Frightfest Helps Re-open Leicester Square

27th May 2012

Sunday 27^th May 2012.

Leicester Square reopened in London and the Frightfest team were there to celebrate the horror genre.

Presenter Alex Zane conducted a horror quiz on this hot summer’s day to the rallying crowd. The questions ranged in their difficulty but we did get a bit upset when Zane proved to be not quite so correct in his research in certain areas (Er… Alex, there have been twelve Friday the 13th related movies and nine related Elm Street movies. Either he forgot to count the remakes or Freddy Vs Jason.) The crowd were then treated to a collection of trailers of upcoming horror films. The trailers were of varying quality but the sound seemed to be off, so the crowd had to be content to just watch.

More exciting than all of that though was a lengthy interview conducted by Chris Tilly with Alan Jones who talked about his background as a film journalist (35 years and counting) and the origins of FrightFest. Tilly managed to get a few high and low lights from Jones on his experiences as an onset reporter – Jones was one of the few who covered Star Wars at the time! His most chilling horror experience is Texas Chainsaw, but his favourite is Argento’s Inferno.

His career in the industry has amounted to a heck of a lot of knowledge and we dare say he’s made a few contacts along the way – which can only help when you decide to create a genre based festival which he has managed to do very successfully with partners Paul McEvoy, Ian Ratray and Greg Day.

When asked where he might like to see the festival in five years, Jones joked about the O2 Arena (which, frankly we are relieved was a joke), but said that he was very happy with its home at the Empire and they have created a great working relationship with the management at that venue. He couldn’t agree more with the 1400 odd capacity main screen and the use of the smaller Discovery screen.

But the fun didn’t end there as Jones then took over the reins on stage and introduced actors Alan Ford and Michelle Ryan who are appearing in the upcoming Cockneys Vs Zombies horror comedy. A sizzle reel of scenes were played for the crowd which were well received. CvZ is out later in the year, so we suspect it may well be making an appearance at the festival when it swings round in July.

Jones also alluded to the fact that amongst the many talented faces they are hoping to get at the festival there was someone in particular he was hoping they would get who fans might be very pleased about. Of course the management at Frightfest don’t like to give the game away too early – but our money is on Argento. Jones is releasing an updated edition of his book Profondo Argento later this year which focusses on Argento’s career and Jones is definitely the man for that job as he has been on set of every film since Tenebrae back in the early 80s. Argento also has his new film Dracula 3D releasing this year so it makes sense that all of these elements should come together. But we will just have to wait and see!

The Frightfest 2012 opening and closing films will be announced on 8th June.

The festival takes place from 23^rd – 27^th August.