ODEON WEST END, LONDON, 25-29 AUGUST
This August bank holiday weekend, if you're not stagediving into mud pools and stuffing yourself with cheap cider and acid at Reading, or off to the folks' for tea and crumpets, there's an incredible cinematic alternative for you.
Now in its seventh year, Frightfest has become one of the world's finest horror and fantasy film festivals. As ever, it gives you the chance to catch a staggering selection of sneak previews and premieres from around the world, long before they reach your local multiplex; plus you get to press the flesh with some of the movies' creators and stars, which have previously included The Devil's Rejects' Rob Zombie and living (dead) legend George A Romero. And this year's programme looks set to be Frightfest's most awesome yet. Here are some highlights.
PAN'S LABYRINTH
Festival openers don't come any better than Guillermo del Toro's dark spin on Alice In Wonderland. Against a backdrop of Franco's fascist Spain circa 1944, a lonely child finds herself split between wartorn reality and creature-filled fantasy. Del Toro regards this as the single most creative experience of his career. It's easy to see why, as it's every bit as dark, deep and emotionally disturbing as his ghost feature, The Devil's Backbone - only with monsters.
THE LOST
If Chris Sivertson's adaptation of Jack Ketchum's thrill-kill novel comes close to capturing the savagery and viscera of the author's tale of a hicksville sociopath, this is a must-see.
HATCHET
New boy Adam Green knows his audience and proceeds directly for their jugulars. The result is a guilty pleasure that will have gorehounds doubled up with laughter and dribbling into their popcorn, as heads and limbs are lopped off by the eponymous miscreant.
RE-CYCLE
The Pang Brothers push the fear envelope to its limits with this head-fucking tale of a famous author lost in the dark realm of her imagination. With its zombies, ghosts and aborted foetuses, you may have to sleep with the lights on after watching this creep-out chiller.
THE HOST
Closing the festival on Monday night is the highly anticipated creature-feature from Memories Of Murder's Joon-ho Bong. This time he dispenses with the ultra-seriousness of the aforementioned cop-thriller and goes the Toho-style mutant-monster route for a feature regarded as a cross between Alien and Q: The Winged Serpent.
ALSO SHOWING
American wrestling legend Kane stalks'n'slashes his way through ex-porn-director Gregory Dark's See No Evil; mutant cows run amuck in Brit Billy O'Brien's Isolation; Martin Weisz's Grimm Love focuses on the (real-life) 'cannibal of Rothenburg' so gratuitously it was banned in Germany; and plenty more nightmare-inducing fare.
Frightfest runs from Friday 26 to Monday 29 August, with a sneak preview of Chris 'Creep' Smith's hilarious, gory Severance on Thursday 25 (see interview elsewhere on the site).
*For all further details of what's on make your way to Frightfest.co.uk
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