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FrightFest · 2024

FrightFest 2024

Halloween

Programme

9 films · 7 reviews

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Advent

Review preview for Advent

It can be difficult to keep viewers rooting for a naïve character, and Alexander does a decent job of this.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A young woman acquires a cursed advent calendar and plays a game against the devil in the run up to Christmas.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Airell Anthony Hayles; Writer: Airell Anthony Hayles; Stars: Rasina Pavlova, Cian Lorcan. Nicholas Vince, Mark Arnold, Corey Peterson)

Full review

Alien Country

Review preview for Alien Country

An irreverent, warm-hearted comedy in the tradition of Tremors.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Reeling from the news of an unexpected pregnancy, Jimmy and Everly unknowingly release an alien invasion in their small town and learn to work together in order to save each other, their town and evidently, the entire galaxy.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Boston McConnaughey; Writer: Renny Grames, Boston McConnaughey; Stars: Alireza Mirmontazeri, Rachele Brooke Smith, Corbin Allred, Austin Archer, KC Clyde, Dalton Baker, Jasen Wade)

Full review See: Interview with Boston McConnaughey and Renny Grames about Alien Country

Animale

Review preview for Animale

Emma Benestan’s poetic take on gender, power and corporeality is a deeply animal experience.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Surrounded by men, 22-year-old Nejma trains hard to fulfill her dream of winning the upcoming annual bull race, but news of a rogue and violent bull on the loose terrifies the community. Young men are being murdered everywhere, and the beast is nowhere to be seen.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Emma Benestan; Writer: Emma Benestan; Stars: Oulaya Amamra)

Full review

The Bitter Taste

Review preview for The Bitter Taste

Those with a taste for B-movie excess may stay the course.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A former pentathlete stuck in a small forest village while her car is being fixed finds her self drawn into a mystery surrounding the inhabitants of the local castle, a strange competition, and an ancient manuscript which people are willing to kill for.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Guido Tölke; Writer: Julia Dordel, Guido Tölke; Stars: Julia Dordel, Nicolo Pasetti, Anne Alexander-Sieder, Imme Beccard)

Full review

Catch A Killer

When a horror movie buff gets kicked off the police force, he and his girlfriend hunt a serial killer copy-catting the murders from famous horror films.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Teddy Grennan; Writer: Teddy Grennan; Stars: Tommi Rose, Michael Weaver, Libby Blake, Tu Morrow, Sam Brooks)

The Draft! (Setan Alas!)

Five typical college students spend their weekend in a typical old villa only to find that they have to survive in a battle of wits against an absolute all-mighty all-powerful terror that is seemingly undefeated.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2023; Director: Yusron Fuadi; Writer: Yusron Fuadi, Richard James Halstead, BW Purba Negara; Stars: Adhin Abdul Hakim, Anastasia Herzigova, Putri Anggie, Haydar Salishz)

Magpie

Review preview for Magpie

Yates recognises Ridley’s skill with interiorised emotion and makes the most of it.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
When Ben and Anette's daughter is cast in a film alongside glamorous movie star Alicia, Ben is quickly drawn into Alicia's world. Anette is left at home with the baby, pushed to her emotional limits and psychologically on the brink.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Sam Yates; Writer: Tom Bateman; Stars: Daisy Ridley, Shazad Latif, Matilda Lutz, Hiba Ahmed, Cherrelle Skeete, Pippa Bennet-Warner, Alistair Petrie)

Full review

Parvulos

Review preview for Parvulos

Ezban does not let us look away.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Three young brothers living in a cabin in the middle of the woods hide a dark, disturbing secret in their basement.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2024; Director: Isaac Ezban; Writer: Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes, Isaac Ezban; Stars: Noé Hernández, Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, Mateo Ortega Casillas, Horacio F Lazo)

Full review See: Interview with Isaac Ezban about Parvulos

Time Travel Is Dangerous

Review preview for Time Travel Is Dangerous

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Best friends Ruth and Megan run a vintage shop in Muswell Hill. Stumbling across a time machine, they embark on trips to the past to stock their shop, with no idea of the irreparable damage they're causing to the fabric of the universe.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Chris Reading; Writer: Chris Reading, Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare; Stars: Johnny Vegas, Sophie Thompson, Jane Horrocks, Mark Heap, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Laura Aikman, Guy Henry, Brian Bovell, Ruth Syratt, Tom Lenk, Simon Killick)

Full review