By Ben Bussey FrightFest’s February weekend event in Glasgow is typically the first major horror festival event of the year, and this year’s line-up has now been announced. And it’s pretty damn enticing. Scroll on down for the skinny, direct from the press release… *** From Friday Feb 22nd to Saturday Feb 23, the UK’s [...]

by Ben Bussey Stock up on your Pro-Plus, Red Bull and espresso, UK horror fans. No, Freddy isn’t back (as far as I know), but FrightFest have a Halloween all-nighter coming up, for which they’ve just announced the line-up. With the first movie starting at 6.30pm and the last at 5.45am, this one’s going to seperate the [...]

Review by Stephanie Scaife Okay, so I have a confession to make and I may be entirely alone in this but I actually kind of like Boxing Helena. There, I said it. Of course I mean in a so-bad-it’s-good sort of a way, but I certainly don’t regard it as one of the worst films [...]

Review by Tristan Bishop Cockneys vs Zombies screened as the second film of Frightfest 2012, following the grim but stunning The Seasoning House, and what a change of pace and mood that was. Cockneys vs Zombies is a film that very much sells itself on its title, and that which it promises it delivers, although [...]

Review by Tristan Bishop Special effects artists occupy a strange place in the world of film. Often all but ignored by the mainstream (especially in these days of overdone CGI), the best of them are lauded as heroes by the horror (and sci-fi) communities.  Witness, for example, Gregory Nicotero being (rightly) honoured at this years [...]

Review by Nia Edwards-Behi Editor’s note: following on from Steph’s review, here’s another look at the film from Nia. Two reviews of the same film back-to-back might seem like overkill, but Nia has so much to say on the subject, how could we decline? Just call us the Soskas Appreciation Society – and beware of [...]

Review by Stephanie Scaife Although my time at FrightFest was brief this year, I did manage to catch Jen and Sylvia Soska’s eagerly anticipated follow up to their cult debut Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009), American Mary. This time they’ve forgone the B-movie aesthetic and produced something altogether more polished and unusual: a surreal [...]

Review by Ben Bussey Film is a powerful and mysterious thing. No wonder it becomes an obsession for so many of us, as it affects us in ways we do not completely understand, by means that are often completely unknown to us. For this reason, there can be a particuar potency to films which centre [...]

Festival Report by Ben Bussey FrightFest the 13th: unlucky for some? For this writer, perhaps so, I’m afraid. This was my third visit to the festival, but this time around circumstances dictated I couldn’t attend the full five days, having to instead make do with the bulk of the middle three. As such, I had [...]

Review by Ben Bussey Remember a time when we didn’t instinctively hate every remake that came along the second it was announced? I’m guessing that’s going to be a stretch for many of us, given it’s been near enough a full decade since some bunch of upstarts thought they could make a bit of money [...]

Review by Ben Bussey Send in the clowns. They’re a classic for creeping you out, aren’t they? Be they killers from outer space, phantoms that live in the drains or weird old guys carrying the dubious title of Captain, those red-nosed, white-faced bastards with painted-on smiles have been putting the shits up us all, young [...]

Review by Nia Edwards-Behi I have a feeling you might all misunderstand me when I compare REC3 to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. You’re all going to think I hated it. Well, no. I love The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 almost as much as the original, and when I say REC3 is the Chainsaw 2 [...]

Review by Ben Bussey Man, it seems a long time since Outpost came out. With the killer concept of hard-as-nails 21st century soldiers taking on undead Nazi stormtroopers, it was a film that seemed destined for cult status; however, for this writer at least it fell some way short of meeting its full potential. Now, over four [...]

Review by Ben Bussey Amongst the many various cast and crew anecdotes on the extras of The Victim, one stands out as particularly amusing/faintly disturbing (funny how often those two overlap): actor Ryan Honey recounts a key scene in which – spoiler alert, I guess – his character had to choke out that of his [...]

by Ben Bussey FrightFest 2012, aka FrightFest the 13th, is now less than two weeks away, and it’s pretty standard behaviour for them to spring a few last minute surprises on us. In-keeping with this, we’ve just learned that this year sees the first presentation of the FrightFest Variety award, in cahoots with Variety magazine [...]

Direct from the press release, with thanks to Greg Day: Maniacs, monsters, demons, creepy kids, apocalyptic visions, phobias, heavy metal meltdown and snails… Welcome to this year’s wild and eclectic mix of cutting edge short films from the global arena of the fantasy and horror genre. The ninety-minute film extravaganza is a tasty selection box [...]

by Ben Bussey It’s the list we’ve been waiting for. It does not disappoint. So without further ado, I will hit ctrl/v, and you may read on and enjoy. Yes, I’m excited… With more movies, more variety, more premieres, more previews, more guests and just more, more, more… FILM4 FrightFest the 13th is delighted to [...]