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Festival coverage

FrightFest

24 August – 28 July 2017

Chucky is back, ready to look up an old friend
Chucky is back, ready to look up an old friend

Frightfest, sponsored by the Horror Channel, turns 18 this year, although it's been showing 18-rated films for a long time. This year's crop includes some real chillers, with opening title Cult Of Chucky seeing a return to full on shrieks and gore for the iconic Child's Play doll. There are 20 world premières and 18 UK premières among the 64 films scheduled to screen, as well as the usual participation events, quizzes and giveaways that contribute to the festival's popularity. Guests include Jennifer Tilly, Kane Hodder and Barbara Crampton.

The festival runs from 24 to 28 August.

Other years (19)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Fanged Up
    Review preview for Fanged Up

    These are lashings of gore, some deliberately feeble jokes, some good character-based comedy and predictable but nonetheless entertaining twists towards the end.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    After a man is wrongfully arrested and sent to a high security prison he discovers the guards are vampires and the inmates their victims.
  • To Hell And Back: The Kane Hodder Story
    Review preview for To Hell And Back: The Kane Hodder Story

    Celebrity docu-portraits like this are ten a penny; what makes this one different is the extraordinary story and the intensity with which it's delivered.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Meet the man behind the Jason Voorhees and Victor Crowley masks.
  • Attack Of The Adult Babies
    Review preview for Attack Of The Adult Babies

    There's a joyousness about this kind of filmmaking, unrestricted as it is by any concern for convention.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    A home invasion forces two teenagers to break into a remote country manor little realising it is a retreat for middle-aged men who like to dress in nappies... and who have a sinister plot.
  • Mountain Fever
    Review preview for Mountain Fever

    Bleakly realistic and shorn of romance of all kinds, Mountain Fever may be set in desperate times but many of the dangers it depicts are mundane realities in harsh environments.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    When a fatal flu virus devastates Europe, city boy Jack takes refuge in the Alps but he’s ill-equipped to survive the harsh winter. Things only get worse when renegade Kara breaks into his house and commandeers his dwindling food supplies.
  • Our Evil
    Review preview for Our Evil

    The characters almost seem aware that they're performing.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A man with spiritualist powers is told by his mentor that a demonic entity is returning to destroy his daughter's soul and that he should take drastic measures to prevent this from happening.
  • Devil's Gate
    Review preview for Devil's Gate

    For the first hour or so of its runtime, Devil's Gate smoulders with tension, piling on one horror after another as its spins out its central mystery.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Struggling to overcome a recent professional tragedy, an FBI agent relocates to a small town to investigate the disappearance of a woman and her young son.
  • Voice From The Stone
    Review preview for Voice From The Stone

    Voice From The Stone is an accomplished piece of work.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Verena is a young nurse hired to help a mute young heir in an isolated castle in 1950s Tuscany. She must persuade him that “the dead do not speak”.
  • Where The Skin Lies
    Review preview for Where The Skin Lies

    A well-handled slice of classic horror.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Six people bound together by a traumatic experience travel to the Scottish Lowlands for a relaxing reunion weekend. Soon a number of mysterious and horrifying events start to expose the cracks in their relationships.
  • Mayhem
    Review preview for Mayhem

    The scenes of conflict are well handled; it's actually hard to depict completely untrained, inexperienced people attacking each other in a realistic way, and director Joe Lynch achieves this without ever compromising on the fun of it all.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A lawyer betrayed by a colleague fights his way up the building to try and see the boss while it's under quarantine due to a virus that makes everybody lose their inhibitions.
  • Still/Born
    Review preview for Still/Born

    Burke's performance would be riveting even on an empty sound stage.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    For Mary, the joy of her son Adam’s birth is overshadowed by the stillborn death of his twin brother. Now she can't shake the feeling that something is coming for Adam too.

A–Z of FrightFest 2017 reviews

Features

  • Making Mayhem
    Joe Lynch on Steven Yeun, Samara Weaving and why you should quit your job
  • Making Babies
    Joanne Mitchell on her love of horror, awesome women and Attack Of The Adult Babies
  • Making a connection
    David Chirchirillo on Bad Match, online dating and the legacy of Fatal Attraction
  • Behind the mask
    Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo on taking on the legacy of Leatherface
  • Wild ideas
    Travis Stevens on 68 Kill, music, pulp fiction and the terrors of Louisiana
  • The skin she lives in, part two
    Norbert Keil on gore scenes and the incredible visuals in Replace.
  • The skin she lives in, part one
    Norbert Keil on the terror of ageing, memory loss and working with Rebecca Forsythe on Replace
  • Into the woods
    Damien Power on the trials and tribulations of making Killing Ground
  • Birdwatchers
    Dominic Bridges and Mim Shaikh on pigeons, scary movies and Freehold
  • Skin deep
    Joy Harrison on a tale of tattoos and fractured friendships in Where The Skin Lies
  • Alpine retreat
    Hendrik Faller on dangerous terrain, shooting in snow, and Mountain Fever

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