FrightFest announces opening and closing films

British films chosen as keystones of festival.

by Amber Wilkinson

Film4 FrightFest has announced the opening and closing films of the 13th edition.

Paul Hyett’s claustrophobic, psychological horror, The Seasoning House is set to open the festival on August 23. Starring Sean Pertwee, Kevin Howarth and Rosie Day, the film is described as "a hard-hitting exploration of war-time sexploitation, set in a Balkan brothel", and marks special-effects guru Hyett’s (The Woman In Black, Attack The Block) directorial debut.

The festival will close with the world premiere of Lionsgate’s Tower Block. Directed by James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, the festival descirbe it as "a stunning suspense shocker". Trapped on the top floor of their run down East End home, a disparate group of neighbours are being targeted by a mystery sniper. This taut gripper stars Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell and Russell Tovey.

Festival co-director Alan Jones said today: “Once more Film4 FrightFest is delighted to be showcasing the key British talent of the future with our opening choice of The Seasoning House, and our closing film, Tower Block. Both films are works of quality, sensitivity and bloody-minded bravado and the directors deserve to follow in the footsteps of such other talents we have promoted early in their careers, Christopher Nolan, Neil Marshall, Chris Smith and James Watkins”.

The line-up will also include the UK premiere of [REC]³ Génesis. Both Paco and his leading lady Leticia Dolera will be attending the screening.

The festival runs from Thursday, August 23 to Monday, August 27 at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square. The full line up will be announced on June 29. Festival & day passes go on sale from June 30. Tickets for individual films are on sale from July 28.

Visit www.empirecinemas.co.uk for more information and read our previous coverage of FrightFest here.

Share this with others on...
News

Inviting curiosity Ildikó Enyedi on the value of science, perception, discovery and Silent Friend

Streaming Spotlight: the rites of Spring We shine our Beltane spotlight on films in which the old ways linger

Fighting fit for a debut feature Valéry Carnoy talks toxic masculinity, memory, confidence and Belgian 'soft-power'

Collective power We look ahead at the programme of this year's Folk Film Gathering

Writing hidden messages Arnaud Desplechin on guilt, melodrama, feeling haunted, and Two Pianos

Clever crafting with Idiots Chris Barfoot on his six-camera set up and three-day shoot of his debut feature

More news and features

We're bringing you news and reviews from the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Queer East.



We're looking forward to Cannes.



We've recently brought you coverage of Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema, the Glasgow Film Festival, the Berlinale, Sundance and Palm Springs.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest from the spring events:


Cannes 16 titles added to line-up


Cannes Announces full jury


Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection


Cannes Payal Kapadia heads Critics' Week jury