Alix Turner
FrightFest isn’t just a London event: if you didn’t know, FrightFest’s second home has been Glasgow, Scotland for the past seventeen years…and it’s back there in person again in just a couple of months’ time, as part of the internationally renowned Glasgow Film Festival. Twelve of the latest genre picks from around the world will be presented to the excited ticket-and-pass holders from Thursday, March 10th to Sunday, March 12th.
Thursday, March 10th
- The Execution AKA Kazn (Lado Kvataniya, Russia). Brutal serial killer thriller based on a true case that went unsolved for decades. I read that it’s a “transfixing blend of vendetta horror and neo-noir which keeps the plot tangled until the blood-soaked finale” and I want to watch it now. UK premiere.
Friday, March 11th
- The Cellar (Brendan Muldowney, Ireland). Supernatural horror starring Elisha Cuthbert (Jack Bauer’s daughter!) about a family who discovers their cursed souls are at risk forever from an ancient and powerful entity.
- A Cloud So High (Christoper Lee Parson, USA). Horror/thriller about fatherhood, crime, and trauma, “stylized to maximum overload for a uniquely unsettling viewing experience.” World premiere.
- Homebound (Sebastian Godwin, UK). Menacing horror about children and their reaction to someone new joining the family. UK premiere.
- You Are Not My Mother (Kate Dolan, Ireland). Doppelganger mystery rooted in eerie folk horror. UK premiere.
- Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (Kiah Roache-Turner, Australia). Just when I’m thinking Friday’s program looks a bit heavy and family-focused, it turns out the closing title is a “hellish, blood-soaked, breakneck-paced, thrill ride into joyous Ozploitation 1970s as the evening climaxes with the long-overdue sequel to the spectacular 2014 FrightFest Glasgow hit,” Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead.
Saturday, March 12th
- Mandrake (Lynne Davison, UK). An impressive demonic crime thriller about a probation officer tasked with rehabilitating a rumored witch back into society after a twenty-year jail sentence. UK premiere.
- The Ledge (Howard J Ford, UK). I wouldn’t have expected murder and mountain climbing to go together, but it looks like they do in this “suspense-filled, deadly cat and mouse game thriller.” UK premiere.
- Some Like it Rare AKA Barbaque (Fabrice Eboué, France). Gory black comedy about marriage and meat. UK premiere.
- Monstrous (Chris Sivertson, USA). Supernatural thriller in which a traumatized mother (Christina Ricci) and son flee from one monster only to find themselves with a more terrifying one to deal with. International premiere.
- Freaks Out AKA Les Freaks sont laches (Gabriele Mainetti, Italy/Belgium). A story of four circus freaks employed to turn things around for the Third Reich in 1943, FrightFest describes this film as the likely result “if Fellini directed Schindler’s List as a superhero adventure.”
- Let the Wrong One In (Connor McMahon, Ireland). Silly and ridiculously rude horror-comedy in which a Dublin supermarket worker discovers his brother is a vampire…and it stars Anthony Head of Buffy fame.
As usual, the festival comes with guests, giveaways, shorts, and shenanigans. Passes and individual tickets are on sale now from Glasgow Film Theatre.
