Five must-see films to catch at FrightFest

The headline news at this year’s FrightFest is the world premiere for Neil Marshall’s latest – the Geordie horror maven who gave us ‘The Descent’ and that bit in ‘Game of Thrones’ when literally everything explodes. ‘The Lair’ is being billed as ‘The Dirty Dozen meets The Thing’, and if it’s half as good as that sounds, it’ll be a hell of a ride. And while he’s in town, Marshall will also be intro’ing a 4K restoration of ‘Dog Soldiers’. Ah-hooooo!

The festival closer is a survival thriller that will absolutely not be for anyone with vertigo. Directed by Scott Mann, who made 2015’s Robert De Niro thriller ‘Heist’, ‘Fall’ sends two friends (Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner) to the top of a 2000-foot radio tower and, well, leaves them there. A broken ladder, a bunch of callous rednecks and at least one vulture will crank up the high-altitude jitters. 

If you imagine a mumblecore ‘X-Files’ episode featuring a couple of LA slackers and a floating slab of quartz, you’d barely be halfway towards conjuring the slowburn freakery of ‘The Endless’ duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s latest DIY indie. It’s not the goriest or scariest entry at this year’s fest, but it’s still an eerie mindfuck that will leave you shook up.

If you like your chills to come clad in period garb and with a gothic vibes this Shudder-produced reimagining of the life of Edgar Allan Poe will be for you. It follows the great American horror novelist (played by William Moseley) to West Point and a spell as a military cadet. On exercise, he stumbles upon a dying man eviscerated and strapped to a rack who steers him to a tight-knit community guarding dark secrets. Look out, too, for those reliably great character actors, David Hayman and Kate Dickie, in its shadowy 19th century world.

This year’s FrightFest is being graced by royalty: the grand duke of giallo himself, Dario Argento, is swinging by to unleash his latest slice of slicing, stabbing and chopping. ‘Dark Glasses’ follows an Italian escort (Ilenia Pastorelli) who is targeted by a serial killer in Rome and loses her sight in a car accident while chasing a suspect. It’s drawn comparisons with Argento’s earlier work, including 1971’s ‘The Cat O’ Nine Tails’, but also boasts sea snakes and rabid dogs.  

Arrow FrightFest runs Aug 25-29 at London’s Cineworld Leicester Square and the Prince Charles Cinema. Head to the official site for programme info and tickets.