Here are the highlights of this year’s FrightFest, featuring the best movies playing at London’s legendary genre festival, including The Invisible Raptor, Bookworm, and opening night film Broken Bird.
FrightFest is “genre Christmas” for gore-hounds, with multiple screens in Leicester Square filled with horror of all flavors, from slashers and psychological thrillers to paranormal stories and creature features.
This year’s highlights include Cannes winner The Substance, eagerly anticipated found footage flick Shelby Oaks, and a movie about an invisible dinosaur.
You can already read our 14 favorite movies from FrightFest 2023, or scroll down for the best movies at the 2024 edition, which we’ll be updating as films screen throughout the long weekend.
Broken Bird
Directed and co-written by Joanne Mitchell, Broken Bird is the character study of a deeply troubled woman that transforms into a dark gothic horror.
Rebecca Calder delivers a powerhouse performance as Sybil, a lonely figure with a troubled past, who works as a mortician, and spends her spare time writing bad poetry and looking for something to fill the hole in her heart.
The film also follows the plight of a local policewoman who is breaking down following the disappearance of her child. Which begs the question, how are these twin storylines connected?
The answer is predictably upsetting, and connected to the delusions and hallucinations that are fogging Sybil’s mind. All of which leads to a devastating denouement that concludes this very modern gothic horror with a series of deliciously dark visuals.
Test Screening
This is a tricky one, as there’s a movie Test Screening resembles that – if referenced – gives away much of what’s happening. But suffice to say, if you’re a fan of cult horror form the 1980s, you’ll know it when you see it.
That particular title isn’t the only movie referenced in director Clark Barker’s film, as the script – which he co-wrote with Stephen Susco – wears its influences on its sleeve, from the movies of John Carpenter to Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, The Faculty, and Slither.
Stranger Things is also clearly an influence, with the film set in a small town in Oregon in 1982, where the ‘test screening’ for a mysterious new Hollywood movie does something terrible to those who attend, with deadly consequences for the community.
Like Stranger Things, each of the teenage protagonists is expertly-drawn, existing as three-dimensional characters rather than simple cannon fodder. The talented young cast brings them to life in convincing fashion, with Drew Scheid and Chloë Kerwin notably ones to watch.
The Invisible Raptor
We actually saw this one at Glasgow FrightFest in February, inspiring us to write an article titled ‘The best dinosaur movie heading your way doesn’t have Jurassic in the title.’
The film is silly, revolving around a hapless paleontologist teaming up with a hapless security guard to stop the invisible raptor laying waste to their town. But it’s also ingenious, the horror set-pieces as creative as they are cheap and plentiful.
Jokes come thick and fast and mostly about dinosaur poop, but there’s also nods to not only Jurassic Park, but also Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, The Goonies, and the like.
Those classics clearly inspired the film’s co-writer and star Mike Capes, and he lovingly pays homage to each and every one of them, while crafting a very funny film. Oh, and stick around for the credits of this one…
An Taibhse (A Ghost)
An Taibhse is billed as the first Irish-language horror movie, which makes it unique. And while the story of a seemingly haunted house is far from original, it’s shot with style and flair by writer-director John Farrelly.
Set during a cold winter in 1852 – when famine was tearing through Ireland – the film focuses on Éamon and his daughter Máire, who are tasked with taking care of a huge country pile through the freezing winter months until spring.
He fixes up the place while she cooks and cleans, but as isolation takes hold, soon they are variously hearing voices, having visions, and experiencing all manner of horrors during the night.
Is the place haunted, or are they losing their minds? That’s the question at the heart of this slow-burning horror that’s beautifully framed and lit, and features a couple of absolutely terrifying scares.
The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine
Written and directed by Graham Skipper, The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine is one of those movies where the plot is in the title.
Putting it all out there in a truly fearless performance, Skipper also plays Wozzek – the lonely man of the title – who is living in a tin cabin in the woods following a calamity that has somehow broken our world.
Said disaster also stole the love of his life, with his ghost machine designed to bring her back. And succeeds it does, with Nellie returning, at much the same time that Wozzek starts communicating with a mysterious voice that may (or may not) be in his head.
What follows calls into question everything Wozzek thinks he knows, in a tale that deals in ghosts and monsters, but also themes of depression, fear, alcoholism, and yes, loneliness.
Bookworm
Bookworm is a change of pace for FrightFest, being an adventure movie aimed squarely at kids. Though there is jeopardy in the form of a giant panther.
The bookworm of the title is Mildred (Nell Fisher) a literature-loving tween who plots to trap and photograph said beast for proof of its existence. That plan is delayed when her mum has an accident that takes her out of action. But then Mildred’s “biological dad” Strawn Wise shows up, and Bookworm kicks into high-gear.
That’s because her father is an illusionist – not a magician – and played by Elijah Wood, clearly having a blast while sending up the likes of David Blaine and David Copperfield.
This mismatched pair head into the stunning New Zealand wilderness, where danger is lurking around every corner, especially when Kill List’s Michael Smiley appears onscreen. But it’s really about the touching story of a father connecting with the daughter he never knew.
Things Will Be Different
Things Will Be Different is written and directed by Michael Felker, whose work you’ll know if you’ve seen the films of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, as Felker edited Spring, The Endless, Synchronic, and Something in the Dirt.
He’s clearly been inspired by that dynamic duo’s work, and Things Will Be Different is a time-travel movie that nicely dovetails with the low-budget, high-concept sci-fi tales they’ve been telling.
Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy play Joseph and Sidney, a pair of estranged siblings who meet at a diner on the edge of town, then head to an abandoned house in the countryside, where they change the time on the stopped clocks and are transported into the past.
Trouble is, something – or someone – is preventing them from returning to the present, and what follows is a head-scratching time-travel tale that’s really concerned with repairing those broken familial bonds.
Survive
Survive plays out on the eve of a mass extinction event, and follows the plight of a family of four enjoying a relaxing boat trip. To begin with.
Their fun is interrupted by a storm, the engine failing, the radio breaking, and then the sea disappearing altogether. And following a rough night, they wake up to an absent ocean; their boat sitting on the sea bed.
The dad calls this “weird,” which is something of an understatement. Then a stranger appears, and the family realise that the threat might not be the natural disaster unfolding all around them, but rather man himself.
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Which turns an interesting high-concept survival story into a pretty run-of-the-mill game of cat-and-mouse. But you can’t fault Survive for ambition on what’s clearly a modest budget, while there’s fun to be had when the film turns into something of a creature feature for the final few reels.
A Samurai in Time
A Samurai in Time kicks off at the end of the Edo period via a bloody battle between warring clans. Then a pair of Samurai fight in the rain, lightening strikes, and one of them is transported to the present day.
What follows is a time-travel romp, with our hero Kosaka waking up on a film set where a movie from his own period is being shot. Meaning he can initially blend in, then impress the production with his sword skills.
It’s also a fun ‘fish-out-of-water’ tale, as Kosaka gets to grips with modern-life, and in the movie’s funniest scene, stumbles onto a J-horror set.
But it also cleverly connects the past with the present as proceedings progress, with Samurai in Time ultimately about history, legacy, honor, and regret.
7 Keys
7 Keys is a smart and wholly original thriller that’s very much about the London of today, where inequality lurks around every corner, and online dating is a minefield.
The clever concept concerns boy meeting girl, and deciding – on a whim – to visit the places he’s previously lived, letting themselves in with the keys he’s inexplicably kept.
She’s a wild card. He’s risk averse. But as night turns into day, home truths start to emerge, with neither party quite being who they claim to be.
Writer-director Joy Wilkisnon amps up the tension as her story builds towards a powerful climax, while Emma McDonald and Billy Postlethwaite deliver spellbinding performances as the increasingly crazed couple in question.
Strange Darling
Strange Darling has already released in US cinemas, before hitting UK screens on September 20. Which is a long time to wait for a horror movie that Stephen King called a masterpiece.
But we concur with Mr. King, comparing the movie to Pulp Fiction for the inspired way it chops back-and-forth in time, and writing this in Dexerto’s five-star Strange Darling review:
“By messing with chronology, structure, and genre tropes, Strange Darling defies convention and expectation, with [writer-director] J.T. Mollner taking the serial killer thriller, spinning it around, then smashing it head-first into the ground.
“The movie then builds to a climax that’s both shocking, and extremely satisfying, resulting in a genuine crowd-pleaser that should be watched with the biggest audience you can find.”
Azrael
Years after the Rapture, survivors inexplicably stop speaking, and seem to split into three camps – weird, burned up monsters, angry/violent marauders, and Azrael (Samara Weaving) and her boyfriend (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), who just want a quiet life.
The marauders kidnap Azrael to use her as a sacrificial lamb for said creatures, who chow down on flesh and blood. But Azrael escapes, and so begins a cycle that lasts for most of the film’s run-time, concerning Azrael being captured, and then escaping, then being captured, and then escaping again.
The action is superbly shot by director E.L. Katz, most notably during some gnarly fight scenes. And scream queen Weaving is fantastic as the heroine of the piece, who never knows when she’s beat.
But the lack of language leaves little room for proper plot or character development, meaning Azrael doesn’t add up to quite enough. Though the final shot will live long in the memory.
Saint Clare
“I was born to do this. I am not afraid.” So says 16-year-old Clare Bleecker at the start of Saint Clare, while channelling Joan of Arc. Bleecker has recently moved from New York to a small town called Pickman Flats, where scores of women have gone missing over the last three decades.
But if the town harbours secrets, then so too does Clare, which becomes clear when a local with nefarious plans picks her up at a bus stop. Before he can do anything untoward, Clare kills him, an inspired reveal at the start of the movie that sets up an enjoyably bat-sh*t movie.
There are weird details, like Clare learning screen-combat from her actress grandmother so she can handle herself in a fight. And strange sub-plots, like a school performance of the play Death Trap becoming integral to the finale.
There’s also some star power involved, with Rebecca De Mornay as action grandma, and Ryan Phillippe as an investigating cop. While Bella Thorne delivers a committed performance as the title character; a sick and twisted anti-hero for our times.
The Dead Thing
The Dead Thing is an LA story about a young woman called Alex who works a dead end office job during the day, then spends her evenings on dates with men in bars, frequently followed by casual sex.
Alex is clearly searching for something, and maybe finds it on a blind date with hunky barista Kyle. He charms her into bed, and the pair appear to fall for each other, hard.
But then Kyle disappears, and Alex becomes obsessed with finding him, turning into something of a stalker as she searches for the man that’s stolen her heart. But has he ghosted her? Or is something more sinister at play?
The answer to that question reveals what writer-director Elric Kane’s movie is really about, as a story that captivates during the mid-section transforms into a powerful tale of possession, control, and manipulation.
A Desert
A photographer who specializes in landscapes and buildings embarks on a road trip through the deserted towns of middle America to find himself, and rediscover his passion for the form.
While travelling from town-to-town he starts taking portraits of people, which re-invigorates his mind, and helps ease his existential crisis. Then a creepy couple demand to have their picture taken in a motel bedroom, and their interactions lead him down an unpleasant path that becomes ever-darker.
What follows is both bleak and unnerving; a waking nightmare where seediness and decay drip from every frame. Which is matched by intense performances from Kai Lennox, Zachary Ray Sherman, and most notably Sarah Lind, who is phenomenal in the film’s final few scenes.
Director/co-writer Joshua Erkman makes amazing use of natural and artificial light throughout, as well as some spellbinding transitions, in service of a story about viewers and voyeurs and the journey from camera to screen.
Ladybug
The ending of Ladybug is a bit of a mess, but the journey there is captivating, in a film that combines romance and mystery but also leans into slasher territory.
Co-writer Anthony Del Negro plays Grayson Ross, a New York artist escaping to the country to become inspired, and also to run from a bad breakup. And while the former is slow going, he gets over the latter pretty quickly when super-hot handyman Sawyer starts doing odd jobs in his cabin.
But then things start going bump in the night: bugs appear all over his home, Sawyer’s hysterical mother shows up demanding to see her son, and pictures start appearing that Grayson has no memory of painting.
Director Tim Cruz – who is also the movie’s other writer – channels David Lynch in the film’s weirder scenes, though the payoff doesn’t quite match his work’s carefully plotted setup.
For more genre fare, check out our list of the best horror movies of all-time, as well as an article on why scary movies are the new summer blockbusters.