Saturday 1 October 2016

FILM NEWS (UK): Horror Channel FrightFest announces line-up for Halloween 2016 event


Horror Channel FrightFest unleashes a six-pack of cracking horror for their much-beloved Halloween event at the Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square, on Saturday October 22nd. The 13-hour trauma marathon includes five UK premieres and the world premiere of Ross Noble’s directorial debut. Shocktoberfest is here!

First up is the UK premiere of BED OF THE DEAD, a crowd-pleasingly ghoulish orgy of sex and gore where four swingers become stuck on a haunted double bed plagued by terrifying hallucinations. Next in the panic-stricken line-up is the UK Premiere of DON’T HANG UP where an evening of prank calls puts two millennials in deadly peril when one recipient decides to fight back. After that comes the UK Premiere of COLD MOON, a chilling tale of supernatural vengeance from the dark imagination of Michael McDowell, esteemed writer of Beetlejuice and The Nightmare before Christmas.

Then it’s time for a proper Halloween trick or treat with the UK Premiere of FEAR, INC, about a sinister company promising to bring all your personal nightmares to life. At 8.30pm comes the UK Premiere of RUPTURE in which The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace is kidnapped and tortured to an extreme limit into another frightening realm altogether. Lastly, it’s the non-stop violent action movie currently wowing fantasy festivals all over the world, The Mo Brothers’ HEADSHOT starring Iko Uwais from The Raid franchise as an amnesiac trying to regain memories about his sadistic and extraordinary past.

Plus, we’ll be showing two fantastic shorts, the world premiere of Ross Noble’s nasty Halloween-set satire THE CATCHMENT, starring the comedy giant himself and Shauna Macdonald and DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?, an Xmas season shocker from, Canadian directors Justin McConnell & Serena Whitney. And of course there will be intros, Q & A’s, give-aways and a few special surprises…

Guests attending include RUPTURE director Stephen Shainberg, THE CATCHMENT director Ross Noble, DON’T HANG UP directors Damien Macé & Alexis Wajsbrot and COLD MOON producer Lee C. Rogers.

Alan Jones, co-director, said today: ““We just know you are going to love this hand-picked half-dozen of the latest and greatest chillers on the shock block. Horror, dread, terror and fantasy - it’s what we do best at FrightFest. So be very afraid and book now”.

Passes for the London event cost £45 and go on sale from noon on Saturday 1 October.
To book:  https://princecharlescinema.com/frightfest-halloween-special
Passes can also be bought at the cinema

FULL LINE UP:

10.30: BED OF THE DEAD (UK Premiere)


Director: Jeff Maher. Cast: Colin Price, Alysa King, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Dennis Andres, George Krissa. Canada 2016. 88 mins.

Out celebrating a birthday, two couples decide to party in a foursome at a sex club. Finding all the fantasy dungeons booked they are offered the mysterious Room 18 and start getting down to orgy business on the antique bed. But Room 18 has a dark history, the bed is haunted and once between the sheets, you can’t leave the mattress or you die. Plagued with frightening hallucinations across multi-dimensions, they must figure out the bed's secrets before they are all doomed. A race against time begins in a gloriously gruesome, gorgeous gore-fest from the LET HER OUT terror team.

PLUS….THE CATCHMENT (World Premiere) 

Director: Ross Noble.

Cast: Ross Noble, Shauna Macdonald, Cariad Lloyd, Richard Herring, Suki Webster

UK 2016. 16 mins.

A couple move into a house to be in the catchment area of a good school for their unborn children. But there’s a catch…


13:00 DON’T HANG UP (UK Premiere)


Directors: Damien Macé & Alexis Wajsbrot. Cast: Sienna Guillory, Gregg Sulkin, Garrett Clayton, Parker Sawyers, Bella Dayne. UK 2016. 83 mins.

I saw what you did and I know who you are! Two teens devise ever more elaborate prank phone calls to share online for their eager followers into impersonal humiliation. But as their
involved practical jokes become increasingly nastier, it never occurs to them they might be playing a very dangerous game. So when a mysterious threatening stranger calls the home landline, they suddenly realize they may not be invincible. In fact, they may be in very real peril, as the caller reveals the violent extremes he’s willing to employ to extract retribution before they’re able to reveal his identity.

15:15 COLD MOON (UK Premiere)


Director: Griff Furst. Cast: Josh Stewart, Candy Clark, Christopher Lloyd, Frank Whaley, Robby Kay. USA 2016. 92 mins.

From Michael McDowell, writer of BEETLEJUICE and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and STARVE director Griff Furst, a chilling tale of supernatural vengeance. Welcome to the sleepy southern town of Babylon where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another when fourteen-year-old Margaret is robbed of her innocent life and sunk in the black waters of the River Styx. The powerful killer thinks he’s beyond the reach of the law. But he’s not beyond the rules of Hell or the spectral nightmares determined to mete out the most shocking justice.

18:00 FEAR, INC.(UK Premiere)


Director: Vincent Masciale. Cast: Lucas Neff, Caitlin Stasey, Chris Marquette, Stephanie Drake, Abigail Breslin. USA 2016. 91 mins.

Nothing is ever scary enough for unemployed horror fanboy Joe. Completely underwhelmed by a haunted house attraction he visits with his girlfriend Lindsay one date night, a creepy stranger gives him a business card for the mysterious service ‘Fear, Inc.’, a company
promising to bring personal nightmares to life… for a price. Despite warnings about the corporation’s dubious reputation, Joe calls the next day – Halloween - and sets off a chain of terrifying events that echoes such classic horror cinema as SCREAM, SAW, THE SHINING and FRIDAY THE 13th. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bump-in-the-night ride!

PLUS….DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? (London Premiere)


Director: Justin McConnell & Serena Whitney. Cast: Caleigh Le Grand, Jorja Cadence, Adam Buller. Canada 2015. 14 mins.
It's the Christmas season, and Sloan is reluctanly helping her over-enthusiastic sister Jessica with the perfect party. But Sloan might have to do some kick-ass fighting to save the partygoers from a terrifying death...

20:30 RUPTURE (UK Premiere)


Director: Steven Shainberg. Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Chiklis, Peter Stormare, Lesley Manville, Kerry Bishé.  Canada. 2016. 102 mins.

Single mother Renee Morgan is trying to keep her life together when she’s suddenly kidnapped by a mysterious organization and held against her will in a sinister facility. Her captors insist they’re just conducting medical research, but to Renee and her fellow prisoners it’s torture! But why are they pushing her to an extreme limit, way beyond being scared to death and into another frightening realm altogether? A surreally spooky sci-fi horror from SECRETARY/FUR director Steven Shainberg, AMERICAN SNIPER producer Andrew Lazar and starring brilliant Noomi Rapace, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and the millennial Sigourney Weaver in PROMETHEUS.

23:00 HEADSHOT (London Premiere)


Directors: Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto. Cast: Iko Uwais, Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang, Very Tri Yulisman, Julie Estelle. Indonesia. 117 mins.

Never forget, never let go in another fast and furious violent action thriller from The Mo Bothers, directors of MACABRE, KILLERS, plus V/H/S/2 and THE ABCs OF DEATH segments. The indomitable Iko Uwais (THE RAID and its sequel star) plays Ishmael, a young man who washes ashore, an amnesiac with a serious head injury whose past comes back to haunt him shortly after being nursed back to health by a young doctor. For Ishmael was a killing machine in his forgotten history and when his memories finally do return he is compelled to take on a vengeful drug lord’s henchmen.