London FrightFest 2009

The Boat That Shocked! First came CREEP. Then SEVERANCE. Now Film4 FrightFest is delighted to premiere British director Christopher Smith?s latest spellbinding horror fantasy. When Jess (Melissa George) hits a seagull driving to her local harbour, it jangles her already distraught nerves. But little does she know it signals a harrowing omen for her yachting trip with friends. For their boat is overturned in a weird storm and they take refuge on a strangely deserted liner that suddenly cruises into view. All is not as it seems on board the SS Aeolus, yet Jess just can?t put her finger on why? From epic ocean vistas to poignantly shocking finale, TRIANGLE is Smith?s best, polished and most mature work. His sophisticated and intricate script is always kept on an intriguing angle, the sudden violence is jolting, the atmosphere remains continually creepy and Melissa George gives an exceptionally haunting and moving performance.

Slacker Cooper (FANBOYS? Chris Marquette) returns to his office to clear out his desk after being fired when a strange phenomenon causes him to black out. Awakening he?s nauseous, weak, covered in webbing and hanging from the ceiling! Struggling out of his slimy prison, he comes face to face with what was responsible ? a Giant Bug. Oversize insects have suddenly taken over the world and those humans the swarm isn?t using for food are being turned into hideous half-spider monsters. Taking charge of a rag-tag group of survivors Cooper heads for the nest to destroy the colossal pests breeding within. But will they make it safely before being picked off one by one by the flying, jumping, scuttling and lethal eight-legged freaks? Writer/director Kyle Rankin?s top-ranking comedy horror is an enormously entertaining and fun creature feature with ace special effects continually propelling the inventively shudder-some creepy-crawly action.

DELIVERANCE, DEATH WISH, STRAW DOGS?now add debut writer/director Steven Kastrissios? THE HORSEMAN to the classic list of powerfully intense revenge chillers. A white-hot blast in the face cast from the same excessively bitter mould as CHOPPER this take-no-prisoners, unflinchingly violent killer thriller is aggressively compelling to the max. After learning of the suspicious drug overdose death of his teenage daughter, Christian (Peter Marshall) is sent a horrifying pornographic video of what may have been her last hours alive. Those shock waves lead him to track down the distributors, producers, actors, and drug suppliers from the sex tape so he can exact the most horrific forms of leg-crossing retribution imaginable. Grounded by Marshall?s incredibly potent and moving performance, this squirmy, discomforting and ultra-twisted road movie in which the rest stops are clogged with hatred, tragedy, violence, torture and painful death, is an unforgettable and extreme experience. Be strongly forewarned!

Looking forward to this upcoming French zombie flick.

Smart about celebrity vanity, bad movies - and what makes them lovable ? Michael Stephenson?s documentary on the US cult of TROLL 2, considered the worst movie ever made, is a consistently funny delight. Stephenson was a child actor when he appeared in director Claudio Fragasso?s wildly incompetent TROLL 2 and was amazed to learn it had become a fan-boy favourite. So too was dentist George Hardy who in 1989 answered a casting call to star in a low budget horror, then titled ?Goblin?. Their journey through Midnight Movie screenings and the convention circuit to learn why this exercise in ineptitude touched the soul of Nerd Nation is strangely moving and hilarious. Especially when Fragasso turns up thinking he?s finally vindicated as a world-class director only to realize he?s become the latest victim of camp bad-movie worship. Bet you?ll want to watch TROLL 2 the moment this insightful testimonial to trash ends.

A fascinating documentary, touching, sad, revealing and scary as it explores the nebulous zone where fan fever uncomfortably hovers between harmless fixation and dangerous lunacy. Jeff Turner and Kelly McCormick claim to be in love with 80's pop singer Tiffany. 50-year-old California native Jeff has attended every Tiffany concert since 1988. Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, Jeff spends his days on the streets of Santa Cruz, striking up Tiffany-based conversations with anyone who has a moment to spare. Kelly is a 38-year-old hermaphrodite from Colorado who claims to have been friends with Tiffany as a teenager. She credits Tiffany as the shining star who has motivated her to do everything in her life. Labelled stalkers by the media, this startling film throws the spotlight on their lonely lives, the source of their clinging obsessions and, in doing so, sheds light on the most extreme aspects of American celebrity fan culture.

Cases rarely come colder than the inexplicable 1960s disappearance of a teen heiress from her family?s remote island retreat. Nor do fiction debuts come any hotter than the European best seller ?The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? by Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson on which this gripping nail-biter is based. Director Niels Arden Oplev?s atmospheric and strikingly original thriller introduces the provocative odd couple of a disgraced financial journalist and a multi-pierced hacker with severe social behaviour problems. Together they uncover an undetected chain of serial killings when investigating the decades-old mystery in a startling and near-the-knuckle giallo Swedish style. With very disturbing and intense scenes, and an international superstar-making performance from Noomi Rapace as the tattooed Lisbeth, MILLENNIUM is the Euro sensation of the moment. The other two parts of the MILLENNIUM movie trilogy, based on ?The Girl Who Played With Fire? and ?The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet?s Nest?, are released soon.

From Dario Argento, the undisputed Master of Italian horror, comes a startling thriller sporting a title referring to the genre of sex-studded violence he popularized in the 1970s with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. After being abandoned by his junkie prostitute mother at birth, the disfigured serial maniac known as Yellow chooses his victims based on their beauty. Hunting women to torture and keep alive until he grows bored and finds their replacement. Fashion model Celine is his latest prey. When her distraught sister Linda reports Celine missing she?s sent to eccentric Inspector Avolfi who has made it his mission to bring Yellow to justice. Following strange clues and past leads Avolfi and Linda close in on their slippery quarry. But now Yellow has seen Linda, he knows Celine?s days are numbered. For he must gruesomely kill again to keep feeding his wanton and sadistic blood lust.

Based on Larry Cohen?s successful cult classic from 1974, director Joseph Rusnak?s taut remake explores the terrifying consequences of experimental drug testing. Lenore Harker (HOSTEL?s Bijou Phillips) is a typical college senior and her boyfriend Frank (PRIMEVAL?s James Murray) loves her. The only problem is Lenore is about to give birth to a baby whose sole purpose in life is to kill everything in sight. Before she became pregnant, Lenore participated in a series of drug tests under professional supervision. But no one had any idea that those drugs would cause Lenore?s baby to go on a killing rampage moments after being born, taking out the medical staff before disappearing into the hospital?s ventilation system. When the truth comes out, their home becomes a house of horror as the baby wreaks havoc on anyone and everyone in its path and Lenore must make the ultimate sacrifice.

Easily the best Zombie Flick of 2009. It's funny, it is imaginative (death sequences!), it has lots of gore and it has great-looking Nazi zombies! I enjoyed the references to other movies (especially Evil Dead) and there was a genuinely creepy scene about the history of the Nazi living dead. If you are planning to go skiing this winter, Dead Snow contains excellent survival advice if you are buried by an avalanche, amongst other things.

Forget Wolf Creek. Now another terrifying Australian location is put on the map ? the small coastal town of Coffin Rock. That?s where Rob and Jess live an almost idyllic life, their relationship marred only by their inability to have children. Struggling to conceive by IVF treatment, in a weak moment Jess sleeps with a stranger and later learns she?s pregnant from the brief affair. But the shocking truth is Evan targeted Jess the moment she walked into the fertility clinic where he worked. Now Jess? guilt turns to full-blown horror as Evan begins a petrifying transformation from menacing stalker to unhinged psychopath, determined to prove paternity and claim Jess as his own. From the producer of WOLF CREEK and writer/director Rupert Glasson making his feature debut, comes a skilfully woven tale of palpable unease and gripping suspense with a truly frightening performance from Sam Parsonson as the deranged Evan.

From Adam Gierasch, director of AUTOPSY and co-writer with Jace Anderson of MOTHER OF TEARS, comes the highly anticipated remake of the 1988 cult classic. Maddie and her girlfriends are ready for a great Halloween night. They?re going to a party at the notorious Broussard Mansion in New Orleans where, 80 years ago, six people disappeared without a trace and the owner, Evangeline Broussard, mysteriously hung herself. That dark history only enhances the atmospheric appeal to the partygoers. But during the wild sex-and-drugs abandon it soon becomes clear supernatural forces are at work and there?s much more to the Broussard urban legend than anyone suspected. For the mansion is home to demons that need to possess seven vessels to break free of an ancient curse, transforming their victims into hideous, drooling creatures. Can Maddie make it through the night and keep evil forces from spreading into the world?

From THE ROOST director Ti West comes slow-brewing, old school psychological horror at its finest, freakiest and most fiendish. Student Samantha has just moved into her own apartment and needs some fast cash for the rent. Answering a campus advert for a babysitter, she ends up at the creepy old remote country home of the strange Ulman couple. But something is clearly wrong. The pay is too high. There seems to be no child. A total lunar eclipse is about to further darken the night skies. And Samantha?s blood-freezing satanic panic begins? A terrific cult cast (EATING RAOUL?s Mary Woronov, MONSTER SQUAD?s Tom Noonan, ET?s Dee Wallace), a superb synthesized rock and 80s hit soundtrack and smartly nostalgic style to match, West?s occult chiller is eerily subtle before slamming home a tension-laden devilish finale. One of the best, and coolest looking, independent horrors of the year.

FrightFest had the pleasure of welcoming director Christian Alvart and his critically acclaimed thriller ANTIBODIES to Leicester Square in 2005. So we are now more than pleased to premiere his latest work in the genre, even though some cases should never be opened? Family services social worker Emily Jenkins (Oscar-winning Renee Zellweger) thinks she?s seen it all when given her newest, most mysterious assignment. For troubled 10 year-old Lillith Sullivan (SILENT HILL?s Jodelle Ferland) seems to be the victim of horrendous child abuse at the hands of her clearly unstable mother and father. And Emily?s worst fears are confirmed when Lillith?s parents are caught trying to viciously kill their only daughter. But Emily?s quick intervention saves Lillith and because she feels a bond has formed between them decides to take her in herself until the right foster family can be found. Then the stark, staring real horror begins?

We?ve been waiting for a new movie from visionary artist Philip Ridley since THE PASSION OF DARKLY NOON in 1995. Now, finally, THE REFLECTING SKIN director returns to the celluloid dream world. HEARTLESS is the menacing and magical tale of Jamie (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE star Jim Sturgess) born with a heart-shaped birthmark on his face. Shunned by those who find him repulsive, the photographer?s son lives in a part of London?s East End notorious for gang violence. When his mother is viciously murdered, the media reports it?s by a hoodie wearing a devil mask. But Jamie soon realizes the thugs aren?t wearing disguises at all; they really are demons and hell on earth is beginning to plague the capital city. Yet all is not what it seems in enfant terrible Ridley?s unique horror fantasy landscape ingeniously informed by the current climate of fear running through every strata of modern society.