryan Mitts; Stars: Fran Kranz, Emma Fitzpatrick, Joey Kern, Jacquelyn Palmquist, Pedro Pascal)

Full review

Estranged

Review preview for Estranged

Manson is strong in the lead, showing us January's vulnerability - induced as much through terror as anything else - without relying on pity to hold our attention.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After an accident abroad leaves her amnesiac and dependent on a wheelchair, a woman needs help from a family she cannot remember, and gradually discovers why she left in the first place.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Adam Levins; Writer: William Borthwick, Simon Fantauzzo; Stars: James Cosmo, Amy Manson, Nora-Jane Noone, James Lance, Craig Conway)

Full review See: Interview with Adam Levins about Estranged and Population Zero

Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD (Futureshock! 2000 AD)

Review preview for Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD

This is not the most revealing documentary ever, and it deals with a subject that is ultimately pure pop-culture, but it is impossible to feel anything other than inspired by the pluckiness of the this British underdog.

Luke Shaw · 4 out of 5
Study of the British sci-fi comic's evolution.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Paul Goodwin; Stars: Dan Abnett, Geoff Barrow, Emma Beeby, Karen Berger, Lauren Beukes, David Bishop, Brian Bolland, Will Brooker, D'Israeli, Will Dennis, Andy Diggle, Ian Edginton, Gary Erskine, Carlos Ezquerra, Henry Flint)

Full review

Goddess Of Love

A jilted stripper gradually loses her mind.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Jon Knautz; Stars: Alexis Kendra, Monda Scott, Elizabeth Sandy, Woody Naismith, Ray Grady)

The Hallow (The Woods)

Review preview for The Hallow

There’s plenty of the pre-requisite tension, and the monsters are designed well and deployed with restraint.

Luke Shaw · 3 out of 5
When a visiting conservationist accidentally trespasses in an ancient wood, its denizens set their sights on his family.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Corin Hardy; Writer: Corin Hardy, Felipe Marino; Stars: Bojana Novakovic, Joseph Mawle, Michael Smiley, Michael McElhatton, Charlotte Williams)

Full review See: Interview with Corin Hardy about The Hallow , Interview with Corin Hardy about The Hallow

Howl

A young ticket collector finds himself responsible for passengers after the last train out of London hits something in the dark - and the driver who has gone to investigate fails to return.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Paul Hyett; Stars: Ed Speleers, Shauna Macdonald, Rosie Day, Sean Pertwee, Duncan Preston)

The Lesson

Review preview for The Lesson

This is a disappointing effort which uses the crudest of tools to try and manipulate audience emotions.

Jennie Kermode · 1.5 out of 5
Two teenage wasters upset the wrong person.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Ruth Platt; Writer: Ruth Platt; Stars: Robert Hands, Evan Bendall, Michaela Prchalová, Rory Coltart, Joshua Wedge)

Full review

Most Likely To Die

Once popular high school students are slaughtered one by one at their ten year reunion.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Anthony DiBlasi; Stars: Heather Morris, Ryan Doom, Perez Hilton, Chad Addison, Tess Christiansen)

Never Let Go

Review preview for Never Let Go

Dixon has certainly got what it takes.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A single mother on holiday in India faces murder charges when her daughter is kidnapped by traffickers.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Howard J Ford; Writer: Howard J Ford; Stars: Angela Dixon, Rami Nasr, Nigel Whitmey, Lisa Eichhorn, Velibor Topic, Heather Peace, Sarah Perles, Sanita Simms, Glenn Salvage, Samantha Bolter, Michael Xavier)

Full review See: Interview with Angela Dixon about Never Let Go

The Nightmare

Review preview for The Nightmare

Documentary this may be, but it's very much in horror movie territory, and filmed as such.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about the experiences of eight people who suffer from sleep paralysis.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Rodney Ascher; Stars: Yatoya Toy, Siegfried Peters)

Full review See: Interview with Rodney Ascher about The Nightmare

Night Of The Living Deb

Review preview for Night Of The Living Deb

Thayer's unrelenting impression of nails scraping down a blackboard meas that by the end of an hour and a half you'll be ready to kill Deb yourself if the zombies haven't.

Jennie Kermode · 1.5 out of 5
When an awkward girl wakes up with a pretty boy, she soon finds herself rejected - until he realises they're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Kyle Rankin; Writer: Kyle Rankin, Andy Selsor; Stars: Maria Thayer, Michael Cassidy, Ray Wise, Chris Marquette, Julie Brister)

Full review

Over Your Dead Body

Jealousies swirl around a beautiful young theatre actress starring in a classic ghost story, with bloody consequences.

(Year: 2014; Director: Takashi Miike; Stars: Ko Shibasaki, Ebizo Ichikawa, Miho Nakanishi, Hideaki Ito, Hitomi Katayama)

Pod

When two siblings take their mentally fragile brother for a holiday in a cabin in the woods, they meet a raving stranger who says the government are after him because of a secret military pod he's hidden in the cellar.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Mickey Keating; Stars: Lauren Ashley-Carter, Brian Morvant, Dean Cates, John Weselcouch, Larry Fessenden)

Russell Friedenberg

A holidaying group of family and friends find themselves hunted in the Everglades.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Russell Friedenberg; Stars: Zane Holtz, Glen Powell, Kiowa Gordon, Philip Burke, Castille Landon)

Summer Camp

Four young Americans helping out at a European summer camp ind themselves in peril as a rage-inducing virus takes hold of their young charges.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2015; Director: Alberto Marini; Stars: Diego Boneta, Maiara Walsh, Jocelin Donahue, Andres Velencoso, Rick Zingale)

Sun Choke

A young woman trying to recover from a violent psychotic break is subjected o a bizarre wellness regime.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Ben Cresciman; Stars: Sarah Hagan, Barbara Crampton, Sara Malakul Lane, Evan Jones, Jim Boeven)

These Final Hours

Review preview for These Final Hours

A compelling, interesting and well-acted redemption tale.

Jane Fae · 3.5 out of 5
The world is about to end and a young man is heading to one last party when he encounters a young girl searching for her father.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: Zak Hilditch; Writer: Zak Hilditch; Stars: Nathan Phillips, Angourie Rice, Sarah Snook, Jessica De Gouw, Daniel Henshall)

Full review

They Look Like People

Review preview for They Look Like People

A remarkable first film.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A man staying with a friend he hasn't seen for years receives a call, in the wee small hours, telling him to prepare for war, leave the city and beware of infection. Should he protect his friend from the impending apocalypse, or from himself?

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Perry Blackshear; Writer: Perry Blackshear; Stars: MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake, Elena Greenlee, Mick Casale)

Full review See: Interview with Perry Blackshear about They Look Like People

Wind Walkers (Windwalkers)

Review preview for Wind Walkers

With alternatively beautifully and wisely low key cinematography, Friedenberg turns a landscape many will associate with holidays into something primal and filled with unknown threats.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Friends returned from war run into trouble on a hunting trip in their local swamp. Have they fallen foul of an ancient curse?

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Russell Friedenberg; Writer: Russell Friedenberg; Stars: Glen Powell, Phil Burke, Zane Holtz, Rudy Youngblood, Johnny Sequoyah, Castille Landon, Kiowa Gordon, J LaRose)

Full review See: Interview with Russell Friedenberg about Wind Walkers

Worry Dolls

A detective battles to save his daughter's life as a dead serial killer's talismans, mistakenly sold as worry dolls, begin to drive their owners to murderous madness.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Padraig Reynolds; Stars: Christopher Wiehl, Kym Jackson, Samantha Smith, Kennedy Brice, Tina Lifford.)