Arrow Video FrightFest begins its 21st edition next Thursday, 27th August 2020. Things will be slightly different this year though, as thanks to that global pandemic that we’re all being held hostage by, the event has moved online. This means that Leicester Square won’t be as spooky this August Bank Holiday, but attendees will at least be able to enjoy the films on offer from the safety of their homes.
If you’re reading this article then I’m sure you’ve already got your pass sorted, but if you haven’t, they are still on sale, as are individual film tickets. A bonus to this year being online is that there are an unlimited number of tickets for each film, so unless a film directly clashes with another, everyone should be able to watch exactly what they want. But what to watch? With twenty-five films (if you include the Thursday night preview screening of Sky Sharks) in total, there’s a lot of decisions to be made.
Luckily, we’ve been fortunate to have caught a big percentage of the films already (massive thanks to all the filmmakers who were kind enough to share) and have compiled what has become our yearly ‘what to watch’ list. Enjoy!
Triggered
The first film on our list is Triggered. It’s directed by South African filmmaker, Alastair Orr, whom screened his last film, From a House on Willow Street, at FrightFest 2016, and offers a tale of the complete collapse of one friendship group. The group, all former high-school besties, reunite for a night of reconnecting and camping in the woods. Unfortunately for them, a figure from their past has other plans, and after falling asleep, they are rudely awoken to find themselves each strapped into a high-explosive vest. They have become the unwilling participants in a sick game whose rules are simple – the one with the most time wins. You see, attached to each vest is a countdown timer and each one has a different amount of time on it. The only way to get more time is kill someone with a higher clock and inherit their remaining minutes. As their bond is tested to the extreme, will any of them have what it takes to kill their oldest friends?
The synopsis might sound a lot like something out of a Saw film, but Triggered has a strong thread of humour woven through it. This lighter tone aligns it closer to films like Cabin in the Woods. It’s also packed full of film references, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for these hidden Easter eggs. Triggered is just the right mixture of violence, gore, and laughs, and is sure to make for an explosive Friday night’s viewing.
The Columnist
The Columnist, which opens the Arrow Video Digital Screen on Saturday 29th August, is a wonderfully modern genre tale. It stars Katja Herbers as writer and newspaper columnist, Femke Boot. Femke is struggling with writer’s block on her next novel, a condition only made worse by her constant compulsion to read all the negative social media comments about herself. She soon finds a fix for her block however, when she decides to start offing her trolls.
The Columnist has a lot to say about the negatives of social media and toxic fandom; really important issues in our modern, digital driven society. Rather than be preachy or starkly serious, director Ivo van Aart wraps his commentary up with a thick darkly comic overtone. Pushing a humorous slant on the story enables van Aart to open up a more palatable discussion around the pitfalls and horrors of cyber-bullying. It also gives the perfect excuse to see some Internet trolls get butchered in all manner of unexpected ways. A film that perfectly explores the toxic nature of the cyber-world around us, The Columnist is a truly modern take on a very relevant topic. Held together by a stellar performance from Katja Kerbers, and some clever tonal shifts from its director, this is one film that’s sure to get you talking.
The Honeymoon Phase
Opening up the other digital screen, the Horror Channel screen, on Saturday 29th August, is another favourite: The Honeymoon Phase. Basically, whichever film you pick to kick off your Saturday, you are in for a treat. The Honeymoon Phase is a taut psychological relationship thriller that taps into themes and elements of Black Mirror, Honeymoon, and The Invisible Man, and would actually make a perfect double-bill partner for the latter. It stars Jim Schubin and Chloe Carroll as young creative couple, Tom and Eve. Tom is an aspiring writer, and Chloe is an aspiring illustrator, and their plan for the future involves Chloe designing the covers for the books that Tom writes. The big snag in their plan is that they don’t have any cash. They then discover an ad for a new relationship study that will pay them $50,000 to spend thirty days in isolation together; the catch is that the study only wants married couples. Chloe and Tom decide to apply anyway, lying that they are already wed. To their delight, they are picked. However, not long into the experiment, Chloe begins to mentally crumble as she starts to believe that there’s something not quite right about Tom. As the days unfold, events take a very dramatic turn and their relationship may not be the only thing that won’t survive the duration.
Directed by Carroll’s real-life husband, Phillip G. Carroll Jr., the film offers an intricate and intimate exploration of the breakdown of a relationship, told through science-fiction aesthetics. Although made pre-pandemic, the screening at FrightFest couldn’t be better timed as many of us have been cooped up with our significant others and families for months now, so we can identify with the isolation related drama and paranoia that sets in. The Honeymoon Phase is a tightly written, beautifully acted, gripping psychological sci-fi thriller that will have you questioning just how well you know the person with whom you share your bed.
Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business
After two and a bit days of blood, guts, and decapitation, come Sunday you might be in the market for something a little more grounded, and you can’t go wrong with new documentary, Clapboard Jungle. We actually heard about Clapboard Jungle back in 2018 when we sat down to discuss Lifechanger with filmmaker, Justin McConnell. He described it as “a survival guide for the modern independent filmmaker”, and was in the middle of the editing process. Given that he had four years of footage, and had conducted over a hundred interviews, there was a lot of work to be done in the editing room. Now, two years later, his hard work is paying off as the film screens at FrightFest (and has already played at Fantasia to great reception). It really is a fascinating look from the trenches of filmmaking.
With Clapboard Jungle, McConnell charts the perilous journey of trying to make an independent film and it’s refreshingly honest in its candour about just how tough the industry is. It also includes discussions with a plethora of fellow filmmakers, many of whom will be very familiar to the FrightFest audiences as they talk about their own experiences traversing the film circuit. Travis Stevens, Guillermo del Toro, Graham Skipper, and Barbara Crampton are just a few of the names featured, but they are merely the tip of the iceberg. Eye-opening, truthful, and incredibly personal, Clapboard Jungle is a documentary that aspiring filmmakers really must make time for.
Blinders
Along with The Columnist, Blinders is another title that addresses our relationship with digital technology. Director Tyler Savage examines the way in which we present ourselves online, and how that differs from the person we present in real life. It also perfectly highlights the potential dark side of what seem like harmless conveniences, such as getting a ride share. Many of us use Ubers etc. as a method of transport, but have we ever really considered that those drivers have access to our personal phone number, and in many cases know exactly where we live? This is exactly what Savage addresses as new-to -Los-Angeles tutor, Andy (Vincent Van Horn), finds himself stalked by his ride-share driver, Roger (Michael Lee Joplin). Initially Andy is happy to have a potential new friend in a big and frightening city, but after meeting a new love interest, Sam (Christine Ko), he distances himself from Roger. But Roger isn’t a person that takes kindly to being discarded and he sets about systematically destroying Andy.
Screening on Monday 31st, Blinders plays as a blend of former FrightFest films, Bad Match and Freehold, with a dash of its own brand of magic, making it a perfect fit for the festival. Prepare to delete those ride-share apps and start walking everywhere folks.
Arrow Video FrightFest runs online from Thursday 27th August – Monday 31st August inclusive. Tickets for both full passes and individual films are on sale now via the FrightFest website.
