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FrightFest · 2024

FrightFest 2024

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Programme

25 films · 19 reviews

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An Taibhse (A Ghost)

1852: A father and daughter embark on a tranquil caretaker role at an isolated mansion during the unforgiving winter months. But their peaceful assignment unleashes a nightmare of supernatural proportions as a malevolent force awakens within the mansion's walls, stirring dark secrets from the past.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: John Farrelly; Stars: Tom Kerrisk, Livvy Hill, Tony Murray)

Azrael

Review preview for Azrael

We get demonstrations of skill, from the weaving of a bracelet to the use of herbs to treat a wound, and these elements reinforce the idea that this is a real society which has developed organically over time.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment.

(Country: Estonia, US; Year: 2024; Director: EL Katz; Writer: Simon Barrett; Stars: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett)

Full review

Bookworm

Review preview for Bookworm

Fisher and Wood achieve a great rapport, and there’s some entertaining supporting work even though much of our time is spent in the middle of nowhere.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
11 year old Mildred's world is turned upside-down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2024; Director: Ant Timpson; Writer: Toby Harvard, Ant Timpson; Stars: Elijah Wood, Michael Smiley, Nell Fisher, Morgana O'Reilly, Vanessa Stacey)

Full review See: Interview with Ant Timpson about Bookworm, cinema and the future of storytelling

Broken Bird

Review preview for Broken Bird

Broken Bird is primarily a character study, and Calder is its greatest asset.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A lonely mortician who has spent her whole life looking for love finds her reason slipping away from her, her dark desires becoming more insatiable and progressively more out of control.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Joanne Mitchell; Writer: Dominic Brunt, Joanne Mitchell, Tracey Sheals; Stars: Rebecca Calder, James Fleet, Jay Taylor, Sacharissa Claxton)

Full review See: Interview with Joanne Mitchell about Broken Bird

Cold Wallet

Review preview for Cold Wallet

Hodierne handles the blend of styles within the film with a laid back confidence that makes it easy to lower one’s guard at the wrong moments.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A team of Redditors lose everything after a cryptocurrency scam leads them to plot to kidnap the 'financial influencer' who screwed them over.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Cutter Hodierne; Writer: John Hibey, Cutter Hodierne; Stars: Raúl Castillo, Josh Brener, Melonie Diaz, Tony Cavalero, Nigel Gore)

Full review See: Interview with Cutter Hodierne about Cold Wallet

Dead Mail

Review preview for Dead Mail

Everything here looks grimy, as if the film itself had been lying around in poor conditions for years, and colours and patterns are artfully mismatched.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An ominous, bloody help note finds its way to the desk of a seasoned 'dead letter' investigator at a 1980's Midwestern post office, leading him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his demented business associate.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer; Writer: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer; Stars: Sterling Macer, Jr, John Fleck, Susan Priver, Micki Jackson, Nick Heyman, Tomas Boykin)

Full review

The Dead Thing

Review preview for The Dead Thing

A grim picture of a nocturnal city where everything feels temporary.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young woman lost in a series of meaningless connections falls in love with a charismatic and sensitive man, who hides a dark secret that turns her affair into a dangerous obsession.

(Year: 2024; Director: Elric Kane; Writer: Elric Kane, Webb Wilcoxen; Stars: Ben Smith-Petersen, Blu Hunt, Katherine Hughes, John Karna, Brennan Mejia, Emily Joy Lemus)

Full review See: Interview with Star Rosencrans about The Dead Thing and A Desert , Interview with Elric Kane about The Dead Thing

A Desert

Review preview for A Desert

There’s a fantastically unhinged performance in here which it would be a spoiler to say too much about. Everyone is good at what they do.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A photographer on a road trip meets a carefree young couple and finds himself in danger.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Joshua Erkman; Writer: Joshua Erkman, Bossi Baker; Stars: David Yow, Kai Lennox, Sarah Lind, Zachary Ray Sherman, Ashley B Smith, Rob Zabrecky)

Full review

Ghost Game

Discovering that his girlfriend has been secretly taking part in an internet challenge involving breaking into homes and living undetected alongside the residents, Vin wants in on the next adventure. The target? Halton House, an infamously haunted manor that’s just been bought by a new family. Once the thrill-seeking couple enters the house, chilling unexplained incidents begin to happen. It seems Laura and VIn aren’t the only thing haunting it.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Jill Gervargizian; Stars: Emily Bennett, Kia Dorsey, Zaen Haidar, Vienna Maas)

Hauntology

Jazmin takes her fearless runaway younger sibling Venus on a road trip and shares the most chilling tales surrounding their Ohio hometown. And each place they visit has its own ghost story and queer perspective: trans woman Julian casts a spell to become her ideal self but the dark spirit unleashed tries to invade her life; a troubled married couple find a love beyond the grave; an up-and-coming art gallery is forging paintings of a deceased artist with very bloody consequences; and a journalist secures an interview with the eccentric owner of a haunted Victorian mansion.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Parker Brennon; Stars: Nancy Loomis, Samantha Robinson, Naomi Grossman, Zoey Luna)

The Hitcher

Review preview for The Hitcher

For all that the Hitcher is an ambiguous horror film it is also a spectacular piece of Eighties action cinema.

Donald Munro · 4.5 out of 5
A thriller about a hitch-hiker with murderous intent.

(Country: US; Year: 1986; Director: Robert Harmon; Writer: Eric Red; Stars: Rutger Hauer, C Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn, John Jackson, Billy Green Bush)

Full review See: Interview with Robert Harmon about The Hitcher

Invader

A young woman arrives in the Chicago suburbs and begins to suspect that something terrible has happened to her missing cousin. But she soon realises that her greatest fears don’t even begin to scratch the surface.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Mickey Keating; Stars: Vero Maynez, Colin Huerta, Ruby Vallejo)

The Invisible Raptor

Review preview for The Invisible Raptor

It’s inventive throughout, well worked out in terms of effects, and equipped with characters we can really get to know, with some great work even in the smallest roles.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A raptor created as part of a top secret military experiment escapes from the lab and threatens the residents of a small town. Oh, and it's also invisible.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Mike Hermosa; Writer: Mike Capes, Johnny Wickham; Stars: Mike Capes, Derek Alvarado, Sean Astin, Chad Bullard, Vanessa Chester, Grace Demarco, Bobby Gilchrist, Larry Hankin, Bill Kottkamp, Bunny Levine, Sandy Martin, Caitlin McHugh, Linda Eve Miller, Kelly Murtagh, JJ Nolan)

Full review

Ladybug

A young artist decides to stay at a remote cabin to work on his latest project. Needing major repair work done, he hires handyman Sawyer to fix the place up. But handsome Sawyer is hiding a terrible secret, for he was murdered by a homophobic serial killer and his spirit is haunting the cabin searching for long overdue justice. And now Grayson is being stalked by the same maniac responsible for the supernatural fate of his new lover.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Tim Cruz; Stars: Anthony Del Negro, Zachary Roozen, Scout Taylor-Compton, Charlene Tilton)

The Last Ashes (Läif A Séil)

Review preview for The Last Ashes

Compelling in its depiction of feudal anachronism surviving into the industrial age.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Driven from her village by a tyrant, a young woman returns years later to seek her revenge.

(Country: Luxembourg; Year: 2023; Director: Loïc Tanson; Writer: Loïc Tanson, Frederic Zeimet; Stars: Sophie Mousel, Timo Wagner, Jules Werner, Luc Schiltz, Marie Jung, Philippe Thelen)

Full review

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter

Review preview for The Last Voyage Of The Demeter

Unfortunately, despite a highly capable cast, this adaptation just doesn’t have much wind in its sails.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
On board the Russian schooner Demeter, 24 unmarked wooden crates are being transported from Carpathia to London. But as cargo animals and the crew start turning up dead, a mysterious stowaway sets out to convince the doomed sailors they’re dealing with more than just a rabies outbreak, something more in the supernatural realm.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: André Øvredal; Writer: Bragi F Schut and Zak Olkewicz, based on the work of Bram Stoker; Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian)

Full review

The Life And Deaths Of Christopher Lee

Review preview for The Life And Deaths Of Christopher Lee

Director Jon Spira does a surprisingly thorough job, and although he isn’t able to go into depth with much of the material, this is a solid start for those interested in exploring further.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Genre icon Christopher Lee is brought back to life in a documentary using fresh interviews, archive material and multiple forms of traditional and cutting-edge animation.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Jon Spira; Stars: Peter Serafinowicz, Harriet Walter, Peter Jackson, Joe Dante)

Full review

Members Club

Review preview for Members Club

This is the kind of film that could easily be a disaster, but despite obvious budgetary limitations it acquits itself well.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Wet Dreams, a middle-aged male stripper group, has hit rock bottom when they get an offer of a mysterious gig that might change everything. What they don't know is that they have become caught up in a plot to raise a murderous witch from the dead.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Marc Coleman; Writer: Marc Coleman; Stars: Dean Kilbey, Perry Benson, Steve Oram, Peter Andre)

Full review

Saint Clare

Review preview for Saint Clare

It’s a busy story but it flows smoothly in the hands of director Mitzi Peirone, who uses the visual language of nostalgic coming-of-age movies to tell the main part of the tale, intermittently veering off into much more experimental techniques.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The story of a Catholic student, animal lover and devout vegan who is also a sociopath with dissociative identity disorder, and a serial killer.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Mitzi Peirone; Writer: Mitzi Peirone, based on the novel by Don Roff; Stars: Bella Thorne, Rebecca De Mornay, Ryan Phillippe, Frank Whaley)

Full review See: Interview with Mitzi Peirone about Saint Clare

Shelby Oaks

Review preview for Shelby Oaks

Stuckmann and co-writer Sam Liz keep it all under tight control, even when the imagery suggests chaos or excess.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A woman's desperate search for her long-lost sister falls into obsession upon realising that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Chris Stuckmann; Writer: Sam Liz, Chris Stuckmann; Stars: Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn, Michael Beach, Keith David, Brendan Sexton III)

Full review

Strange Darling

Review preview for Strange Darling

A gorgeous piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A relentless predator tracks an injured woman through the Oregon wilderness. The woman does her best to outsmart her attacker, but with each tense moment she grows weaker and less able. He’s a man on a mission, and it’s only a matter of time before he captures his prey.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: JT Mollner; Writer: JT Mollner; Stars: Kyle Gallner, Willa Fitzgerald, Barbara Hershey)

Full review See: Interview with JT Mollner and Giovanni Ribisi about Strange Darling

The Substance

Review preview for The Substance

Brutal, bloody and enriched with a specific dark humour.

Marija Lukarevska · 4 out of 5
A fading television star tries to restore her fame with the help of a suspicious drug.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2024; Director: Coralie Fargeat; Writer: Coralie Fargeat; Stars: Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore, Hugo Diego Garcia, Joseph Balderrama, Oscar Lesage, Gore Abrams, Olivier Raynal, Vincent Colombe, Tiffany Hofstetter, Matthew Géczy, Tom Morton, Philip Schurer, Matthew Luret, Alexandra Papoulias Barton)

Full review

Survive (Survivre)

Review preview for Survive

One of those films that’s always going to be at its best when watched in a group, this really packs in the action, with Dequenne’s intensely physical performance and Nicolas Errèra’s energetic score ensuring that it keeps its grip throughout.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A yacht trip goes awry after the Earth's polarity reverses and a mum fights to save her children in a world where crazed humanity and hungry creatures from the abyss now hunt for human flesh.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Frederic Jardin; Writer: Alexandre Coquelle, Mathieu Oullion; Stars: Emilie Dequenne, Andreas Pietschmann, Lisa Delmar, Lucas Ebel)

Full review

Test Screening

Summer, 1982, and in a small, declining Oregon town, excitement has been building for days. A Hollywood studio is holding a test screening of a new blockbuster movie in the local cinema. Four lifelong friends can’t wait to take their seats for the preview. But the film they watch is actually a mind-control experiment that has devastating effects on the community.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Clark Baker; Stars: Amy Hargreaves, Rain Spencer, Drew Scheid, Jeanine Jackson)

Traumatika

Review preview for Traumatika

It is at its most effective when honing in on the psychological and the social, looking at how easy it is for children – and adults – to find themselves in trouble.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Mikey’s night terrors become reality when his mother begins showing signs of demonic possession. What he’s about to experience will haunt him for the rest of his life and claim countless lives across generations.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Pierre Tsigaridis; Writer: Rebekah Kennedy, Ramen Navet, Emily Goss. Susan Gayle Watts; Stars: Rebekah Kennedy, Ramen Navet, Emily Goss. Susan Gayle Watts)

Full review