FrightFest 2018: 13 Films You Can’t Miss This Year
Jonathan Barkan
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In just a few days, Arrow Video FrightFest 2018 will launch and bring dozens of genre titles to audiences in London. It’s a celebration of all things horror and horror-adjacent, and we’re incredibly excited to attend, so make sure to let us know if you’re going to be there!
Taking place August 23 through 27, it’s hard to figure out which films are “must-see” titles. While everything playing the festival is worth your time and attention, we’re curating a list of 13, naturally, movies that we highly recommend making time for. These are titles that we’ve either seen and love or ones that we’re incredibly excited to check out. So, join me below as I recommend 13 films at Arrow Video FrightFest that you can’t miss!
FrightFest takes place at Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema between Aug 23-Aug 27. More information can be found at the festival’s official website.
The Ranger
The directorial debut of Jenn Wexler (Most Beautiful Island, Psychopaths, Darling) is a love letter to punk rock horror at its bloodiest! If you long for the days when horror came with a giant “Fuck you!”, then The Ranger is going to be right up your alley!
Summer of ’84
From RKSS, the team behind the cult hit Turbo Kid comes Summer of ’84. If you love the 80’s adoration that Stranger Things is fueled by, you’ll get that same sensation here. However, things take a much darker turn when it comes to tone. Prepare yourself.
Boar
It’s a giant boar killing people. It stars Bill Moseley, Nathan Jones, and John Jarrett. What more do you need to know?
One Cut of the Dead
This film is killing it at the Japanese box office and is winning award after award at festivals. If you want to be in on the sensation before it hits home video, this is your chance!
Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires
Wildly irreverent but stunningly brought to life via stop-motion, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a film that aims to push as many buttons while winking and nodding the whole time.
Upgrade
Leigh Whannell’s sci-fi action/body horror film has already graced screens here in the USA, but it’s time for England to feel the rush! Adrenalized action courses throughout the film and leaves viewers wanting to kick as much ass as Logan Marshall-Green!
What Keeps You Alive
From Colin Minihan, who brought us Grave Encounters, comes a tale of two people who go to a cabin in the woods only to have things go horribly, horribly wrong. Claustrophobically tense and vicious to the core, What Keeps You Alive is a phenomenal entry to the horror genre, and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.
Book of Monsters
A high school birthday party goes awry when demonic creatures are summoned, and bodies begin piling up. If I knew it was that easy to dispatch my high school bullies, I would’ve done it years ago!
The Devil’s Doorway
I loved this found footage title, and I have a sneaking suspicion that seeing it with a theater’s audio system is only going to make it all the more terrifying.
Anna and the Apocalypse
This festival darling is one of those movies you have to see in theaters and with an audience. If you don’t find yourself humming the songs after the credits roll, you’ve probably got no soul.
The Night Eats the World
While the zombie genre may seem tired and overplayed, The Night Eats the World proves that very statement false. A stunning character study that never gets boring, the film has just as much emotion as it does scares.
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Issa López’s film is not for the faint of heart, and I don’t mean gore or violence. Instead, the emotion and heartbreak you experience will stay with you for a long, long time. Championed by Guillermo del Toro (rightfully so, I might add), Tigers Are Not Afraid is the kind of movie that reminds you how much horror has to say about the world we live in.
Black Site
John Carpenter meets H.P. Lovecraft meets The Raid.
What else do you want from a movie?!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
While every movie at Arrow Video FrightFest deserves to be mentioned in this list, the above 13 are the ones that I think would make a festival attendee very happy if they were to catch them all! However, I would be remiss if I didn’t add a few titles that are somewhat self-serving, which is why I have made this portion of the list an “honorable mentions” area instead of trying to sneak them above.
It’s for the sake of disclosure that two of them are Dread Central Presents titles, and one is an Epic Pictures Group release.
The Golem
The tale of a woman in an Orthodox Jewish village who raises a golem to protect her and her people from villainous forces. It’s already rare enough that we see a film with openly Jewish characters in lead roles but when was the last time we had a golem as the monster of a movie? For that alone, it’s worth seeing!
Lasso
Sean Patrick Flannery plays a cowboy with one arm. Twenty people get killed across the film’s 97-minute runtime. It takes place at a rodeo. Yee-flipping’-haw!
The Man Who Killed Hilter and Then The Bigfoot
Much more about the “Man” instead of “Hitler” or “The Bigfoot,” this film is most certainly NOT horror, but there’s a lot that can appeal to that crowd. Featuring an excellent performance by Sam Elliott, this is a character-driven piece that will certainly have people talking.
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