The much-loved and eagerly-awaited film festival FrightFest has revealed its 2023 line-up, which includes films from all over the world. There is also a new headline sponsor, Pigeon Shrine, a cutting-edge technology and entertainment company set up by filmmaker Tom Paton, alongside Jamie McLeod-Ross and Charley McDougall.

This year’s event takes place at Cineworld Leicester Square between Thursday, August 24th and Monday, August 28th.

The opening night movie is the European premiere of Joe Lynch’s brilliant Suitable Flesh, starring the legendary Barbara Crampton, who will also be in attendance. Closing the festival on the Monday is Jenn Wexler’s The Sacrifice Game. Jenn’s previous film, The Ranger, opened proceedings in 2018.

Other films screening include:

The Blue Rose, the debut of 18-year-old George Baron
T Blockers, an Australian trans-horror from Alice Maio MacKay
Doctor Jekyll, an update of Robert Louis Stephenson’s classic tale starring Eddie Izzard
Farang, the latest from Xavier Gens
Founders Day, from Erik and Carson Bloomquist
Where the Devil Roams, from the team of John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser (The Deeper You Dig)
That’s a Wrap, from Pretty Boy director Marcel Walz

Failure!, another single-take shocker from Alex Kahuam (Forgiveness), starring Ted Raimi
Punch, from Andy Edwards (Midnight Peepshow)
A Million Days from Mitch Jenkins
How to Kill Monsters from Stewart Sparke (Book of Monsters)
Werewolf Santa, the latest from Airell Anthony Hayles (They’re Outside)
To Fire You Come, from Sean Hogan
I am Monsters! is a filmed version of Nicholas Vince’s autobiographical one-man show

Hostile Dimensions from Graham Hughes, whose Death of a Vlogger was a FrightFest hit in 2019
Lore, from James Bushe (Cannibals and Carpet Fitters)
Cheat, from Nick Psinakis
Creeping Death, from Matt Sampere
Faceless After Dark, from Raymond Wood
Herd, from Steven Pierce
Transmission, from Michael J. Hurst
Cold Meat, from Sébastien Drouin
Home Sweet Home: Where Evil Lives
Raging Grace, from Paris Zarcilla
It Lives Inside, from Bishal Dutta
Piper, starring Elizabeth Hurley and diected by Anthony Waller

The Dive, New Life, from John Rosman
Pandemonium, from Quarxx
Monolith, from Matt Vesely
The Seeding, from Barnaby Clay
Cobweb, Samuel Bodin’s eagerly-awaited shocker, which will have an extra closed captions screening
My Mother’s Eyes, Takeshi Kushida’s latest
River, from Junta Yamaguchi (Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes)
The Ghost Station, from Yong-ki Jeong
Trigger, the first FrightFest film from the Philippines!
Good Boy, from director Viljar Bøe
The Knocking, from Jonaas Pajunen and Max Seeck
Minore, from Konstantinos Koutsoliotas – the first Greek film to screen!
Poundcake
What You Wish For, from Nicholas Tomnay
Black Mold, from John Pata (editor of The Stylist)
Spookt, from Tony Reames
Thorns, from Douglas Schulze

Here for Blood, from Daniel Turres
The Black Mass, the directorial debut of Devanny Pinn
The Weird Kids, from Zach Passero
Departing Seniors, from Claire Cooney
Trim Season, from Ariel Vida
Eight Eyes, from Austin Jennings
The Moor, from Chris Cronin
Isaac, from Tariq Sayad and starring STARBURST Fantasy Awards winner Johnny Vivash and Catriona MacColl
Haunted Ulster Live, from Dominic O’Neill

There are also retrospective screenings of Lewis Teague’s classic Alligator, It Follows has a 4K restoration world premiere, a tenth-anniversary screening of James Wan’s The Conjuring, and a fiftieth celebration for William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, hosted by (who else?) Mark Kermode.

As always, there are also some great documentaries in the line-up including:
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow, a profile of the multi-talented writer/director/actor/musician/nightclub bouncer from Jake West (Midnight Peepshow)
Otto Baxter: Not a Fucking Horror Story – in which director Otto Baxter uses a short film to explore his birth, adoption, and battle living with Down Syndrome
[REC] Terror Without a Pause looks at the Spanish classic
The J-Horror Virus from the makers of The Found Footage Phenomenon
The Darkside of Society focuses on the making of Brian Yunza’s Society
1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever! A celebration of an epic year of fantasy productions
Kim’s Video is a quest to track down a collection of rental videos
Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee hones in on the strange world of Bruceploitation

The festival guest line-up and details of the Short Film Showcase will be announced soon.

Passes are on sale from noon on Saturday, July 15th and single tickets from noon on July 22nd. For booking and programme details: https://www.frightfest.co.uk