The Arrow Video FrightFest returns for its 15th year to the Glasgow Film Festival, from Thursday 5 March to Saturday 7 March.
With thirteen films from around the globe featuring World, European and UK premieres it is a welcome reminder of the international reach of horror and fantasy, and of a genre that is constantly innovating, pushing boundaries and challenging peoples’ perceptions of it.
Starting at home the London and Glasgow festivals continue to share films with a presentation of Graham Hughes’ Death of a Vlogger which was an audience and critical hit at FrightFest London 2019 and will be receiving its Scottish premier. This will play on the Thursday along with opening film Synchronic; a drug fuelled, time travel story set in New Orleans from the makers of The Endless Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.
Possibly fuelled by the stage and film success of Ghost Stories, anthologies have proliferated recently. Though they are by nature a mixed bag, that’s part of their fun and allure. There are two this year: The Mortuary Collection set in a funeral home, and A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio, which closes the festival. The latter is an Argentina/New Zealand co-production, and could be something bearing in mind their respective genre output over the years.
First shown at the London Film Festival the psychological horror debut from Rose Glass, Saint Maud arrives with a clutch of good reviews, and plenty of promise. Someway removed from the challenges of the mind are challenges at the other end featured in Butt Boy. This could be overflowing with base toilet humour, the summary however, with due deference to Viz magazine, suggests this bottom will require a closer inspection.
Beyond the US and the UK there’s the sweltering In the Quarry from Uruguay, a tale of machismo, gender roles and violence. From South Korea, the plot for Zombie for Sale suggests that the sub-genre is far from exhausted and can still stimulate original ideas. From Belgium there’s the very US looking serial killer-thriller Anderson Falls, with a twist.
It’s a varied and packed programme which in addition has two short films; Live Forever and Bleed, plus guests and Q & As.
Ticket details
FrightFest Weekend Passes are £75 and available from noon on Monday 20 January, 2020.
Note that tickets for Synchronic and Death of a Vlogger plus individual tickets for the Friday and Saturday films are on sale from noon Monday 3 February. Price: £11.50. £9.30 concessions
Online: www.glasgowfilm.org/festival
