The Commuting Dead To 31, FrightFest Unveils It’s 2016 Line Up

From grindhouse to art-house, feel-good to squeal-good, blockbuster to ghostbuster FrightFest returns in all its gory glory,New sponsor, New venue most importantly 2016 Line up has been revealed!

Now in it’s 17th year the world’s biggest genre festival Horror Channel Frightfest reuniting with horror fans world wide in there new venue at London’s Vue Sheppard’s Bush. When horror family get together next month (25th-29th August) they will be treated to 62 feature films embracing 16 countries worldwide, 6 continents. From British first timers, emerging international visionaries and establish filmmakers will congregate in London’s West end treating fans to 19 World Premieres, 35 UK&European premieres.

The mammoth event will kick off with an European Premiere of Sean Bronson‘s stylish uber violent thriller My Father, Die starring Joe Anderson (Hannibal TV, The Crazies). The gore fest will end with us joining ‘The Commuting Dead’ when Cannes Korean zombie shocker Sang-ho Yeon‘s Train To Busan (UK Premiere) takes you on a first class horror action thrill-ride, mixing slaughter, suspense and splatter with incredible visual élan.

So what other  monstrous fun of goodies do you have in store? The scream of the crop from all over the globe, strongly represented in our line-up of World Premieres by the incredible Italian supercar tension-ratcheting Monolith. We then go Dutch with the gory treat The Windmill Massacre starring Noah Taylor , the stunning South African nightmare From A House On Willow Street. Tricia Lee’s creepy Canadian chiller Blood Hunters  and three American shock absorbers Knucklebones, Enclosure and  1960’s schlock Blood Feast gets an 21st Century Eurotrash remake.

British horror has had a promising year and to reflect that success, fans will be treated to 12 UK World Premieres. Shaun Robert Smith’s intensely powerful Broken, Jon Ford’s visceral revenge thriller Offensive, Wyndham Price’s dark fantasy Crow starring Terrence Stamp, Nick Moran sees developers face the wraith of moving settlers. Kate Shenton’s auto-satire Egomaniac , Ben Parker’s claustrophobic The Chamber, Marty Stalker’s shock-doc Hostage  To The Devil and Andy Edward’s sun, sea and sex gore-fest Ibiza Undead.

Five of the UK World Premieres make up the ‘First Blood’ strand, in which home-based directors are given a chance to shine with their debut efforts. The films are Phillip Escott’s harrowing Cruel Summer, Brad Watson’s urban gang shocker Hallow’s Eve, James Crow’s deadly House Of Salem, Stewart Spark’s 666 Short Cuts To Hell entry The Creature Below and Lawrie Brewster’s PTSD-inspired The Unkindness Of Ravens.

Other festival highlights in the Main Screen strand include the European Premiere of Outcast  Adam Wingard’s intense chiller of the moment, The Woods . destined to be one of the key horrors of 2016. We also have this year’s most ferocious possession movie in Cody Calahan’s Let Her Out. Those (like us) disappointed that  Todd William’s Cell never played Glasgow Frightfest you’ll be glad to hear  it’s playing next month. Based on Stephen King novel starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. Then there is the top box office Italian sensation They Call Me Jeeg Robot, Adam Rifkin’s tour-de-force Director’s Cut , starring Penn Jillette. The highly anticipated Rob Zombie’s ultra-violent grindhouse slasher 31 is set for it’s European Premiere next   ‘Saw’ man Darren Lynn Bousman’s graphic novel inspired Abbatoir, Simon Rumley’s  Johnny Frank  Garrett’s  Last Word delivers a curse on those who unfairly , Jackson Stewart’s supernatural switcheroo Beyond The Gates, Hot from it’s Uk premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival the zombie theme park hell ride The Rezort makes it’s London Premiere., The full-blooded cracker Red Christmas, the cryogenic chiller Reallive, the home invasion twister Mercy, the darkly unpredictable Pet, starring Dominic Monaghan takes obsession to another level.The beguilling The Master Cleanse, with The Big Bang Theory’s Jonny Galecki and Anna Friel.

FrightFest  head to South America a major genre player at the festival and they will be presenting seven specialities from Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico. Daniel de la Vega’s White Coffin is co-written by FrightFest favourite Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Laura Casbe’s Benavidez’s Case  stretches surrealist boundaries, Patricio Valladares’ Downhill mines H. P. Lovecraft for inspiration. Through The Shadow  puts Henry James’ classic tale of terror ‘The Turn of the Screw’ through a south of the border filter. The Similars  is pure ‘Twilight Zone’ inspiration, Franceca is a thrilling Buenos Aires take on giallo and We Are The Flesh  comes with serious artistic endorsements from fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

The Discovery Screen strand is as bold as ever and includes a restored version of Shelden Renan’s controversial documentary The Killing Of America. Another Edinburgh FIlm Festival favourite is Anna Biller’s gloriously art-directed The Love Witch will cast it’s spell on Frightfesters. the cursed silent movie Fury Of The Demon, the Berlin Film Festival break-out, Shelley, the visionary sci-fi fantasy Lost Solace and the darkly hilarious ghost-busting Another Evil. Then there’s Julian T. Pinder’s chilling murder investigation Population Zero, Martin Owen’s High-tech underground thriller terror Let’s Be Evil. Tim Reis’ slimy creature feature Bad Blood:The Movie and Michael Boroweic’s acute study of alien paranoia, Man Underground.

Witness the stag party from hell in The Unravelling, the bad taste shenanigans of Night Of Something Strange , the viral thrills of The Evil In Us , the vehicular chills of Paranormal Drive. The die-hard dystopia of Here Alone, the eye-popping shocks of Found Footage 3D, and the ‘goriously’ insane Attack Of The  Lederhosen Zombies will have you yodelling with laughter.

Ahead of its FrightFest Presents DVD release, there is another chance  Road Games on the big screen, this time with a live interactive commentary with director Abner Pastoll and a London premiere for one of the movies shown earlier this year at FrightFest Glasgow, Sean Byrne’s The Devil’s Candy.

The Duke Mitchell Film Club will  back with Kim Sang-Chan’s outrageously infectious Karaoke Crazies (our review is over at which made it’s UK premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival and a first showing of all three episodes of the mesmerising French TV mini-series Beyond The Walls.

Alan Jones, co-director of FrightFest, said today: “For seventeen years now FrightFest has led the way through landmark changes in the genre, altered perceptions of fandom and embraced the revolutions in platforms and distribution models. It continues to do so this year with a breathtaking selection of genre attractions with the widest appeal and breadth of focus. We stand out because we stand for something special – a one-stop roadmap through everything you need to see to be totally up to speed with what the next year in horror fantasy will be all about”.

This year’s special events, retrospective programme, the guest list and the Short Film Showcase entries will be announced in the coming weeks.

As ever we Support Horror Channel FrightFest and wish them the best of Luck! We will have our hot picks for the festival coming up

Festival and day pass sales will go on sale Saturday  2 July at noon and will only be available to buy online: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html Single tickets will go on sale on Saturday 23 July.