HomeFilmFilm4 Frightfest 2014 – Day 3

Film4 Frightfest 2014 – Day 3

Day 3 hits London’s première horror film festival as Film4 Frightfest rolls on with even more horror gems.

Check out our reviews for The Guest, Zombeavers and Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For with more reviews coming soon.

The event runs from 21-25 August 2014.

For further programme details go to: www.frightfest.co.uk

Here’s what’s on offer for Day 3 of Film4 Frightfest 2014.

Sat Aug 23

All Cheerleaders Die (Preview)

Directors: Lucky McKee & Chris Sivertson. Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Brooke Butler, Tom Williamson, Chris Petrovski. USA 2013. 90 mins.

Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson join forces to create a wickedly ghoulish subversion of the sex comedy high school movie. Tragedy has rocked Blackfoot High. Students are mourning the shocking death of Lexi, captain of the cheer-leading squad. Enter Maddy who wants to make the cheerleading squad pay for their bullying and wanton ways and her weird loner neighbour Leena who claims to practise the Dark Arts. Before you know it a sect of murderous succubi are born. Let the supernatural vengeance begin…

I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (UK Premiere)

Director: Guy Pigden. Cast: Harley Neville, Jocelyn Christian, Ben Baker, Mike Edward, Andrew Laing. New Zealand 2014. 100 mins.

From the land of early Peter Jackson comes another Braindead movie in bad taste. It’s the third day of shooting the low budget horror ‘Tonight They Come’ on location in the wilds of New Zealand and a new runner joins the set – wannabe screenwriter Wesley Pennington, who falls head over heels for Susan, the set caterer. But something nasty has entered the local water supply and suddenly the zombie extras start acting like genuine members of the living dead, gore stunts looks even more authentic and actual severed limbs fly. Reel life turns real as Wesley attempts to save the day while ensuring his latest script will get made.

Starry Eyes (UK Premiere)

Directors: Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer. Cast: Alex Essoe, Noah Segan, Pat Healy, Amanda Fuller, Shane Coffey. USA 2014. 96 mins.

Determined to make it in Hollywood, reluctant waitress Sarah Walker (Alex Essoe) goes on countless casting calls in hope of getting her big break. After a series of weird auditions at the mysterious Astraeus Pictures, she lands her dream part. But with this opportunity comes bizarre ramifications that will transform her both mentally and physically into something beautiful… and altogether more terrifying. From Travis Stevens, producer of Cheap Thrills, an occult tale of ambition, possession and the true cost of fame and fortune.

The Harvest (UK Premiere)

Director: John McNaughton. Cast: Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton, Peter Fonda, Natasha Calis, Charlie Tahan. US 2013. 98 mins.

Director John McNaughton makes a welcome return to the genre with this eerie psychological thriller featuring two dynamite performances from Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon, as married medical professionals Katharine and Richard who keep their sick son Andy isolated from the outside world in their remote countryside house. When young Maryann moves in with her grandparents close by, her attempts to befriend Andy are met with vehement resistance by his over protective parents. Until one day she is forced to hide in the house and discovers the basement…

Life After Beth (London Preview)

Director: Jeff Baena. Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Anna Kendrick, Molly Shannon. USA 2014. 90 mins.

Called one of the most emotionally credible zom-rom-coms since Shaun of the Dead after its Sundance Film Festival premiere earlier this year, director Jeff Baena’s stunning debut feature is a delightfully demented screwball slapstick shocker. Zach is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend Beth. But when she miraculously comes back to life, he’s overjoyed. However the newly returned Beth isn’t quite how he remembered her, especially her signature rotting corpse aroma and habit of chewing up his car upholstery, and before long Zach’s whole world takes a turn for the worse.

The Babadook (UK Premiere)

Director: Jennifer Kent. Cast: Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinny, Benjamin Winspear.  Australia 2014. 92 mins.

Repulsion meets ‘The Gruffalo’ in writer/director Jennifer Kent’s Sundance acclaimed debut feature as the unresolved traumas of a conflicted mother and disturbed son manifest as a malevolent entity threatening to consume them both. Amelia (Essie Davis) and her son, Sam (Daniel Henshall), have had a raw deal in life. Her husband Oskar died six years prior while driving her to the hospital pregnant with Sam, and his birthday is a particularly painful reminder. But now things worsen dramatically. Samuel’s been having nightmares, and when a mysterious pop-up children’s book appears on his shelf titled ‘Mister Babadook’, he is finally able to put a name to the terror.

Film4 Frightfest 2014 Discovery Screen line-up

Sat Aug 23

Dead Within (World Premiere)

Director: Ben Wagner. Cast: Amy Cale Petersen, Dean Chekvala. US 2014. 91 mins.

Kim and Mike have survived a mysterious pandemic through routine and isolation. Their world is a cabin n the middle of nowhere. Mike ventures out to scavenge for supplies, but any time they open the door or make a noise they invite ravenous assailants. Kim remains in the cabin alone, armed only with kitchen knives and garden tools. She is tormented by images of the dead and her life that was and will never be. Soon her increasing paranoia will cause trust issues and her mind will no longer separate the real from the unreal…

White Settlers (World Premiere)

Director: Simeon Halligan. Cast: Pollyanna Mcintosh, Lee Williams, Joanne Mitchell, James McCreadie, Dominic Kay. UK 2014. 80 mins.

Young couple Ed and Sarah are set to begin a new life when they move from London into an isolated borders Scottish farmhouse. In bed on their first night Sarah thinks she can hear noises in the darkness but Ed is disbelieving. Persisting in her fear they are not alone in the house, she forces Ed to investigate. When he doesn’t return, she investigates, only to be confronted by a welcoming committee of masked intruders. As she desperately searches for Ed, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues with the mysterious assailants. But what do they want and what horrors do they have planned for the two newcomers?

Show Pieces (World Premiere)

Directors: Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins. Cast: Darrell D’Silva, Siobhan Hewlett, Robert Goodman, Andrew Buckley, Alan Moore. UK 2014. 71 mins.

Alan Moore invites you into his extraordinary world with a new motion picture experience. While several of Moore’s stories have become Hollywood blockbusters, he has never previously written specifically for the screen. Until now. Created with his close friend and internationally acclaimed photographer Mitch Jenkins, comes an interconnected trilogy of terror. ‘Act of Faith’ finds a young woman looking for the next step in sexual excitement and unfortunately finding it. ‘Jimmy’s End’ tails a serial philanderer down a dark alley into a very unusual club where the top-billed attraction is The Bad Brides and their Danse Macabre and ‘His Heavy Heart’ reveals the horrifying price paid for his adultery. Alan Moore will be our special guest at this prestigious world premiere event.

Digging Up the Marrow (World Premiere)

Director: Adam Green. Cast: Ray Wise, Adam Green, Tom Holland, Kane Hodder, Mick Garris. US 2014. 88 mins.

FrightFest favourite Adam Green gives us a documentary exploring genre-based monster art which then takes an odd turn into the blurring of fantasy and reality. As he and cinematographer Will Barratt are contacted by former policeman William Dekker who claims he can prove that monsters are indeed real. That they live in world just below our own named The Marrow and he knows where one of the entrances to this dark hidden universe is. Green of course is intrigued and so the monster hunting expedition begins… to become something else far more frightening than he ever imagined.

Creep (European Premiere)

Director: Patrick Brice. Cast: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass. US 2014. 81 mins.

After accepting an offer from Craigslist, Aaron (director Patrick Brice) drives to the house of a complete stranger offering $1,000 to film him for the day. Josef (Mark Duplass) explains to Aaron that he has cancer and wants to shoot a regular day in his life to show his unborn child. Fair enough, but then Josef starts making strange requests of what he wants filmed, from bath time to an exploratory hike in the woods for a naked swim to admitting their biggest regrets. Entirely improvised from a ten-page outline, the Safety Not Guaranteed duo of Brice and Duplass excel in a mumblecore masterpiece that will make you jump, make you cry and scare the hell out of you.

 

Jason Palmer
Jason Palmerhttps://8ce250469d.nxcli.io
Jason is a film contributor for Entertainment Focus (EF) bringing you the latest news and reviews from the movie world.

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