This Friday is a big day on the Frightfest calendar as it’s the day that they announce their festival line-up. The following day, weekend and day passes will go on sale, and you have to be super-speedy as in the world of dark cinema these are the hottest ticket. Now, we at team THN cannot wait to see what dark delights the Frightfest team have to show us this year, so much so that we’ve created our very own predictions / wish list. We’ve been covering the event for years and like to think that we know what the organisers and fans are wanting. Head back here on Friday to see how many we nailed. Our Frightfest 2017 predictions can be found below.
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Frightfest 2017 predictions – here’s what we think will play at the August festival.
Replace
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Remember earlier in the year when we couldn’t stop talking about Raw? Well Replace looks to, well… replace it. Starring Rebecca Forsythe and Barbara Crampton, it tells of a young woman who starts to rapidly age due a rare condition. She soon comes to realise though that her body can accept skin transplants from others and she and her girlfriend start to amass a body count. Frightfest screened Raw as part of its Glasgow line-up so it seems plausible that Replace might make the rosta. Plus it really wouldn’t be Frightfest without at least one Barbara Crampton movie on the bill.
Midnighters
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
We debuted the trailer for Midnighters a week or so back and we can’t help but feel that it would be right at home in front of the Frightfest masses. It looks decidedly dark, with Starry Eyes’ Alex Essoe playing one half of a married couple who find their lives turned inside out after an accident on New Year’s Eve. Much like last year’s The Neighbour (which also starred Essoe) this looks to be more of a claustrophobic, twisting thriller than straight horror, but remember Frightfest is about much more than just gore and jump scares.
68 Kill
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Snowfort Pictures, the production company behind Frightfest smashes Starry Eyes, A Horrible Way to Die, and Cheap Thrills (as well as the fantastic Teenage Cocktail), are currently touring their latest venture, 68 Kill around the film festivals. Starring 90210’s AnnaLynne McCord, 68 Kill is based on the book of the same name, and is described as ‘a punk-rock after hours about femininity, masculinity and the theft of $68,000’. Reviews point towards a comedy with a jet-black heart of humour; a perfect refresher from all the ghouls and monsters of other Frightfest offerings.
Bitch
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Frightfest have always championed the quirky film and Bitch could be this year’s contender for oddest premise. Bitch follows a young woman whom, after snapping under crushing life pressures, assumes the psyche of a vicious dog. Her husband and sister then have to work to keep their family together. Starring Jaime King and Jason Ritter, Bitch debuted at Sundance (both US and UK) but would surely garner a bigger following within the Frightfest community.
Mayhem
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Another movie currently doing the festival rounds is Mayhem. It has already screened at Sydney festival and is next lined up for Fantasia, but surely the UK is the place for the European premiere? The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun heads up the cast in this chaos-inducing story about a virus let loose in a corporate office. The log-line makes Mayhem sound very much like a Belko Experiment with zombies, and it’s definitely got our attention. Directed by Joe Lynch, who is known to horror fans already from his work on Wrong Turn 2, Mayhem looks sure to bring the fun to the Frightfest festivities.
The Bad Batch
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Now this one is a long shot, but we would very much like it if Frightfest could treat fans to a screening of The Bad Batch. Directed by A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’s Ana Lily Amirpour, The Bad Batch looks set to be this year’s Neon Demon. The trailer points to some stunning visuals, and a twisted tale of desert-life and cannibals. It stars Suki Waterhouse, Aquaman’s Jason Momoa, and a moustache-sporting Keanu Reeves, meaning that it would bring some massive star power to the festival. Sadly though, given that a UK release date and distributor has yet to be announced, this one seems like an impossible dream. But you know, dreams can come true – come on Frightfest we believe in you!
Death House
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
Word first reached us about Death House around this time last year. The film, written by the late Gunnar Hansen, is essentially The Expendables of the horror world. The film is jam-packed full of frighteningly familiar faces; Kane Hodder, Barbara Crampton, Tony Todd, Dee Wallace, Sid Haig, and Michael Berryman are just a few of the plethora of horror royalty. The plot centres around a tour of a secret prison known as ‘Death House’ which goes awry after a power outage, cue carnage on a catastrophic scale. Frightfest can’t not screen this as it’s basically Frightfest all wrapped up into one 90 minute cinematic bundle.
It
Frightfest 2017 Predictions
September sees Stephen King’s It get a big screen outing. The film will form part one of a duo of movies chronicling the adventures of ‘The Loser’s Club’ as they battle to save their hometown (and themselves) from a malevolent being with a penchant for clown costumes. The original television mini-series starring Tim Curry is truly the stuff that nightmares are made of, with Curry responsible for a whole generation of coulrophobes. This means that people are watching this film closely. The trailer points to it being a solid scare-fest, but only time will tell. Given that the release is just a couple of weeks after the event, Frightfest would be the best place to have an early viewing, fans would surely be ecstatic. Then again the studio might be wanting to keep this one super-secret…
Frightfest announce their actual line-up this Friday (30th June) at 2pm UK time.
