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Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 6:03 pm
by ChrisReynolds
Cannes has passed, so a lot of the Frightfest films are probably already in place. What films does everybody want for this year? And with this being the 20th Frightfest, what events/retrospectives could there be? There haven't been any Frightfest postcards for a while, so predictions are harder than usual.

With that said, here are my guesses:

MOST LIKELY
Harpoon - A black comedy about three friends stranded on a yacht, this has been getting good reviews and has just been acquired by Arrow. Not to be confused with the Icelandic film of the same name that played Frightfest Glasgow a few years ago.
Rabid - A remake of Cronenberg's classic body horror, helmed by the Soska sisters. It's been 7 years since American Mary, and this has been getting a lot of hype from Frightfest, including previews and news of its production. Paul even mentioned at Glasgow that it wasn't quite ready for that. I expect this to play one of the most prestigious slots with the Soskas in attendance. Maybe even opening night?
Sky Sharks - Zombie Nazis on flying sharks. With scenes filmed at Frightfest back in 2014 (or 2015?), and a lot of Frightfest hype, this seems to finally be complete as the makers brought it to this year's Cannes market.

SOMEWHAT LIKELY
Crawl - Alexandre Aja's take on the killer alligator film, with Kaya Scodelario battling the hungry reptiles in a flooding house. Not to be confused with the Australian film of the same name that played Frightfest Glasgow a few years ago.
Midsommar - Ari Aster's follow-up to Hereditary, with Florence Pugh and Will Poulter hiking to a Swedish village where Wicker Man-style shenanigans will inevitably be going on.
Freaks - There's always a couple of Frightfest Glasgow films that play the discovery screen. This one was the best of that festival and has a suitable release date.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark - An anthology adaption of the children's supernatural horror stories. Frightfest tends to stay away from family fare, so that counts against it, but with Frightfest fan Guillermo Del Toro producing and Trollhunter's André Øvredal directing, it might stand a chance.
Relive - David Oyelowo is a police officer who starts getting calls from his dead niece, asking him to solve her murder. Somebody at Frightfest loves these X-Files-style sci-fi mysteries, so I wouldn't be surprised if it plays.
Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made - Some sort of meta-film about the reconstruction of a cursed film. Fulfils a couple of Frightfest indicators by being Canadian and distributed by Uncork'd Entertainment.
In the Tall Grass - Vincenzo Natali's adaptation of the excellent Stephen King and Joe Hill novella about an evil field of grass.
The Lodge - Riley Keough and Alicia Silverstone are snowed in at one of those cabins in the woods were spooky things happen.
Come to Daddy - Elijah Wood also goes to a cabin in the woods to reconnect with his father and bloody mayhem ensues.
Color Out of Space - Speaking of Elijah Wood, his company, SpectreVision is producing this adaptation of the classic Lovecraft story. Excitingly, this is directed by horror auteur Richard Stanley, returning to film direction for the first time since the disastrous production of Dr Moreau, 23 years ago. And Nicolas Cage stars!
Daniel Isn't Real - Another Spectrevision release, this one directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer, whose Some Kind of Hate received a polarising reception at Frightfest 2015.
The Furies - Gruesome Australian survival horror about women being chased through the forest by axe-wielding slashers.
Ghost Master - Japanese splatter-comedy about a director who goes mad and slaughters his cast and crew.
The Sonata - Gothic French/British mystery where Rutger Hauer is a deceased composer haunting his daughter.
Little Monsters - Lupita Nyong’o as a kindergarten teacher protecting her charges from a zombie invasion.

POSSIBLE
Lighthouse - Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe go mad in a lighthouse. From Robert Eggers (The Witch), this got rave reviews at Cannes, but seems like it would be more likely to play the London Film Festival.
It: Chapter 2 - Return of the interdimensional killer clown. Obiviously, it would be a huge coup for this to play, and it would be perfect for the festival, but in recent years the big studios have been reticent to premiere their tentpole horror releases at Frightest. Would be more likely to go the same route as the first installment, and play a week after the festival as a special preview.
Doctor Sleep Danny Torrance, the little boy with The Shining has grown up to become Ewan MacGregor and is investigating a cult. Quite a high profile release, directed by Mike Flanagan.
The Hunt - The latest version of The Most Dangerous Game, with working-class people being hunted down. Another high-profile Blumhouse release.
Little Joe - A high profile Cannes competitor wherein Emily Beecham and Joe Whishaw genetically engineer a mind-controlling plant. Seems more like a London Film Festival choice.
In the Trap - An Italian film about a man held hostage in his apartment by a supernatural force.
Are You Afraid Of The Dark? - Very similar to Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, this is an anthology adaption of the children's supernatural horror TV series, with Disturbia's DJ Caruso directing. I can't see both Scary Stories and Are you Afraid playing, and this one seems like the more mainstream one.
Zombieland 2: Double Tap - Weirdly this will be the second slacker zombie-comedy featuring Bill Murray released this year, as Jim Jarmusch's all-star The Dead Don't Die was the opening film at Cannes, where it received tepid reviews.
Child's Play - A remake of the 1988 original, even through the original franchise is still ongoing, and none of that cast/crew is involved in this one. The director and writer have no track record, and the only positive signs are that Aubrey Plaza and Mark Hamill star.
Grudge - Another Grudge film with Andrea Riseborough now being menaced by Kayako. This will be the 13th Grudge film, so there are now more Grudge films than there are Friday the 13ths!
In Search of Darkness - A documentary about 80s horror, could be quite likely for a discovery screen.
Cutterhead - Danish thriller about three people trapped in a burning metro tunnel under construction.
The Pool - More crocodile survival horror, this time from Thailand, as a couple find themselves trapped in a drained swimming pool.
The Dead Ones - Masked slashers chase some kids serving detention in a school.
Deadtectives - Comically inept reality-TV ghost hunters investigate Mexico's most haunted house.
Creep 3 - Another Creep film.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 4:52 pm
by zappa fan
Can I add a very most likely addtion to this list

Dark Light - Monster movie from Padraig Reynolds, who has previously shown Open 24 Hours at FrightFest.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:55 pm
by DJBenz
ChrisReynolds wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 6:03 pm Crawl - Alexandre Aja's take on the killer alligator film, with Kaya Scodelario battling the hungry reptiles in a flooding house. Not to be confused with the Australian film of the same name that played Frightfest Glasgow a few years ago.
Slated for a 23rd August release so fits in perfectly.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:55 am
by FactionMan
Some of these sound amazing. Particularly the one about the evil field of grass!

I do know that The Furies is playing at Edinburgh Film Festival, so unlikely it will be at Frightfest too.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 6:27 pm
by ChrisReynolds
FactionMan wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:55 am I do know that The Furies is playing at Edinburgh Film Festival, so unlikely it will be at Frightfest too.
This isn't necessarily the case. Scotland is considered a separate country for screening purposes, so unlike Grimmfest and the Sheffield Screamfest, films that screen at the EFF often screen at Frightfest as well, though being an English premiere does seem to increase the chances of them being Discovery screen films. e.g. last year, Piercing, Possum, The Most Assassinated Woman in the World, and White Chamber all screened both festivals.

The other horror films at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival are:

Darlin' - Pollyanna McIntosh's directorial debut; a sequel to The Woman that she starred in.
Ever After - A German film about two woman trying to get to a safe haven during a zombie apocalypse.
Body at Brighton Rock - A park ranger gets stuck overnight in the woods, after finding a corpse. Most of the films Roxanne Benjamin has produced/directed have screened at previous Frightfests.
The Wind - A slow burn psychological horror Western, as a woman goes mad out in the Wild West.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:23 pm
by FactionMan
Ah, interesting! Good to know, thanks Chris.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 12:26 am
by sherbetbizarre
Hoping for the new 4K scan of...


Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 8:59 pm
by LaidToRest

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:43 pm
by DJBenz
ChrisReynolds wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 6:03 pm Rabid - A remake of Cronenberg's classic body horror, helmed by the Soska sisters. It's been 7 years since American Mary, and this has been getting a lot of hype from Frightfest, including previews and news of its production. Paul even mentioned at Glasgow that it wasn't quite ready for that. I expect this to play one of the most prestigious slots with the Soskas in attendance. Maybe even opening night?
Sylvia posted on Facebook that Rabid is screening at Fantasy Filmfest in September. She said it was the "first of the festival screening news". It doesn't stop it from being premiered at FF, but I'd say that now seems unlikely if it's already been announced for another fest, albeit later in the year.

http://www.fantasyfilmfest.com/dt-film/Rabid.html

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 4:10 pm
by argento1977
Could 3 From Hell be a possibility? Certainly the sort of higher profile movie that would be a good opener/closer or the Sat night movie. Getting Zombie, Sherri, Bill and Sid over would be the icing on the cake.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:13 pm
by rfcook001
Color Out of Space - It would be great to have this at FF but I'm not sure if it will be ready in time, and also I heard a rumor around that Alan Jones and Richard Stanley weren't friendly (which is why Stanley didn't attend the the screening of Theatre Bizarre when it showed at FF).

Lighthouse - Agree. Sadly I think this will go to LFF.


I wonder if they will do any retro screenings? Maybe a 20th Anniversary showing of Blair Witch Project of Sixth Sense.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:03 pm
by zappa fan
The opening and closing films for #ArrowFrightFest have been unleashed. Get ready for Ant @Timpson's COME TO DADDY starring @elijahwood and FrightFest favourite @abnerpastoll's A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND starring @SarahBolger.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:08 pm
by Whiptail
Yeah, just been announced. I'm disappointed, but then I'm very hard to please.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:32 pm
by TheDukeAbides
ChrisReynolds wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 6:03 pm ...
Sky Sharks - Zombie Nazis on flying sharks. With scenes filmed at Frightfest back in 2014 (or 2015?), and a lot of Frightfest hype, this seems to finally be complete as the makers brought it to this year's Cannes market.

...
For some reason I've convinced myself it was 2015.

Re: Predictions and hopes for Frightfest 2019

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:09 pm
by DJBenz
argento1977 wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 4:10 pm Could 3 From Hell be a possibility? Certainly the sort of higher profile movie that would be a good opener/closer or the Sat night movie. Getting Zombie, Sherri, Bill and Sid over would be the icing on the cake.
It's been announced for a September release, so an August premiere would work quite well...