BritFlicks takes a look at the British & Irish horror & genre movies at this year's Arrow Video FrightFest.
This August Greg Day, Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray and Alan Jones are back in London Town, and that can only mean one thing, the Worlds Greatest Horror & Genre Film Festival is back, FrightFest 2019. www.frightfest.co.uk
Once again in the build-up to Arrow Video FrightFest, BritFlicks' horror guru Stuart Wright will be bringing you his usual BritFlicks FrightFest Podcasts, along with exclusive interviews and during FrightFest, his daily round up and reviews!
If you would like to get in touch about a film email us at contacts@britflicks.com
DARK ENCOUNTER - International Premiere - Main Screens - Friday 23rd August 2019.
Directed by Carl Strathie
Synopsis: A year after the mysterious disappearance of their 8 year-old daughter, grieving Olivia and Ray return home with friends and family from her memorial service in their small town. Suddenly strange lights appear in the nearby forest and everyone is exposed to inexplicable phenomena shaking them all to the core. The origin of these weird incidents seems to be visitors from another world intent on terrorizing the family. But what they don’t realize is that these visitors will eventually lead them to an unexpectedly dark and disturbing truth - one destined to impact on their lives forever.
DEATH OF A VLOGGER - World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Saturday 24th August 2019.
Directed by Graham Hughes
Synopsis: Prepare for a genre-bending horror mockumentary when a vlogger gains viral fame after one of his eerie videos contains an alleged out-of-this-world haunting. Following YouTuber Graham as he investigates the darker supernatural side of the web and dealing with the effects of being famous on the internet, this trip down a hellish rabbit hole includes interviews, cat videos, ripped YouTube content, fun nonsense, archive material, tension and unusual scares. Following in the footsteps of maverick independent filmmakers, this bold new feature is the perfect balance of horror and reality giving the found footage format a needed shot in the arm.
A SERIAL KILLER'S GUIDE TO LIFE - World premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Saturday 24 August 2019.
Directed by Staten Cousins-Roe
Synopsis; Think THELMA AND LOUISE meets SIGHTSEERS as directed by Mike Leigh to get a handle on Staten Cousins-Roe’s gem of a feature debut. Thirty-something, self-help addict, Lou Farnt wants nothing more than to escape her overly controlling mother and the dead-end seaside town where she grew up. When strange and strikingly confident new life coach Val invites her on a road trip of alternative therapies, culminating with a visit to American self-help idol Chuck Knoah's British country home, Lou finds the perfect opportunity to leave - and the perfect person to become. Unfortunately for Lou though, Val is a serial killer.
www.frightfest.co.uk/2019films/a-serial-killers-guide-to-life
CRIMINAL AUDITION - World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Saturday 24th August 2019.
Directed by Samuel Gridley
Synopsis: A darkly funny, claustrophobic Midnight Movie to laugh, wince and gasp at. An ex-lawyer and his crack team run an underworld service; they seek the most desperate and greedy to become fake criminals to take the fall for the rich and powerful elite’s felonies. The process is known as the Criminal Audition. In an undisclosed location, over one night they will put three individuals through hell to find the perfect candidate for their latest assignment. But their world is turned upside down when they face lies, deceit, murder and a very dangerous new client auditioning for their biggest job yet.
DARK SENSE – English Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Saturday 24th August 2019.
Directed by Magnus Wake
Synopsis: Traumatised Simon can glimpse into the future because of particularly strong psychic powers. His terrifying mental connection with a crazed serial killer means he will do anything to stop him even if it actually means being the murderer’s final victim. Hiring an ex-SAS soldier named Steve to be his bodyguard and help track the assassin down their best-laid plans go awry when a government agency decides Simon is himself too dangerous to roam free. A knock out, cleverly plotted, heart-pounding thriller based on the best seller ‘First and Only’ by Peter Flannery marking the assured feature debut of Scottish director Magnus Wake.
ARE WE DEAD YET - World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Saturday 24th August 2019.
Directed by Fredi 'Kruga' Nwaka
Synopsis: A robbery goes horrifyingly wrong when five have a go criminals are forced to take refuge from the police in an old castle. What starts out as 'one last job' quickly becomes a hilarious fun filled journey of ghostly misfortunes. Director Fredi Nwaka has crafted a stand-out supernatural crime thriller.
STALKED - World Premiere - Cineworld Discovery - Sunday 25 August 2019.
Directed by Justin Edgar
Synopsis: Former Royal Marine Commando and single mother Sam is brutally kidnapped and wakes up disorientated in what seems to be a deserted military factory. Worried about her baby at home, she finds all the exits sealed, and soon learns she is not alone. Stalked and attacked by an invisible foe she must use all her skills to survive a deadly game of cat and mouse, perpetrated by her kidnapper, a serial killer wearing a quantum stealth suit that renders him undetectable. Surrounded by drones, she unleashes all her ingenuity and strength to get back home in a nail-biting suspense thriller.
THE MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION OF MICHAEL REEVES - World Premiere - Cineworld Discovery - Sunday 25 August 2019.
Directed by Dima Ballin
Synopsis; The early death of director Michael Reeves at 25 from an accidental overdose robbed the cinema of a potential major talent. He only made three 1960s shockers – THE REVENGE OF THE BLOODBEAST, THE SORCERERS and the masterpiece WITCHFINDER GENERAL – each starring a horror icon, Barbara Steele, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price. But for many he was the genre’s shining light because he took fright out of studio confines and into stark reality. Reeves’ early life and movie times plus little known facts about his short but incandescent career are all covered in director Dima Ballin’s brilliant and exhaustively researched documentary.
www.frightfest.co.uk/2019films/the-magnificent-obsession-of-michael-reeves.
THE SONATA - UK Premiere - Cineworld Discovery - Sunday 25 August 2019.
Directed by Andrew Desmond
Synopsis: Elegantly scary and compulsively thrilling, this return to classic 1970s horror in THE NINTH GATE tradition asks you to face the music. After the death of her estranged but famous composer father Richard Marlow, young virtuoso violinist Rose inherits his old French mansion. There, she discovers her father’s final work: a mysterious score marked with arcane symbols. With the help of her agent manager she starts deciphering the mystical emblems and slowly unlocks a shocking secret concerning her father’s past. Events that set in motion the Satanic mechanisms of a fiendish plan imagined on the day she was born.
TALES FROM THE LODGE – European Premiere - Main Screens - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Abigail Blackmore
Synopsis: A group of middle-aged friends gather at a remote lodge to honour a friend who recently drowned in a nearby lake. With emotions running high, everyone makes the most of a gloomy situation by celebrating the best way they know how: swapping silly, scary stories that would have earned a giggle from their dearly departed pal. Urban legends about a masked slasher, a paranormal ghost hunt and a post-apocalyptic wasteland soon lose their fun shock value as the sextet become stuck in a true terror tale that exposes dark secrets no one could have possibly foreseen.
A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND - World Premiere - Main Screens - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Abner Pastoll
Synopsis: A dynamic killer thriller with its finger firmly on the pulses of stark social commentary and shattering suspense, ROAD GAMES director Abner Pastoll crafts a dazzling, dark and daring journey through Northern Ireland’s criminal underbelly. Recently widowed mother of two Sarah (a tour de force Sarah Bolger) is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of their young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug-dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she’s forced to go beyond humanity into taking drastic action to protect her children while learning the awful truth about her spouse.
THE BARGE PEOPLE – World Premiere - Cineworld Discovery - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Charlie Steeds
Synopsis: Sisters Kat and Sophie, and their boyfriends Mark and Ben, are looking forward to a relaxing weekend cruising through the glorious British countryside canals on a luxury barge. Tension arises when businessman Ben refuses to turn off his mobile and fully enter the party spirit and stress is raised further when they damage another barge and its tenants track them down to the local pub. But nothing has prepared them for the intense midnight attack on their vessel by a family of flesh-eating fish mutants who have been lurking in the dark waters, waiting for their next meal.
FOR WE ARE MANY - World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Lawrie Brewster
Synopsis: A legion of demons is brought to life in a unique anthology feature from Scotland's Hex Studios, home of the FrightFest hits AUTOMATA, BLACK GLOVES and THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS. Starring horror legends Eileen Dietz (THE EXORCIST), Laurence R. Harvey (HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2) and Nicholas Vince (HELLRAISER, NIGHTBREED), the shock portmanteau showcases the work of upcoming genre directors from around the world. Each gives a fun, fresh and frightening take on a different demon, from Succubi and Wendigos to the Biblical and Lovecraftian, making this chilling collection a wild, fun-filled, terrifying ride through a diabolical and fantastical bestiary.
STAIRS - World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 1 - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Tom Paton
Synopsis: A group of mercenaries are sent into Eastern Europe in the middle of a civil war to retrieve intel, but shortly after the mission the unit find themselves trapped on a never-ending stairwell; forced to climb or die. To survive, they must revisit their past sins if they ever want to get off.
THE PERISHED – World Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery Screen 2 - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Paddy Murphy
Synopsis: Dealing with a pregnancy termination in Ireland has been hard for Sarah Dekker. Shunned by her religious zealot family and after also breaking up with her unforgiving boyfriend, she travels to a sympathetic friend’s house in the country to recover. But unbeknownst to her the provincial pile sits atop a mass grave of unwanted babies and their lost, confused sprits want to be reborn. Feeding on guilt and remorse the spirits need a mother. And they just might have found one in Sarah… Mixing horror and pertinent social issues, THE PERISHED marks the debut of a new Irish genre voice.
HERE COMES HELL – English Premiere - Prince Charles Discovery 2 - Monday 26 August 2019.
Directed by Jack McHenry
Synopsis: ‘Downtown Abbey’ meets THE EVIL DEAD in a pitch-perfect evocation of THE OLD DARK HOUSE style of mystery horror thriller where Agatha Christie goes Lucio Fulci in stunning Black & White. With cut-glass British accents and a dodgy American in the cocktail party mix, a sophisticated 1930s soiree at an isolated country mansion descends into carnage, gore and demonic possession as rivalries and old friendships are put to the test when a gateway to Hell opens up without warning.
