In less than a week, Frightfest takes over the Vue in Leicester Square. With that in mind, Joey Keogh takes a final look at one of the most-anticipated movies on this year’s jam-packed schedule. In the last Spotlight of 2015, it’s the hugely-hyped body shocker Bite.
It’s safe to say that, to date, no other horror movie has generated quite the same kind of buzz this year as Bite, a body shocker that has allegedly left audiences reeling, with certain pundits even recording instances of vomiting and fainting.
Sick bags were handed out in advance of the world premiere screening at Fantasia Fest in Canada. Mitch Davis, the festival co-director, posted to Facebook that he received a text, after ducking out of the screening, advising that two people had fainted, one girl had puked and another guy hit his head after tumbling down some stairs.
There’s no doubt Bite, which is already drawing comparisons to Cronenberg’s masterpiece The Fly, has had its fair share of drama. But is the flick, which sees a bride-to-be suffer a seemingly innocuous insect bite during her bachelorette party before inevitably turning into a creepy crawly hybrid herself, really all it’s cracked up to be? Or is it just another pretender to the gloopy, body horror throne?
Bite is the latest feature from Canadian director Chad Archibald, who helmed and co-wrote The Drownsman, which screened at Frightfest last year. Reviews have been strong across the board, with Dread Central claiming it “definitely has the chops to be the Fly of the new age and simply shouldn’t be missed, especially if you’re a gore-hound on the prowl”. Likewise, Scott Weinberg gave it a massive 4.5/5, gushing that Bite is “one of the best indie horror films I’ve seen all year”.
With reviews this good, and a bad-ass reputation for, quite literally, sickening audiences to match, it’s likely Bite is going to be one of the most talked-about films at Frightfest this year. Check out the trailer below, and let us know whether you think the movie is set to knock The Fly off its throne, or twist and contort itself into knots trying.
Bite screens at Frightfest on Monday, 31st August at 3.35PM on the Phoenix Discovery Screen. Weekend passes for the festival are sold out, but, at the time of writing, passes are still available for individual movies direct from the website. Frightfest takes place from August 27th – 31st at the Vue cinema, Leicester Square. Wicked Horror will be there to bring you all the need-to-know reviews, news and interviews direct from the festival.