Sean Parker
The Film Festival news just keeps coming as FrightFest has announced their exciting lineup for this August’s FrightFest London. FrightFest assumes control over two ODEON theaters (in Leicester Square and the West End) beginning Thursday, 21 August, for five full days of mind-blowing and madness-inducing films, the way only FrightFest knows how.
This year, FrightFest will feature some of the biggest titles horrorhounds have been waiting for in the UK, including Macon Blair’s highly anticipated Toxic Avenger remake, Erik Bloomquist’s excellent Self-Help, and The Adams Family’s Mother of Flies. The festival opens with The Purge creator James DeMonaco’s new Pete Davidson thriller, The Home, and closes on 25 August with Kurtis David Harder’s Influencers, a sequel to his 2022 Shudder film, Influencer. However, that only scratches the surface of FrightFest’s massively robust offering, which spans four screens across two theaters in the heart of London.
Dubbed “The Woodstock of gore” by Guillermo Del Toro, this twenty-sixth edition of FrightFest is stacked with all manner of creatures, killers, and things that go bump in the night. This edition features over twenty-five World Premieres from a whopping sixty-nine features, ready to break out and induce the first blood-curdling guttural screams from their audience. FrightFest remains a top destination for horror fans and artists worldwide, and this year’s lineup showcases an excitingly diverse selection of films from around the globe.
As previously stated, FrightFest 2025 gets underway with The Purge director James DeMonaco’s taut terror, The Home, which features a serious horror turn for SNL alum Pete Davidson as a troublemaking twentysomething sentenced to community service at a nefarious retirement home.
On the flip side, closing on the festival on 25 August, is the UK premiere of Kurtis David Harder’s Influencers. If you’re travelling to London, this one may help you stay humble and courteous, or face the potential ire of someone like CW (Cassandra Naud). This second installment of the Shudder film series has had many fans long awaiting its release, and Frightfest attendees have the honor of being among the first, in what is being described as an expansive and consequential sequel that boasts some “nasty twists” with Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell, Letterkenny’s Dylan Playfair, and Supernatural’s Osric Chau joining the cast.
Of course, there’s a host of big-name horror titles getting their time to shine on the FrightFest stage as well. Peter Dinklage dons the mop for The Toxic Avenger, a remake of the 1984 cult classic that horror audiences have been dying to check off their 2025 bingo cards. And that goes the same for Joe Begos’ Eli Roth-produced Jimmy and Stiggs, which is sure to be a wild, practical-effects-filled alien-abduction romp of extreme violence that FrightFest puts in the same camp as Evil Dead and Bad Taste. And rounding out a trio of must-see FrightFest screenings, The Adams Family return with a spiritual Hellbender sequel, Mother of Flies, that sees a young woman with a terminal diagnosis biting off more than she can chew when a woods-dwelling witch offers a cure involving dark magic.
World Premieres taking on the main screen at FrightFest will include Chris Marrs Piliero’s Appofeniacs, an ensemble story of intersecting tales about AI deepfakes and the maligned consequences to real lives starring Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy).
Juan Pablo Arias Munoz’s What She Doesn’t Know features a script written by Terry Castle, daughter of legendary House on Haunted Hill director William Castle. The story involves a pair of high school kids who decide not to attend prom because of a local serial killer on the loose, and instead decide to hole up in their friend’s secluded mansion. Secrets and danger loom as the killer may have their sights set on the teens.
Edgar Marie watches bamboo grow with anxiety-deepening tension in Bamboo Revenge, when a woman, suspecting three men of her sister’s disappearance, ties her suspects to the ground underneath a fast-growing strain of bamboo. They’ll either come clean or face being impaled.
And finally, Ritesh Gupta’s The Red Mask puts toxic fandom in the driver’s seat when a Queer screenwriter is hired to conclude a fan favorite slasher series. Retreating to the woods after receiving death threats becomes a bad idea as these horror fans are out for blood.
Other big titles to keep your eye on at FrightFest are Simon Rumley’s raw kidnapping nail-biter Crushed, Gerald Johnson’s suspenseful London underworld thriller Odyssey, and Seth Daly’s sun-soaked home invasion fantasy-thriller The Rows. Kue Lawrence believes his camp counselors’ scary campfire tales in Daniel DelPurgatorio’s Marshmallow, while Tommy Savas’ techno thriller CognAItive delves into AI fears, homaging the effects of the ’90s Y2K fears, and William Bagley’s Hold the Fort jumps off our list of Fantasia highlights to offer its HOA monsters some fresh blood.
FrightFest says that Kevin and Matthew McManus are “poised for a breakthrough” with their dimension-shifting Redux Redux, about a grieving mom in search of a world where her daughter is still alive, and hold onto… well your bits, Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s Bone Lake presents a sex, lies, and survival story that looks equal parts steamy and twisted. When two couples book the same Airbnb and each gets their peanut butter stuck in the other couple’s chocolate… so to speak.
The festival is also talking up Toshiaki Toyoda’s Transcending Dimensions, calling the film “a violent, surreal fantasy that transcends anything you’ve ever seen before.” The movie revolves around a missing interstellar monk, his lover, an assassin, a sorcerer, and the fight that is destined to bring them together. Night of Violence spins a tale of terror, a corporation wins a legal battle over the locals, who then invade the office with murderous intent. And Grégory Morin’s cocaine-fueled gross-out bathroom stall horror film, Flush, sees Luc (Jonathan Lambert) create chaos after being locked in a nightclub toilet with the bartender’s stash by his ex, only to have things spiral back upon him with a narrow opportunity to escape a horrific fate.
Leading a group of discovery titles, UK audiences will be introduced to the psychological killer-clown flick Super Happy Fun Clown featuring The Stylist’s Jennifer Seward, Keith Boynton’s death-inducing haunted carnival, The Haunted Forest, and the eco-folktale The Arborist, where a grief-stricken mom and her son awaken something evil when they start cutting down trees on an old estate.
If the underground is more your scene, FrightFest’s indie side is hosting some truly cool underground premieres as well. FrightFest will be the first place Poohniverse, or Twisted Childhood Universe (whatever your fancy), fans can catch the World Premiere of Bambi: The Reckoning. After Scott Chambers’ Peter Pan entry, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmares, did better than expected with critics and at the box office, I’d expect Bambi to present an unbridled revenge spree worth trekking your hoofs into the theater for. The film is followed by Marc Price’s The Arbiter, a gang warfare movie made for under a million pounds, from the director who created the compelling zombie thriller Colin for only fifty quid.
The world premieres don’t stop there, giallo fans should race to see Gabriel Carrer’s maniacal motorcycle revenge rampage, Death Cycle, and Matt Stuertz’s body horror film, Human. Tim Cruz directs the transmorphic Don’t Let the Cat Out, and Nancy Williams’ head-trip novel Pig Hill receives a surreal creature feature adaptation. Plus, Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks’ Blood Shine is a must-see for me. This filmmaker team created the excellent Alone With You, and their new film, a folktale about a kidnapped filmmaker who holds the key to make a man a god, sounds absolutely chilling. James Ross’ “powerful shocker” Parasomnia blurs the lines between reality and nightmares. Finally, Follow Her’s Dani Barker is back at FrightFest, taking on the roles of director, co-writer, and actor in horror comedy Five, where a demon possesses an actress hoping to make her comeback after returning from rehab.
Rounding out the American imports, Raven Carter’s debut, Noseeums, makes its UK premiere at FrightFest, which is billing the film as “Get Out meets Candyman.” Carter’s modern, supernatural-tinged folktale delves into the history of the American South, undertaking an unsettling experience. Jake Myers, whom I had the absolute pleasure of meeting at Salem Horror Fest a couple of years ago, turns his workplace short film, Kombucha, into a pod people x David Cronenberg body horror nightmare. Jackie Earle Haley (Shutter Island, A Nightmare on Elm Street) returns to horror for DW Medoff’s Your Host, in which the Oscar nominee becomes a twisted cross between Jigsaw and Bob Barker, as four friends must outwit his sadistic game show, or die trying.
John Berardo’s The Mannequin is not a remake of the 1987 Kim Cattrall movie; it is instead a gripping ghost story about a predatory photographer and the LA factory where he stashed his victims fifty years ago. And speaking of old wounds, director Paul Bunnell reimagines the seldom-seen, lost 1922 classic A Blind Bargain like an episode of Night Gallery. The film starring Lon Chaney suffered the same fate as Chaney’s London After Midnight in the MGM fire.
One of only a few found footage films hitting FrightFest this August is the security camera captured home invasion ordeal, Dooba Dooba. Silly name, sure, but this horror picture has an affecting plotline: Sixteen-year-old Monroe suffers from anxiety after the death of her younger brother and will only allow people to approach her if the safe words, Dooba Dooba, are said. Hiring a babysitter, her parents leave to attend a party, and things slowly get very weird from there.
Like twists? World Premiere In a Cold Vein is said to have a plot that’s “blacker than black noir” and leaves you guessing to the very end, as a professional killer tries to figure out who attempted to have him assassinated. And Jordan Miller’s The Only Ones contorts familiar tropes into a wild and erratic cabin by the lake movie. Chad McClarnon’s atmospheric The Other People sees a family move into a town tormented by an abundance of sudden deaths and missing persons cases. When the family’s young daughter befriends a boy lurking in the shadows of their new home, her parents think it’s some fantasy game she’s created, but they’ll soon discover the shocking truth. The Other People is also based on true events.
One of my favorite theater experiences at Chattanooga this year was Portal to Hell, about a hapless debt collector who discovers the world isn’t black and white when a Portal to Hell opens at his local laundromat to claim the soul of his friendly neighbor. The film features a fantastic cast, including horror royalty Keith David and a demon played by the massively funny Richard Kind. Jeffrey Primm’s whodunnit 213 Bones digs up the past and a serial killer to boot, as anthropology students realize they’re being targeted when they begin finding human remains around campus. And, Demonic (2015) director Will Canon presents The Pied Piper of rural Texas in the James Wan produced film, The Confession, a story of a woman haunted by her family’s past, as events suggest a sinister force’s return is plaguing her son.
Canada presents the World Premiere of Sick Puppy, Jay Reid’s “I will do anything for love, including that” comedy about a retiring serial killer and his wife, who takes up the mantle to protect him. Meanwhile, Ava Maria Safai’s Foreigner sees its star, Rose Dehgan, go blonde to blend in before heading into Heathers territory as a dark force slowly takes hold of her.
UK documentarian Matt Hartlock, the award-winning director of American: The Bill Hicks Story, debuts his first narrative feature, Blockhead, at FrightFest. Hartlock’s story of a writer driven mad while seeking story inspiration shifts into a chaotic, violent, and murderous tome about the power and insanity of creation.
FrightFest’s homegrown horror world premieres or “First Blood entries” is a group of indies I’m desperately looking forward to. Tom Pickering’s He Kills At Night features a serial killer Christmas abduction that extrapolates into the victim helping the killer flee the country. Luke Tedder’s character-driven The Caretaker sees mute Eddie (Ben Probert) taking a caretaking job at a school run by an affluent family, uncovering an alarming mystery that may destroy the family’s legacy. Healing Andy, Villablanca’s social media commentary horror-comedy found footage film shows the audience why not EVERYTHING filmed should be public. And Natasha Tosini and Stephen Staley’s fright-filled The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House asks if the risk is worth the consequences when a group of ghost-hunters get trapped in the serial killer’s house.
Norway’s Viljar Bøe, the mastermind behind the time-bending To Freddy and 2022’s wonderfully screwed up Good Boy, enters Above the Knee into the FrightFest fold. Bøe’s latest sounds even darker than Good Boy, as Amir’s (Freddy Singh) dysmorphic thoughts lead him to believe his leg is rotting and longs to cut it off, devising a plan that tethers his friends to witness its removal.
New Zealand enters FrightFest with The Weed Eaters, an easy candidate for my FrightFest top ten must-sees of 2025. The movie concerns a New Year’s getaway for a group of friends who stumble upon their reclusive host’s forgotten stash of ancient cannabis, and get one incredible case of the munchies in the process. No ordinary snacks will satisfy this strain’s cravings, and these stoners turn into zonked out cannibals. The Weed Eaters sounds like a fun and incredibly original premise.
Spain’s Juan Albarracín brings El Instinto (Instinct) to FrightFest, a story about an agoraphobic isolationist seeking a cure for his illness. When therapy fails, Abel (Nicolás Edo) turns to a dog trainer to correct his behavior. But when Abel begins showing signs of psychosis and tries to cut ties, his trainer begins employing torture methods to make Abel into something else.
Thailand serves up Tomb Watcher from director Vathanyu Ingkawiwat. Netflix’s Master of the House writer offers a morality film reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt storytelling with this one. When Cheev’s (Thanavate Siriwattanagul) wealthy wife, Lunthom (Woranuch BhiromBhakdi), passes away, he thinks he’s won the lottery. Ready to openly date his mistress (Arachaporn Pokinpakorn) and assume control of Lunthom’s luxury assets, Cheev is derailed by a clause in the will. One that states he must live with Lunthom’s corpse in a glass coffin for the next hundred days. Revenge isn’t just for the living, folks.
And, from Australia, Alice Maio Mackay’s story of love, identity, and growth, The Serpent’s Skin, slithers into FrightFest with a supernatural romance unlike any other. Anna leaves her small transphobic town and falls for a tattoo artist, but their strong connection accidentally releases a demon that begins feeding on their friends. And, Parish Malfitano’s Salt Along the Tongue mixes witches, possession, and exorcism into a rare cinematic dreamsicle of deeply cool style and haunting surrealness.
Love animation? Consider Latvia’s Dog of God, Lauris and Raitis Abele’s gorgeously rotoscoped historical depiction of the trial of a werewolf in a devout 17th-century community. Get ready for a tale Disney’s too afraid to tell here, featuring witches and wizards, sex-raves, and werewolf orgies. Or, dive into Jae-hoon Ahn’s Gill. The Shaman Sorceress and Green Days director explores unseen scars and those mysterious circumstances that pull us through to see another day.
Like documentaries that are guaranteed to make your skin crawl? Check out A Serbian Documentary. Director Stephen Biro’s eighty-three-minute look into the controversial film was whittled down from over one hundred and sixty-two hours of behind-the-scenes footage, and includes the FrightFest controversy that led to the film being dropped from their 2010 lineup. Meanwhile, Rocky Horror doc, Sane Inside Insanity: The Phenomenon of Rocky Horror, takes a look at the enduring timelessness of the “Queen Mother of B Movie Musicals,” from a two-page crayon-clawed script to the Time-warping midnight cult sensation we all know and love. Or give The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan a try. This doc explores the avant-garde pioneer of early Queer cinema, featuring a revealing and intimate portrait of a B-movie auteur haunted by his own demons, but nonetheless one of the most fascinating voices of 20th-century cinema.
Documentary fans may also get a kick out of Where Is Juan Moctezuma? A film from an influencer on the works of Isaac Ezban, Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro, Brian Yuzna, and Robert Rodriguez. Where is Juan Moctezuma? tells the story of Moctezuma’s last feature, a Roger Corman-produced film, 1000 Paths of Death, which was shot in secret and disappeared… along with the director! The film dives into the Mexican exploitation scene with satirical mockumentary flair, offering a fun and inquisitive look into Mexico’s horror scene in the 1970s.
Looking for remastered retro titles? Neil Marshall will present the World Premiere 20th anniversary 4K restoration of his troglodyte motion picture, The Descent, with other members of the cast in attendance as well. And a pair of Harry Kümel films receive the 4K treatment. The fifty-four-year-old horror classic Daughters of Darkness was well ahead of its time, shocking audiences with the Belgian director’s artful eye for psychology, eroticism, and Bavaesque gore. Malpertuis (aka The Legend of Doom House), Kümel’s adaptation of Jean Ray’s novel, about a crumbling mansion where the ancient gods are cursed to live a bleak and provincial existence, is sure to stun the attending audience as well—featuring artful cinematography from Gerry Fisher (Highlander, Exorcist III) and a weirdly wonderful Orson Welles.
There’s certainly a lot to see at this year’s FrightFest. The short film showcase blocks are still being finalized, and details for those will be revealed soon, along with a rundown of special guests and events. For now, you can check out our chronological schedule of FrightFest screenings below (Times and Films are subject to change; please check the FrightFest website to stay apprised of any last-minute changes).
FRIGHTFEST Schedule
21 August
6:00 pm – The Home (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
8:25 pm – The Only Ones (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
8:30 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Bambi: The Reckoning (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
8:50 pm – CognAItive (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
10:45 pm – TBC (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
10:50 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – The Arbiter (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
11:00 pm – Night of Violence ( Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
22 August
10:45 am – WORLD PREMIERE – Appofeniacs (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
WORLD PREMIERE – Parasomnia (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
Dog of God (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
1:00 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Human (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
1:05 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – What She Doesn’t Know (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:10 pm – The Degenerate: The Life & Films of Andy Milligan (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
1:30 pm – Dooba Dooba (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:15 pm – Don’t Let the Cat Out (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
3:25 pm – Transcending Dimensions (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:45 pm – Short Film Showcase 1 (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
5:45 pm – Foreigner (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
6:00 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – A Serbian Documentary (Main Screen ODEON Luxe LS)
Kombucha (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
6:15 pm – Your Host (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
8:15 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – In A Cold Vein (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
8:30 pm – Salt Along the Tongue (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
8:35 pm – The Toxic Avenger (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
10:45 pm – Portal to Hell (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
11:00 pm – Flush (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
Daughters of Darkness – 4K Restoration (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
23 August
10:40 am – Short Film Showcase 2 (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
10:45 am – WORLD PREMIERE – The Red Mask (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
12:55 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Noseeums (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:00 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Five (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
1:05 pm – Marshmallow (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:10 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Pig Hill (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
3:20 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Blood Shine (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
3:25 pm – Self-Help (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:30 pm – El Instinto/Instinct (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:35 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – The Caretaker (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
6:00 pm – Crushed (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
– WORLD PREMIERE – Blockhead (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
6:25 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – The Haunted Forest (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe LS)
6:30 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House (Discovery One OLWE
8:25 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – The Arborist (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
8:30 pm – Jimmy and Stiggs (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
8:45 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – He Kills at Night (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
8:50 pm – Cover (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
10:50 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Healing Andy (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
11:00 pm – Hold the Fort (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
– Malpertuis – 4K Restoration (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
24 August
11:00 am – 213 Bones (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
– Short Film Showcase 3 (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
11:15 am – The Mannequin (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
1:00 pm – Kombucha (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:15 pm – Tomb Watcher (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:30 pm – Sane Side Insanity: The Phenomenon of Rocky Horror (Discovery One OLWE)
1:40 pm – EVENT – Film Sussex Panel – Surviving Development Hell with Jen Handorf (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
3:30 pm – Hellcat (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
– Salt Along the Tongue (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:40 pm – 4K RESTORATION WORLD PREMIERE – The Descent (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
4:00 pm – Super Happy Fun Clown (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
6:15 pm – Gill (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
6:30 pm – Bone Lake (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
6:35 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Captured Souls: In Conversation w/ Graham Humphreys (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
Noseeums (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
8:40 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Where is Juan Moctezuma? (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
8:45 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Death Cycle (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
8:50 pm – Redux Redux (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
8:55 pm – The Haunted Forest (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
25 August
10:50 am – Short Film Showcase 4 (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
– The Other People (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
10:55 am – Odyssey (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:10 pm – Dooba Dooba (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
1:20 pm – The Weed Eaters (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
1:25 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – A Blind Bargain (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
1:30 pm – Mother of Flies (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:40 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Sick Puppy (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
3:45 pm – Above the Knee (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
– El Instinto/Instinct (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
3:50 pm – WORLD PREMIERE – Bamboo Revenge (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
6:00 pm – TBC (Discovery Two ODEON Luxe West End)
– Cover (Discovery Three ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
6:10 pm – The Rows (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
6:15 pm – The Serpent’s Skin (Discovery One ODEON Luxe West End)
8:45 pm – Influencers (Main Screen ODEON Luxe Leicester Square)
