FrightFest Discovery Screen 4 Line-Up

• 28th Jun 2013

FRIDAY AUGUST 25

10:40  THE AMERICAN SCREAM  (London Preview)

Director: Michael Stephenson  Cast: Matthew Brodeur, Victor Bariteau, Manny Souza

USA 2012   84 mins 

From Michael Stephenson, director of the BEST WORST MOVIE, comes another charming and hugely entertaining documentary. Meet the Brodeur, Souza and Bariteau families who live in the seaside town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Every year they spend fortunes turning their homes into stunning haunted houses for the Halloween holiday, determined to dazzle and impress their. Watch them as they plan, slave, obsess and suffer trying to outdo each other in the fearful fun-ride department. An engaging, inspiring, heart-warming examination of creativity, community and love of Halloween horror.

12:50  HANSEL & GRETEL & THE 4:20 WITCH  (UK Premiere)

Director: Duane Journey. Cast: Cary Elwes, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Welch, Molly C Quinn, Yancy Butler. USA, 2013. 90 mins.

Fairy-tale horror and stoner comedy combine to great effect in this smartly entertaining fantasy. Agnes, a little old lady from Pasadena, grows the best weed in town. But when Gretel’s boyfriend Hansel goes missing after scoring dope, she tracks him to Agnes’ deceptively charming Gingerbread House. There she discovers Agnes is attempting to devour his soul to revive her youth. Unfortunately Gretel’s attempts to rescue Hansel are thwarted by a Latino drug gang. There is charismatic performance by ‘Castle’ TV series regular Molly C Quinn plus a blissfully OTT turn from ‘Twin Peaks’ star Lara Flynn Boyle.

15:15  THE DEMON’S ROOK  (European Premiere)

Director: James Sizemore. Cast: Ashleigh Jo Sizemore, James Sizemore, John Chatham. Melanie Richardson, Sade Smith. USA, 2013. 90 mins.

Young Roscoe finds a portal to another world where he is taught magic by an elder demon known as Dimwos. The demon raises the boy into manhood, revealing to him many things… except for one dark secret. When Roscoe discovers the secret withheld, his anger inadvertently unleashes three malevolent demons. Roscoe flees the demons’ wrath by escaping through the portal, drawing the demons to discover our world for themselves. From debut director James Sizemeore, co-founder of the art cult The Black Riders, comes this family affair produced and filmed within the 50-acre Sizemore farm compound.

18:30  PAINLESS  (Preview)

Director: Juan Carlos Medina. Cast: Tomas Lemarquis, Alex Brendemuhl, Juan Diego, Ramon Fonsere, Derek De Lint. Spain 2012. 105 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

A strikingly original vision of European history, poetry and cinematic artistry, director Juan Carlos Medina’s astonishing feature debut is a sophisticated adult fable. On the eve of the Spanish Civil War in 1931 a group of children, insensitive to physical pain, are incarcerated in the fortress-like Canfranc hospital high in the Pyrenees to be taught what physical suffering actually means and its fatal consequences. One of the boys accidentally becomes the most feared torturer of General Franco’s regime. Moving and melancholic, shocking and sobering, this stunning masterpiece is bound to leave you spellbound throughout until the operatic tear-inducing finale.

21:00  WITHER  (UK Premiere)

Directors: Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund. Cast Patrik Almqvist, Lisa Henni, Amanda Renberg, Patrick Saxe, Ralf Beck. Sweden, 2012. 95 mins. Swedish with English subtitles.

A Swedish homage to Sam Raimi’s original EVIL DEAD, this is a fast, ferocious, graphic tale of demonic possession with a Scandinavian twist. Ida and Albin are setting off for a fun holiday with their friends to a remote cabin in the vast Nordic woodlands. But their carefree weekend comes unhinged when one of them accidentally unleashes a mysterious and murderous creature trapped in the basement. Worse, under the floorboards lurks an evil from Sweden’s dark past. As the savage demon begins its assault, the blood-dredged body count mounts, Join the cavalcade of blood and guts at this crazy cabin of the dead.

23:15  SNAP  (UK Premiere)

Directors: Youssef Delara & Victor Teran. Cast: Jake Hoffman, Nikki Reed, Scott Bakula, Thomas Dekker, Jason Priestley. USA, 2013. 90 mins

SNAP will shred the nerves and rattle the demons of the mind as it charts the unhinging of a damaged brain. Abrasive, with hard cuts and loud imagery, the focus is on Jim Whitman, a painfully shy, musically talented savant whose work has made him a social networking star. But Jim consistently traverses an introverted life, trying to contain the schizophrenic darkness inside him. Struggling to keep his Mr Hyde-like personality in check, he befriends, and eventually obsesses over, Wendy, a caring social worker with problems of her own. A dark and terrifying journey into the psychopathic vortex, how do you stop a human time bomb from exploding?

SATURDAY AUGUST 24

12:50  DAYLIGHT  (World Premiere)

Director: David McCracken, Joel Townsend, Kaidan Tremain. Cast: Jennifer Bacon, David McCracken, Josh Riedford, Sydney Morris. Jeanine Cameron. USA, 2012, 97 mins.

Remember the Satanic abuse panic that originated in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout the country and eventually to many parts of the world? Reports proliferated about the physical abuse of individuals in the context of occult rituals. At its most extreme definition a worldwide conspiracy was postulated involving the wealthy and powerful of the global elite. Now, a team of Child Protective Services workers are investigating a series of bizarre child abuse cases in the small town of Daylight, Indian and as the mystery unfolds, the authorities, lawyers and therapists all discover the cases may be linked by demonic possession.

15:30  ANTISOCIAL  (European Premiere)

Director: Cody Calahan. Cast: Michelle Mylett, Cody Thompson, Adam Christie, Ana Alic, Romaine Waite. Canada, 2013. 90 mins.

Five university friends gather at a house party to ring in the New Year and celebrate the end of the previous one.  What they don’t know is The End really is nigh. Unbeknownst to them, an epidemic has erupted outside, causing outbreaks around the world. With nowhere else to turn, they barricade themselves indoors with only their personal technical devices as a means to find out what is going on. As the virus spreads, the mood in the house changes from fear to paranoia. Who is safe? Who can they trust? Reality becomes blurred as they slowly discover the source of the virus causing the sickness… and there is no going back.

18:40  THE DESERT (World Premiere)

Director: Christoph Behl. Cast: Lautaro Delgado, Victoria Almeida, William Prociuk, Lucas Lagre, Maria Figueras. Argentina, 2013. 98 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

The wave of quality fantasy from Argentina continues with this thought provoking  story of a failed love triangle set post-World War Z. Axel, Jonathan and Ana live together in a fortified house, after a global catastrophe. Outside is a threatening apocalyptic landscape – inside was once a perfect three-way bond of supportive friendship. Now that has been torn apart by Ana forming a close relationship with Jonathan leaving frustrated Axel alone, tattooing his body with flies. With deep wounds festering, everything changes when Axel and Jonathan go out on an expedition in search of provisions and return home with a zombie…

21:05  WILLOW CREEK  (UK Premiere)

Director: Bobcat Goldthwait. Cast: Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson. USA, 2013. 90 mins.

Celebrated stand-up American comedian Bobcat Goldthwait has turned his hand to the Bigfoot myth in his sly commentary on the business of urban legends and the nature of belief. Crypto-zoology enthusiasts will know that Willow Creek is the town closest to Bluff Creek, where the famed Patterson-Gimlin film of Bigfoot was shot in 1967. Jim is a firm believer that there are Sasquatches in the woods; his girlfriend Kelly is not. But she’s a good sport, so when Jim wants to spend a weekend camping in the supposedly beast infested woods, the city girl goes along. But what they find there is something they never, ever expect.

23:15  CONTRACTED  (UK Premiere)

Director: Eric England. Cast: Alice Macdonald, Caroline Williams, Najarra Townsend, Katie Stegeman, Matt Mercer. USA, 2013. 80 mins.

New sexually transmitted infections have risen to almost half a million in England alone.. So what was Samantha thinking when she met a mysterious stranger at a friend’s party? Their flirting ended up them having wild sex, but she had no idea her one-night-stand would have such a devastating effect on her life. For she learns her pick-up is urgently wanted by police, for what she’s not quite sure until she contracts a virulent STD. And the check-up becomes her worst nightmare… Director Eric England hopes CONTRACTED will do for sex with random strangers what JAWS did for going to the beach!”

SUNDAY AUGUST 25

10:25  OUTPOST: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ  (English Premiere)

Director: Kieran Parker. Cast: Bryan Larkin, James ‘The Colossus’ Thompson, Velibor Topic, Ben Lambert, Vivien Taylor. UK, 2013. 87 mins.

In the third instalment of the hit Nazi zombie action horror franchise, we discover the horrifying origins of these supernatural soldiers and see them in ferocious gladiatorial battle against the most ruthless and notorious of all military special forces: the Russian Spetsnaz. Restoring the series to its Word War II origins it introduces a new hero in Dolokhov (Bryan Larkin), a member of Russia’s elite special forces.  A frenetic action packed storyline and some fantastic new villains, this OUTPOST is the goriest and most violent fight fest ever, and marks Kieran Parker’s directorial debut, after serving as producer of the previous two episodes.

13:00  THE PARANORMAL DIARIES: CLOPHILL  (World Premiere)

Directors: Michael Bartlett, Kevin Gates. Cast: Michael Bartlett, Kevin Gates, Craig Stovin, Criselda Cabitac, Mark Jeavons. UK, 2013. 90 mins.

From THE ZOMBIE DIARIES duo comes a new fear franchise. In March 1963, a black mass was held at a ruined church in Clophill, Bedfordshire by a coven of dark witches. Fifty years on from the original incident, the Clophill legend remains etched on the psyches of the local populace. In 2010, a documentary team was assembled to investigate the legend of the Clophill witches and to try and uncover the truth behind the paranormal events. What followed during that long weekend at Clophill was a terrifying journey into the unknown, a voyage into unfathomable terror and a stark reminder of supernatural forces at continual work.

15:20  THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Special screening)

Director: Roger Corman. Cast: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbee, David Andar. USA, 1960. 80 mins.

1960s horror began here with director Roger Corman’s seminal Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, the first of a celebrated series. With Hammer taking the lead in Great Britain by going back to classic Universal monsters, upping the budgets and filming in gore-drenched colour, Drive-in company American International Pictures had to fight back somehow. The result was a minor masterpiece, surprisingly faithful to the Poe original, as it tells the story of Roderick Usher (marvellous Vincent Price), his fears for the sanity of his sister Madeleine, her burial alive while in a cataleptic trance, and the fall of their once grand family as she returns to exact revenge on her brother. Dripping with decadence, corruption, incestuous desire and sins of the family, this Corman classic is in lush Cinemascope and, in this vibrant restoration, looks as good now as it did back in the day when it grabbed the attention of all budding horror fans.

18:30  NOSFERATU (Special screening)

Director: F W Murnau. Cast Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav Van Wagenheim, Greta Schroeder, G H Schnell. Germany, 1922. 95 mins. Silent with English subtitles.

Few films have had a more profound and lasting impact on the horror genre than Murnau’s prime example of German Expressionism, directed with determination to evoke unsettling chills with a strong visual appeal. This unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ – the reason why it was originally shown in butchered form due to Stoker’s widow taking legal action – features symphonic lighting, rhythmic editing and horror imagery that has been copied endlessly ever since. During the Bremen plague in 1838 estate agent Hutter is sent to the Carpathian Mountains to arrange a property sale for the mysterious Count Orlock (the magnificent Max Schreck). When Hutter falls under his blood-sucking master’s thrall, it’s left to his wife Ellen to banish the evil creature back to the hell he came from. The most celebrated sequence – Orlock climbing stairs to Ellen’s boudoir, his menacing outline casting terrifying wall shadows

remains unparalleled in the horror hall of fame.

21:20  CORRUPTION (Special screening)

Director Robert Hartford-Davis. Cast: Peter Cushing, Sue Lloyd, Kate O’Mara, Anthony Booth, Vanessa Howard. UK, 1967. 91 mins.

FrightFest could not let the 100th Anniversary marking the birth of horror legend Peter Cushing go unmarked. That’s why he’s included in our poster this year and here’s another tribute to that true gentle man of horror, the Master of Hammer who played Baron Frankenstein six times and Dracula’s nemesis Van Helsing in five incarnations. We are delighted to screen this newly restored, energetically sleazy and underrated gem slickly directed by 60s trashmeister Robert Hartford-Davis (THE BLACK TORMENT, GONKS GO BEAT, INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED, THE FIEND). Cushing plays Sir John Rowan, a brilliant surgeon decapitating prostitutes for pituitary gland fluid to repair the disfigured face of his model girlfriend (Sue Lloyd, star of TV’s ‘The Baron’). Advertised at the time as “A super-shock picture so no woman will be admitted to see it alone!”, this benchmark in Cushing’s golden period has the most demented ending ever – hippies sending a laser beam out of control.

MONDAY AUGUST 26

11:20  THE DEMON’s ROCK (repeat screening)

13:40  CANNON FODDER  (UK Premiere)

Director: Eitan Gafny. Cast: Liron Levo, Yafit Shallev, Roi Miller, Emos Ayeno, Gome Sarig. Israel 2012, 94 mins. Hebrew & English with English subtitles.

The international success of RABIES really started something. Now the on-trend movies to make in Israel are horror, like this up-front fantasy detailing a new Middle East conflict. Security operative Doron takes on one last mission: to go to Lebanon. With an elite force behind him Doron soon discovers that reality is not so simple. For a new and unknown entity must be dealt with, a bloodthirsty, ravening, totally unpredictable enemy. But now that his enemy has changed its face, it’s up to him and his unit to wage a new war, a different war, to find an antidote, and get back across the border before the Middle East conflict is changed forever.

15:25  ON TENDER HOOKS  (World Premiere)

Director: Kate Shenton. Cast: Kate Shenton, Tam Smith, Ana Laco, Håvve Fjell, Charlyne Chiappone. UK 2013, 70 mins.

The first self-funded feature film from accomplished short filmmaker Kate Shenton, this eye-opening documentary film delves into the world of human suspension and the eclectic people involved. Kate spent a year following different people and a group of suspenders. Every Sunday they pierce themselves with hooks and hang in mid-air from rigs in a display that challenges the perceptions and squeamishness of even the most hardened. Beginning with communities in London, and then following events in Rico, Croatia and Oslo, Norway, the film depicts a wide variety of experience and opinions, and probes thoughtfully into a deeply misunderstood practice.

18:40  STALLED  (European Premiere)

Director: Christian James. Cast: Dan Palmer, Antonia Bernath, Tamaryn Payne, Mark Holden, Giles Alderson. UK 2013. 80 mins.

It’s Christmas Eve. A down-on-his-luck janitor is cleaning cubicles in an office block.  Unfortunately for this forlorn floor-sweeper, he becomes trapped in the washroom the very second a zombie outbreak occurs. Will he be able to hit the emergency alarm with severed fingers and a catapult bra? Has he met his Waterloo? Will he just go potty? Or will he simply remain…STALLED? Consistently hilarious, brilliantly executed, cleverly constructed and visually imaginative, director Christian James’ remarkable comedy horror is THE EVIL DEAD meets PHONE BOOTH in a toilet. For in a zombie apocalypse no one can hear you strain – or gives a crap.

The guest line-up and 2013 Short Film Selections will announced shortly.

Festival & day passes go on sale from 29 June. Tickets for Individual films are on sale from 27 July.

Bookings: 08 714 714 714 or www.empirecinemas.co.uk