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.

 

Door

Door

Director ~ Banmei Takahashi

Writers ~ Ataru Oikawa, Banmei Takahashi

1988, Japan

Stars ~ Keiko Takahashi, Daijirô Tsutsumi, Shirô Shimomoto

Taking a long time to kick in, ‘Door’ is a film that often feels like padding rather than slowburn, despite planting promises as it goes along (oh, a mini chainsaw…). Yasuko (Keiko Takahashi) is a housewife mostly looking after her small son with the absence of her husband seemingly filled by pushy salesmen on the phone and at the door. It’s this that causes problems when she closes the door on one salesman’s fingers, instigating a campaign of revenge-terror.

 Daijirô Tsutsumi as the salesman often glares and is framed as if he has wondered in from a noir (in a phone booth, simmering, even with a neon green headset), elsewhere the film shifts into the feel of giallo (blades!). Predominantly, it feels like kitchen sink with the score seemingly on random play and starting without much blending (very giallo). Yet elsewhere the sound design overlaps and the foley work toils overtime in isolating the footfalls and the metallic clang of the door – hardly a secure sound – creating an almost otherworldly aesthetic.

Yasuko’s vulnerability and anxiety are played at believable rather than hysterical levels, and with all the male pushiness trying to sell her something, the intimation that the apartment is just as much a prison as a safe space increases. But there’s no avoiding the sense of the film time-killing and there’s a drag until the the pyrotechnics of the showdown: points about everyday life, the gender disparities, the unhelpful society, passive-aggressive capitalism, the stalker creepiness, are all made early. When the home-invasion takes over, there’s a lot to credit in the authenticity of the clumsy tangling and fighting between housewife and assailant, that she doesn’t quite become some kind of righteous kick-ass female heroine. There’s surely unintentional humour but something absurdly realistic when they are trying to battle a mini-chainsaw through the door with a fork and rollerskates: it’s like kids trying to recreate ‘The Shining’ with dad’s tools.

But the peak of it is an overhead tracking shot of a chase through the apartment, a stunning sequence that is worth the wait.

FrightFest 2023 + round-up: 'My Mother's Eyes', 'Founder's Day', 'Home Sweet Home: Where Evil Dwells', 'The Exorcist', 'The Sacrifice Game'

Director: Takeshi Kushida.
With: Akane Ono, Mone Shitara, Takuma Izumi, Shusaku Uchida.
Japan 2023. 94 mins.

AMSR horror, a little Cronenberg, a little Peter Strickland, very Japanese Mad Scientist Modern Gothic parent- child melodrama kind of thing. A little garbled, very mannered and ending with a pretty bonkers Grand Guignol promised by the poster. But then it does start with cello playing intercut with fruit slicing.

In the Q&A, Takashi Kushida spoke of how the AMSR sound design was down to both budget and control, certainly giving the film a distinct flavour (crickets represent anxiety, for example). He also believes the technology in the film (seeing through someone else’s contact lenses with a VR headset) is only a few years away. It won’t be for all, but it is distinctive.

 

Director: Erik Bloomquist.
With: Devin Druid, Emilia McCarthy, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin.
USA 2023. 95 mins.

The Bloomquist brothers deliver another solid but average horror, this time a slasher homage. Instead of family drama filler - although we get that too - there is a lot of local politicking and fighting, which is the point. Another film that posits American High Schoolers as somewhat obnoxious, but the adults aren't much better. There's a 'Columbo' tribute lollipop sucking Commissioner who is by turns annoying and the deliverer of the best lines. And there is a vivid enough masked killer, although any seasoned horror fan will figure much of it out long before we have to endure the overlong denouement of exposition. 

Comfort food for slasher fans with nothing to offend or revive the sub-genre.

Director: Thomas Sieben.
With:  Nilam Farooq, David Kross, Justus von Dohnányi, Olga Von Luckwald.
Germany 2023. 84 mins.

A one take feature is always likely to impress me because the choreography, blocking and effort involved instantaneously impresses. And ‘Home Sweet Home: Where Evil Dwells’ (clumsy title) is no exception. From the moment the woman walksinto the house, keeping up real-time drama with phone calls and wandering around in the basement upon hearing noises - like you shouldn’t – and into a nasty ghost story and… Well, there won’t be any surprises here, but Nilam Farooq’s performance is quite stunning, the one-take gimmick pays great dividends and, strikingly, it even fits in a real-time flashback/vision. Sieben also widens the scope by rooting it all in guilt and horror of German colonialism showing that, even as he lamented the lack of a German horror scene in the Q&A, he knows what it’s all about. 

 

Director: William Friedkin.
With: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow, Jason Miller.
USA 1973. 122 mins.

A classic, of course, benefiting from Friedkin's Seventies realism to make it still startling. Even if you're atheist, one can't deny that their is a credible Catholic thought and consistency here, that it isn't silly, condescending or insulting like many of its like. Or as Mark Kermode answered when asked in the Q&A why he thinks this has lasted as credible when so many others don't, and he replied that it is because this is centred on one man's crisis of Faith whereas others go "ooga-booga!" Therefore, as he says, it's become a great commercial for Catholicism.

Of course, being an atheist, it won't convince, and it obviously weighs against science to argue its case, presenting medical tests as torture and doctors as somewhat closed-minded ineffectuals. But as an allegory for a mother dealing with her daughter's difficult puberty and/or mental health issues, or just plain acting up, it holds other power of meaning. You know, because science can't understand the aggressive mood-swings of kids. Nothing a little self-sacrifice/martyrdom won't solve.

But as a technical exercise, it's potency, its indulgence in exploitation as even as it never loses its grip on its highbrow concerns of Faith, has barely waned.

 

From the opening, home invasion is just a rock'n'roll party. But when this particular group of killers turn up at a school closed for Christmas but for just a few remainers, and after bearing with the tediousness of killers trolling and torturing their captives, the film becomes more interesting when the longer game is revealed. Yet, despite how likeable Madison Baines is and how smartly Georgia Aiken plays, it's quite a shallow vision of horror where, despite its insistence that wrong-doers get their just desserts, making friends with demons is cool and emancipating for the kids!

My picks of FrightFest 2023

Where the Devil Roams

Monolith

New Life

The Seeding

Raging Grace

 

And

‘Cobweb’ for being better and more fun than expected

‘It Lives Within’ for a slightly fresh perspective on standard tropes, and a full-bodied analogue monster

‘My Mother’s Eyes’ for bringing something odd

 

 

Average films with standout moments

‘Suitable Flesh’: parking camera gore-gag

‘Farang’: lift fight

‘Pandemonium’ opening story

 

Favoured Performances

‘Monolith’ - Lilly Sullivan

‘New Life’ - Sonya Walger & Hayley Erin

‘The Seeding’ – Scott Haze

‘Home Sweet Home: Where evil Dwells’ - Nilam Farroq

‘Cold Meat’ – Allen Leech & Nina Bergman

‘Raging Grace’ - ensemble