It’s that time of the year again: when goths, gorehounds, ghouls and geeks are emerging from their winter entombment to face the harsh and hideous reality of another extended August Bank Holiday weekend of wall-to-wall genre cinema. For from Thursday 27 to Monday 31 August, the Film4 FrightFest 2009 will be upon us again. That is four and a half solid days of terror, abjection, transgression and outrage – with just enough time between each film for a caffeine injection and a quick bite. In other words, pure heaven for horror fans.
Not that this will be any ordinary FrightFest. After five years in the Prince Charles Cinema, and a further four in the Odeon West End, the UK’s biggest and best horror festival is celebrating its tenth birthday by moving to the Empire – and as well as its Main Programme (26 features) showing on the 20-metre screen of Empire 1, there will be a new Discovery Programme (nine additional repeating features) screening in parallel in Empire 4. That is 35 new films in all, including 11 world premieres and 15 UK premieres. The schedule is now locked in, the tickets are on sale, and the price of a full weekend pass (£140) has remained unchanged from last year. That is, by any standards, a lot of blood for your buck – although for those who fancy their horror in small nibbles rather than by the bucketload, there are also day passes and single tickets available as usual.
FrightFest has a track record as a reliable brand of quality as well as quantity. Put together by the same core team of selectors whose previous top pic(k)s have included Audition, Oldboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Host, The Signal, TimeCrimes, Martyrs and Let the Right One In, this year’s programme offers, amongst others, over-sized insects (Infestation and the intriguing sounding Human Centipede), Nazi zombies in Norway (Dead Snow), a new Dario Argento giallo (conveniently entitled Giallo) and even a film reuniting The Roost director Ti West with New York’s tallest king of quirk, Tom Noonan (The House of the Devil). Other titles with good buzz are Bruce McDonald’s festival-pleasing zombie flick Pontypool; the Mo brothers’ gory Macabre; Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish serial killer chiller Millennium: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; and Gabe Ibanez’ insulated chiller Hierro.
There is a good showing for British horror too, with Christopher Smith’s Triangle opening the festival; Jon Harris’ The Descent: Part Two closing it; and other homegrown product including Marc Price’s ultra-ultra-low budget Colin, Philip Ridley’s diabolical brainbender Heartless; and Paul Davis’ Beware the Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London. Davis’ documentary will be followed by the world premier of a fully restored version of Jon Landis’ influential 1981 classic, to be attended by the director himself and many of his original cast and crew.
Of course there will be all the usual Q&As, signings, sneak previews, short films, giveaways, and, of course, good company, as well as another ‘zombie walk’ through Leicester Square on Monday morning, Andy Nyman’s ‘100 Best Deaths’ event, and a script-pitching competition that might just lead to the winner writing a feature film. So throw away your sun block, start stocking up on Proplus, and get ready for a summer holiday of the best kind of non-relaxation. It’s the Tuesday morning after that is the real horror…
To book tickets call 08714 714 714 or go online here.
Festival passes: £140 Day
Passes: £21.50
Single tickets: £10
For timetable log onto the official site.
