We’re big fans of Arrow Video FrightFest here at SciFiNow – the horror and fantasy film festival never fails to beguile, amaze and sometimes… well… disgust us with its superb collection of genre movies. Now, after a successful digital event last summer, the festival is back in physical form at the Cineworld Leicester Square from Thurs August 26 – Monday 30 August, 2021.
Now, the 25 films to be presented on the main screen have been announced, and they include four world premieres and eight International/European premieres. Here’s what we know about them…
Demonic
Opening the festival is the latest new vision from artist Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9. Shot in secret last summer in British Columbia, Blomkamp takes us on a unique voyage into a world terrifyingly similar to our own as he expertly juggles a thought-provoking crossover between science fiction and hi-tech horror.
The Sadness
The closing night film is the UK premiere of Rob Jabbaz’s feature debut, The Sadness. After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The age of civility and order is no more. There is only ‘The Sadness’…
Prisoner Of The Ghostland
Gunslingers, ghosts and cults… Sion Sono’s movie stars Nicholas Cage in full Cage Rage in the UK premiere of this post-apocalyptic Grindhouse classic.
The Show
Comic book icon Alan Moore was last at FrightFest in 2014 with Show Pieces and he and director Mitch Jenkins team up once more to present the UK Premiere of mystery fantasy The Show.
Crabs!
This shellshock creature feature is another world premier taking place at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021.
No Man Of God
Elijah Wood is on top form as an FBI profiler assigned to interview Ted Bundy in No Man Of God, which will receive its European Premiere at the festival.
The Retalliators
A hilariously gory crowd pleaser which features cameos and music by Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Five Finger Death Punch and Papa Roach.
Evie
FrightFest favourite Dominic Brunt is back with Evie, his thrilling and frighteningly sinister take on the shape-shifting Selkie myth, co-directed with Jamie Lundy and starring Michael Smiley.
The Kindred
The festival will be hosting the world premiere of British chiller The Kindred, with many of the stars attending, including James Cosmo, Steve Oram, April Pearson and Samantha Bond.
FrightFest’s ‘New Blood’ Initiative
Broadcast Signal Intrusion is the first feature to proudly spring from FrightFest’s innovative ‘New Blood’ initiative with Queensbury Pictures / MP Media, receiving its UK Premiere. As will the unbearably tense, electrifying thriller Coming Home In The Dark, the one-take time travel suspense comedy Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes and from Kazakhstan, the cruelly comic misadventure Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It.
Further FrightFest UK Premiers
Other UK premieres at this year’s event include Alex Noyer’s extraordinarily eye and ear-opener Sound of Violence, supernatural Thai slasher The Maid, the South African fantasy Gaia, the award-winning boy meets monster indie sensation Slapface, The Advent Calendar, which heralds the return of outré French horror and the oddest US genre entry for years, the extreme comedy King Knight.
Further FrightFest International Premiers
A prime example of the Mexploitation New Wave is The Exorcism Of Carmen Farias and FrightFest will be presenting the International premiere of Rodrigo Fiallega’s blood-drenched shocker. There are also International premieres for Julien Knafo’s mutant-tastic Brain Freeze and Offseason, director/writer Mickey Keating’s quantum leap into the big time with an astonishing slice of Southern Gothic.
Further FrightFest European Premiers
There are also European premieres for Edoardo Vitaletti’s The Last Thing Mary Saw, a Canadian dark tale of witchcraft, black magic and possession starring Rory Culkin, the German Seventies nostalgia-fest Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes and Rob Schroeder’s startling puzzle box Sci-Fi mystery, Ultrasound.
FrightFest Short Films
Three sensational shorts will be screening at this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest: the World Premiere of Mask Of The Evil Apparition from Alex Proyas (I, Robot, The Crow) part of his ‘Dark City’ cinematic universe, Stuffed from Theo Rhys, a fantastic full blown musical extravaganza, and the World Premiere of Scott Derrickson’s (Sinister/Doctor Strange) Shadowprowler, a distinctive take on the home invasion thriller.
We’ll have more from the event over the next couple of months so keep it SciFiNow to find out the latest!
ArrowVideo FrightFest 2021 will be taking place at Cineworld Leicester Square from Thurs August 26 – Monday 30 August, 2021. Find out more here.
