FrightFest 2023

View other FrightFest Films by strand: Discovery 2, Discovery 3, Halloween, IMAX, Shorts

Failure! Failure!
Failure! and It Follows
The Blue Rose (Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: George Baron; Stars: George Baron, Olivia Scott Welch, Ray Wise, Logan Miller)
Two rookie cops are determined to solve a seemingly clear-cut homicide, only to find themselves in an alternate reality of their worst nightmares.
The Conjuring (Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: James Wan; Writer: Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes; Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga)
A family find that their new rural home is already occupied - by something supernatural.
Doctor Jekyll (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Joe Stephenson; Stars: Eddie Izzard, Scott Chambers, Lindsay Duncan, Simon Callow)
Hammer Horror is back with a modern reimagining of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella. When ex-convict Rob takes up the position of carer to the infamous Nina Jekyll, little does he know he’s part of an evil master plan devised by her alter ego Rachel Hyde.
Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee (Enter The Clones Of Bruce) (Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Gregory; Stars: Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Lo, Bruce Liang)
A documentary about the men drafted in to fill the gap and keep audiences happy after the death of cinema's greatest martial arts star.
Failure! (Country: Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Alex Kahuam; Writer: Alex Kahuam; Stars: Ted Raimi, Merrick McCartha , Noel Douglas Orput, Melissa Diaz)
Due to a massive debt with his bank, James is given one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder to protect his family. Shot in one single take with no cuts.
Lore Lore
Lore and The Conjuring
The Glenarma Tapes (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Tony Devlin; Stars: Warren McCook, Emily Lamey, Ryan Early, Sophie Hill)
In spring 2020, five art students and two lecturers went missing in a remote forest in Ireland. What happened to them has remained unknown - until now. Their last movements are pieced together from found footage recovered from a police operation almost two years later, where it becomes clear that what started out as an innocent prank went badly wrong and became a horrific fight for survival.
Haunted Ulster Live (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Dominic O’Neill; Stars: Aimee Richardson, Mark Claney, Antoinette Morelli)
On Halloween night 1998, TV veteran Gerry Burns, teams up with popular children's presenter Michelle Kelly to investigate poltergeist activity in a haunted house on the Castlereagh Road in Belfast. A séance causes the broadcast to descend into chaos when the youngest child is mysteriously abducted by an unseen force and the two presenters must face their greatest fears on live TV.
Here For Blood (Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Daniel Turres; Writer: James Roberts; Stars: Shawn Roberts, Joelle Farrow, Dee Snider)
When his girlfriend is swamped with college exams, a rowdy pro-wrestler struggling to make ends meet agrees to fill in as a last-minute replacement for her well-paying babysitting job. Tom arrives at an isolated family home where he meets the precocious 10-year-old Grace. But what starts off as a quiet night of pizza and video games quickly spirals into bloody, violent, demonic chaos.
How To Kill Monsters (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Stewart Sparke; Stars: Lyndsey Crain, Arron Dennis, Fenfen Huang, Daniel Thrace)
Jamie Lancaster is the sole survivor of a bloody massacre at a remote cabin in the woods. Claiming her friends were torn apart and eaten by a horrific monster, she’s arrested and locked up for a crime she didn't commit. Then the entire police station is ripped from reality and thrown into a nightmarish dimension of Lovecraftian monsters hungry for human flesh.
Isaac (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Tariq Sayed; Stars: Johnny Vivash, Catriona MacColl, Bosco Hogan, Kathryn Louise)
After losing their first child to a genetic disease, grief-stricken parents Nicholas and Sarah become one of ten couples to enrol into unique clinical trials launched by the GEO Group; an established cellular meat company using its technology to create GM babies.
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow and Here For Blood
It Follows (Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: David Robert Mitchell; Writer: David Robert Mitchell; Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary, Daniel Zovatto, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe)
A teenager finds herself having strange visions and becomes convinced that something dangerous is following her.
The J-Horror Virus (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Sarah Appleton, Jasper Sharp; Stars: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shimizu, Rie Inoo, Shinya Tsukamoto.)
How did a single ‘Big in Japan’ videotape change the course of global horror history? This documentary charts the origins, evolution and diffusion across the world of a distinctive brand of Japanese supernatural chillers featuring vengeful ghosts manifesting themselves through contemporary technology against a backdrop of urban alienation and social decay.
Lore (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: James Bushe, Patrick Ryder, Greig Johnson; Writer: Patrick Michael Ryder, Christine Barber-Ryder, James Bushe; Stars: Ben Crompton, Bill Fellowes, Richard Brake, Andrew Lee Potts)
On a weekend trip to Scotland, four scare-loving friends book a ghostly horror-themed camping excursion. That night around the campfire, their guide encourages them to tell the most twisted stories that they know and to burn a totem that will help feed the evil that lives there. Tales of sinister spirits, demons lurking in the shadows and the truest forms of malevolence emerge.
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Jake West; Stars: Barry Twemlow, Oliver Tobias, Ginette Gray, John Saint Ryan)
Polymath Twemlow was a nightclub bouncer, novelist, composer, singer, screenwriter, producer and actor, who for a decade was the most prolific indie filmmaker in the UK! Witness how this 20th century Renaissance man created his own innovative micro-film industry in Manchester.
A Million Days (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Mitch Jenkins; Stars: Simon Merells, Kemi-Bo Jacobs, Hermione Corfield, Darrell D’Silva)
As humanity stands on the brink of leaving a dying Earth for a life amongst the stars, one astronaut is faced with an agonising decision.
The J-Horror Virus The J-Horror Virus
The J-Horror Virus and The Moor
The Moor (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Chris Cronin; Writer: Paul Thomas; Stars: Sophia La Porta, David Edward Robertson, Bernard Hill, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips)
Claire was just a child when her best friend was abducted and murdered. 25 years later, Bill, the dead boy's father, has a plan to learn the truth about what really happened. With the help of psychic Eleanor, they venture deep into a haunted moor to find his son’s supposed resting place. But they find more than just the ghosts of dead children, for something dark and evil stirs at their presence.
Otto Baxter: Not A Fucking Horror Story (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Peter Beard, Bruce Fletcher; Stars: Otto Baxter)
A documentary on how 35 year-old director Otto Baxter, who has Down syndrome, uses his short film to explore his birth, adoption and epic battles.
Punch (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Andy Edwards; Writer: Andy Edwards; Stars: Alina Allison, Kierston Wareing, Jamie Lomas, Faye Campbell)
Local bogeyman Mr. Punch is stalking the town, and he knows just the way to do it. As the carnage escalates, a group of friends must fight to stay alive in this seaside-gothic, end-of-the-pier slasher.
The Puppet Asylum (Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Otto Baxter; Stars: Paul Kaye, Adeel Akhtar, Myanna Buring, Dexter Fletcher)
The story of a horned baby who spends years in captivity and ultimate gets revenge.
[Rec] Terror Without Pause (Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Diego López; Stars: Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza, Javier Botet, Manuela Velasco)
15 years after the release of the seminal Spanish horror classic [REC], the main protagonists, directors, stars, producers, fans and critics analyse the keys to the film’s global success.
Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee
Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee and Punch
Trim Season (Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Ariel Vida; Stars: Bethlehem Million, Alex Essoe, Ally Ioannides, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Jane Badler, Juliette Kenn De Balinthazy, Marc Senter, Paris Warner, Ryan Donowho, Chelsea Jurkiewicz, Lorenzo Antonucci, Cory Hart, Austin R Grant, Arianna Scott, Corynn Treadwell)
Completely cut off from the outside world, a small crew of trimmers working on a remote marijuana farm discover the stalks there have disturbingly deep roots in ancient blood-soaked traditions.
News

59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground

More news and features

Playing Now

Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:

Abertoir

DOC NYC
New York's celebration of factual film

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
One of the largest film gatherings in northern Europe

French Film Festival
The UK's longest running celebration of Francophone cinema

London Korean Film Festival

In the Archive


Archive of festival coverage.

Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.

Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.