Still the biggest name in UK horror, Frightfest is back for another year with a selection of titles which will thrill and chill you in equal measure, make you think uncomfortable thoughts and make you nervous about leaving the safety of your bed at night after the lights are out. These are five of the finest films from its 2022 selection, so catch them as soon as you can.
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| Piggy Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival |
There’s a serial killer at work in Carlota Pereda’s highly acclaimed adaptation of her 2018 short, but the real horror lies in the mundane. it takes a strong stomach to endure this insider perspective on the abuse doled out by classmates, neighbours and even her own mother on teenage heroine Sara (Laura Galán) just because she’s fat. When the first person to show her any kindness is a murderer who victims seem far from sympathetic, it’s difficult for her to get her moral bearings, and harder still for her to work past a lifetime of trauma to the pint where she can exert her own will. Piggy is an astounding piece of work with a central performance you’ll never forget.
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| Something In The Dirt Photo: Courtesy of FrightFest |
Every new film by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhouse sends a ripple of excitement through genre fans, and they won’t be disappointed by this latest offering, which takes a simple premise and runs in all sorts of directions. It’s not so much a film about the supernatural or an unexpected twist in physics as we know it, so much as it’s about how ordinary human beings process the extraordinary. Moorhouse plays an obsessive mathematician and Benson a washed up surfer dude with a shady past, and they keep us guessing as to whom we should trust in a story which also takes on conspiracy theories and fake news. In the end, what really matters might not be what you expect.
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| New Religion Photo: Courtesy of FrightFest |
Keishi Kondo’s second film takes a gamble at the start which speaks volumes about the director’s confidence and willingness to push boundaries. Not many would dare to open with the death of a child, and few who do so would succeed in making viewers feel still more unsettled with the final scene. In between we follow Miyabi (Kaho Seto), the child’s mother, as she tries to rebuild her shattered life, getting a divorce and a new boyfriend, earning a living a as a call girl. Everything changes when a client with no interest in sex asks to take a photograph of her spine, precipitating a chain of events against which the fourth wall ultimately offers no defence.
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| Next Exit Photo: Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival |
Sometimes when you get in a car you’re already pretty sure of your destination, but with the right company, it doesn’t really matter. Set in a world where ghosts have been confirmed as real, this beautifully written first feature by Mali Elfman (daughter of Danny Elfman, who contributes to its soundtrack) follows Rose (Katie Parker) and Teddy (Rahul Kohli) as they journey cross-country to participate in an experiment which will see them give up their lives under controlled conditions. Each has their own reason for wanting to die, but the antagonism between them gradually gives way to sympathy, certainty is lost. There’s also a lot more comedy than the subject matter suggests.
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| The Harbinger Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival |
Set in New York City as it was buckling under the first wave of Covid-19, Andy Mitton’s haunting film deals with life in the proximity of death, the terror of being forgotten, and the effect on the mind of long periods of isolation. Gabby Beans plays Monique, a woman whose own difficult past prompts her to break quarantine in order to support her friend Mavis (Emily Davis) when she suffers from severe, disorientating dreams – but when Monique begins to see the same sinister figure in her own dreams, things go from bad to worse. It’s a starkly intelligent piece of work which opens up important conversations; it’s also beautifully acted and beautifully shot, and it will make you afraid to get to sleep at night.
