Cherry Tree to open Frightfest

16th edition of horror event gets ready to go.

by Jennie Kermode

Cherry Tree
Cherry Tree

With just two months to go until this year's Film4 Frightfest, David Keating’s Cherry Tree has been revealed as the opening film. It stars Naomi Battrick as a girl determined to save her father's life who makes a sinister pact with the head of a black magic coven (Anna Walton). It sees Keating reunited with Wake Wood scribe Brendan McCarthy.

"We have never opened with an Irish production before," said festival director Alan Jones. "So we figured it was about time to put a sharp focus on all the sterling work the Irish Film Board has done to promote the genre... Cherry Tree follows in their fine tradition offering storytelling excellence, great production values and terrific casting."

The closing film at the festival will be Tales Of Halloween, an anthology of creepy shorts helmed by Neil Marshall (The Descent), Darren Lynn Bousman (The Barrens), Axelle Carolyn (Soulmate), Adam Gierasch (Night Of The Demons), Lucky McKee (The Woman), Dave Parker (ColdWater), Paul Solet (Grace), Ryan Schifrin (Abominable), John Skipp (Stay At Home Dad) and Mike Mendez (The Gravedancers).

Frightfest will run between 17 and 31 August at the Vue Cinema in London's Leicester Square, and we'll be bringing you coverage here at Eye For Film.

Share this with others on...
News

Between strangers Anthony Chen in capturing emotion in Drift

Art of observation Matthäus Wörle on his collaborative approach to debut documentary Where We Used To Sleep

Gateway between worlds Anu Valia on expectations, reality and We Strangers

The little things Inside the 2024 Glasgow Short Film Festival

Choosing her colours Joe Lawlor and Christine Malloy on Rose Dugdale and Baltimore

Fateful experiences Ron Frank on Remembering Gene Wilder

Filmhouse gets £1.5m funding boost Edinburgh cultural hub set to reopen this year

More news and features

Interact

More competitions coming soon.