When the initial line-up for this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest was announced, eagle eyed attendees noticed that the main screen had a gap during the prime time Friday evening spot. Speculation has been rife as to what that title is, and now the festival have confirmed it to be the UK premiere of BAGMAN. From Colm McCarthy, (The Girl With All The Gifts, Peaky Blinders) comes the story of a father desperately struggling against his deepest inner fears when a childhood monster once again returns to haunt him and his family. The powerful and sinister supernatural thriller stars Sam Claflin, Antonia Wood, Carell Rhoden and Will Davis.
FrightFest have also added a second screening of the long delayed (in the UK at least) The Last Voyage of the Demeter. This additional screening, courtesy of Lionsgate, will plays with Closed Captions, making the film accessible to those who are hard of hearing.
In addition to the films, it is the guests that help make FrightFest so special, and for this years twenty-fifth anniversary their is a representative from almost every film. The festival have released the first wave of attending filmmakers and guests, read FrightFest official press announcement to find out more:
Pigeon Shrine FrightFest are thrilled to announce our current slate of guests, which includes director Joanne Mitchell, alongside cast Rebecca Calder and James Fleet for opening film BROKEN BIRD, SAINT CLARE director Mitzi Peirone and FrightFest favourite Graham Skipper, who will be introducing his new movie THE LONELY MAN WITH THE GHOST MACHINE, as well as hosting FrightFest’s annual quiz.
Other international directors attending include Joshua Erkman for A DESERT, Cutter Hodierne for COLD WALLET, Parker Brennon for HAUNTOLOGY, Tim Cruz for LADYBUG, alongside cast including Anthony Del Negro, Chris Stuckmann for SHELBY OAKS, alongside lead actor Camille Sullivan, Elric Kane for THE DEAD THING, Loïc Tanson for THE LAST ASHES, Pierre Tsigardis for TRAUMATIKA, Mike Capes for THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR, Aurélia Mengin for SCARLET BLUE, Ry Levey for BOUTIQUE: TO PRESERVE AND COLLECT, Jeff Daniel Phillips for CURSED IN BAJA, Arró Stefánsson for DELIRIUM, Philip da Silva for FROM DARKNESS, Ludvig Gür for IN THE NAME OF GOD, Buddy Cooper for MUTILATOR 2, Vivieno Caldinelli for SCARD SHITLESS, Michael Felker for THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT, Michael Turney for VIDEO VISION and David Yohe & Matt Devino for THE DAEMON. Also, we are pleased that John Farrelly, the director of AN TAIBHSE (THE GHOST), the first Irish Language horror film ever made, will be joining us with the main cast.
Other returning FrightFest alumni are Jake West, who, on its 25th year anniversary, will be hosting a special 4K Restoration screening of RAZORBLADE SMILE, Neil Marshall and Chris Smith, who are contributors for Sarah Appleton & Phillip Escott’s documentary GENERATION TERROR, director Mickey Keating for INVADER, director Jill Gevargizian for GHOST GAME, alongside lead actor Kia Dorsey and director Brian Hanson for THE BUNKER, alongside lead actor Chelsea Edmundson.
Homegrown talent will be present in abundance this year. We have director Marc Coleman for MEMBERS CLUB, alongside cast including Steve Oram, director Sean Cronin for BOGIEVILLE, alongside cast including Sarah Alexandra Marks, Ayvianna Snow, Andrew Lee Potts, and Sarina Taylor, attending with Queen’s Roger Taylor, director Jon Spiro for THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE, alongside Jonathan Rigby, (Lee’s biographer), directors Justin Hardy, Dominic Hardy and Chris Nunn for CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN, director Louisa Warren plus cast for CINDERELLA’S CURSE, director Warren Dudley plus cast for FRIGHT, director Jonathan Zaurin plus cast for DERELICT, director and actor Georgia Conlan for CHARLOTTE, with lead actor Dean Kilby (also starring in MEMBERS CLUB & DERELICT), director Hayden Hewitt with CARA, alongside cast including Johnny Vivash and Laurence R. Harvey, and director Elliott Léon with THE FREAKS OF FANCY.
The FIRST BLOOD strand goes from strength to strength and all the helmers will be around, supported by their cast and crews. We have THE MONSTER BENEATH US director Sophie Osbourne, SCOPOPHOBIA director Aled Owen, TOUCHDOWN director Josephine Rose, YEAR 10 director Benjamin Goodger, PROTEIN director Tony Burke and 7 KEYS director Joy Wilkinson. Another ‘discovery’ is Damon Rickard, a FrightFest regular turned film director, who will be presenting his debut feature NEVER HAVE I EVER.
This year sees the return of The Duke Mitchell team, back to help celebrate our 25th edition with a film party where guests will lose their sanity in a maelstrom of celluloid tinged madness, expect trailers, trains, scary PSE’s, delightful discoveries but most importantly, utter chaos.
Also, Film Sussex, run by FrightFest stalwart Chris Collier presents FROM FIGMENT TO FINANCE, A CASE STUDY, a presentation hosted by film producer Jen Handoff (PREVENGE, THE BORDERLANDS), which will demystify the complexities of film finance through an in-depth case study of an award winning horror film currently in development. This is a free event.
In an event, sure to be hotly debated, Tom Paton, head of FrightFest’s headline sponsor, Pigeon Shrine, will host an open forum, entitled AI: FOR YOU?. Tom will invite a discussion on the future of entertainment production and the role that AI technology will play. This is a free event.
Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 runs from 22nd -26th August at The ODEON Luxe Leicester Square and The ODEON Luxe West End.
