Horror film festival FrightFest 2023 has announced their August line-up, and fans can expect 5 days of genre excellence.
Feature image: Suitable Flesh / AMP International
FrightFest, the UK’s first and foremost genre film festival specialising in all things horror and cult films, has just announced their festival line-up.
The 24th edition of their festival will take place Thursday 24 August – Monday 28 August. Festival passes go on sale 15 July while individual tickets will go on sale 22 July.
Programme highlights include the European Premiere of body-horror Suitable Flesh, directed by FrightFest regular Joe Lynch and starring Barbara Crampton. While Suitable Flesh will open the festival, Jenn Wexler’s The Sacrifice Game will bring it to a close.
The Sacrifice Game. Credit: Red Sea Media / Shudder
A psychiatrist becomes obsessed with one of her young clients with multiple personalities.
Director: Joe Lynch
Stars: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton
Two sisters go diving at a beautiful, remote location. One of the sisters is struck by a rock, leaving her trapped 28 meters below. With dangerously low levels of oxygen and cold temperatures, it is up to her sister to fight for her life.
Director: Maximilian Erlenwein
Stars: Louisa Krause, Sophie Lowe
On the surface it’s believed to be another urban legend – a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek, Pennsylvania. But the town’s unusually high suicide rate is finally convincing both locals and college students that everything is not as it seems.
Directors: Kevin Ignatius, Nick Psinakis
Stars: Will Bunk, April Clark, Corin Clay
An Indian-American teenager struggling with her cultural identity has a falling out with her former best friend and, in the process, unwittingly releases a demonic entity that grows stronger by feeding on her loneliness.
Director: Bishal Dutta
Stars: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan
While trying to enjoy a peaceful Halloween with his mother, Tim is paid a visit by his rambunctious, up-for-anything friends. After reluctantly letting them inside the house he becomes intertwined with the circumstances of their Halloween prankings.
Director: Matt Sampere
Stars: Matt Sampere, Monique Parent, Alan Maxson
A family of murderous sideshow performers travel around the world on the dying carnival circuit.
Directors: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Stars: John Adams, Lulu Adams, Zelda Adams
NEW LIFE (European Premiere)
A mysterious woman on the run and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in find their fortunes linked as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.
Director: John Rosman
Stars: Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Hayley Erin
Following her breakout success in a killer clown horror flick, Bowie finds herself held hostage by an unhinged fan determined to recreate the film’s fatal plot.
Director: Raymond Wood
Stars: Jenna Kanell, Danny Kang, Danielle Lyn
A horror movie cast arrive at the studio to find a copycat killer picking them off one by one.
Director: Marcel Walz
Stars: Cerina Vincent, Monique Parent, Sarah French
A headstrong journalist’s investigative podcast uncovers a strange artifact, an alien conspiracy, and the lies at the heart of her own story.
Director: Matt Vesely
Stars: Lily Sullivan, Ling Cooper Tang, Ansuya Nathan
An eight-year-old boy tries to investigate the mysterious knocking sounds that are coming from inside the walls of his house, unveiling a dark secret that his sinister parents have kept hidden from him.
Director: Samuel Bodin
Stars: Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Cleopatra Coleman
Nathan and Daniel wake at the scene of a car crash, confused and seemingly unscathed – but not everything is as it seems…
Director: Quarxx
Stars: Arben Bajraktaraj, Hugo Dillon, Ophélia Kolb
HERD (World Premiere)
When a woman trying to outrun her past ends up trapped between a zombie outbreak and warring militia groups, she must fight to find her way back home.
Director: Steven Pierce
Stars: Ellen Adair, Mitzi Akaha, Jeremy Holm
FARANG (UK Premiere)
Sam is an exemplary prison inmate. But during a day of official leave, his past catches up with him and a fatal accident means only one choice: escape.
Director: Xavier Gens
Stars: Nassim Lyes, Loryn Nounay, Olivier Gourmet
Whilst channel surfing on TV late one night it becomes clear that different stories on different channels are all connected, parts of the same story – a story that must never be told, containing footage that must never be seen.
Director: Michael Hurst
Stars: Vernon Wells, Dave Sheridan, Felissa Rose
PIPER (UK Premiere)
Liz and her daughter Amy move to Hamelin where a dark secret in Liz’s past is uncovered by the restless spirit of the Pied Piper, who seeks out those who have gotten away with a crime, and punishes them by taking away their children.
Director: Anthony Waller
Stars: Elizabeth Hurley, Mia Jenkins, Jack Stewart
A man finds himself trapped in a desert canyon with a woman who is captive to a pack of sadistic boys.
Director: Barnaby Clay
Stars: Scott Haze, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alex Montaldo
After saving a young waitress from her violent ex-husband during a break from driving, a man hits the road again alone through a dangerous snow blizzard. One false move behind the wheel has him waking up inside a ravine, in the eye of the storm. But the cold is the least of his worries when a beast starts prowl.
Director: Sébastien Drouin
Stars: Allen Leech, Nina Bergman, Yan Tual
An undocumented Filipina immigrant lands a job as a care-worker for a terminal old man, securing a better life for her and her daughter. But a dark discovery threatens to destroy everything she’s strived for and holds dear.
Director: Paris Zarcilla
Stars: Max Eigenmann, Jaeden Paige Boadilla, Leanne Best
Both Hitomi and her daughter Eri are cellists who are involved in a traffic accident, leaving Hitomi without sight and Eri paralyzed. While Hitomi wears camera-equipped contact lenses and Eri wears VR goggles, the two share one vision.
Director: Takeshi Kushida
Stars: Takuma Izumi, Akane Ono, Mone Shitara
FOUNDERS DAY (International Premiere)
A murder mystery surfaces in the midst of a heated mayoral election in a quaint New England town.
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Stars: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ
Heavily pregnant, Maria starts readying her fiancé Viktor’s rural family estate for bed and breakfast guests. Strange noises start occurring, the electricity keeps failing, and she thinks she sees a prowler on the premises.
Director: Thomas Sieben.
Stars: Nilam Farooq, David Kross, Justus von Dohnányi, Olga Von Luckwald.
EIGHT EYES (International Premiere)
A mysterious local crashes a couple’s vacation through the former Yugoslavia, pulling them deeper into his web of psychic rituals.
Director: Austin Jennings
Stars: Emily Sweet, Bradford Thomas, Bruno Veljanovski
Animated film. Dug, Mel, and Fatt are 12-year-old boys navigating life in their desert suburb. Dug’s older brother Wyatt takes the trio on a camping trip to a canyon with his new, awesome girlfriend, Mary. On a pit stop, the gas station attendant shares tales of ‘The Night Child’, an ancient creature that feeds on tourists.
Director: Zach Passero
Stars: Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis, Ellar Coltrane
Three adult siblings go examine their late parents’ house in the middle of the forest.
Directors: Joonas Pajunen, Max Seeck
Stars: Pekka Strang, Inka Kallén, Mikko Leppilampi
A public service worker at Oksu Station witnesses a shocking incident and recruits his friend to help uncover the truth behind the station’s mysterious happenings.
Director: Yong-ki Jeong
Stars: Bo-ra Kim, Jae Hyun Kim, Shin So-yul
Two documentary filmmakers travel through alternate dimensions to uncover the truth about a graffiti artist who has vanished.
Director: Graham Hughes
Stars: Graham Hughes, Andy Stewart, Annabel Logan
MINORE (European Premiere)
When mysterious creatures invade a Greek seaside port, a misfit band of musicians, tourists, bodybuilders, and grannies unite to save the city in this quirky action-comedy.
Director: Konstantinos Koutsoliotas
Stars: Davide Tucci, Daphne Alexander, Nicolas Bravos
A remarkable new epic documentary spotlighting the pop culture milestones of 1982 including notable motion pictures, TV, music and video games of that seminal year.
Stars: Mick Garris, Robert Meyer Burnett, Darin Scott
Screenwriter Zeph E. Daniel, formerly known as Woody Keith, stepped out of his closet-of-dark-secrets and told the incredible story behind this morbid, subversive oddity of a film.
Director: Larry Wade Carrell
Stars: Screaming Mad George, David Gregory, John Gullidge
BLACK MOLD (International Premiere)
While exploring a decrepit and abandoned facility, an auspicious photographer faces off against her traumatic past.
Director: John Pata
Stars: Agnes Albright, Andrew Bailes, Jeremy Holm
A chef with gambling problems flees to a Latin American villa where he assumes another man’s identity.
Director: Nicholas Tomnay
Stars: Nick Stahl, Tamsin Topolski, Randy Vasquez
POUNDCAKE (International Premiere)
A savage serial killer is murdering straight white men in New York City. No one cares.
Director: Onur Tukel
Stars: Onur Tukel, Ron Brice, Eva Dorrepaal
Santa turns into a werewolf on Christmas Eve, and wreaks havoc in a small seaside town.
Director: Airell Anthony Hayles
Stars: Mark Arnold, John Bloom, Emily Booth
SPOOKT (World Premiere)
Paranormal investigator Claire and skeptic Rachel team up to unravel the truth surrounding a disappeared girl and the notorious Dr. Byler.
Director: Tony Reames
Stars: Eric Roberts, Erin Brown, Haley Leary
In rural 17th-century England, a group of men gather to carry a coffin on the long walk to the local graveyard for burial.
Director: Sean Hogan
Stars: Mark Carlisle, Harry Roebuck, Richard Rowden
THORNS (World Premiere)
An ex-priest working for NASA is sent to investigate a remote observatory that went silent after receiving a radio signal from deep space. He discovers that signal has set in motion the biblical end of times.
Director: Douglas Schulze
Stars: Jon Bennett, Cassandra Schomer, Bo Shumaker
An ex-special forces operative suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who — in his bid for redemption as a security guard, attempts to save the life of a woman who is being hunted by a corrupt police death squad working for a drug cartel.
Director: Richard Somes
Stars: Vin Abrenica, Gerard Acao, Arjo Atayde
In the film version of his one man show, Nicholas Vince talks about the experience which led to the creation of the Chatterer in Hellraiser, stories from the set and the times he truly was a monster.
Director: Nicholas Vince
Stars: Nicholas Vince, Marie Britton, Lyndsey Craine
Inspired by real events,
The Black Mass is set over a 24-hour period in Florida during the winter of 1978 when college girls were being stalked by a serial killer.
Director: Devanny Pinn
Stars: Nicky Whelan, Kathleen Kinmont, Jeremy London
A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.
Director: Lewis Teague
Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo
Ancient parasites rise from a small town, taking the most fearful and susceptible hosts. A young filmmaker finds herself as the only one who can sense the possessed resistance before the horror escapes and spreads.
Director: Alice Maio Mackay
Stars: Chris Asimos, Joni Ayton-Kent, Stanley Browning
KIM’S VIDEO (International Premiere)
Playing with the forms and tropes of various cinema genres, a filmmaker sets off on a quest to find a legendary lost video collection of 55,000 movies in Sicily.
Directors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Stars: Isabel Gillies, Robert Greene, Eric Hynes
Christian – a millionaire heir, meets Sigrid – a young student, on a dating app. They hit it off quickly, but there’s only one problem: Christian lives with Frank, a man who dresses up and constantly acts like a dog.
Director: Viljar Bøe
Stars: Gard Løkke, Katrine Lovise Øpstad Fredriksen, Amalie Willoch Njaastad
Following an act of bullying, witty high school senior Javier develops psychic abilities which he must use to stop a mysterious serial killer targeting his classmates.
Director: Clare Cooney
Stars: Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Yani Gellman, Ireon Roach
PUNCH (World Premiere)
A young girl celebrating her last night out in her hometown is stalked by a mysterious killer in a Mr Punch mask.
Director: Andy Edwards
Stars: Kierston Wareing, Jamie Lomas, Alina Allison
LORE (World Premiere)
Four friends arrange a ghostly excursion, their guide asks them each to tell the scariest story they have ever heard, but little do they know, those stories would have major consequences for them and others.
Directors: James Bushe, Patrick Michael Ryder, Greig Johnson
Stars: Andrew Lee Potts, Bill Fellows, Katie Sheridan
Over the course of one night, an astronaut must decide between pursuing his life’s work or sabotaging it for a greater cause.
Director: Mitch Jenkins
Stars: Simon Merrells, Hermione Corfield, Kemi-Bo Jacobs
TRIM SEASON (International Premiere)
A group of young people go to a remote marijuana farm where they hope to make quick cash. But, they discover the location’s dark secrets and now must try to escape the mountain on which they are trapped.
Director: Ariel Vida
Stars: Bethlehem Million, Alex Essoe, Ally Ioannides
The sole survivor of a blood-drenched massacre must team up with a rag-tag bunch of rookie cops and lawbreakers to defend a police station from an invasion of monsters from another dimension.
Director: Stewart Sparke
Stars: Lyndsey Craine, Arron Dennis, Fenfen Huang
A modern re-imagining of the infamous Dr. Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Director: Joe Stephenson
Stars: Eddie Izzard, Scott Chambers, Lindsay Duncan
When his girlfriend, Phoebe, is swamped with college exams; Tom O’Bannon, a rowdy pro-wrestler struggling to make ends meet, agrees to fill in as a last-minute replacement for her well paying babysitting job.
Director: Daniel Turres
Stars: Shawn Roberts, Maya Misaljevic, Joelle Farrow
THE MOOR (World Premiere) *PART OF THE FIRST BLOOD STRAND
Claire is approached by the father of her murdered childhood friend to help investigate the haunted moor he believes is his son’s final resting place.
Director: Chris Cronin
Stars: Sophia La Porta, David Edward-Robertson, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips
ISAAC (World Premiere) *PART OF THE FIRST BLOOD STRAND
After losing their first child to a genetic disease, grief-stricken parents Nicholas and Sarah enrol onto clinical trials launched by GEO Group; an established cellular meat company using its technology to create GM babies.
Director: Tariq Sayed
Stars: Johnny Vivash, Catriona MacColl, Bosco Hogan
THE GLENARMA TAPES (International Premiere) *PART OF THE FIRST BLOOD STRAND
In Spring 2020, five students and two faculty members from the Mid Ulster College of Art went missing in a forest on the north coast of Ireland. What happened on the day they disappeared has remained a mystery – until now.
Director: Tony Devlin
Stars: Vicky Allen, Charlie Bonner, Steven Calvert
HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE (World Premiere) *PART OF THE FIRST BLOOD STRAND
On Halloween night, Gerry Burns teams up with popular children’s presenter Michelle Kelly to investigate poltergeist activity in a haunted house in Belfast.
Director: Dominic O’Neill
Stars: Aimee Richardson, Siobhan Kelly, Antoinette Morelli
Enter the Clones of Bruce dives into the Bruce Lee exploitation craze, otherwise known as Bruceploitation.
Director: David Gregory
Stars: Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Ryong Keo
Charting the origins of Japanese horror films at the turn of the millennium, films featuring vengeful ghosts manifesting themselves through contemporary technology against a backdrop of urban alienation and social decay.
Directors: Sarah Appleton, Jasper Sharp
Stars: Takako Fuji, Jôji Iida, Rie Ino’o
15 years on from the release of horror film [REC], the main protagonists analyze the keys to the film, its origin and gestation and the impact of a cinematographic phenomenon that gave way to an unprecedented franchise.
Director: Diego López
Stars: Manuela Velasco, David Ambit, Sandra Astor
Two rookie detectives set out to solve a homicide, but end up in an alternate reality made up of their worst nightmares.
Director: George Baron
Stars: Danielle Bisutti, Ray Wise, Olivia Scott Welch
Director: Jake West
Stars: Howard Arundel, John Barry, Chris Cooke
FAILURE! (World Premiere)
A man is given one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder to protect his family.
Director: Alex Kahuam
Stars: Ted Raimi, Merrick McCartha, Noel Douglas Orput
An unpredictable allegorical biopic from a filmmaker with Down Syndrome charts the life of a horned baby through years in captivity and ultimate revenge. Fusing horror, dark comedy, an evocative soundtrack and a foul-mouthed monster, a macabre story of a misunderstood child on a path to controlling their own life. Plus, a documentary on how 35-year-old director Otto Baxter uses his short film to explore his birth, adoption and epic battles. During the filmmaking process, Otto’s birth mother died, and he confronted life in the real world, including his future role in society.
Directors: Peter Beard, Bruce Fletcher
It’s bad enough that boarding school students Samantha and Clara can’t go home for the holidays, but things take a deadly turn when a murderous gang arrives on their doorstep – just in time for Christmas.
Director: Jenn Wexler
Stars: Mena Massoud, Olivia Scott Welch, Chloë Levine
