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FrightFest · 2025

FrightFest 2025

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Programme

25 films · 13 reviews

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213 Bones

A group of anthropology students begin finding human bones and personal property scattered around their campus. It emerges that a masked maniac is targeting them

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jeffrey Primm; Stars: Colin Egglesfield, Dean Cameron, Toni Weiss, Liam Woodrum)

Appofeniacs

Review preview for Appofeniacs

The characters are larger than life, each with a distinctive look, to make it easier to keep track. The effect is rather like being at a drunken fancy dress party.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An ensemble tale with intersecting storylines that escalate into chaos as each portrays how easily deepfake technology can be weaponised to exploit society.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Chris Marrs Piliero; Stars: Sean Gunn, Jermaine Fowler, Aaron Holiday, Michael Abbott Jr)

Full review

Bamboo Revenge

Three young people wake up tied to the ground in a remote forest. A young woman accuses them of being responsible for the disappearance of her sister during the evening they spent together having wild fun and sexy games. She has planted a special type of bamboo shoot underneath them, which grows 120cm in 24 hours. Either they confess to their alleged crime or they will be fatally impaled by the deadly shoots by the end of the day.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Edgar Marie; Stars: Audrey Pirault, Paul Deby, Constantin Vidal, Jimony Ekila)

Bone Lake

Review preview for Bone Lake

Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan plies her trade with a style and verve which elevate this far above the 1980s straight-to-VHS erotic thrillers that it superficially resembles.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
When two young couples are mistakenly double-booked into the same vacation rental their romantic weekend becomes a twisted maze of sex, lies, and survival.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Mercedes Bryce Morgan; Writer: Joshua Friedlander; Stars: Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Marco Pigossi, Andra Nechita, Eliane Reis, Clayton Spencer)

Full review See: Interview with Mercedes Bryce Morgan about Bone Lake

Cognaitive

Convicted but reformed hacker Kaya enlists a group of co-workers to stay overnight at the office in preparation for the launch of their cleverer, faster, more cognitive version of ChatGPT, but they quickly come to realise that the AI they’ve created has its own sinister agenda.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Tommmy Savas; Stars: Piper Curda, Noel Fisher, Josh Zuckerman, Natasha Bahnam)

Crushed

Review preview for Crushed

What is interesting here is that Olivia is never objectified.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In suburban Bangkok, a family's faith is thrown into crisis when their daughter is kidnapped.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Simon Rumley; Writer: Simon Rumley; Stars: Steve Oram, Margaux Dietrich, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Nattapohn Rawddon)

Full review See: Interview with Steve Oram about Crushed

The Descent

Review preview for The Descent

Effective and brilliantly crafted...

Scott Macdonald · 5 out of 5
Six girls on a caving expedition find they are not alone in the dark.

(Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Neil Marshall; Writer: Neil Marshall; Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, MyAnna Buring, Nora-Jane Noone, Molly Kayll, Alex Reid, Craig Conway, Saskia Mulder, Oliver Milburn, Stephen Lamb)

Full review

Flush

Review preview for Flush

Set almost entirely within a single toilet stall, this is low budget filmmaking par excellence.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Finding his ex in the nightclub where she works and convincing her to come back and live with him should be doable, correct? Losing the dealer and the bar owner who left him for dead in the restroom for trying to steal their stash is still within his capabilities. However, removing his head stuck in the toilet bowl is not a given.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Grégory Morin; Stars: Jonathan Lambert, ​Élodie Navarre, Elliot Jenicot, Rémy Adriaens)

Full review

Hold The Fort

Review preview for Hold The Fort

It’s a bit of lightweight fluff, but it has no pretensions, and its heroes are easy to like.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
After moving to the suburbs, a young couple are trapped in an epic battle between their new HOA and an onslaught of monsters from hell.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: William Bagley; Writer: William Bagley, Scott Hawkins; Stars: Mark Ashworth, George Quinones, Chris Mayers, Julian Smith, Michelle I Lamb, Ryan Monolopolus)

Full review See: Interview with William Bagley, Chris Mayers and Levi Burdick about Hold The Fort

The Home

A man comes to believe that the residents and caretakers in the retirement home where he recently started working are concealing sinister secrets.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: James DeMonaco; Writer: James DeMonaco, Adan Cantor; Stars: Pete Davidson, Marilee Talkington, Jimmy Gary Jr., Matthew Miniero)

Influencers

The troubled CW finds hope in a new relationship, but jealousy of a rival influencer leads to trouble.

(Year: 2025; Director: Kurtis David Harder; Stars: Cassandra Naud, Lisa Delamar, Veronica Long, Jonathan Whitesell, Georgina Campbell)

Jimmy And Stiggs

Review preview for Jimmy And Stiggs

The pace is so manic, the action so intense, that it’s easy to be fully immersed in Jimmy’s experience.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A filmmaker spirals into an out of control bender, during which he comes to believe that he has been abducted by aliens. Fearing they’ll come back, he contacts an old friend to help him gear up for war.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Joe Begos; Writer: Joe Begos; Stars: Joe Begos, Matt Mercer)

Full review

Marshmallow

A shy boy is sent to the secluded Camp Almar for summer. On the first night, he and his new friends are told a horrifying campfire tale about The Doctor experimenting on children, turning them into deformed monsters. Before long, the fear fable becomes real - but nothing is quite what it seems.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Daniel DelPurgatorio; Stars: Kue Lawrence, Giorgia Whigham, Corbin Bernsen, Alysia Reiner)

Mother Of Flies

Review preview for Mother Of Flies

If there were any justice in the world, Toby Poser would be in the running for major awards for her performance.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
When a young woman faces a deadly diagnosis, she seeks dark magic from a witch in the woods - but every cure has costs

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser; Writer: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser; Stars: Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, John Adams)

Full review See: Interview with Lulu Adams about Mother Of Flies

Night Of Violence

A group of suits that become trapped in their office after scoring a win against the public in a high-stakes class action lawsuit, with angry townsfolk outside.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Illya Konstantin; Stars: Gigi Gustin, Russ Russo, Kit Lang, Caitlin Borek)

Odyssey

Review preview for Odyssey

Maberly herself is unforgettable in a gem of a role.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A ruthless estate agent finds herself in debt to some vicious gangsters.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Gerard Johnson; Writer: Austin Collings, Gerard Johnson; Stars: Polly Maberly, Mikael Persbrandt, Jasmine Blackborrow)

Full review See: Interview with Gerard Johnson and Polly Maberly about Odyssey

Redux Redux

Review preview for Redux Redux

It’s refreshing to encounter a multiverse film that doesn’t mess about.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter's murderer. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity hangs in the balance.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus; Writer: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus; Stars: Derick Alexander, Raphael Chestang, Debra Christofferson, Jim Cummings, Minita Gandhi, London Garcia, Jeremy Holm)

Full review See: Interview with Matthew McManus and Kevin McManus about Redux Redux

The Red Mask

Review preview for The Red Mask

There’s smart staging, structural and visual misdirection, and a number of sharp twists.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
When an outspoken queer screenwriter is chosen to pen the final instalment of the legendary slasher franchise The Red Mask, she and her girlfriend are harassed by die-hard fans. They escape to a secluded Airbnb, where she concocts a dangerous game to play to unlock her writer’s block. Then two uninvited guests crash the scene.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2025; Director: Ritesh Gupta; Writer: Samantha Gurash, Patrick Robert Young; Stars: Inanna Sarkis, Helena Howard, Kelli Garner, Jake Abel)

Full review

The Rows

Seven-year-old Lucy wakes up in the middle of a mysterious cornfield. She has a bloody wound on her head and no memory of how she got there. Discovering a dead body and an abandoned gun in a nearby clearing, she is immediately confronted by three masked killers searching for her.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Seth Daly; Stars: Brindisi Dupree, Lara Pictet, Marcus Woods, Hans Heilmann)

Self-Help

Review preview for Self-Help

Bloomquist invites us to think again about the type of people who are drawn into cults, and to reflect on what is missing that they need to replace in this way.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Members of an underground online community attend a secret weekend retreat to confront their fears and regain their sense of self. Two girls discover that one of their mothers has become romantically entangled with its leader, whose unusual self-actualisation methods may be deadly.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Erik Bloomquist; Stars: Jake Weber, Landry Bender, Madison Lintz, Amy Hargreaves)

Full review See: Interview with Erik Bloomquist about Self-Help

A Serbian Documentary

A documentary about the artistic vision, horror and controversy surrounding A Serbian Film.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Stephen Biro; Stars: Srdjan Spasojeviċ, Aleksandar Radivojević, Srdjan Zika Todorović, Sergej Trifunovć)

Tomb Watcher

After his wife passes away, a man is relieved to be able to live openly with his mistress after years of hiding their relationship. But the dead woman’s will states that he must live with her corpse in a glass coffin for one hundred days if he is to inherit her assets.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2025; Director: Vathanyu Ingkawiwat)

The Toxic Avenger

Review preview for The Toxic Avenger

Even in the cheapest of zombie films, human bodies have never come apart so easily, nor contained such an abundance of blood. It explodes across the screen at frequent intervals, each one more spectacular than the last.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A reimagining of the Eighties franchise in which a janitor is transformed by radioactive slime and becomes an unlikely hero.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Macon Blair; Writer: Macon Blair, Lloyd Kaufman; Stars: Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, David Yow, Annette Badland)

Full review

Transcending Dimensions

A monk has gone missing. His lover takes an assassin to a religious facility in search of him. There, they meet a sorcerer. Meanwhile, the missing man is on a spaceship heading to an unknown planet .

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Toshiaki Toyoda; Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda; Stars: Chihara Jr., Masahiro Higashide, Haruka Imô, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Ryûhei Matsuda, Kiyohiko Shibukawa)

What She Doesn't Know

As a student grapples with going to college, and how to tell her best friend about their impending separation, a serial killer is wreaking havoc on the local community. Too scared to attend prom, they and another friend lock themselves in a secluded modern mansion to avoid the stress. But danger may be closer than they think.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Juan Pablo Arias Munoz; Stars: Sienna Agudong, Jessica Belkin, Conor Husting, Denise Richards)