FrightFest

Thank you James, I have just read "The Tree Of Death", which I enjoyed. My only other comment would be on the ending as it could have finished but I'm not sure whether that would have worked better than the actual ending.

My top films were We Summon The Darkness and Trick as joint top, with Swallow in third place.

Scare Package Some segments were too daft / ropey / meta for my liking, but there were some good gore and kill scenes, some ickiness and the closing segment was the strongest for me, ending the anthology on a positive note. Despite my opening comment I did enjoy some of the exploration of horror tr...

Trick I had a lot of fun with this one, although it was played more straight than I thought it was going to be. A little hokey in places, but I enjoyed the storyline, the twists and the games of cat and mouse, although I wasn't 100% happy about the twist ending, even though it was signposted and ma...

Swallow Whilst I did like this I ultimately didn't find this to be quite as powerful as the hype and others' reactions were to it. I appreciated what it was aiming for, but it didn't quite push enough of my buttons, perhaps because I didn't warm to the heroine, who was in a privileged position (alt...

Uncanny Annie The latest in a long line of horrors based on games, more of a challenge card game in this case. It has some good moments of action and also suspense, boosted by a plot that includes the unravelling of secrets within the group of players. It does feel a tad horror-lite at times, perha...

We Summon The Darkness

An enjoyable blast of heavy metal, religion, satanic occultism and more, with some twists along the way, even if some of them are fairly predictable. It also makes good use of humour and doesn't take itself too seriously, but it isn't afraid of showcasing the gore too. 8 / 10

The Haunted Swordsman Some very effective puppetry in this short that is presumably intended to be the first part of a longer story to be told. My only real criticism is that some of the action sequences are a little unclear in seeing what is going on, but appreciate the difficulties of doing this ...

Candy Corn Some nice kills, but ultimately a tad uneven with a strange kind of tone. The low budget showed and the acting was also odd, but perhaps it was intended to be off-kilter? This Halloween homage was both derivative and knowing at times, but overall nothing I haven't seen before and done be...

A big thank you to Ian, Paul, Greg and MIA Alan for organising another great event yesterday! Also thank you to Helen, Alex and all of the others behind the scenes that make these festivals run so smoothly and enjoyably, as well as the cinema staff, the guests and the audience! I'll post my reviews ...

Has anyone had a Frightfest email newsletter this year? I haven't, even though I have subscribed several times. Of course, if none has been circulated then that would explain it!

I guess the only thing to add is do we know the dates yet for next year? I would assume the same days ending on the bank holiday of Monday 31 August?

The traditional top 5 films of the festival thread. However, I am going to cheat already (sorry!) and have four joint top 4 films in no particular order, followed by four joint fifth place movies in no particular order: Top 4: A Good Woman Is Hard To Find Halloween Party Rabid Ready Or Not Joint 5th...

So, the hyperreal netherworld that is Frightfest comes to an end, the best 5 days of the year over for another year. I can never manage more than a mumbled 'thank you' to Ian on the way out as I am too emotional and rubbish at goodbyes too, so I will instead express my thanks online where I am a lit...

Another very solid film to close the fest, with a fantastic performance from Sarah Bolger in this dark, grimy gangland thriller cum family sink drama. Gripping and mostly realistic (although there are a few exceptions) the negatives are few - aside from some implausibilities the plot is largely stra...