So, looking at the three Discovery Screens for the first full day of FrightFest will bring many horror fans out in hives as there’s so much choice.
How To Kill Monsters is the welcome return of Stewart Sparke to FrightFest, a creative who always brings with him content which is made fromthe heart of a life-long horror movie fan. Jamie Lancaster is the sole survivorof a bloody massacre at a remote cabin in the woods. Claiming her friends were torn apart and eaten by a horrific monster, she's arrested and locked up for a crime she didn't commit. But Jamie's assertion of innocence was real because,suddenly, the entire police station is ripped from reality and thrown into a nightmarish dimension of Lovecraftian monsters hungry for human flesh. To survive the night, Jamie must team up with rookie cops and lawbreakers to slash their way through a monster army and find a way to get back home. Stewart never disappoints and is sure to continue his amazing run with this one.
Horror of a more gothic kind is also on show with Eddie Izzard starring in Hammer’s Doctor Jekyll. An isolated mansion, a mysterious locked room, creepy corridors, a dusty cellar and a mad doctor, what more could you want? When ex-convict Rob takes up the position of carer to the infamous Nina Jekyll, little does he know he's part of an evil master plan devised by her alter ego Rachel Hyde. But to what lengths will Rob go to satisfy his client's weird wishes and his own ambitions for the daughter he has never even seen.
The J-Horror Virus is a compelling and informative look at this horror genre which peaked with the smash hits The Grudge and The Ring. Directors Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp get right under the skin of this much loved genre with interviews with main players as well as uncovering how the movies reflected on urban alienation and social decay.
Social commentary is punched to its limit in Onur Tukel’s Poundcake. A savage serial killer is murdering straight white men in New York City. No one cares. Late at night the hulking brute, wielding heavy chains,cruises the mean streets of Manhattan looking for victims to punish in the most unspeakable ways. As podcasters, social influencers and the concerned population at large discuss the killings in socio-political, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and other current issue terms, the executioner relentlessly continues his slaughter spree. This is one of the movies where FrightFesters will be discussing this at length for weeks to come.
If you fancy some animated chills then Zach Passero’s The Weird Kidz is the movie for you to catch today. Dug, Mel, and Fatt are12-year-old boys navigating life in their desert suburb. Dug's older brother Wyatt takes the trio on a camping trip to a canyon with his new, awesome girlfriend Mary. She doesn't go unnoticed by Mel and Fatt, who have just descended into puberty. Late bloomer Dug just dreams of smores and ghost stories. On a pit stop, the gas station attendant shares tales of 'The Night Child', an ancient creature that feeds on tourists. Funny with real heart, I’d love to see this as the start of a new movie franchise.
A South Korean horror is also screening today which goes back to old school thrills, The Ghost Station. A public service worker at Oksu Station witnesses a shocking incident and recruits his friend to help uncover the truth behind the station's mysterious happenings first reported on by a journalist trying to make sense of a murder case. Could the location of the station be the key to the numerous strange events occurring in a fright night hybrid of Korean and Japanese eerie atmospherics.
