FrightFest, the UK’s No.1 horror fantasy event, returns to the renowned Glasgow Film Festival for its 19th year,
from Thurs 7 March to Sat 9 March 2024.
This year’s diverse and creative line-up, once again housed at the iconic Glasgow Film Theatre, showcases the latest new releases from the horror, chiller and fantastic realms by auteurs from all over the globe who are not only transforming the genre in exciting ways but also celebrating its consistent appeal at the box office. This year we will be presenting twelve films from eight countries, spanning three continents, including two world and eight UK premieres.
Festival co-director Alan Jones says, “We live in amazing times of change in the delivery of the audiovisual experience, but festivals like the GFF and FrightFest remain constant and committed to bringing all of these advances together for lively debate because the magic of cinema knows no boundaries.”
The films
FrightFest kicks off in thrilling style on Thurs 7 March with a special UK premiere screening of twisted terror tale YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME, a bold directorial debut from Australian filmmaking duo Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell and featuring outstanding central performances from Jordan Cowan & Brendan Rock.
FrightFest’s traditional two-day event opens on Friday 8 March with a surprise film to be announced shortly. Next is the UK premiere of Mathieu Turi’s THE DEEP DARK, an award-winning creature feature from the director of Hostile, which takes you on a dark voyage to the edge of limitless horrific imagination.
This is followed by another creature feature, but one you can’t see! Mike Hermosa’s gloriously entertaining splatter monster comedy THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR, enjoys its UK premiere.
The 8.45pm presentation is one not to miss. From RKSS, the directorial collective behind Turbo Kid and Summer of ’84, comes the UK premiere of WAKE UP, a fresh take on the slasher genre where classic adrenaline-fuelled horror and Gen Z environmental issues collide in one twisted night from hell.
Friday evening climaxes with the UK premiere of KILL YOUR LOVER, an uncompromising, wild, body horror shocker from co-directors Alix Austin and Keir Siewert, marking their debut feature in punky style.
Saturday’s bloody menu starts with the World premiere of MOM, a striking, provocative and consuming psychological horror anchored with an incredible performance by Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire. Served up next is the Scottish premiere of flesh-eating feast, THE FUNERAL, a gripping body shocker from Turkish director Orcun Behram.
Then we have the World premiere of CUSTOM, the long awaited first feature from award-winning, Brazilian-born and UK-based filmmaker Tiago Teixeira. In this paranoid horror thriller, which stars Abigail Hardingham, Teixeira brilliantly blurs the lines between death and sex, reality and fantasy,
The evening programme opens with the UK premiere of Federico Zampaglione’s THE WELL. Federico Zampaglione, the Italian Rob Zombie, director of Shadow and Tulpa: Demon of Desire, returns to the extreme horror genre with a dark supernatural chiller starring Lauren LaVera, fresh from her eye-catching lead role in the box-office phenomenon Terrifier 2.
Then we have the UK premiere of the unsettling folk horror tale ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH. Echoing the early work of Ben Wheatley and Peter Strickland, Paul Duane’s ethnomusicology shocker is one of the most unique and unsettling cautionary folk horror tales of the year.
Last but not least, do you dare enter the killing fields of LAST STRAW. Alan Scott Neal makes a vibrant directorial debut with his hard-hitting diner-invasion thriller, a welcome addition to the canon of socially on-trend genre movies.
Plus, there are premieres of two shorts, both from up-and-coming Scottish filmmakers. MOUSE is a pin-sharp stalker thriller from Ewan j Fletcher and SUBJECT 73, is a twisty morality tale from Reiff Gaskell.
FrightFest Weekend Passes are £83 and available from noon on Friday 19 January 2024. Passes will be exchanged for admission wristbands, which must be worn at all times to access all FrightFest films on Fri 8 March and Sat 9 March ONLY.
Tickets for YOU WILL NEVER FIND ME, plus individual tickets for the Fri/Sat films are on sale Mon 29 January, from noon. Price: £11.80 / £9.50 (concessions).
Please note that all films contain graphic scenes of strong violence and sustained threat.
How to Buy Tickets
Online: https://glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival
Telephone: 0141 332 6535 (£1.50 fee per transaction, voice-mail available during peak business periods.
In person: Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB.
Pass Booking opens Friday 19 Jan at 12:00, individual films open Mon 29 Jan at 12:00
Glasgow Film Theatre Cinecard members get 4 days early-access to individual films from January 26 at noon, as well as discounted tickets for each performance.
Schedule
THURS 7 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
20:50 YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME (UK Premiere)
Directors: Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell. Cast: Brendan Rock, Jordan Cowan. Australia 2023. Ihr33min. 18.
Synopsis: An isolated man living in the back of a desolate caravan park is visited by a desperate young woman seeking shelter from a violent storm. As the savage storm worsens, these solitary souls begin to feel threatened- but who should really be afraid?
FRIDAY 8 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
13:00 TBC
15:25 THE DEEP DARK (UK Premiere)
Director: Mathieu. Turi Cast: Samuel LeBihan, Amir El Kacem, Jean-Hughes Anglade. France 2023 1hr41m 18.
Synopsis: It’s 1856 and in the historic coal mines of Northern France a group of miners find themselves trapped in the subterranean depths after a cave-in. But they are not alone…Decades later veteran miner Roland accompanies Professor Berthier underground to take samples. A sudden landslide prevents them from surfacing, and they too must face the ancient mutant that constantly craves blood.
18:00: THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR (UK premiere)
Director: Mike Hermosa. Cast: Mike Capes, Sean Astin, Sandy Martin. USA 2023 1hr52m 18.
Synopsis: The Tyler Corporation has figured out how to genetically engineer a prehistoric raptor, but they didn’t stop there…they also made it invisible. Unfortunately for them, he’s a really smart invisible raptor. After breaking out of it’s enclosure, it’s now up to amusement park palaeontologist, Dr Grant Walker and hapless Security Guard, Denny Denielson to stop the predator before it wreaks havoc on the entire community of Spielburgh County.
20:45: WAKE UP (UK Premiere)
Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell. Cast: Turlough Convery, Benny O. Arthur, Jacqueline Moré. Canada 2023 1hr20m 18.
Synopsis: A group of young activists set out to make a political statement by vandalizing a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, a desperate fight for their lives begins.
Plus, MOUSE (UK Premiere)
Director: Ewan j Fletcher. Cast: Rebecca Robin, Sandy Batchelor. UK 2023. 9 mins.
Synopsis: A young woman faces great danger as she walks home at night through a predatory city. Or does she?
23:05 KILL YOUR LOVER (UK Premiere)
Directors: Alix Austin, Keir Siewert. Cast: Paige Gilmour, Shane Quigley Murphy, May Kelly. UK 2023 1hr17m 18.
Synopsis: Dakota has had enough of her toxic relationship with Axel, but the feeling isn’t mutual. As she tries to end things, Axel begins turning into something different, something monstrous. He gradually succumbs to the poison of the decaying relationship, becoming a creature with increased aggression, a touch that melts skin and worst of all, he’s contagious.
SATURDAY 9 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
10:30 MOM (World Premiere)
Director: Adam O’Brien. Cast: Emily Hampshire, François Arnaud, Christian Convery. USA/Canada 2023 1hr36m 18.
Synopsis: Meredith is a struggling mother abandoned by her family and partner after the appalling death of their newborn son. Alone in her house, she becomes more isolated, unaware that the death of her baby has caused the birth of something far more sinister.
13:00 THE FUNERAL (Scottish Premiere)
Director: Orcun Behram. Cast Ahmet Rifat Sungar, Cansu Türedi, Tekin Temel. Turkey 2023 1hr48m 18.
Synopsis: Cemal, a lonely hearse driver, has been entrusted to secretly transport the body of a murdered young woman, Zeynep, to her parents’ home at their final request. But during the journey the woman’s body comes back to life, Cemal falls in love with the undead woman. Now he must constantly feed her flesh by committing his own murders.
15:35 CUSTOM (World Premiere)
Director: Tiago Teixeira. Cast: Abigail Hardingham, Rowan Polonski, Brad Moore. UK 2023 1hr30m ? 18.
Synopsis: Jasper and Harriet are arthouse pornographers struggling to make ends meet. Their stock in trade is producing custom made erotic films for an exclusive clientele into the forbidden, the shocking and the strange. As they hit rock bottom that’s when they encounter ‘The Audience’, a mysterious client offering life-changing money to perform strange rituals on videotape.
Plus, SUBJECT 73 (World Premiere)
Director: Reiff Gaskell. Cast: Freya Warsi. UK 2023. 7 mins.
Synopsis: In a mysterious experiment, a participant’s pursuit of wealth unravels as money and morality clash.
18:05 THE WELL (UK Premiere)
Director: Federico Zampaglione. Cast: Lauren LaVera, Claudia Gerini, Giovanni Lombardo Radice. Italy 2023 1hr32m 18.
Synopsis: Lisa Gray (Lauren LaVera), a budding art restorer, travels to the small Italian village of Sambuci just outside Rome to bring a medieval painting back to its former glory for a wealthy and titled client. Little does she know she is placing her life in danger from an evil curse and a monster born of myth and brutal pain.
20:25 ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH (UK Premiere)
Director: Paul Duane. Cast: Simone Collins, Olwen Fouéré, Gary Whelan. Ireland 2023 1hr30m 18.
Synopsis: A young couple records and collects folk songs in rural Ireland, selling them to a mysterious, rich buyer. When rumours of a song never-before-heard reach the couple, they find themselves in an uneasy alliance with a music professor to discover an ancient song, a taboo ballad that may end up unlocking some dark truth from the forgotten past that will alter all their isolated lives.
22:45 LAST STRAW (UK Premiere)
Director: Alan Scott Neal. Cast :Jessica Belkin, Jeremy Sisto, Taylor Kowalski. USA 2023 1hr21m 18
Synopsis: A rural roadside diner becomes the host of a maniacal killing spree – leaving young waitress Nancy to clean up the bloody mess. After firing the staff at her dad’s diner, she covers the last shift of the night by herself. Little does she know though; she is far from alone. The day is coming back to haunt her and when things begin to spiral out of control, she must fight for her life over the course of one long night.
The Guest list will be announced soon.
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