FrightFest 2026

So it’s that magical time of year where ghouls and goblins descend on London for 4-and-a-half days of horror movies (and a couple of other genres occasionally) – yes, it’s FRIGHTFEST! Last year was a bit of a dip, in terms of film quality – with probably the weakest set of opening night films I can recall in the over 2 decades I’ve been attending (on and off) – but the lineup this year looks fun and I can’t wait to get my fangs into this one!

So, here goes…

Thursday 27th August (opening night)

5:30 PM NERVOUS

Not the best start to the festival. This Korean-set film starts off promisingly, but quickly devolves into an incoherent mess with an unsatisfying non-ending. It’s a shame, as it’s handsomely shot and sounds great (good soundtrack and cool sound design). But the muddled and half-baked story left me feeling with a feeling of “Is that it?” at the end. Even some fairly hot bi-racial lesbian sensuality couldn’t save it. 4/10

8:15 PM COLONY

Luckily the next film (also Korean) was a lot more fun. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, this feels very much like an evolution of his well-received earlier zombie film TRAIN TO BUSAN. I liked that last one, though didn’t love it. And feel much the same about this one. It’s got some genuinely impressive, kinetic action scenes (the zombie movements are freaky as hell!) and there’s a couple of interesting ideas going on with the nature of the zombies in this one. This is slightly undermined by some slightly silly K-melodrama in places and daft story ideas. But ultimately it’s still a lot of fun and really quite epic – it does go big at the end! 7/10

11:00 PM BIG BABY

The late film of opening night was BIG BABY, directed by Spider One (the brother of Rob Zombie) and produced by Cher! This was a pretty solid psychological drama with elements of dark comedy – not a slasher movie as you might expect from the publicity. It’s very meta and well-written. Which is apt as the whole story is about a writer writing a horror film and losing his mind in the process. The first half is really strong, with a great cast who really spark off each other, and it’s breezily directed with a lot of personality. The story in the second half didn’t go as weird as I hoped and I saw the ending from a mile off. I always hate it when “it’s all in their heads” – feels like a bullshit copout. And though this movie hints at something more, it doesn’t have the balls or imagination to fully embrace that potential. But I still really enjoyed it – not least because Krsy Fox (playing the girlfriend of the protagonist) is just adorable and crazy-hot! 7/10

FRIDAY 28 AUGUST

Alas, I didn’t have the energy to make it in for the first film – IMPOSTERS. Heard it was ok from others I spoke to. So I jumped in with…

1:05 pm FROSTBITE

This was a low-budget disaster/survival movie that was clearly trying to be this year’s FALL – but sadly got more and more ludicrous the further in it got. There was some serious over-acting going on in there. The kind of movie maybe best experienced while getting drunk with friends and laughing your asses off at it. Very silly. Irwin-Allen-esque but not necessarily in a good way! 5/10

3:25 pm PONDEROSA

A really strange one. A film about themes, but not one with much, or anything, resembling an actual story. Said theme seems to be the slow decay of American society and the confused flailings of the older generation trying to make their mark on a disillusioned youth. It reminded me slightly of the brilliantly awkward comedy of Tim Heidecker, but taken to an extreme, even drier level. Like Napoleon Dynamite but with the humour dialled back to an extreme low level – just keeping the morose-ness of it. Almost nothing really happens in the film, and most people I talked to hated it. But I have to say it’s really stayed with me. I’d be interested to see what it’s like on a second viewing. It looks and sounds great too. Very indie/arthouse. 6/10

6:20 pm THE PITCHFORK RETREAT

Back to more familiar territory with this horror anthology flick. The setup is classic amicus/hammer style with 3 guests visiting a lodge to tell their dark tales. However, slightly distinguishing this from other anthology folks, this one really blends the tales into the wraparound story. Yes, that’s been done before (eg. Ghost Stories) but it’s still pretty well done. Also features a great final performance by the late Tony Todd. 7/10

8:45 pm DRAG

A terrific comedy tension thriller, and the first really great film of the festival so far. Lizzy Caplan and Lucy DeVito (daughter of Danny DeVito, who co-produces it) have fantastic chemistry as a pair of bickering sisters trying to break into a house, who find themselves in a sticky situation when one of them ends up immobilised after a mishap, and the other sister has to literally drag her to safety. Something becomes even more urgent when the nature of the home’s owner becomes apparent. This film really got everyone going. Lucy Devito’s got her dad’s comedy chops (and looks unsettlingly like him!) and she’s fantastic. Lizzy Caplan does some hilariously painful physical comedy in it too. It’s almost Laurel-and-Hardy-esque in places, though does get a lot more dark than that! 9/10

10:55 pm HUNGRY

Final film of the evening was a creature feature about a killer hippo hunting tourists in the Louisiana bayou. It was fine, though took way too long to get going (or even show the hippo!) I think they were going for a JAWS vibe, but really it should have been TREMORS. I did enjoy it, but wish it had some decent kills – it all felt very tame and bloodless (It’s a PG-13) The kind of movie that needed some real shocking gore and violence to drive the peril home (like PRIMATE did last year). The hippo looked great though – a fantastic combination of Practical effects and CG. It had a real physical presence in some shots. Enjoyable, but utimately a pretty forgettable movie 6/10

SATURDAY 29 AUGUST

10:30 am LABYRINTH

Watching 5 films the previous day took it out of me, so I skipped this first film, which is a shame as I generally find the films of Ryuhei Kitamura to all be solidly enjoyable (NO-ONE LIVES will always be a great Frightfest memory!) But my Frightfest neighbours sitting in the seats next me said this one was really decent, very much in the vein of the SAW movies. Hopefully I can catch it on streaming some other time. (No score, because I haven’t seen it!)

1:00 pm DEAD RESET

A pretty naff British (well, Welsh mainly) sci-fi horror thriller, this was originally created as an interactive movie game for the playstation (with a branching narrative) and the film is a cut-down and reworked version of it. It’s obviously very low budget, and some of the acting is questionable. Like an 80s episode of Doctor Who. Or maybe DARK PLACE. With sets that look like they’ve been repurposed from The Crystal Maze or Red Dwart. I mean, I do love practical effects and models, but honestly a bit of good CG enhancement could have made it look a bit better. But it’s not without its charms, and I’m curious to try the interactive version of it now. 5/10

3:30 pm ITHAQUA

The first film from the re-re-relaunched HAMMER FILMS (a studio brand that’s come back from the dead more times that Christopher Lee’s Dracula) this turned out to be a terrific start for them. I really liked this film. It’s a snowy horror western, with some gorgeous period detail and well-written and likeable characters. The first half is slow-burn and the real horror doesn’t really kick in until about the halfway mark. From that point on though it doesn’t let up. In some ways I wish it had been a little more restrained at the end – it does get a bit gonzo, when up to that point the vibes had been more similar to something like Mike Flanagan’s superb MIDNIGHT MASS. But it was still a hugely atmospheric, engaging, enjoyable and well crafted tale. 8/10

6:30 pm GRIND

This was fab! A bankers anthology movie of stories set in the hustle-culture of the 21st century, taken to hilariously surreal and darkly funny extremes. Door Dash delivery, Multi-level-marketing, Evil tech corporations – it’s all there. I thought this was going to be a bit BLACK MIRROR, but it’s much sillier and more playful than that. There’s some good horror moments, but it’s very much also a comedy. Great production design too, that absolutely nails the details of the insane idiocracy-like corporate hell future we seem to be sliding into. 8/10

Sadly, I missed the next two films as I got distracted hanging out with frightfest friends at The Imperial (along with my co-office buddies from Strike Media who were there promoting some films too) and ended up in the Phoenix Arts club ‘till 2AM (didn’t get home til 3AM!!) So I missed THE NAMELESS BALLAD and GHOST IN THE CELL. Ah well…

SUNDAY 30 AUGUST

11:00 am THE LAST TEMPTATION OF BECKY

Somehow, against all odds (and despite the late night shenanigans of Saturday) I actually made it in to the first film of the day! And I’m damn glad I did, because this was a fun one. I’m pretty sure I saw the first BECKY film a while ago, but can’t really remember it. I know I didn’t see the sequel. But luckily this didn’t seem to matter much as it was very easy to drop in with this one. The first film was a violent revenge/survivial piece and fairly nuts but not completely out of the bounds of possibility, but it’s clear that this franchise has gotten more cartoonishly crazy with each instalment. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – looking at you FAST & FURIOUS – and I had a lot of fun with it, and the audience did too. Just don’t expect anything even slightly close to reality with this one. 7/10

1:20 pm THE GLORIOUS DEAD

The new film by The Adams Family, who made MOTHER OF FLIES last year (which I really liked) and WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS the year before that (which I was less keen on). This one was great – a quiet and eerie portrayal of a biblical apocalypse overtaking a small American town that feels influenced by The Coen Brothers (especially FARGO). Great, naturalistic performances and it builds nicely to a fairly satisfying conclusion. Loved the snowy location too – as the filmmakers said in the Q&A afterwards, blood looks great in snow! 7/10

3:30 pm ALIEN

Skipped it – as I saw the directors cut when it came out in cinemas (at the same Odeon!) Obviously an amazing movie but forgoing it meant I could actually finish all my other movie reviews 🙂

6:40 pm GATOR FACE

An authentically grimy 70’s-style exploitation (or should that be crocs-sploitation?) flick, that was refreshingly stripped-back and propulsive. It’s no Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it does feel throughly representative of that era – the director/writer really understood the assignment. The throwback vibes actually made the stilted acting of the young victims and the OTT performances of the villains feel like part of the authenticity. I really enjoyed it. 7/10

8:50 pm SPIDER ISLAND

Chris Smith returns to Frightfest with a real cracker of a creature-feature, with more creepy-crawly spiders than you can shake an ARACHNOPHOBIA at. And like that previously mentioned film, it’s a great balance of laughs and scares. Andy Nyman is absolutely hilarious as the dickish boss of a newly-built holiday resort, that’s soon to be infested with both obnoxious influencers and deadly spiders due to corporate greed. Tim McInnerney has a lovely role as the father of the protagonist and gives the film some real heart (as well as providing some great laughs!) The script is witty, the direction is tight and bounces nicely from beat to beat. We had a great time with this one – a real crowd pleaser 9/10

Best day of the festival so far – 4 cracking movies. Let’s see what the final day’s like tomorrow!

MONDAY 31 AUGUST

10:45 am ODDITIES

Final day kicked off with a good ‘un! This was a cracking little thriller that took a few unexpected turns towards the end, becoming something that felt more than a little like a lost John Carpenter movie. And aptly for that, it featured a terrific performance by Adrienne Barbeau in a pretty major role. It’s a fun story that really rips along. The only real niggle I had with it was it ends with a big VFX shot that really isn’t good enough and felt unworthy of the rest of this excellent film. I might try and reach out to the filmmakers and see if we can do something about that. It’s annoying having a movie this great tainted by some substandard CG! 8/10

1:10 pm VALLEY VIEW MOTEL

Carrying on the crime thriller route, but a whole lot more grounded, this was a terrific film that reminded me of some of the classic Coen brothers movies like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and BLOOD SIMPLE. The 70s period setting gave it some strong flavour and the performances and direction were really on point. Had so much fun with this one. And my mind was slightly blown when the director revealed the whole thing was made for just $120K (though I suspect that nobody involved got a salary!) It really is a great movie and I hope it finds a wide audience. 9/10

3:30 pm YOU ARE THE FILM + Hoodsteps

A bonkers delight from Japan, that is wildly original, charming, sweet and very funny too. This genre-mashing movie about movies within movies almost defies description and I’m sure an English-language remake will probably appear at some point as the premise is just so fun and unique. 8/10

6:30 pm HY3NA

There’s a bit of 90s-style psycho-sexual thriller revival going on right now. Last year we had the excellent BONE LAKE. And I was kind of hoping that this film might be a similar success. Alas, it was a bit of a disappointment. A mystery thriller with almost zero sense of mystery and one where the audience was way ahead of the script from pretty much the get-go. It’s a shame as it’s a stylish-looking film and also quite sexy in places. I was hoping there’d be some kind of clever double-twist at the end, but no – it all just played out in an utterly predictable way. Humpf! 5/10

8:55 pm SPECIES

The closing film! This French body-horror shocker was entertaining enough, though a little underwhelming perhaps. Some good moments, and I liked the lead actress. But the story revelations and themes felt a little bit underbaked. Like the filmmakers had part of an interesting idea, but didn’t know how to flesh it all out completely. It certainly didn’t compare to THE SUBSTANCE, even if it had the same makeup effects team involved! Still, it was pretty fun to watch. 6/10

And that’s it – Phew! After 4-and-a-half days of this, I feel pretty knackered. But I’ve had a great time. Met loads of really awesome film folk. And feel freshly inspired to finally get busy making something myself. Last year’s Frightfest felt like a bit of a wobble, in terms of movie quality. This year was definitely an improvement. I’ll be back next year for sure (and it’s just crazy to think I’ve been going to this festival on and off for over 25 years now!!!)