FrightFest 2025 - Day 3

 FrightFest 2025 - Day 3

THE RED MASK

Director:

Ritesh Gupta

Cast:

Inanna Sarkis, Helena Howard, Kelli Garner, Jake Abel

UK-USA

 

 Written as a love letter to fans, which means we get a lot of meta genre content - going from self-referential slasher rules and filming in a cabin from the ‘Friday 13” franchise - but also critical of narrow and obsessive fandom. The romance is belaboured and ultimately just a platform for a a protagonist to become a kick ass bitch by means of montage for revenge. Again, a lot of emoting instead of storytelling. For a film protesting about something new, this is pretty standard, including the meta.

 

MARSHMALLOW

Director: Daniel DelPurgatorio

Cast: Kue Lawrence, Giorgia Whigham, Corbin Bernsen, Alysia Reiner

USA

 

Appealing summer camp kid’s anxiety horror, more in the line of “Goosebumps” than, say, “Class Trip” (1998). There are the archetypes without making them annoying, a slightly intrusive score, nice crisp photography, a reliance on nightmares, one of those premises that isn’t going to stand thorough scrutiny and the sense that the film only just got started when it ends.

 

SELF-HELP

Director: Erik Bloomquist

Cast: Jake Weber, Madison Lintz, Landry Bender, Amy Hargreaves.

USA

The anti cults-run-by-conman is a good target, but gets more hung up on its family angle. Which is strange as the film is seemingly confused about its protagonist being both the wronged innocent and a potential serial killer. There's an interesting film about manipulation and trauma lost in here somewhere.

 

 

CRUSHED

Director: Simon Rumley

Cast: Steve Oram, Nattapohn Rawddon, Margaux Dietrich, Sahajak Boonthanakit.

UK

 

One of those films that makes you feel you’ve visited somewhere very, very dirty, despairing and depraved. A witless teenager shows his young sister’s friend a crush video (animal cruelty is the instigating outrage) and traumatises her into thinking her beloved missing cat has also been a victim, setting off a horrendous chain of events. The almost slideshow means of presenting the story fragment by fragment without a score for guidance is reminiscent of, say, Thai director Edward yang, allowing the breadth of the societal repercussions from schoolboys to sex tourists to emerge. If it doesn’t quite land, the moral dead-ends and failures, the theological questioning, the hopelessness of finding existential certainty, the trauma caused by such dark business leaves this film haunting and bothering the mind long after, even if you feel you won’t want to watch it again.

 

 

JIMMY AND STIGGS

Director: Joe Begos

Cast: Joe Begos, Matt Mercer, Riley Dandy, James Russo.

USA

 

The opening POV long take is impressive and shows that Begos has innovation and vision: it’s also impressive that he conjured such a neon trip solely from his apartment. But then unfortunately it’s just Begos shouting FUCK every second and fighting either aliens or his pal who also shouts FUCK every second. One note, repetitive and consequently hard work.

 

 

HOLD THE FORT

Director: William Bagley

Cast: Mark Ashworth, Julian Smith, Chris Mayers, Michelle I Lamb

UK

 

 Fun and silly horror comedy, reminiscent of Joe Dante or even a daft "The Mist", if you will. If it does seem to run out of steam and errs on the side of slightly lingering emoting instead of bringing in more genre absurdity, its good nature and brevity make this thoroughly endearing. Absolutely, you're left with the certainty that there was far more in the premise.