Dread Central has learned today that Manchester-based horror festival Grimmfest will host the world premiere of Blast (aka Deflagrations) and will be joined by members of the cast and crew for this premiere screening. The fest’s feature line-up has already been released, but until now the closing film remained shrouded in mystery.
The festival will reach a suitably explosive climax with Vanya Peirani-Vignes’ heartstopping high-tension, high-concept thriller, which stars Nora Arnezeder (Maniac, Army of the Dead, Mozart in the Jungle) as a bomb disposal expert who finds herself trapped in a car wired to an anti-tank mine, and must rely on her own skills and those of her colleagues to survive.
Blast is a fast-paced and ferocious feature film debut for writer-director Peirani-Vignes. The movie is also shot by the great Thierry Arboghast (Luc Besson’s regular cinematographer).
Grimmfest returns to cinemas this October after a year of “home invasions,” in the form of virtual screenings and online events. From October 7-10, the festival will be back at its regular venue, Odeon Great Northern, Manchester, with four whole days of movie premieres, Q&As, and exclusive events.
But that’s not all. In response to the continued uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, and by popular demand, this year’s festival will be a hybrid. The live event will be followed by an online version, running from October 14-17.
Grimmfest also announced their three key sponsors for Grimmfest 2021. UK genre and cult film distributor Arrow Video is supporting the live festival. Horror Channel is supporting the virtual online event and the fest’s Lifetime Achievement Award (this year being awarded to actress Dee Wallace). UK-based movie memorabilia company Rendezvous Cinema are sponsoring our annual “Reaper” awards. A carefully selected jury will deliberate and vote on 10 awards that range from Best Feature to Best Scare.
The Grimmfest team also announced the short film lineup for 2021. This year they will be screening more short films than ever before, with a total of four short film programs at the live festival. In total, they will present two world premieres, four international premieres, five European premieres and 12 UK premieres, and many more that are new to the north of the UK.
“Toxic male entitlement comes a cropper in Ryan Kruger’s provocatively on-point #MeowToo. Love in a time of pandemic holds more than one risk in Gil Vesely’s cheekily topical While We Stayed Home. A postmortem photographer gets a lesson in life in Paul O’Flanagan’s Dickensian morality tale Memento Mori. There’s paranoia and puppetry amid the porcelain in Josh Funk’s sublimely surreal The Fuzzies, and an unsettling discovery for a happy young housewife in Craig Low’s darkly comic and disturbing Movin Day. A rescue dog is haunted by specters of guilt in Joe Cappa’s hallucinogenic Ghost Dogs. A young girl suspects that her grandmother’s stroke has extraterrestrial origins in Sid Zanforlin’s blackly comic and unexpectedly life-affirming They’re Here. Chris McInroy takes a stomach-churning swipe at the absurdities of office politics in the outrageous Guts. A has-been horror star hatches a plan for his revival in Max Ward’s tense and mischievously meta-cinematic Return of the Beast from Outer Space. And meeting the girlfriend’s parents proves no laughing matter, in Javier Chavanel’s nightmarish Smiles.”
Every parent’s worst nightmare comes true in Damien Fannon’s horrifying Cry Baby. An E.C. Comics-style morality tale gets a sharp social media spin in Nathan Crooker’s gleefully grotesque #NoFilter. Honeymoon happiness gets shockingly derailed in Craig Ouellette’s tense and emotionally brutal Anniversary. A young model gets out of her depth in Enrico Po’s tense and troubling Out of Body. A self-harmer is haunted by a past betrayal and her own compulsions in Dan Repp and Lindsay Young’s chilling Cutter. A young man’s increasing sense of uncertainty in his new relationship fuses with his arachnophobia, in Brodi-jo Scalise’s creepy and Kafkaesque Itsy Bitsy Spider. And an estranged son’s resentment over his father takes on physical form in Dane Hallett’s visceral and emotive fusion of family drama and body horror, Rancour.
“Alienation and amnesia in the desert in Natasha Halevi’s solo Super-8 shocker Don’t Go Outside. A trail-cam captures something unexpected in Alisa Stern’s mischievous take on found footage filmmaking, Posted No Hunting. Romance proves risky in Chloe Wicks’ deadly droll Aftertaste. Commitment-phobia confronts a cornucopia of toxic masculinity in Shahrzad Davani’s disturbing and disorientating All of You. Peer pressure power games prove murderous in Jamy Steele’s unsettling and slippery Salmon Pink. A social media influencer discovers the risks of over-sharing in I-Hui Lee’s chilling Honeymoon. And an emotionally fragile young woman gets increasingly out of her depth at a drunken party, in Eva Muñoz’s harrowing and horrific Hannya.”
“The view from a window reveals a shocking crime in Carlo Ballauri’s dystopian nightmare, The Recycling Man. Appearances prove deceiving in Iván Sáinz-Pardo’s wistful and haunting Faces. Traumatic memories assume physical form in Katherine Chediak Putnam’s eerie and enigmatic Inferno. Love conquers all – with the aid of technology – in Lovina Yavari and Lance Fernandes’ unexpectedly heartwarming Red String of Fate. A mother and daughter break free from male oppression in Jessica Grace Smith’s post-apocalyptic parable, Flip. Escape is achieved at a chilling cost in Eric Jungmann’s startling Body of the Mind. The toxic influence of tabloid TV is savagely satirized in Jaime A. Calachi’s Kafkaesque Habitat. Arif Khan offers a hellish allegory for the sacrifices made by refugees and asylum seekers in the chilling The Purple Iris. And Alex Proyas makes a welcome return to the world of Dark City in the cyber-noir fairytale, Mask of the Evil Apparition.”
To showcase its online content, Grimmfest is working with Eventive, one of the key players in the virtual festival area, to offer DRM-protected, geo-blocked movie premieres. They will also host exclusive live stream and recorded interviews, special events and press rooms, bringing in the filmmakers and stars to present and Q&A the films, while also helping to create a complete festival experience for the fans.
Are you excited to attend Grimmfest next month? What films are you most looking forward to screening? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican. Dread Central is now on Google News.