‘Aaaaaaaah!,’ ‘Scherzo Diabolico,’ ‘Curve’ Among Highlights at FrightFest

MUNICH — Film4 FrightFest, the U.K.’s leading genre film festival, promises to be “bigger, bolder and bloodier” in its 16th year with its largest ever lineup. The gorefest, which runs Aug. 27-31, will present 76 films across five screens, plus a host of special events. There are 16 European premieres and 26 U.K. premieres.

Among the films from British and Irish talent receiving a showcase are David Keating’s “Cherry Tree”; the world premiere of Steve Oram’s hilarious and disturbing “Aaaaaaaah!,” starring Toyah Willcox; Dominic Brunt’s sharp-edged female revenge saga “Bait”; Ben and Chris Blaine’s sexually charged zom-rom-com “Nina Forever”; Mark Murphy’s tale of twisted minds “Awaiting”; Paul Hyett’s much-anticipated “Howl”; Adam Levins’ sinister family drama “Estranged”; Howard J. Ford’s child-abduction thriller “Never Let Go”; Corin Hardy’s Sundance sensation “The Hallow”; Ruth Platt’s morally challenging chiller “The Lesson”; Liam Regan’s gruesome revenge saga “Banjo”; Eugene McGing’s supernatural haunter “The Unfolding”; and “Afterdeath,” a hellish thriller by new directors Gez Medinger and Robin Schmidt.

On the main screens are a mix of the monstrous, the macabre and the must-see from around the world. Apart from the closing anthology “Tales of Halloween” and festive attraction “A Christmas Horror Story,” there is Iain Softley’s cleverly vicious “Curve”; Bernard Rose’s stylishly affecting “Frankenstein”; Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s masterpiece “Scherzo Diabolico”; Abner Pastoll’s deranged “Road Games”; Alistair Legrand’s genre-bending shocker “The Diabolical”; Ted Geoghegan’s well-received ghost story “We Are Still Here”; Adam Schindler’s agoraphobic “Shut In”; Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell’s post-apocalyptic romp “Turbo Kid”; Bruce McDonald’s Halloween horror “Hellions”; and Levan Bakhia’s explosive “Landmine Goes Click.”

The Israeli Paz Brothers put the grim in pilgrimage with “Jeruzalem,” director Adam Egypt Mortimer delivers his feminist slasher movie “Some Kind of Hate,” first-time director Eric Hannezo brings his version of “Rabid Dogs,” “Stung” lets loose a battalion of giant wasps, and Australian director Ursula Dabrowsky bring us her unusual shocker “Inner Demon.”

Completing the main screen mayhem is splatstick psycho-thriller “Deathgasm,” suburban shocker “Slumlord,” the unnerving “Emelie,” the stark, gore-filled “Night Fare” and James Wan’s “Demonic.”

The Discovery Screens section includes world premieres for Jaron Henrie-McCrea’s “Curtain,” Russell Friedenberg’s “Wind Walkers,” Padraig Reynolds’ “Worry Dolls” and Benjamin Moody’s “Last Girl Standing.”

The full program can be found here.

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