FrightFest, also known as Arrow Video FrightFest is an annual film festival held in London and Glasgow. The festival holds three major events each year: a festival running five days over the UK late August Bank Holiday weekend, a Halloween event held in London in late October, and a festival in Glasgow held around February as part of the Glasgow Film Festival.
The first event was held in London in 2000 and the first Glasgow festival was held in 2006. As its name indicates FrightFest primary focus is on the horror film genre, however, the event regularly features documentaries, science fiction and thriller films.
History
FrightFest was founded by film producer Paul McEvoy, film distributor Ian Rattray, and journalist and film critic Alan Jones, and television PR specialist Greg Day.[1] Paul McEvoy has stated that his initial idea for FrightFest "came from my love and admiration for the seminal 'Shock Around The Clock' events of the 1980s organised by Stefan Jaworszyn and Alan Jones."[2] The first event was in 2000 held at the Princes Charles cinema in London screening a selection of films over the August bank holiday.[3] In an interview with Starburst magazine, Alan Jones explained:[4]
Because I’d been a journalist for so long, I knew the film companies to talk to about getting films. It was easy enough. The reason we put it on the August bank holiday weekend really was because I live very near the Notting Hill Gate carnival – hate it – and wanted something to do, and thought there are other people as well who just couldn’t bear the carnival and the fact it took over the whole of London. So here was an alternative. We got a really good audience the first year and looking back, it’s grown and grown to where we are now.
— Martin Unsworth, Alan Jones | Film 4 FrightFest, Starburst
FrightFest is directed by Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray and Alan Jones. In 2006, Greg Day joined the company as a co-director.[6] McEvoy and Jones are heavily involved in the selection process for films and this can involve scouting other film festivals but watching all submissions that are made online.[4]
It is managed by the co-directors and two co-festival managers, and events are coordinated by volunteers. The FrightFest Advisory Board also includes those in the film industry professionals and previous FrightFest staff or volunteers, in voluntary positions. [7]
FrightFest has had a number of different sponsors over the span of its life, including the Horror Channel, Film4, Volkswagen Lupo [8], Bizarre magazine (of which the August issue was given away free), Xfm, Zone Horror and Play.com. [9]
Festival programme
The objective of FrightFest is to "provide the UK with a horror fantasy festival similar to the market leaders in Europe, Sitges (Spain) and Brussels (Belgium)."[6] FrightFest is organised in various strands:[10]
Main Festival
Event
Notes
FrightFest London
Takes place over 5 days showcasing horror, sci-fi, thriller and documentary films in August each year
Mini-Festivals
FrightFest Glasgow
Mini-festival event at Glasgow Film Theatre taking place over 3 days in March each year
FrightFest Halloween
Mini events that take place over Halloween each year at the ODEAN Luxe West End on Leicester Square, London
FrightFest organises a number of special events, and has in the past hosted Dario Argento at the Coronet,[11] HOSTEL Day, An Evening with Jessica Alba and COLD IN JULY with director Jim Mickle
Awards
FrightFest does not give out its own awards for the films selected and screened during the festival.
Total Film FrightFest Awards
Total Film publish their own awards for the festival, independent of FrightFest. Categories include: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Monster, Best Death, Best Scare, Best Gore, Best Gross-Out, Best WTF Twist, and Best for Striking Originality.[12]
The Screen International partnered with FrightFest from 2016 to 2022 when the festival was sponsored by Arrow Video, and presented The Screen International Rising Star Award to celebrate the work of emerging UK genre talent.[17]
The Screen International Rising Star Award
Year
Nominees
Winner
2016
Alice Lowe, Paul Hyett, The Ford Brothers, Kate Shenton and Shaun Robert Smith
Rex Steele Nazi Smasher, Oltro Ladrillo En La Pared (Another Brick in the Wall), La Guarida Del Ermitano (In The Hermits Lair), L'Autre (The Other), and Amor So De Mae (Love from Mother Only)
Gasoline Blood, In the Place of the Dead,Out of the Darkness, snatching time, Missed Call and Deadly Tantrum. The festival hosted the CUT! competition short film showcase, which was made up of Hammer Falls, Torn Flesh, The Silent Scream, Natural Birthing, A Very Grimm Fairytale, The Collector, Curta Veraso, The Fall Down, Dead Wood, and Kasting.
The festival brochure/programme expanded too with an original comic strip (Intermission by John-Paul Kamath of London Horror Comic) and an original short story by author/critic Kim Newman. Dave Andrew composed music for FrightFest, which played between movies and a FrightFest exclusive trailer for Hot Fuzz was presented by Edgar Wright.
The Bride was screened at the festival and on Saturday the Short Film Showcase was made up of the films We're Ready for you now, Dead @17, The Dear Hunter, Pig Tale, and Little Brats.
On the festival's final day FrightFest supported an attempt to break the Zombie Walk record to tie in with the showing of The Zombie Diaries. The walk was unsuccessful in breaking the record, falling short of the then current record held by a zombie walk held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
FrightFest Xtra a one-day event held at The Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley on the following Saturday and presented Santo in the Wax Museum, Espectro, and Mr. Brooks.
Other FrightFest events included the Zone Horror Cut short movie competition and the Film4 FrightFest short film showcase. The short films in the showcase were The Chest, The Amazing Trousers, Homework, is anyone there, Psycho Hillbilly Massacre, and Total Fury. Other short films shown at the festival were The Listening Dead and Left Turn, and Norman J. Warren introduced a separate compendium of shorts.
Deadwalkers, Paris By Night of the Living Dead and Sad Case
This tenth incarnation of the festival marked the first time the festival took place on two screens, a "Main Screen" for the major films of the festival and the "Discovery Screen" for some smaller entries which are repeated during the festival. John Landis was in attendance over the weekend and also introduced the screening of An American Werewolf in London. Joe Lynch and Adam Green returned as "The Douche Brothers" and screened the short "The Road to Frightfest" films they had created for last year's festival.
The Film 4 FrightFest international short film showcase was also held on the main screen, as was a quiz run by Andy Nyman.
This year introduced the Total Icons stand of films, sponsored by Total Film. Two films were pulled from the festival, the controversial A Serbian Film and Gregg Araki's Kaboom, the latter of which was pulled by the director himself. Screening A Serbian Film would have required that the organizers screen a heavily censored version approved by the British Board of Film Classification and Westminster council, which they were unwilling to do as "a film of this nature should be shown in its entirety". Director Tobe Hooper was in attendance and hosted a Q&A on the main screen as part of Total Icons.
This festival marked the first time that FrightFest's offerings would be shown on three screens, as the organisers offered a third "re-discovery screen", where attendees could watch remastered classic films. Another new addition was the introduction of the Variety Award, which would be presented by actor Simon Pegg to Gregory Nicotero for his work in the special effects field.
This year's Total Film Total Icon interview was with Dario Argento, which was hosted on the main screen
This year marked the addition of another screen, the "Extra Screen", which hosted additional screenings of any sell out titles. The prior year's Re-Discovery screen was not brought back in favor of a second Discovery screen. This year's Variety Spotlight interview was with director Ben Wheatley.
In addition to the change of venue it was announced that for 2016 FrightFest would include the entire 12 screen cinema as a venue for the first time.
As with previous years, the festival maintained the three main screen format, each screen known by the name of an individual sponsor (Horror Channel Screen, Arrow Video Screen and Splice Media Screen) and again each film was rotated between the three screens at different times to allow invited guests and introductions to be given on each screen. There were, once again, three Discovery screens.
Beware the Moon book launch, horror writing master class with James Moran, Women in Genre panel, Special FX demonstration, The Future of British Horror,
2017
Cineworld Leicester Square and The Princes Charles Cinema
Screen International Genre Rising Star Award presentation.
2019
Cineworld and Prince Charles Cinemas in Leicester Square
Come to Daddy, Crawl, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Rock, Paper and Scissors, I Am Toxic, Dark Encounter, Cut Off, Knives and Skin, Kindred Spirits, Bliss, Bullets of Justice,Dachra, Impossible Crimes, Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death Of Al Adamson, Sadistic Intentions, The Deeper You Dig, Fingers, The Wind, Girl on the Third Floor, To Your Last Death, Harpoon, Porno, Haunt, Red Letter Day, Tenebrae, The Dark Pictures' Man Of Medan, Freaks, Mutant Blast, Mary, Ghost Killers Vs. Bloody Mary, Feedback, The Drone, Madness In The Method, Why Don’t You Just Die!,I'll Take Your Dead, True Fiction, Extracurricular, Halloween Party, Volition, Death of A Vlogger, A Serial Killer's Guide to Life, Criminal Audition, Dark Sense, Are We Dead Yet, Duke Mitchell Film Party, The Dark Red, Critters Attack!, Happy Face, I Trapped the Devil, Spiral, Eat Brains Love, Daniel Isn't Real, Ready Or Not, Nekrotronic, The Furies, Stalked, The Magnificent Obsession Of Michael Reeves, Master Of Dark Shadows, The Sonata,Depraved, Witches In The Woods, Dark Light, Darlin', Bloodline,Fresh Blood Initiative, From Page To Scream, Rabid (1977), The Legend of The Stardust Brothers,The Black String, Satanic Panic, Tales From The Lodge, Rabid, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find,Deadcon, Driven, The Barge People, For We Are Many, The Wretched, The Banana Splits Movie, Stairs, The Perished, Here Comes Hell
Films shown on the discovery screens were Motherly, The Brilliant Terror, Shadow of the Cat, Night Drive, Hotel Poseidon, Red Snow, Pretty Boy, Isolation, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, Followers, Laguna Ave, The Parker Sessions, Bad Candy, The Unburied, Captive, Boy#5, Are We Monsters, The Last Rite, When the Screaming Starts, Bring Out the Fear, Censor, John and the Hole, Bloodthirsty, Forgiveness, Killer Concept, Woodlands: Dark and Days Bewitched, Post Mortem, Nocturna: Side A – The great Old Man’s Night, As In Heaven, So On Earth, Knocking, Greywood’s Plot, Mystery Spot, Antidote, She Watches From the Woods, and The Found Footage Phenomenon.
The films shown on the discovery screens were B*tch a**, Croc!, Splinter, The Eyes Below, Pussycake, The Summoned, Tiny Cinema, The Ones You Didn’t Burn, They Wait in the Dark, Hypochondriac, Raven’s Hollow, Everyone Will Burn, Mean Spirited, Cult of VHS, Holy S**t!, Swallowed, The Ghosts of Monday, Sissy, Sorry About the Demon, Everybody Dies by the End, The Breach, Hounded, Orchestrator of Storms, Wreck, Eating Miss Campbell, Cerebrum, The Group, The Devil’s Hour, Walking Against the Rain, Bite, The Duke Mitchell Film Party, Dog Soldiers, Control, Torn Hearts, Follow Her, Huesera, Powertool Cheerleaders Vs. The Boyband of the Screeching Dead, Deep Fear, Daughter, Night of the Bastard, Who Invited Them, The Leech, Keeping the British End Up!, The Last Client, Super Z, The Creeping, Do Not Disturb, Wolfkin, Family Dinner, The Ghost Writer, Stalker, Living With Chucky, New Religion, The Once and Future Smash, and End Zone 2.
The films scheduled to be shown on discovery screen one were Punch, Lore, A Million Years, Trim Season, How to Kill Monsters, Doctor Jekyll, Here for Blood, The Conjuring, The Moor, Isaac, The Glenarma Tapes, Haunted Ulster Live, REC, Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee, The Blue Rose, Sympathy For the Devil, Failure!, The Puppet Asylum and It Follows.
The films scheduled to be shown on discovery screen two were The J Horror Virus, Black Mold, What You Wish For, Poundcake, Werewolf Santa, River, Spookt, To Fire You Come at Last, Thorns, Triggered, Kims Video, The Black Mass, Alligator, T Blockers, I Am Monsters, Good Boy and Departing Seniors.
The films scheduled to be shown on discovery screen three were Eight Eyes, The Weird Kidz, The Knocking, The Ghost Station, Cobweb, Hostile Dimensions, Minore, 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever and The Darkside of Society
The films scheduled for Discovery Screen 1 were Cinderella's Curse, Carnage for Christmas, The Daemon, The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine, Scarlet Blue, The Bunker, Children of the Wicker Man, Mutilator 2, Touchdown, Scopophobia, Year 10, Protein, 7 Keys, Duke Mitchell Film Party, The A-Frame, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Never Have I Ever, Bogieville, Charlotte, Agatha and Scared Shitless.
The films scheduled for Discovery Screen 2 were I Will Never Leave You Alone, Happy Halloween, Drive Back, So Unreal, The Freaks of Fancy, Cursed in Baja, Delirium, From Figment to Finance, In the Name of God, Boutique: To Preserve and Collect, Video Vision, The Monster Beneath Us, Dark Match, AI: For You, Cara, Derelict, Razor Blade Smile, Schlitter: Evil in the Woods, Fright, Generation Terror and Members Club.
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, Tape 407: The Mesa Reserve Incident, Crawl, The Day, War Of The Dead,Evidence, Penumbra, Rites of Spring, Wang's Arrival, Cassadaga (replaced The Devil Inside), The Raid
Also during the 2 days all 7 episodes of the Norwegian TV series Hellfjord were screened, with episodes playing before selected films with cast & crew in attendance over the weekend.
Ghost Stories, The Lodgers (cancelled due to weather), The Wanderers: Quest of the Demon Hunter, Attack of the Bat Monsters, The Ravenous - Les affamés, Cold Skin, Primal Rage,Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil, Pyewacket, Friendly Beast, Secret Santa, Tigers are not Afraid - Vuelven, Sixty Minutes to Midnight
2019
Lords of Chaos,Level 16, The Dead Center, Here Comes Hell, Black Circle, Dead Ant (aka Giant Killer Ants), The Rusalka (aka The Siren), Automata, Finale, The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion, Freaks, The Hoard
2020
Synchronic, Death of a Vlogger,The Cleansing Hour + Cubicle + Live Forever, In the Quarry + Black Mass, Sea Fever + Simon Boswell, A Ghost Waits, The Mortuary Collection, A Night Of Horror: Nightmare Radio (rescheduled to earlier due to technical issues), Zombie For Sale, Saint Maud, Butt Boy + Fatale Collective: Bleed, VFW, Anderson Falls
2021
Run Hide Fight, The Old Ways, The Woman With Leopard Shoes, Out of This World, Vicious Fun and American Badger. Short films Special Delivery and Eye Exam were also included.[25]
FrightFest Glasgow took place online between Friday 5 March and Sunday 7 March. An in person event was not possible due to Covid 19 restrictions.
Smoking Causes Coughing, Sisu,#chadgetstheaxe, Irati, Mother Superior, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Pensive,Hunt Her, Kill Her, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Consecration, Little Bone Lodge, Here For Blood, 13 Exorcisms
2024
You'll Never Find Me,The Soul Eater, The Deep Dark, The Invisible Raptor, Wake Up, Kill Your Lover,Mom, The Funeral, Custom, The Well, All You Need is Death, Last Straw
Shorts shown during the festival: Mouse from Ewan J Fletcher and Subject 73 from Reiff Gaskell.[27]
FF Glasgow 2025
The 2025 edition is due to take place on March 6, 7 and 8 at the Glasgow Film Theatre.[28]
Extra FrightFest Events
Extra FrightFest events are listed below:
Date
Location
Event
Notes
2005
Vue Cinemas, Leicester Square
Descent premiere
In 2005 FrightFest helmed a gala preview of The Descent attended by Dir. Neil Marshall and the cast. The event was held at The Vue Cinema Leicester Square.
One day event returning to the PCC held in May 2005. A day built around the audience premiere of The League of Gentlemen's movie debut. The day started with a film selected by a League member. It also saw the audience premiere of Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects.
Event run in conjunction with Lionsgate. The 70-seat screen at the Rex Bar[33] in London's Soho means that audience attendance is allotted by competition.
The UK premiere of The Eye 2008 remake. Film was shown in the screening room of One Aldwych. Jessica Alba introduced the movie, stayed for a Q&A session and signed memorabilia.
An exclusive to the event poster was designed by Graham Humphreys and was exceptionally limited.
24 May 2009
ICA, London
Drag Me to Hell with Sam Raimi
Frightfest, in conjunction with the ICA and Lionsgate, played host to the first UK showing of Drag Me to Hell. In attendance were Sam Raimi, Justin Long and Alison Lohman.
2009
Prince Charles Cinema
Spring Awakening Day 2009
Frightfest returned to the Prince Charles Cinema for a one-day event.
On 26 May 2010, FrightFesters and horror fans alike were lucky enough to attend the World Premiere of Chris Smith's Black Death, courtesy of Revolver Entertainment. Cast and Crew were in attendance.
Tuesday 26 June 2012
Cineworld, Haymarket, London
Storage24
FrightFest hosted a free preview screening of the film Storage 24 on Tuesday 26 June 2012 at Cineworld Haymarket, London. The screening was attended by director Johannes Roberts and lead actor Noel Clarke.
Friday 12th January to Friday 18th January 2013
Princes Charles Cinema, London; FilmHouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre; Sheffield, Showroom; Leeds, Hyde Park Picturehouse; Bristol, Watershed; Brighton, Duke of York
American Mary Cinema Tour 2013
FrightFest hosted a cinema tour to promote the film American Mary, the directors Soska sisters and lead actor Katharine Isabelle were present on the tour, introducing the film and taking part in post-show question and answer sessions at each screening.
FrightFest hosted a screening of Iron Sky Dictator's Cut at the Prince Charles Cinema on Saturday 1 February 2014. Special guests attending were director Timo Vuorensola and producer Tero Kaukomaa.
Tuesday 1 April 2014
Cineworld, Haymarket, London
The Raid 2
FrightFest hosted a special free preview screening of The Raid 2: Berandal at Cineworld Haymarket, London, on Tuesday 1 April 2014. The screening was attended by director Gareth Evans and stars Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, who also staged a demonstration fight during the post-screening Q&A. Tickets were given away free and were all allocated in 20-minutes.
Wednesday 4 June 2014
Princes Charles Cinema
Oculus
FrightFest hosted a free preview screening of Oculus at Prince Charles Cinema, London, on Wednesday 4 June 2014.
Monday 23 June 2014
Vue Cinemas, London
Cold in July
FrightFest hosted a free preview screening of Cold in July at Vue Cinemas, West End, London, on Monday 23 June 2014. The screening was attended by director Jim Mickle who introduce the film and took part in a post screening Q&A.
Thursday 3 July 2014
Prince Charles Cinema
Video Nasties: Draconian Days Documentary
FrightFest hosted the London Premiere of Nucleus Films documentary Video Nasties: Draconian Days at Prince Charles Cinema on Thursday 3 July 2014 at 8.30PM. The event was hosted by Paul McEvoy and feature a post screening Q&A with director Jake West, Marc Morris, Alan Jones, David Flint and Julian Petley.
Blogs
Regular blogs are now a feature of the festival's website. They began with The Alan Jones Diary and a guide to DVDs Gore in the Store. Recently it has grown to include more blogs which cover Video Games, TV, the Australian horror scene, foreign language genre fare, HD format releases, Memorabilia and Comics.
The 2009 annual redesign of the website added two more blogs and a regular review blog from Alan Jones.
The organisers of the festival blog annually about their visits to the Cannes Film Festival and the Fantastic Fest in Austin Texas.
FrightFest Originals
Launched in August 2012, FrightFest Originals is a range of limited edition posters featuring new artwork for classic and modern feature films. Posters can be purchased through the dedicated FrightFest Originals online website or at FrightFest events.
FrightFest Presents
In 2005 a "FrightFest Presents" DVD label was created and briefly distributed Dead Meat, Malefique, Tears of Kali, Eyes of Crystal and The Roost within the UK.[34]
The label was an imprint of Revolver Entertainment.
In 2015, the label was revived in cooperation with Icon Film Distribution. Films to be released from October 2015 are Night of the Living Deb, Some Kind of Hate, Last Girl Standing, AAAAAAAAH!, Afterdeath, Landmine goes click, Emelie, The Lesson, Estranged.[35]
FrightFest Features
On 23 May 2011 FrightFest Features DVD label was launched, the first 2 DVDs released were both films that had previously played in the festival: Italian director Federico Zampaglione's 2007 film Shadow and the 2007 New Zealand action comedy The Devil Dared Me To. Films will be released theatrically and for home entertainment, the label is launched in conjunction with Wild Bunch.
Quiz
In 2005 the FrightFest quiz was introduced. The first quiz was spread over the weekend but was then streamlined. In 2007 the quiz was devised by Alan Jones and was remarked upon as being especially challenging. This quiz was conducted by British Horror institution David McGillivray.
2010 saw the introduction of Andy Nyman's Quiz from Hell, an audiovisual horror movie quiz projected on the massive Empire Screen 1. Hosted by Andy Nyman, the quiz saw several hundred horror fans answering questions from a range of categories including 'What happens next? - Guess the Death', Movie Monsters, horror soundtrack themes and trivia. The Quiz from Hell, with its opening horror movie montage, audiovisual clips and all questions, was put together by Simon Williams and Lee-Jay Bannister, the brains behind the London-based film-themed pub quiz You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.[36] The quiz returned in 2011 as Andy Nyman's Quiz from Hell 2.
Ticketing
Tickets are sold with the option of a weekend pass or individual tickets. 2007 saw the introduction of Day Passes. Weekend passes go on sale, typically, on 1 July each year with individual tickets on sale a month later. Tickets are bought online, by phone or in person.
Since 2005, a growing group have congregated in person to buy tickets for the festival. The start time of this queue has been earlier each year earning it the nickname "The Sleepy Queue".
Weekend pass holders are presented with a "goodie bag" of freebies. This is a mixture of promotional items and posters, badges, T-shirts and DVDs.