Horror Channel FrightFest Halloween 2017 unleashes seven choice shockers for the 7th annual West End Halloween chillorama – a wits-end wallow in all things gruesome, gory and glorious.
This year, the all-day shocktoberfest is at the Empire Haymarket on Sat Oct 28, 2017 and embraces one world, one European and five UK premieres, spanning three continents.
From the emotional making of a low-budget slasher to zombie nightmares, Gothic horrors, an outrageously strange mind cult, a sci-fi alien action extravaganza, a comic strip creature feature and the last word in Killer Clowns, this year’s line-up is an eclectic mix of the quirky, unusual and extreme.
Alan Jones, FrightFest co-director said today: “After FrightFest’s successful return to central London in August for our biggest and most acclaimed event yet, we’re pleased to announce our equally ambitious, and extended Halloween spooktacular. The line-up is a heady cocktail of horror, fantasy and sci-fi, which we hope haunts your nightmares until our Glasgow grindhouser next March”.
Attending guests will be announced shortly.
FULL LINE UP:
10:00 HORROR MOVIE: A LOW BUDGET NIGHTMARE (European Premiere)
Director: Gary Doust. Cast: Craig Anderson, Dee Wallace, Gerard Odwyer, Bryan Moses, Robert Anderson. Australia 2017. 99 mins.
A funny, sad, candid and revealing documentary on the making of RED CHRISTMAS, a recent FrightFest favourite. Sick of playing quirky roles on Australian TV shows, actor/filmmaker Craig Anderson puts everything on the line to make his first low budget slasher about an aborted foetus seeking revenge on its family. With money issues, union troubles, an angry Hollywood Scream Queen and even a circumcision to overcome, we follow Craig’s nail-biting rollercoaster production journey as he gambles his family’s life savings to relaunch his career as a horror film director in the highly competitive digital age of moviemaking and distribution.
12:05 HOSTILE (UK Premiere)
Director: Mathieu Turi. Cast: Brittany Ashworth, Javier Botet, Gregory Fitoussi, Jay Benedict, David Gasman. USA 2017. 82 mins.
A worldwide epidemic has killed most of the planet’s population. The few survivors struggle to find food and shelter. But they are not alone, for the ravaged remnants of society go hunting at night for human flesh. On her way back to base camp from a foraging expedition, Juliette has a terrible accident. Stuck in her car, with a broken leg, in the middle of an unforgiving desert, she must survive the perils of the post-apocalypse while a strange creature prowls around... From producer Xavier Gens, director of THE DIVIDE and FRONTIER(S), a terrifying, moving and unusual shocker.
14:10 THE BLACK GLOVES (World Premiere)
Director: Lawrie Brewster. Cast: Macarena Gómez, Nicholas Vince, Alexandra Nicole Hulme, Craig J. Seath, Jamie Scott Gordon. UK 2017. 80 mins.
The terrifying story of a psychologist obsessed with the disappearance of his young patient and the menacing owl-headed figure that plagued her nightmares. His investigations lead him to a reclusive ballerina who, just like his patient, is convinced that she is about to die at the hands of this disturbing entity. In the bleak Scottish highlands, Finn counsels his new patient, under the watchful eye of her sinister ballet teacher. He soon finds himself entangled in a pas-de-deux of paranoia, dark agendas and a maze of deadly twists and turns, as the legend of the Owlman becomes a terrifying reality.
16:10 IT CAME FROM THE DESERT (UK Premiere)
Director: Marko Mäkilaakso. Cast: Mark Arnold, Harry Lister Smith, Vanessa Grasse, Alec Mills, Callum McGowan. Finland/UK/Canada 2017. 89 mins.
Inspired by Cinemaware’s cult 1980s video game, itself motivated by the giant creature feature craze infesting 1950s Hollywood, get ready for the pulp action horror mutant monster movie of the year! It’s a terribly tall tale involving rival motocross heroes and cocooned heroines, out-of-control kegger parties in the New Mexico desert, crashed meteors from outer space, secret underground labyrinth military bases, romantic insecurities …and epic havoc caused by massive spider/ant hybrids! Smartly scripted, extremely funny and very creepy, with terrific special effects in homage to Ray Harryhausen, get with the OTT deadpan delivery and the Project T.H.E.M. program.
18:45 HOUSEWIFE (UK Premiere)
Director: Can Evrenol. Cast: Clémentine Poidatz, David Sakurai, Ali Aksöz, Defne Halman, Alicia Kapudag. Turkey 2017. 82 mins.
The first English-language feature from innovative Turkish director Can Evrenol who took shocked audiences on a tour of hell in BASKIN. After that homage to John Carpenter, join the Turkish delight as he navigates Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci territory with another pitch black delve into dark sexuality, family values, social claustrophobia, and outrageous nightmares. On a snowy eve, little Holly's sister and father are killed by her frantic mother. Twenty years later, Holly is married, lonely, and her life is soon about take a turn for the ultra-weird when she visits the ‘Umbrella of Love and Mind’ cult.
20:40 BEYOND SKYLINE (UK Premiere)
Director: Liam O'Donnell. Cast: Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Johnny Weston, Antonio Fargas. USA/Indonesia 2017. 105 mins.
In the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2010 breakout blockbuster hit SKYLINE, tough-as-nails detective Mark (THE PURGE star Frank Grillo) embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his embittered rebellious son Trent (Johnny Weston) from a nightmarish alien warship as the extraterrestrial menace continues its human harvest. Set concurrently with the original sci-fi shocker, with Mark and Trent trapped on a subway train as the intergalactic invasion begins, THE RAID franchise martial arts star Iko Uwais joins the thrilling turbo-charged action adventure as a disparate group of survivors must learn the true meaning of family.
23:00 TERRIFIER (UK Premiere)
Director: Damien Leone. Cast: Jenna Kanell, Catherine Corcoran, Margaret Reed, Katie Maguire, David Howard Thornton. USA 2017. 82 mins.
You thrilled to IT, now chill to Art the maniacal clown of all your worst nightmares. Appearing initially in director Damien Leone’s 2008 short THE 9th CIRCLE, then the 2011 award-winning short TERRIFIER, horrifying Art returns for his first full-length frightener. Here Leone delivers all the gore and much more in this slasher exploitation extravaganza that’s both lip-smackingly disturbing and screamingly shocking. For Art is back on the silent prowl ready to terrorize three young women on Halloween night and anybody who stands in his dismembering way.
Tickets go on sale from noon on Sun 1 Oct. Passes: £45, single tickets: £14.50.
Remaining single tickets can also be bought at the cinema on the day.
