FrightFest Halloween 2025

FrightFest Halloween 2024

 

Primate

Director ~ Johannes Roberts

Writers ~ Ernest Riera, Johannes Roberts

2025, USA

Stars ~ Johnny Sequoyah, Troy Kotsur, Jessica Alexander

 

Rabid simian versus privileged/uninteresting/obnoxious pretty young things. Fearing the audience isn’t one for a build-up, it starts by skipping ahead to its first kill, which is admittedly a good one for grabbing the attention. From there, we’re in a super-deluxe picturesque house on a cliff edge (why do they call for help? Who do they think will hear?) where the family keep a chimpanzee as a pet: unfortunately, sweet Ben gets rabies (the film even notes that Hawaii isn’t an area that gets rabies?) and goes on the rampage. It’s as if someone saw the more disturbing chimp sections in ‘NOPE’ and went, “oh! I have an idea!” (although there is a history of killer chimps from ‘Phenomena’ to ‘Link’). Good kills, nicely filmed and staged but distinctly standard fare. Its most impressive aspect is the performance of Miguel Torres Umba as Ben.

 

 

Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon

Writer + Director ~ Jason Howden

2025, New Zealand

Stars ~ Milo Cawthorne, Kimberley Crossman, James Joshua Blake

 

Crowd-funded and shot in Canada, this is the sequel to the 2015 original, which I remembered liking as being a sort of ‘Bill & Ted’ metal-horror funny crowd pleaser full of affectionate fun-making of the scene. This sequel is rude crude gory silly, occasionally amusing in its excess (the glory hole episode will likely be your test) but overlong, sometimes simply crass and more hit-and-miss.

Every Heavy Thing

Writer + Director ~ Mickey Reece

2025, USA

Stars ~ Josh Fadem, James Urbaniak, Barbara Crampton

 

Although opening with its weakest scene – bare breasts and vocal fry – there’s increasing intrigue, jazzed up with video effects and dream sequences that are integral. There’s a pleasing retro-futurist tone to these interjections. Josh Faden impresses as the “almost cool” Joe, an underachiever finding himself embroiled with serial killers and tech bro obsessions. There are women disappearing without a trace (even if there’s blood spray left behind?) and Joe isn’t feeling too good. The vibe is everyday living, which works well with the hint of Philip K. Dick-like “Failing Reality” and being caught up with another’s sociopathy, but there’s also a closing scattering of “that’ll do” that undermines any conclusion. A fascinating and ambitious near miss.

 

Dolly

Director ~ Rod Blackhurst

Writers ~ Rod Blackhurst, Brandon Weavil

2015, USA

Stars ~ Fabianne Therese, Russ Tiller, Michalina Scorzelli

 

Hitting that 16mm ‘70s Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven vibe hard, Blackhurst’s Don’t Go Off the Trail public service announcement is ugly and derivative in all the right places, making this a solid homage to those bareknuckle disturbing trendsetters. It introduces a formidable porcelain baby-faced monster, lots of ikkiness to do with her obsession with making a kidnapped woman her baby and some shock-gore that delivers exactly what it sets out to do. Fabianne Therese also makes for a better-than-average victim that must kick in her brutal survivalist mode to get out, as well as confront fears of monstrous motherhood.

 

Affection

Writer + Director ~ BT Meza

2025, USA

Stars ~ Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne

 

The emotional and physical range of Jessica Rothe truly elevates what could have been a fun enough Who Am I? sci-fi thriller. She is scary in her confused state as well as warm and maternal as things evolve. Julianna Layne’s child performance is also above par, and Joseph Cross never gives up on the emotional motivations of his character. As a chamber piece of unravelling identities and revelations, the themes of gaslighting, mistrust, insurmountable grief and choosing what to care about again show that science-fiction can get to those nooks and crannies of the human condition that other genres can’t quite reach. It not adverse to plot holes and the other weaknesses, but it is fun, ambitious and full-blooded.

 

Posthouse

Director ~ Nikolas Red

Writers ~ Nikolas Red, Jericho Aguado, Kenneth Dagatan

2025, Philippines

Stars ~ Sid Lucero, Bea Binene, Andrea Del Rosario

 

The search to complete the first Filipino silent horror film and – of course – inadvertently unearth an ancient monster in the setting of an abandoned editing suite are winners, setting up strongly for the supernatural. Sid Lucero gives a fully rounded performance, torn between completing and owning his father’s legacy or his own future with editing commercials.  The supporting cast is mostly rudimentary, which leaves this chamber piece somewhat floundering. Despite its fascinating historical grounding, moments of creepiness and themes of an unshakable past (can you guess what the true ancient emerging monster is?), there is the sense of lost momentum and confused focus that leaves this an underachiever.

 

 

The Turkish Coffee Table

Director ~ Can Evrenol

2025, Turkey

Stars ~ Alper Kul, Algi, EkeÖzgür, Emre Yildirim

 

Remake of Caye Cassas’ dark farce original – one that goes into the “steel yourself!” pile when thinking of a rewatch – hitting most of the key beats of the original and therefore retains its shock, providing the darkest twist on cringe comedy. It was Turkish comedian Alper Kul that was integral to this being made. It is a little more blatant and changes the emphasis of the conclusion but nevertheless stands as a solid tracing.

 

 

Coyotes

Director ~ Colin Minihan

Writers ~ Tad Daggerhart, Daniel Meers and Nick Simon

2025, US

Stars ~ Justin Long, Mila Harris, Brittany Allen

 

Obnoxious, privileged characters must battle to survive attacks from bad weather, CGI coyotes and obnoxious direction. Despite Justin Long and Kate Bosworth knowing what they’re doing, plus a couple of genuinely amusing gags, there’s a lot of insufferable affectations and annoyance to get through, not least the most aggravating of teen daughter characters. Although the film drops cartoon character name cards (e.g. obnoxious direction) signalling we shouldn’t take it seriously, there’s also very little here to care about. Except maybe how CG the coyotes look. And yeah, it’s all about family, as if that’s justification.

 

 

Mag Mag

Director ~ Yuriyan Retriever

Writer ~ Eisuke Naitô

2025, Japan

Stars ~ Mai Fukagawa, Ôshirô Ma, Sara Minami

 

The opening of the first victim being killed by the ghost whilst pissing all over his friends should have been a clue. Then what follows is the pleasant comfort of J-horror tropes, looking like it will be a series of ‘The Grudge’ style vignettes (there’s even a knowing cameo by ‘Grudge’ director Takeshi Shimizu), and perhaps you are wondering how it will fill out its runtime this way; but then it takes a somewhat leftfield turn into hysteria, perhaps parody (the exorcism), heads off in its merry whim, skipping ahead of the audience, but ends up knowing exactly what it is doing. A revenge curse ghost – Mag Mag herself is pleasingly creepy – turns into a deeper tale of weaponizing various iterations of “love”, from obsessive crushes, abusive, to an innocent child. The chapter narrative means you never quite know where it will be heading and just when you think you do, it ups the stakes. Quite the rollercoaster oddity that delivers the long-haired ghost goods whilst also shaking up the genre to see what else is possible: art love, musical numbers, surrealism, body horror, a note on the corrosive power of loneliness, etc.

 

FrightFest 2025 - Day 4

 

 

 

FrightFest 2025 - Day 4

 

 

 

213 BONES

Director: Jeffrey Primm

Cast: Colin Egglesfield, Dean Cameron, Toni Weiss, Liam Woodrum.

USA

 

At first, there’s the promise of a straightforward non-postmodern slasher providing horror comfort food, but it becomes quickly apparent that this has all the subgenre’s weaknesses too. Predominantly, it hinges on a thoroughly unconvincing bunch of college student victims, and its not clear how they managed to get this far in their studies as they don’t appear to have any critical thinking at all. It goes through the motions, the kills are humdrum and then the killer with the ridiculous motivation is unmasked and the audience goes “Wha?”

 

 

TOMB WATCHER

Director: Vathanyu Ingkawiwat

Cast: Woranuch Bhirombhakdi, Thanavate Siriwattanagul, Arachaporn Pokin Pakor.

Thailand

 

It has the chief elements to appeal to the Gothic sensibility: a big remote house, portraits of the dead wife and the corpse of the dead wife itself on the grounds. All the couple have to do is put up with the husband devoting to the dead body for one hundred days. The trouble is that the husband was cheating on the wife, and she wants the hundred days to exact her revenge from beyond the grave. Cue the long-haired Asian ghost and no one believing the haunted wife driven to near-insanity. It is a standard, traditional ghost story, but it looks good and carries out its tropes with elegance rather than excess, at least until its ending where it goes a little loopy. 

 

 

The DESCENT

Director: Neil Marshall.

Cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, MyAnna Buring.

UK

 

Even after all this time, you’ll be likely to jump at least once again. Perhaps the attacks are edited to the incoherent side, but what mostly struck me once more this time is how much David Julyan's forewarns the tragedy from the very start. You are so invested into the girls foolishly going deeper and deeper underground that you almost forget that they’ll be monsters. Marshall has so far never captured this classic status again.

 

 

BONE LAKE

Director: Mercedes Bryce Morgan

Cast: Marco Pigossi, Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Andra Nechita.

USA

 

Perhaps the opening promises something less graceful, just to get the attention, but what follows is a slick, silly and thoroughly entertaining romp. The great performances are essential to above-average characterisation, which is important when the fragility of couples is the whole discourse: Diego and Sage are thoroughly convincing as a decent couple struggling to get over themselves. Perhaps not quite as twisty and surprising as it thinks, but its thoroughly engaging, gorgeously shot and played and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy.

 

REDUX REDUX

Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus

Cast: Jim Cummings, Derick Alexander, Raphael Chestang, Debra Christofferson

USA

 

Emotion-led lofi scifi is often a good place to find something fresh in the genre, and this excellent multiverse tale impresses with how packed with emotional grounding it is. From grief making our protagonist pursue a hellbent mission to visit all the dimensions to kill her daughter’s murderer to a streetwise brat finding her limitations, the measured pace allows the loneliness to surface even when foregrounded and tent-poled by action set-pieces. Although mostly a two-hander there’s uniformly great acting, lowkey and immersive atmosphere, pleasingly clunky dimension-hopping freezer unit, a script only interested in the characters with little need to linger on backstory, allowing the existential and relationship questions to dominate. Proof again that an indie film with single well written conceit and a solid agenda of investigating the human condition can generate full-blooded, unsettling and rewarding entertainment.

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.