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FrightFest · 2024

FrightFest 2024

Discovery Screen 3

Programme

5 films · 2 reviews

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From Darkness

Park ranger Angelica seeks the help of her dog-handler ex-boyfriend Viktor to search for a missing woman in a dangerous Swedish nature reserve, complicated by a disturbing myth about the Cave Banshee, a vengeful spirit from Nordic folklore that once lured miners to their deaths in the treacherous caves. As they delve deeper into the forest, Viktor starts to question his own sanity and whether the rumoured Banshee is more than just a myth.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2024; Director: Philip Da Silva; Stars: Oscar Skagerberg, Rakel Benér Gajdusek, Peter Mörlin, Lars Adsten)

The Last Podcast

Sceptical podcaster Charlie is contacted by a junior professor at Pasadena-Tech University. Duncan claims he can scientifically prove there's no afterlife so Charlie rushes to interview him. But Duncan’s fiancé was recently murdered and he has a gun…

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Dean Alioto; Stars: David Foley, Charlie Saxton, Mick Garris, Gabriel Rush)

Mermaid Legend

When a fisherman is killed by greedy land developers for standing in the way of their expansion plans, his pearl-diver wife Migiwa moves into unforgiving and vindictive payback on those yakuza responsible. Framed for her husband’s murder and forced to shelter in a brothel, hell hath no fury as the bloody battles begin.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1984; Director: Toshiharu Ikeda; Stars: Mari Shirato , Kentarô Shimizu, Jun Etô, Seiji Miyaguchi)

A Samurai In Time

Review preview for A Samurai In Time

Two things elevate it. One is Yasuda’s commitment to looking in depth at the culture of the Edo period, rather than just cribbing from past jidaigeki and trying to distract us with swordplay. The other is seasoned jidaigeki actor Yamaguchi’s wonderfully sensitive and sincere performance.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A samurai who gets hit by lightning wakes up to find himself on a film set in the present day and starts to work as an extra on samurai films.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Jun'ichi Yasuda; Writer: Jun'ichi Yasuda; Stars: Norimasa Fuke, Yoshiharu Fukuda, Hajime Inoue, Ichiko Kurenai, Rantaro Mine)

Full review See: Interview with Yasuda Jun’ichi about A Samurai In Time

Things Will Be Different

Review preview for Things Will Be Different

Where other such tales have become overly enmeshed in their own structural entanglements, Felker has the good sense to focus on character.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Michael Felker; Writer: Michael Felker; Stars: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, Sarah Bolger, Jori Lynn Felker)

Full review See: Interview with Michael Felker about Things Will Be Different