Saddle up! This year’s FrightFest finds you surrounded by films we’ve kickstarted and clamoured for. Here’s the Top 12 that are new to us that we can’t wait to get in our eyeballs and few we know you’ll love!
by Mo Moshaty
Who doesn’t love a good mortician story?
The opener for the fest, Broken Doll, finds us in a deep web of loneliness, desire and doldrums.
Sybil works at an undertakers. It’s a lonely job, with few perks. So she takes solace where she can.
Starring: Rebecca Calder, Sacharissa Claxton, Jay Taylor, James Fleet, Jelena Moore
Touted as The First Irish Language Horror Film Ever Made, Ab Taibshe (The Ghost) is no walk in the bheinn.
Ireland, 1852. Éamon and his daughter Máire take on a tranquil caretaker role at a secluded Georgian mansion during the harsh winter months. However, their peaceful assignment soon awakens a dreadful terror.
Starring: Tom Kerrisk, Livvy Hill, Anthony Murphy, Tom Stafford
“Phrogging” is freakin’ terrifying (Google is free, give it a look) as the couple in Ghost Game soon find out.
Participating in an internet challenge that requires breaking into homes and living undetected alongside the residents, a thrill-seeking couple target an infamous haunted house and endure a series of chilling incidents as they witness a family descending into madness.
Starring: Kia Dorsey. Zaen Haidar, Aiden Hughes, Vienna Maas, Emily Bennett, Michael C. Williams, Sam Lukowski, Sharrie McCain, Anita Sharma, Jesse L. Green
Noted for raising over a 1M on it’s Kickstarter campaign, the fruition from funding to screen has been a long time coming for Shelby Oaks and it’s finally here!
The Paranormal Paranoids, a team of paranormal investigators, uncover a dark legacy and the far-reaching effects their investigation has as Mia searches for her sister Riley, the lead paranormal investigator, twelve years later. As Mia uncovers new and disturbing leads related to Riley’s disappearance, she uncovers evidence of a hidden supernatural evil dating all the way back to her and Riley’s childhood.
Starring: Camille Sullivan Brendan Sexton III, Michael Beach, Robin Bartlett, Keith David, Charlie Talbert, Emily Bennett, Sarah Durn, Lauren Ashley Berry, Eric Francis Melaragni, C.L. Simpson, Anthony Baldasare
Look guys, dating is hard, but it ain’t worth dying for…is it?
In Strange Darling, nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Jason Patric, Giovanni Ribisi, Ed Begley Jr., Barbara Hershey, Steven Michael Quezada, Madisen Beaty, Denise Grayson, Eugenia Kuzmina, Bianca A. Santos, Sheri Foster, Duke Mollner, Andrew John Segal, Robert Craighead, Evan Peterson
First off, two enthusiastic thumbs up and four hell yeah’s for our SECOND film with women of color at the front! Secondly, two more hell yeah’s for Urban Legends!
In Hauntology, An older sister takes her fearless runaway sibling on a road trip, to share the most chilling tales surrounding their hometown.
Starring: Jaidyn Triplett, Samantha Russell ,Zoey Luna, Naomi Grossman, Samantha Robinson, Nancy Kyes, James DeForest Parker, Abigail Esmena Froehle, Lindsey McDowell, Annie Fitzpatrick, Gil Zabarsky
Bonnie and Clyde. Mickey and Mallory Knox. Come on kids, stopping picking up whimsical couples.
In A Desert, a photographer’s road trip takes a dark turn when he befriends a reckless couple, plunging him into a nightmarish neo-noir spiral of unpredictable horror.
Starring: David Yow, Kai Lennox, Sarah Lind, Zachary Ray Sherman
Beauty is pain, and aging is hell, sometimes a fate worse than death…
The Substance asks: IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS, WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley. Dennis Quaid, Gore Abrams, Hugo Diego Garcia, Olivier Raynal, Tiffany Hofstetter
The frying pan to the fire theory is REAL, and for poor Richard here, there’s no upside.
In I Will Never Leave You Alone, after being released from prison, a brooding man with a dark past is forced to stay in a haunted house to clear it of spirits. If he leaves, he goes back to prison, but the witch-ghost may be more punishment than he can withstand.
Starring: Kenneth Trujillo, Katerina Eichenberger, Christopher Genovese
Grief Horror is right up my street, so are haunted houses…LFG!
In 1898 Yorkshire, a grieving woman and her son move back to the manor of her deceased ex-husband, but soon discover that they are not alone in the house in The Monster Beneath Us.
Starring: Becca Hirani, Nicola Wright, Jennifer Lim, Karl Hughes, Marshall Hawkes, Jack Forsyth-Noble, Richard Lovell, Mick Liversidge, Alice Mukunku
If The Ritual taught me anything its that the Swedish woods are no joke.
For From Darkness Park ranger Angelica and ex-Viktor investigate a missing woman’s case in a Swedish nature reserve. They explore haunted caves, face their past, and uncover dark secrets while battling a mythical creature.
Starring: Rakel Benér, Oscar Skagerberg, Peter Mörlin, Thomas Hedengran, Amanda Kilpeläinen Arvidsson, Lennart B. Sandelin, Lars Adsten
Ningyo densetsu (Mermaid Legend) has us begging for to see a sweet revenge horror that’s escaped our access, and I’m so glad FrightFest is able to give it us!
After a woman is framed for the murder of her fisherman husband, she seeks out a bloody revenge on the corrupt businessmen responsible.
Starring: Mari Shirato, Kentarō Shimizu, Jun Etoh, Seiji Miyaguchi, Junko Miyashita, Yoshirō Aoki,Takashi Kanda, Hiroko Seki, Hiroshi Shimizu, Kazuo Kato, Hyōe Enoki, Shuntarō Emi, Kazunaga Tsuji
And here’s a few you should add to you schedule that captured us at SXSW and Fantasia Fest!!!
7 Keys – UK Premiere! This high stakes romance horror can be found in Fright Fest’s Discovery Screen 1 on Saturday 8/24.
-Daniel has kept the keys to the places he’s lived in. Lena wants to use them – on the ultimate tour of London, a weekend of getting to know each other intimately in other people’s homes. This risky fantasy soon becomes a deadly threat.
Azrael: Angel of Death – Found on Fright Fest’s Main Screen on Sunday 8/25
– In a world no one speaks a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter – Found on Fright Fest’s Main Screen on Saturday 8/24
-A crew sailing from Varna (Bulgaria) by the Black Sea to England find that they are carrying very dangerous cargo.
Dark Match– Found in Fright Fest’s Discovery Screen 2 on Sunday 8/25
A small-time wrestling company accepts a well-paying gig in a backwoods town only to learn, too late, that the community is run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match.
See our recent review on Dark Match here: https://nighttidemag.wordpress.com/2024/07/22/film-reviews-dark-match/
Things Will Be Different – Found in Fright Fest’s Discovery Screen 3 on Friday 8/23
-In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.
STAY TUNED FOR COVERAGE IN AUGUST!
Mo Moshaty is a horror writer, lecturer and producer. As a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and life long horror fan, Mo has lectured with Prairie View A&M Film & TV Program as a Keynote, BAFSS Horror Studies Sig , Cine-Excess, Nottingham University, Final Girls Film Fest Berlin and The University of Sheffield. Mo has partnered with horror giant, Shudder Channel, to co-produce the 13 Minutes of Horror Film Festival 2021 and 2022 with Nyx Horror Collective and has also established the Nyx Horror Fellowship with Stowe Story Labs with her team. Her literary work “Love the Sinner” was published with Brigid’s Gate Press in July of 2023 and her short story collection, “Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment” will be published in the Spring of 2025. Mo is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of NightTide Magazine and founder of Mourning Manor Media.
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