Sunday, 16 February 2025

Horror short IVI ELV - Screening at Romford Horror Festival

Director Luigi Scarpa got in touch to tell us about his horror short IVI ELV, which will be screening at this years Romford Horror Festival.

Synopsis:
A man regains consciousness somewhere unknown and claustrophobic. Dazed and confused, he begins to wander its dark corridors, but a series of visions will force him to deal with a far worse reality

Director's Statement:
This film is a reflection on people's fears. We all are afraid of something and feel it in many different ways: from phobias to obsessions. I wanted to tell a story. To give a clear vision of what fear is to me. 

It is a film without dialogue, so it is the images that have to speak. Everything that happens in the main location of the film acquires much more strength. Even in the strongest scenes, I wanted "presence" not to be shown right away. To reveal only details and then leave it to the viewer's mind to build and imagine. It is a very psychological discourse. 


 

View the Trailer on YouTube.

Visit the Director's Official Website at http://www.luigiscarpa.com

IVI ELV screens at this years Romford Horror Festival, for more and to buy tickets and passes visit http://www.romfordhorrorfestival.com/






Saturday, 15 February 2025

Fantasy horror RUMPELSTILTSKIN - Coming to Digital, following its FrightFest Premiere...

Say his name say his name…  RUMPELSTILTSKIN is back in a wickedly entertaining new update on the terrifying fairy tale from acclaimed writer-director Andy Edwards (Punch, Graphic Desires)

His ambitious new fantasy horror feature is set for its World Premiere at FrightFest Glasgow on 8 March 2025, followed by its home release on 7 April 2025 thanks to Miracle Media.

The film breathes new life into the age-old children’s story, with eye-popping, gnarly special effects and a potty mouthed female protagonist who isn’t your typical damsel in distress. With bawdy humour and devilishly delightful visuals, this new incarnation certainly packs a punch and is sure to permeate your dreams with nightmare fuel.

Once upon a time a greedy miller (Mark Cook) promises to marry off his beautiful daughter Evaline (Hannah Baxter-Eve) to the King (Colin Malone). But things don’t quite go to plan when his lies are uncovered and the pair are about to be locked up in a tower forever.

So, they make a bold promise to the King, that Evalina will spin straw into gold using a spinning wheel… but that’s easier said than done and they realise that they’ve made a promise they can’t keep. That is until a mischievous masked creature (Joss Carter) appears from nowhere with the offer of help. But help comes with a cost…

When the woman fulfills the task, the King becomes seduced by greed and wants more gold, so in an act of desperation she pleads with the fiendish imp and they make a deal… her firstborn child for more gold.

But everyone ends up getting more than they bargained for when the Devil gets involved and all hell breaks loose.

Who said spinning straw into gold wouldn’t come without a few problems?

World Premiere at FrightFest Glasgow 8 March 2025
On digital 7 April 2025 from Miracle Media

 


 

Australian sci-fi thriller IN VITRO - Coming to Digital...

Plaion Pictures have confirmed that the Australian sci-fi thriller IN VITRO is set for its UK Premiere at Glasgow Film Festival on 27th February. The film will be released across Digital Platforms later this year. 

Layla lives on a remote cattle property with her husband, Jack, who has developed a new process for breeding livestock. 

But the farm is struggling and the isolated existence is not the life Layla dreamed of, especially when a number of unsettling events occur on the property. 

As Layla starts to question her life with Jack, she discovers that there is a disturbing presence with them on the farm.

IN VITRO is co-directed by Will Howarth and Tom McKeith, with Howarth making his feature-length directorial debut. Star of the film Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo) collaborated with the duo as co-writers. The film also features stand out performances from Ashley Zukerman (Succession, Apple Cider Vinegar), as well as Will Howarth (Beast).

View the Trailer on YouTube

IN VITRO will have its UK Premiere on 27th February at Glasgow Film Festival. Tickets available HERE.

 


Saturday, 8 February 2025

British horror THE CELLAR - Set for release

The highly anticipated British horror film THE CELLAR is set for release in 2025, with the exact date still to be confirmed. Directed by Jamie Langlands, this psychological nightmare has already made waves on the festival circuit, winning over 20 international awards and securing nine official selections. The newly released trailer gives a terrifying glimpse into what promises to be one of the year's most unsettling horror films.

The story follows Abigail, a young girl who wakes up in a dark underground cell with no memory of how she got there. Trapped in a claustrophobic nightmare, she must fight to survive while uncovering the chilling truth about her situation. 

As reality blurs, the film explores trauma, fear, and the terrifying power of the unknown. Known for its eerie visuals and haunting sound design, The Cellar is already being praised for its ability to build tension and dread.

Langlands' debut feature is set to establish him as a director to watch, with a cast led by Meghan Adara as Abigail, alongside Neil James, Charlotte Marshall, and Mickaela Sands. The film has drawn attention for its atmospheric storytelling and psychological depth, promising a horror experience that lingers long after the credits roll. With the trailer now available, horror fans can prepare for a tense and unforgettable descent into darkness.

View the Trailer on YouTube.

Coming Soon!

Visit the Official Website... https://www.thecellarhorror.com

Visit the Official Facebook Page




Supernatural Horror THE CONTAINMENT - Coming Soon

Black Mandala is proud to present THE CONTAINMENT, directed by Jack Zagha Kababie and Yossy Zagha, a chilling supernatural horror that blends psychological terror with demonic possession, all set against the backdrop of deep family trauma. 

A young girl is consumed by a terrifying entity, its grip tightening with every passing day as she desperately fights to reclaim her own soul. Her mother turns to doctors, exorcists, and so-called experts, but none can expel the darkness festering within her. 

As the horror escalates and the line between the supernatural and reality begins to blur, a devout nun steps forward to confront the evil. 

But as she delves deeper, an even more horrifying truth emerges—one that suggests the greatest threat may not come from the demon itself, but from something far more insidious, something no prayer can save them from.

View the Trailer on YouTube

Coming Soon.


 

Sci-fi action thriller PROJECT SILENCE - Coming to UHD and BD

Sci-fi action thriller PROJECT SILENCE gets a 4K UHD release on 10th February from Altitude.

A gripping mix of action, sci-fi and horror, featuring a shady government experiment gone awry, a bridge on the verge of collapse, a toxic gas leak, and a band of trapped survivors being hunted by mutant killer dogs in thick fog.

A father, Jung-Won, and his daughter are on their way to Incheon Airport when a thick fog causes a massive chain-reaction crash on the airport bridge. They get stuck in the chaos when mutated military dogs are accidentally released from their transport vehicle and start preying upon humans. 

As the bridge is shut down, it is now up to Jung-won aided by the other survivors to figure out a way to make it through the night while uncovering the conspiracy behind the dogs.

Written and directed by Kim Tae-gon, and starring Parasite’s Lee Sun-kyun, PROJECT SILENCE is one hundred minutes of breathless mayhem and South Korean genre cinema at its best. 

The film is released in a 4K UHD edition, a beautifully designed collectable 4K UHD Steelbook edition, Blu-ray and DVD from 10th February.

View the Trailer on YouTube.

Buy the UK 4K UHD Steelbook from Amazon.co.uk

Buy the UK BD from Amazon.co.uk

Buy the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk





Rupert Russell, director of THE LAST SACRIFICE - Interview

THE LAST SACRIFICE Q & A with director Rupert Russell

Ahead of the UK premiere of horror documentary THE LAST SACRIFICE at FrightFest Glasgow 2025, director Rupert Russell reflects on the making of a grizzly true-crime investigation that probes into the eerie, enigmatic cultural undercurrents that shaped the British folk horror genre.

Q) Your film is having its UK premiere at this year’s FrightFest Glasgow event. Excited or what? 

Indeed, suitably close to Summerisle, the fictional island in The Wicker Man.

Q) What initially drew you to the project? 

Embarrassingly, I had only watched The Wicker Man for the first time in 2022. I did not see it as a horror film. To me, it was a documentary of what living in Britain was like over the past several years. The madness of Summerisle was indistinguishable from the madness of the British Isles. That climatic scene on the mountaintop, where Srgt. Howie pleads for his life, begging them to see that ‘killing me won’t save your apples’, only to be met by the collective shrug his Lordship gives, ‘I know it will’, for me has been an almost daily experience.

I was telling a close friend all this when he stopped me and said, ‘well, you know there was a real murder this was all based on?’

Q) It’s centered around the unsolved murder of Charles Walton in 1945, giving the documentary the feel of a true-crime investigation. What is the background to the case? 

A movie poster with a red backgroundDescription automatically generatedCharles Walton was a 74-year-old farm labourer who, on Valentine Day, 1945, was discovered in a field in the Cotswolds with a pitchfork in his face and a bellhook buried in his throat. The scene was so grizzly that the Warwickshire police called Scotland Yard requesting help, and they sent none other than Britain’s most famous detective: Robert Fabian of the Yard. When he arrived, he described the murder as a ‘slaughterhouse horror’. But despite his own investigation, and years and years of further attempts by the local police, no one was ever charged with the crime.

Q) What fascinated you about the case? 

The fascination for me wasn’t who did it, but who do we believe did it, and why? Mysteries are mirrors, they are reflections of ourselves. In the case of an unsolved murder, we project our paranoid fears and fantasies onto the face of the imagined killer. The theories that griped Britain were, therefore, really theories about the British themselves. And the theories that emerged contained many novel features we hadn’t seen before in fact or fiction. In particular, the theory that the source of danger was not the perennial outsider - the Nosferatu figure invading the city walls - but rather the otherwise ‘normal’ insider. The enemy within. 


Q) The rural setting and superstitious fears surrounding Walton's death mirror the isolation and community rituals in films like The Wicker Man. How did these parallels shape your storytelling? 


The parallels between fact and fiction was what excited me creatively about the film. I began the project by watching documentaries made of real witches in the 1960s, filled with a Mondo-esque mixture of exploitation and theatrics. On talking to real witches, some of whom appeared in the films, I discovered that despite the ‘hype’ they were in fact accurate portrayals of what was happening at the time. And, on the face of it, more outrageous and shocking than the Hammer and Tigon witchcraft films at the time. This spoke to the heat of the story, how fact and fantasy had become intertwined and often indistinguishable.

Furthermore, the conspiracies around the Walton murder informed the tropes of the folk horror films that were made at the time, and we now just take them for granted as the staple beats of the genre. But these did not come from the imaginations of screenwriters, but rather policeman and sleuth academics trying to make sense of a bizarre ‘ritual’ murder in rural Britain.


Q) The role of the tabloid media seemed to play a big part in fueling the public’s fascination with ritual sacrifice and the occult in post-war Britain. Do you think this impeded the murder investigation? 

No.  There was a delayed reaction, mostly spurned on by the chief inspector of the case, Robert Fabian of the Yard, whose memories, after he retired, brought the occult aspects to the public’s attention. In his 1945 police report, Fabian is quite explicit that the hinderance to the investigation were the local villagers themselves. He complained about their ‘secretive’ nature and refusal to fully cooperate with the police investigation. Fabian was convened that in a town of less than 500 people, the killer’s identity would have been widely known. Nobody seemed to care that there might be a demented killer terrorising the vulnerable. Unless, of course, they knew who the murderer was - and why the murder was committed. 


Q) What do you think is the enduring legacy of the Charles Walton murder, both in real-life folklore and its continuing influence on the horror film genre?
 

The folk horror movies of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s are the result of a collision of cultural forces. They’re an incoherent mishmash of all sorts of weird and wonderful things that were happening in Britain at the time. Authors, screenwriters and director joined the dots between the Walton murder, the rise of Wicca, the counterculture, the hippie movement, women’s liberation, the sexual revolution, class war and so much more. They all kind of swirled together in a technicolor vortex around the figure of the witch. This figure became a kind of organising metaphor for all that was being torn up and a warning of the new world that might be around the corner.


Q) How would you compare the British folk horror films of the ‘60s and early ‘70s to the American ones that came later? 

The British films all feature a member of the new professional class - a teacher, doctor, or policeman - who goes to a strange English village. They’re the victim of a conspiracy between the peasantry and an aristocrat who commands their loyalty through pagan gods or voodoo magic. They are paranoid tales of a reactionary counter-revolution, where Atlee’s new social democracy will be rolled back to a feudal time.

In contrast, the American films are about going somewhere foreign and are led by naive tourists, such as An American Werewolf in London or Midsommar. They encounter not a class conflict, but a cult: an ideology taken to a dangerous extreme. When you consider that the Americas are the place we dumped our own religious nutters in the 17th and 18th centuries, their fears may well be quite rational.


Q) What is your favourite folk horror movie? 

I was ignorant of the genre when I started making the film and it was a true joy to take a compressed crash course. My favourites would be Panda’s Fen, The Plague of the Zombies, Twins of Evil, and Demons of the Mind.


Q) Finally, what’s next for you? 

I have two fiction horror films that are in development, and another film archive doc.


THE LAST SACRIFICE
is showing at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Fri 7 March, 3.30pm, as part of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Glasgow 2025.

Rupert will be attending.

For more info on this and other films at the Festival and to book tickets, visit...
https://frightfest.co.uk/2025Glasgow/