Horror at the BFI this October

The BFI London film festival will be running from 12th - 17th October, among the many films being shown this year horror fans may be interested in the following.

THE AWAKENING is the directorial feature debut from BAFTA-winning director Nick Murphy and features in the Film on the Square strand of the festival. Set in 1920s London, the plot revolves around the suspected haunting of a boys’ boarding school in which a child has recently died. With panic amongst the students and parents, schoolmaster Robert Mallory (played by The Wire and 300 star Dominic West) calls in scientist and realist, Florence Cathcart (Golden Globe nominee Rebecca Hall) to investigate. Unnervingly chilling and with plenty of surprises, this supernatural story is a key British horror film at the London Film Festival: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/1631

LAST SCREENING is a unsettling, psychological horror from award-winning French writer/director Laurent Achard. Centred around the manager and projectionist of a small-town cinema that’s facing its final days, the film takes a dark turn when the mild-mannered manager reveals his other self – a dangerous marauder with a grisly fetish. Featuring in the French Revolutions strand and starring Pascal Cervo, this is a truly unnerving film with thought-provoking and haunting tones: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/1728

HARD LABOUR is one of the two Brazilian films in this year’s programme, made by debut directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra. Following a classic ‘haunted-house’ structure, the film tells the tale of a female shop-owner and family breadwinner who is disturbed when mysterious markings begin appearing on walls, and strange noises fill the building. Juggling horror with social observation, this horror film deals with both the Brazilian class structure whilst keeping you on the edge of your seat: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/1704

For more info on these and other films in the festival, and to book tickets online visit the BFI's official website at http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/