Frightfest’s bumper 20th year is just a couple months away but it still feels like ages. It’ll be another few weeks yet before we find out what the whole, likely-to-be-incredible lineup of films has to offer but, for now, the first two flicks on the slate have been revealed — and they are, no pun intended, killer.
The 2019 festival is kicking off in supreme style with super-producer Ant Timpson’s (Turbo Kid, Deathgasm) directorial debut, the festival darling Come To Daddy, which stars Elijah Wood, Stephen McHattie, Martin Donovan, and the always welcome Michael Smiley.
The script is by Greasy Strangler scribe Toby Harvard and features Wood in a “career best performance as thirty-something Norval, who receives an out-of-the-blue invitation to visit his perpetually uncaring dad, As his father’s growing animosity towards him reaches a dark fever pitch. this hilarious, inventively gross, core-shocking adventure moves smartly towards its uncompromising and unexpected finale.”
Come To Daddy is one of the most highly-anticipated horror releases of the year, and has been on my must-watch list forever so it feels like the perfect kickoff to Frightfest’s bloody 20th year.
Finishing things off in equally bloody fashion will be the world premiere of Abner Pastoll’s (Road Games) A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, a crime story based in Belfast and starring Irish actress Sarah Bolger (Emelie).
She plays “a recently widowed mother of two desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of their young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping low-life drug-dealer Tito (Andrew Simpson from Road Games) stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she’s forced into taking drastic action to protect her children while learning the awful truth about her spouse.”
Enthusing about the festival’s massive anniversary, co-director Alan Jones signaled Timpson’s debut is the ideal opening night movie:
FrightFest’s 20th year celebration year is all about honouring our past while looking towards an exciting future for the genre. Our opening attraction marks the debut feature of someone we have grown up with; producer Ant Timpson, who has consistently provided top notch fantasy fare throughout our formative two decades
Likewise, he enthused about Pastoll’s movie’s place in the festival’s history:
Our world premiere closer is Abner Pastoll’s dark and dazzling thriller A Good Woman Is Hard To Find Pastoll impressed with his previous FrightFest entry ‘Road Games/ and is now set to expand his mainstream appeal big time
Anticipating what fans can expect this year, Jones described the festival thusly:
Past friends, present family and future frights – that’s FrightFest 2019
Arrow Video FrightFest, the UK’s biggest genre film festival, runs from Thursday 22 August to Monday 26 August 2019 at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square and the Prince Charles Cinema.
The full festival line-up of films for Frightfest 2019 will be revealed on their official site July 4, 2019 where all ticketing information can also be found. Festival and day passes for this year’s event go on sale Saturday, July 6. Single tickets will go on sale from Saturday, 20 July. Wicked Horror will once again be there, to bring you all the must-read reviews and exclusive interviews from this year’s festival. So stay tuned.
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