No matter where you stand on killer doll movies, prepare to give your heart — or whatever piece of your anatomy the titular animated evil stuffed toy wishes to take — to Benny. Benny Loves You is a riotous, grue-heavy U.K. horror comedy that is the winning result of a five-year labor of love for […]
Tag: FrightFest
[Review] Breakfast (Arrow Video FrightFest): A Sickly Woman Wakes Up with a Frightening Appetite
Breakfast is a gripping Australian shocker short blending body horror with another fright-fare aspect that would be criminal to spoil here. Written by Paul Beattie and codirected by Beattie and Melanie Rios, Breakfast delivers an eerie tale featuring differing character perspectives and a chilling atmosphere throughout. Katherine (Rebecca Smee) has been sick and bedridden for […]
“Train to Busan” Sequel “Peninsula” to Open Arrow Video FrightFest’s October Event
Four years ago, Train to Busan was voted the most popular FrightFest Closing Night film ever. This year, the hotly anticipated stand-alone sequel Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula will open this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest October event, courtesy of STUDIOCANAL. The film is scheduled to play on Thursday, October 22 at 6:00 p.m. across three screens […]
[Review] Guest (Arrow Video FrightFest): A Fleeing Woman Has Every Reason to Be Terror-Stricken in Chilling Short Film
Writer/director Finn Callan’s U.K. short film Guest is rich in spine-tingling atmosphere, from the bandaged appearance of its protagonist Mary (Melania Crisan) to the heavy sense of dread throughout to the decidedly creepy reason why Mary is in her current state. Mary has entered, uninvited, the home of a woman (Jessica Munna) after being pursued […]
[Review] I Am Lisa (Arrow Video FrightFest): A Young Woman Uses Newfound Lycanthropic Powers to Exact Revenge
The latest entry in the subgenre of young women finding power as werewolves is I Am Lisa, a film that follows such entries as Canada’s Ginger Snaps (2000) and the Danish/French coproduction When Animals Dream (2014). Prolific director Patrick Rea’s (Arbor Demon [2016]; Nailbiter [2013]) latest feature, I Am Lisa combines a powerful revenge story […]
[Review] Death Walks on Nitrate (Portland Horror Film Festival): Giallo and the Supernatural Meld in Hallucinatory Horror Short
Old-school film stock and classic giallo techniques combine in writer/director Kevin Fermini’s horror short Death Walks on Nitrate. The result is a trippy, beautiful looking slice of cinema with an eerie aesthetic. Katie Carpenter (Disengaged from Gruesome Magazine’s own Christopher G. Moore and The Haunting of Hill House are among her 20 horror film credits) […]
Arrow Video FrightFest Digital Edition: 10 Questions with Alastair Orr
Gruesome Magazine previewed Arrow Video FrightFest’s Digital Edition, which runs August 27-31. One of the fest’s intriguing offerings is Triggered, which the festival site describes as “A sick, twisted, slasher variation on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME from Alastair Orr, director of the FrightFest favourite FROM A HOUSE ON WILLOW STREET. Nine friends, all harbouring a […]
Arrow Video FrightFest Digital Edition Presents 10 Questions with “Two Heads Creek” Director Jesse O’Brien
Gruesome Magazine reviewed the gore-splattered Australian horror comedy Two Heads Creek, and now the film is headed to Arrow Video FrightFest’s Digital Edition, which runs August 27-31. Here is the fest’s official interview with Two Heads Creek‘s director, Jesse O’Brien. Ahead of the UK premiere of TWO HEADS CREEK, a playfully dark cannibal horror comedy, director […]
Arrow Video FrightFest’s 10 Questions with Brea Grant of “12 Hour Shift”
Brea Grant is an actress well known to horror film fans for her roles in such films as After Midnight, Beyond the Gates, and Dead Night. She is also an accomplished writer and director, as evidenced by her new horror comedy 12 Hour Shift, which is currently on the film festival circuit. It receives its […]
The Rusalka (AKA The Siren), Freaks, and The Witch: Part 1 — The Subversion (Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow): Female Monsters and Mutants Abound
Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow featured three films highlighted by powerful, mysterious female characters for its March 2nd screenings. These films ranged from subtle and understated to violent and gory. The Rusalka (AKA The Siren) Writer/director Perry Blackshear’s The Rusalka (retitled The Siren for its U.K. release), his follow-up to his terrific debut They Look Like […]
Dead Ant (AKA Giant Killer Ants) and Level 16 (Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow): Film Festival Features Rampaging Ants and Boarding School Terror
Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow offered up horror, comedy, and deadly serious dystopian drama with its Friday, March 1st screenings. Besides the world premiere of the terrific British indie shocker Here Comes Hell, this reviewer also had the opportunity to watch the American metalheads vs. giant ants movie Dead Ant (retitled Giant Killer Ants for its […]
Here Comes Hell (Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow): Revelers Raise Diabolical Forces in Spirited British Horror Film
Black-and-white independent U.K. feature Here Comes Hell starts off as a British comedy of manners mashed up with classic old dark house elements before suddenly rocketing into full-on horror territory. First-time director Jack McHenry and his cast and crew serve up a fun, frenetic helping of supernatural chaos. George Walker, Jr., (Tom Bailey), son of […]
“Redwood” (FrightFest, 2017): Couple Encounters Vampiric Forest Dwellers in UK Creature Feature
Like many a horror movie character before them, the young couple at the forefront of UK production Redwood does exactly what they are warned not to, going off the main trail during a camping trip in the forest. Naturally, they stumble onto a deadly situation. What makes writer/director Tom Paton’s (Pandorica, 2016) eerie film different […]