FrightFest 2012: 13 Must-See Movies

Berberian Sound Studio

The Plot: A mild-mannered English sound technician (Toby Jones) who goes to Italy to work on a full-blooded horror movie.

Faced with language barriers, an overbearing producer (Cosimo Fusco), loneliness, cramped studio interiors and a deluge of gratuitous images, his disheartenment turns to distress to mental disintegration…

Why It's A Must See: Well, for a start, it's Total Film's sponsored film!

A love letter to the ‘70s heyday of Italian horror, Berberian Sound Studio faultlessly recreates the period and is imbued with an unshakeable sense of dread.

Think early Polanski pictures meets Dario Argento meets David Lynch and you’re there. Sort of.

Total Film’s Deputy Editor Jamie Graham says: “This is our fourth year in partnership with FrightFest, and Berberian Sound Studio - after Kill List , Monsters and Niels Arden Oplev’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – advances our mission to sponsor top-quality movies.

“It also ties in nicely with our Total Film Icon for 2012, who is none other than the master of Italian horror himself, Dario Argento.”

Buy tickets for Berberian Sound Studio

Keep checking www.totalfilm.com/frightfest for the latest news and announcements

V/H/S

The Plot: A gang of hipster criminals are hired to break into a mysterious house, to steal a rare VHS tape.

When the gang discovers a treasure trove of videos, they must watch them all to find their target. But each tape contains its own gruesome story, so the group start to fear for their lives.

Why It’s A Must-See : The fact that V/H/S is cinema’s first ever found footage horror anthology might put some people off, but the reputation of the directors taking part (nine in total, across six stories) should draw most horror hounds in.

The geniuses behind the likes of House Of The Devil (Ti West), The Signal (David Bruckner), You’re Next (Adam Wingard) and I Sell The Dead (Glenn McQuaid) bring a mixture of supernatural and realistic shocks to breathe fresh life into the found footage set-up.

With Sundance and Berlin buzz behind it, we predict this will be a turning point for the genre, making it more of a Paranormal Activity than a Grave Encounters . See it at FrightFest first.

Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut

The Plot: When a secret community of monsters is discovered by a troubled young man, they must fight to protect their anonymity. Hellraiser creator Clive Barker wrote and directed this 1990 adaptation of his classic novel Cabal , finally viewable in its uncut form.

Why It’s A Must-See: Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut is a Holy grail for horror geeks – a director’s cut so legendary it’s taken on mythic proportions, with conventions, communities and petitions dedicated to its release.

Nightbreed was a pared-down version of Barker’s original vision of a horror Star Wars, but was c ut by studio Morgan Creek by nearly an hour following disastrous test screening reactions. The missing material was thought to have been destroyed – until rumours surfaced that Morgan Creek had it locked away in an archive. That turned out to be false, but the weight of enthusiasm for a Nightbreed director’s cut led to Barker digging out the VHS workprints and cutting together a new version that religiously sticks to the original script.

Now, finally, The Cabal Cut can be seen in the UK. But get your ticket as soon as you can because FrightFest may well be the only place to see it – whilst Morgan Creek are happy for the film to tour festivals (it’s already done the rounds to sold-out crowds in the States), a DVD/Blu-ray release hasn’t been approved. And it might never be, because of the disparity between the quality of the original footage, and the VHS material.

Basically, see it while you can. And thank FrightFest for the opportunity. We’re extremely excited about this one.

Buy tickets for Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut

Keep checking www.totalfilm.com/frightfest for the latest news and announcements

Sleep Tight

The Plot: Cesar is a janitor is an upmarket apartment block in Barcelona. Quiet and polite, most tenants pass him without noticing he exists. But Cesar has a dark obsession – one that friendly new occupant Clara is about to discover to her cost.

Why It’s A Must-See: We’ve tried to keep our Sleep Tight plot description as vague as possible, because you’ll want to go in cold to this future cult classic.

Tense, disturbing and packed with great twists, Sleep Tight is the very essence of a FrightFest film – and it’s one you’ll be talking about long after the festival’s finished.

American Mary

The Plot: A student becomes disillusioned by medical school, and finds herself increasingly fascinated by the underground culture surrounding illegal surgeries.

Why It’s A Must-See: The Soska sisters showed enormous potential in their hugely enjoyable self-funded debut Dead Hooker In A Trunk . If the buzz on American Mary is to be believed, they’ve more than fulfilled that early promise.

We’re especially excited to see the sisters directing Katherine Isabelle ( Ginger Snaps ) as the titular Mary, in a film that moves away from the grindhouse homage of Hooker , and into a far more intense world.

The Soskas have described Mary as their tribute to Asian/Euro shockers – we can’t wait to see it.

Maniac

The Plot: Remake of William Lustig’s sleazy ‘80s video nasty classic, following the misadventures of Frank – a serial killer with a scalp obsession – as he adds to his collection of mannequin companions.

Why It’s A Must-See: Producers/writers Alexander Aja and Gregory Levasseur co-wrote one of the greatest remakes in recent years (2006’s The Hills Have Eyes ) – and an extremely effective early Maniac trailer (opens in new tab) suggests they’ve worked their magic again here.

Star Elijah Wood leaves Hobbiton far behind in his depiction of creepy pervert Frank; adding to his work in Sin City to create an extremely strange sub-section of his CV.

The Possession

The Plot: Essentially The Exorcist if it was based on Jewish folklore instead of Catholicism, a young girl opens a fabled dybbuk box, unleashing the spirit within and suffering a possession so gruesome, even the poster depicting it was banned.

Why It’s A Must-See: It’s produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures , and contains some killer set-pieces. Basically, if you’re a fan of Insidious and Drag Me To Hell , welcome to your new favourite movie.

Grabbers

The Plot: When aliens invade a small Irish town, a group of residents discover the creatures can’t stand alcohol – meaning our heroes must keep themselves drunk in order to survive.

Why It’s A Must-See: Well, aside from the fact Grabbers has arguably the greatest high concept of this year’s festival, we can really see it going down a storm with the FrightFest regulars.

So, if nothing else, this will be one of the more fun screenings. We predict raucousness.

Sinister

The Plot: True-crime novelist Ellison (Ethan Hawke) moves his family into a new home for research purposes, without telling them it’s the site of a quadruple murder.

When Ellison finds a box of film reels in the attic, he quickly discovers the house contains disturbing secrets.

Why It’s A Must-See: Described as smart, restrained and powerfully disturbing, Sinister probably isn’t one for the hardcore gore-hounds.

But if you like your shocks sending shivers up your spine instead of making you search for the sick-bag, this quietly intense film should be the first ticket you buy for this year’s festival.

From the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious , and directed by Scott Derrickson ( The Exorcism Of Emily Rose ), it’s certainly got pedigree.

Stitches

The Plot: A kids' party clown meets his death at the hands of a gang of children he’s supposed to be entertaining. Years later, he returns from the dead to take his terrible revenge.

Why It’s A Must-See: Two words: Ross Noble. Six words: Ross Noble as a killer clown. If we haven’t sold you on Stitches yet, we’re not sure we ever will.

Rumour has it that Noble may be turning up to support the film. Now there’s an on-stage Q&A we’d definitely love to see.

Tulpa

The Plot: Corporate professional Lisa Boeri (Claudia Gerini) risks her reputation by spending her nights frequenting the notorious sex club Tulpa.

But when her lovers are brutally murdered, Boeri, unable to contact the police for fear of ruining her career, resolves to track down the killer.

Why It's A Must-See: Italian cinema is a key theme of this year's FrightFest – the legendary Dario Argento will be Total Film's Icon , Eurocrime! will celebrate the history of the Poliziotteschi, and Toby Jones will pay fictional tribute to the art of the giallo soundtrack in the highly anticipated Berberian Sound Studio – so it's fitting that Tulpa , praised as the ultimate neo-Giallo, should make its world premiere at the festival.

A seven-minute teaser brought down the house at FrightFest Glasgow, so get your tickets for this one fast - it will sell out.

Tower Block

The Plot: A tower block is scheduled for demolition, but when the top-floor residents are trapped by a psychopathic sniper, they have to fight for survival.

Why It's A Must-See: Lean, mean and British, Tower Block will close FrightFest The 13th in tense style.

The fest has long been the home for great low-budget British horror, and Tower Block 's gripping concept and great cast (Sheridan Smith, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey) should ensure the weekend ends on a high.

[REC] 3: Genesis

The Plot: The [REC] virus infects a wedding party, with fairly disastrous results.

Why It’s A Must-See : The original [REC] films were master-classes in rollercoaster entertainment. This third instalment nods to its forebears before going off in a completely different direction.

One of the bigger franchise flicks at FF:13 , it’s a threequel that has to be seen to be believed. It’ll certainly get you talking.

And anything featuring a bloody bride wielding a chainsaw is worth a watch in our book.