FrightFest 2026 - Day 3

 FrightFest Day 3 

 

Labyrinth

Ryûhei Kitamura, 2026, USA 

 ‘Saw’ style horror with crowd-pleasing ultra-gore, weak script, dodgy performances, and tedious vigilante-coz-the-system-is-broken endorsement. Busy camerawork and pacing keeps things entertaining but it is routine, tired stuff. By the time it goes Fulci 'The Beyond', it's gone full supernatural-fascist.

 

Dead Reset 

Stewart Sparke, 2026, UK

Starts strong enough - time loop; broad villain; practical effects and decent production design - but, having never played the game it is based upon although exposition dumps are expected, I wonder if it too stops the monster rampage for unconvincing romance and surgery? Made with evident love but only diverting.

 

Ithaqua

Casey Walker, 2026, Canada

Benefits hugely from its snow-and-blood palette; less so from insisting on hokey villainous pronouncements, which is a shame as it takes time to avoid outright stereotypes elsewhere. Nevertheless enjoyable, ambitious and interesting, if a little muddled. The background of starvation, culture and class war in an unforgiving landscape give this strong thematic foundations, often looks impressive and Kevin Durand’s hulking performance stands out.

Grind

Ed Doughtery, Brea Grant, Chelsea Stardust, 2026, USA

A highly entertaining anthology with many good lines and a surrealistic bent. Just the right side of zany. Perhaps the delivery guy story ends up the most disturbing and strongest with its anger most targeted at layers of exploitation. However surreal it gets, and however bright and off-the-wall its veneer, these cannot quite distract from its outrage at the manipulations and humiliations of modern work life.

The Nameless Ballad

Federico Zampaglione, 2026 Italy

Tortured genius haunted by a possessive piano tune. Mental health and romantic issues ensue, mostly relying on dream sequences and loud stings to get its point across, even throwing in toad p.o.v. at one point. But otherwise nothing new. Nice house, cute dog, but a film whose lack of imagination is exceeded only by its dullness.

Ghost in the Cell

Joko Anwar, 2026, Indonesia 

Bloody, silly, and often very funny (even characters stop a mass fight at one moment to be confused at the splatter). It is as interested in making its inmates dance as it is in Indonesian political corruption. It also has the most amusingly randomly scored and edited shower scene. Crowd pleasing comedy for gorehounds. 

 

FrightFest 2026 Day 2

FrightFest 2026 - Day 2

 

Imposters

Caleb Phillips, 2026, USA

A slow burn keeps the mystery alive until the full nature of the film is revealed and it’s down the rabbit hole of relationships and self loathing we go. Excellently performed with a gripping script to match, to say a little about how we live and how we might not quite be privy to the extent of our own natures. A prime example of using genre tricks to expose the confusion and disappointment of the human condition; both nihilistic and sympathetic.

Frostbite

Lukas Rinker, 2026, Denmark-Germany

And it’s not long before you realise that you’re going to be stuck in a chamber piece with these truly annoying character tropes that you don’t care about. Best seen with an audience lapping up its unintentional humour.

 

Ponderosa

Rob Rice, 2026, USA

Beautifully filmed, deliberately and frustratingly opaque, reminiscent of the moods of ‘Static’ or ‘I Saw the TV Glow’: oddball small town America with nowhere to go. The old guard want to bequeath to the youth how-it’s-always-been or something, but only seem capable of Embarrassing Uncle energy. For this, Bill Camp is brilliantly uncomfortable and vulnerable. If you go with it, you’re probably thinking a second watch will solve things, and although I was open to its ‘A Dying Generation’ themes and almost Lynchian non sequiturs, I am not sure it will.

 

 The Pitchfork Retreat

 Gregory Van Voorhis, Nicole Van Voorhis, 2026, USA

Thoroughly old hat and predictable with not enough tongue in cheek to make it fun. I mean, the title all but gives it away, the premise means we get lots of feints, dream sequences and stories within stories which is quite tiresome when constant lathered on. And what is this? Purgatory especially for writers? Doesn't quite lean enough into its EC Comics cartoon vibe to be fun, although the horror community will forgive much with this being Tony Todd's last performance.

 

Drag

2026, USA

And here is the FrightFest horror slapstick crowdpleaser. One of those where it’s delightful to viscerally feel the audience’s empathy/cringe with every painful punchline. With a sharp, funny script that plays with the audience always thinking it is one step ahead, plus some real nastiness and punches not pulled right to the very end. The cast keeps the right side of zany and never loses its grip on setup and payoff to the end. The DeVito name will bring wider interest and it’s worth seeking out in a cinema for audience reaction. You’ll wince as much as laugh.

 

Hungry

2026, UK

Violent hippo in the Louisiana swampland? Solid enough with a better script than usual, but despite the title hinting at something more tongue in cheek, this is played straight. More silliness instead of meanness would have made this more memorable. An under-achieving monster movie, despite excellent effects.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
Director ~ Adam Wingard
Writers ~ Terry Rossio, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett
2024, USA-Australia
Stars ~ Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens

Within minutes, Kong is leaping in slo-mo to a dimuendo, and I’m thinking, “|Oh, one for the trailer.” But that’s far from the last. Godzilla curled up in the Colloseum is kinda cute, an example of a ridiculous detail that amuses. But I’m distracted thinking, “Why has she parked on the grass? No tyre tracks…?” Then we have the fast-talking loundmouth blogger that knows better than the uptight experts. And I’m thinking: “There’s a lot of sparks flying around in that underground base where people are running around like headless chickens – isn’t that very unsafe?” It is the kind of film where you notice the nonsensical details, the kind of film that knows you know it’s affronting your intelligence. And anything but red blood. Then it all hinges on Kong’s dentistry and a funky song saying “I gotcha!”, so, you know. Needle-drops that make sure you don’t take anything seriously and add nothing but nonsense (everyone thinks they can do what James Gunn or Tarantino can do).

The first fight between Kong and other giant apes had me locked in for a moment. Baby Kong isn’t as cloying-annoying as you might anticipate from the trailer. How much did this cost? Despite Kong occasionally impressing, very much fake gamesystem visuals, insulting compared to the focus of ‘Godzilla Minus One’, although more expensive – and something like this is why something like that was such a revelation. Whether it meets a “fun” quota depends on your taste. After all, Kim Newman says, “This spectacle fully embraces the toddler-tantrum-on-a-colossal-scale aesthetic and is winning because of rather than despite its essential goofiness.” I sensed shrug rather than goof.  

 

There’s potential in the premise of a bunch of humans trying to co-exist with kaiju, focusing on the minutiae of doing their dentistry for example, serios or fun, but this doesn’t care.  Lots of sound and monsters signifying nothing. Leave your brain and need for internal logic waaayy behind. Stuff on top of stuff with the constant pace of desperately urgent! And a roar! to imply excitement. But it is all just shallow distraction. Just: Kong knows sign language. Good Kong x Bad Kong. Kong has giant super-axe. Kong has … robo-arm? Oh, and here’s Godzilla putting in a cameo.