It’s back! After being one of the last stages of normalcy before Covid, the UK’s No.1 horror & fantasy film festival returns to the Glasgow Film Theatre. This frightfully fantastic venue has been FrightFest’s second home for 17 glorious years has been, and now it returns as part of the internationally renowned Glasgow Film Festival.
From Thursday 10th March to Saturday 12th March, FrightFest delivers twelve terror treasures. This bonanza of the dark arts presents the latest genre discoveries from around the globe. With eight countries represented from across three continents, FrightFest Glasgow offers World, International and UK premieres.
Alan Jones, co-director of FrightFest, had this to say: ‘It’s with great delight and with every single bloody bell and werewolf whistle available, we can proudly announce that FrightFest Glasgow 2022 will be an awesome in-person event featuring the best new fantasy, horror and thriller movies, plus all the expected trimmings.
‘Despite the gloom and doom being spoken about the future of the film industry in general, it’s heartening to learn that genre filmmakers have been as hard at work, creating ever more exciting, diverse, challenging and stimulating movies – twelve of which FrightFest will unveil over our highly anticipated and crowd-pleasing GFF strand of March 10 – 12’.
FrightFest’s inaugural screening takes place on Thursday March 10th with the UK premiere of the blockbuster thriller that has slaughtered the Russian box office. THE EXECUTION is based on a true case of a vicious serial killer from the Soviet Union’s, a highly controversial case that included a miscarriage of justice and disturbing crimes. This stand-alone ticket presentation combines vendetta horror and neo-noir into a twisty plot that will keep you hooked until the claret-drenched climax.
If you want to see your darkest nightmares gloriously projected (and why wouldn’t you?), then at Glasgow FrightFest from Friday, that begins with the Scottish premiere of supernatural horror THE CELLAR. This chiller comes from the critically acclaimed Irish writer/director of Pilgrimage fame, Brendan Muldowney. Friday also features the world premiere of A CLOUD SO HIGH, the feature debut of Christopher Lee Parson. This thriller is stylised to deliver a uniquely unsettling viewing experience, taking the viewer to places they might not have dared to imagine.
Fans of The Innocents will not want to miss the UK premiere of HOMEBOUND, a creepy and atmospheric chiller from ‘Screen International Star of Tomorrow’ (and possibly today) director Sebastian Godwin, with his debut feature.
From atmospheric chiller to contemporary folk horror, in the form of the UK premiere of YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER. Writer/director Kate Dolan, listed as one of Ireland’s leading emerging creatives under 30, directs this eerie doppelganger mystery marks.
Friday comes to a ferocious conclusion with the UK premiere of WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE. This long-overdue sequel to the 2014 FrightFest Glasgow Ozploitation hit, promises a gruesome, gory, debauched, thrill ride.
Yet more emerging genre talent dazzles throughout Saturday’s programme. First up we have the UK premiere of demonic crime thriller MANDRAKE, debut feature by Lynne Davison, who received mentorship from Suffragette and Rocks director Sarah Gavron thanks to the ‘Women in Film and TV UK’ initiative.
Another UK premiere set to whiten your knuckles is Howard J Ford’s THE LEDGE. Having previously directed the suspenseful Never Let Go, Ford is ready to grip you all over again with this intense thriller. Next up French humourist Fabrice Eboué brings us the UK premiere of his extreme, bloody black comedy SOME LIKE IT RARE.
Come the evening, take a seat with the remarkable Christina Ricci in the supernatural thriller MONSTROUS. This International premiere is directed by FrightFest veteran Chris Sivertson, who previously brought us The Lost, I Know Who Killed Me and co-directed All Cheerleaders Die.
Gabriele Mainetti, director of the Italian blockbuster They Call Me Jeeg Robot, will be in attendance along with his astounding epic fantasy spectacular FREAKS OUT. This Scottish premiere has been described as what happen if Fellini directed Schindler’s List as a superhero adventure, which makes it too bizarre to miss!
Last but by no means least, the fearsome frights concludes with one more Scottish premiere: the vampire spoof, LET THE WRONG ONE IN. Director Connor MacMahon and star Anthony Head have concocted something for fans of Shaun of the Dead and Little Monsters with this delightfully silly and thoroughly rude horror-comedy.
Watch this space for announcements of further great guests, Q & A’s, shorts, giveaways and one or two surprise clips.
FrightFest Weekend Passes are £75 and go on sale from 10 am on Tuesday 1st February 2022. Passes will be exchanged for admission wristbands, which must be worn at all times to access all FrightFest films on Fri 11 March and Sat 12 March ONLY.
Tickets for THE EXECUTION, plus individual tickets for the Fri/Sat films are on sale from 10 am on Wednesday 2nd February. Price: £11.50. £9.30 for all adult concessions
How to Buy Tickets
Online: www.glasgowfilm.org/festival
Telephone: 0141 332 6535 (£1.50 fee per transaction, voice-mail available during peak business periods.
In-person: Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB during normal box office hours – Friday & Sunday to Thursday from 12:00 to 15 Minutes after the last performance starts. Saturday from 11am to 15 minutes after the last performance starts.
Online booking closes 15 minutes before the advertised start time.
All performances will start at the advertised start time. Late ticket-holders will NOT be admitted.
Programme details
THURS 10 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
20:30 THE EXECUTION (UK Premiere)
Director Lado Kvataniya. Cast Nikoloz Tavadze, Evgeniy Tkachuk, Daniil Spivakovsky. Russia 2021. 2hr10m. 18.
Synopsis: Based on a true crime, this brutal police procedural unfolds during the last days of the Soviet Union. In 1991, a woman is found, barely alive and bearing the hallmarks of a serial killer supposedly jailed for years. Realising his career-making case has not actually been solved, detective Issa Davydov swears to unmask the real killer, whatever it takes.
FRI 11 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
13:30 THE CELLAR (UK Premiere)
Director: Brendan Muldowney. Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Eoin Macken, Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady. Ireland 2022. 1h30m, 18.
Synopsis: The Woods family have just moved to a new home, and realise that this may have been a mistake. As soon as they arrive, Keira and Brian’s daughter Ellie mysteriously vanishes into the cellar, counting a never-ending number of steps as she disappears. When they discover there is an ancient and powerful entity imbued within their home, Keira must face this threat or risk losing her family’s souls forever.
16:00 A CLOUD SO HIGH (World Premiere)
Director: Christopher Lee Parson. Cast: John Savage, Aaron Perilo, Jessica Lundy.
USA 2021. 1h41m. 18.
Synopsis: Disgraced ex-cop father Gene Sarling (John Savage, The Deer Hunter) and his son, mentally unstable 22-year-old war veteran Paul (Aaron Perilo, True Blood), have a difficult relationship. While his son is living under his roof, Gene realises that Paul is has developed from petty thief and ransacker to brutal killer. Recovering alcoholic Gene finds that his son may be the fiercest adversary he has ever faced.
18:30 HOMEBOUND (UK Premiere)
Director: Sebastian Godwin Cast: Aisling Loftus, Tom Goodman-Hill, Raffaella Chapman. UK 2021. 1h22m. 18.
Synopsis: When Richard brings his new girlfriend Holly to meet his estranged children Anna and Ralph, his ex-wife is curiously absent. The family attempt to repair old wounds and resolve resentments. All seems well until the children’s behaviour becomes strange and unnerving, and eventually threatening.
20:45 YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER (UK Premiere)
Director: Kate Dolan Cast: Paul Reid, Hazel Doupe, Jade Jordan. Ireland 2021. 1hr33m. 18.
Synopsis: Teenager Char believes something strange has happened to her mother Angela. Angela recently returned home from an unexplained absence, with distinct changes in her posture, personality, and appetite. While Angela was previously bedridden and irresponsible, now she seems a more fit parent, but the differences become unsettling and terrifying. Long-held secrets and familial lies inevitably arise in the form of finely tuned scares.
23:00 WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE (UK Premiere)
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner. Cast: Jay Gallagher, Bianca Brady, Luke McKenzie.
Australia 2021.1hr26m. 18.
Synopsis: In a zombie-infested wasteland, soldier Rhys, The Colonel and The Surgeon are determined to slaughter their way to a cure for the living dead. But rebels including siblings Barry and Brooke have teamed up to oppose them. An explosive, outlandish, playful, roaring, no-holds-barred, laugh-out-loud, deranged, gory and breathless romp, with more twists and turns than a box of corkscrews.
SAT 12 MARCH – GFT Screen 1
10:45 MANDRAKE (UK Premiere)
Director: Lynne Davison. Cast: Deirdre Mullins, Derbhle Crotty, Paul Kennedy. Northern Ireland 2022, 1hr25m, 18,
Synopsis: Notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw has served twenty years of jail. Probation officer Cathy Madden has the unenviable task of Mary’s rehabilitation. Although Cathy believes every client deserves a chance for redemption, her certainty is shaken when two children disappear near Mary’s farm. There’s good in everyone, surely? And there’s no such thing as witchcraft, right? Or so Cathy believed until she met Mary Laidlaw…
13:00 THE LEDGE (UK Premiere)
Director: Howard J. Ford. Cast: Brittany Ashworth, Ben Lamb, Nathan Welsh
UK 2022. 1hr26m. 18.
Synopsis: Friends Kelly and Sophie are backpacking, but when Kelly does a little mountain-climbing, she witnesses four men throwing Sophie’s corpse from a ledge. Capturing the deed on camera hurls Sophie into a desperate flight for survival. Kelly’s only escape is up the severe rock face, and the brutal men and merciless elements will test her physical and mental abilities to their very limits.
15:15 SOME LIKE IT RARE (UK Premiere)
Director: Fabrice Eboué. Cast: Fabrice Eboué, Marina Foïs, Jean-François Cayrey.
France 2021 1h27m. 18
Synopsis: Sophie and Vincent Pascal’s family butcher shop is going badly. Both the shop and their marriage are on the brink of collapse. But when they accidentally kill a vegan vandal, and then mistakenly sell the butchered body, these tender cuts prove to be a hit that saves the business. With their romance rekindled, murder and cannibalism turn out to be more pleasing than they expected…
17:45 MONSTROUS (International Premiere)
Director: Chris Sivertson Cast: Christina Ricci, Santino Barnard, Colleen Camp.
USA 2022. 1h29m. 18.
Synopsis: Having been abused by her former husband, Laura (Christina Ricci) runs away with her seven-year-old son Cody. Thinking themselves safe in a remote sanctuary, Laura and Cody encounter something more terrifying, something that will test both their mental health issues to the limit.
20:00 FREAKS OUT (Scottish Premiere)
Director Gabriele Mainetti. Cast Claudio Santamaria, Aurora Giovinazzo, Pietro Castellitto. Italy 2021. 2hr21m 18.
Synopsis: In Nazi-occupied Rome, the Berlin Zircus is on tour. Clairvoyant pianist Franz runs the Zircus and has predicted Hitler’s downfall. He devises a scheme to change the fortunes of the Third Reich, and central to his plan are four circus freaks: Electric Girl Matilde, albino insect controller Cencio, super-strong Manbeast Fulvio and metal manipulator Mario. Franz sets his sights on this tight-knit group, determined to spin the wheels of fate.
23:00 LET THE WRONG ONE IN (Scottish Premiere)
Director: Connor MacMahon. Cast: Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy, Anthony Head. Ireland 2021. 1h36m.18.
Synopsis: Brothers Matt and Deco are estranged, and when Deco turns up looking terrible, Matt is unsurprised. What is surprising are Deco’s newly grown fangs, which point to a group of vampires terrorizing Dublin, who pose as hard-partying bachelorettes with significant success. Deco desperately needs his brother’s help, but that help might just be pulsing through Matt’s veins.
For full programme details: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/
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Notes to editors:
About FrightFest
Dubbed “the Woodstock of Gore” by director Guillermo Del Toro, FrightFest, set up in 2000, has grown in size and stature since its cult roots at the Prince Charles Cinema and today is internationally renowned for discovering exciting and original horror fantasy genre films and for supporting the talent behind them, helping to launch the careers of such directors as Simon Rumley, Neil Marshall, Christopher Smith, Eli Roth, Gareth Edwards and Simon Hunter.
Over the years the festival directors, Greg Day, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy and Ian Rattray, have developed FrightFest into a brand leader for horror film, expanding its footprint in the UK by hosting special events throughout the year and joining forces with the Glasgow Film Festival, where they run an established three-day event. They have teamed up with FAB Press to publish a series of ‘The FrightFest Guide To…” books and entered into an exclusive partnership with Signature Entertainment to release films under the festival’s thriving label ‘FrightFest Presents’.
About Arrow Video
Since its inception in the UK in 2009, Arrow Video has grown to become the world’s No. 1 Premium label for the very best physical and digital releases of genre, cult and horror films from around the globe. The label has passionately trailblazed a multi-award-winning slate of releases in deluxe, definitive editions with state-of-the-art restorations, in-depth curation of new and archival extra features, newly commissioned artwork, accompanying booklets and special packaging, available from all major retailers and its own world-class direct-to-consumer website at www.arrowfilms.com.
Expanding into North America in 2015, Arrow Video’s best-in-class Blu-ray, UHD releases and extensive catalogue is complemented by premium digital and on demand services with its Channel ARROW (www.ARROW-Player.com) which shares the same ethos, curating the finest cult films from celebrated filmmakers including John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, George Romero, Claude Chabrol and Dario Argento and many more.
Upcoming releases include classic films from the likes of David Lynch, Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino, whilst also continuing to acquire and champion New Cult content, including David Buchanan’s Laguna Ave and Chema Garcia Ibarra’s The Scared Spirit.
About Glasgow Film Festival
The 18th annual Glasgow Film Festival will run from 2 – 13 March 2022, with the full programme announced on 26 January.
Previous GFF guests include Richard Gere, Alan Rickman, John C Reilly, Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Richard Dreyfuss, Karen Gillan, Jessie Buckley, Sir Michael Palin, Josh O’Connor, Jonathan Glazer, Richard Johnson, Gemma Arterton, Ben Wheatley, David Tennant, Cliff Curtis, David Robert Mitchell, Carol Morley, Gemma Jones, Jason Priestley, Neil Jordan, agnés b., Armando Iannucci, Jack O’Connell, Dexter Fletcher, Peter Mullan, George Sluizier, Peter Capaldi, Ty West, Richard Ayoade, David Dastmalchian, Eli Roth and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
For press info please contact ruth.marsh@glasgowfilm.org.
