We take a look at the films that are sure to give you a fright at GrimmFest 2015
With just 12 days to go until GrimmFest North, it’s safe to say that we are pretty excited. The line-up for this year’s festival looks fantastic with a whopping 34 movies across four days, from chilling thrillers to extreme blood-spillers.
For those who have been living in hibernation for the past 7 years, GrimmFest North is a horror, cult and sci-fi film festival like no other. Taking place in Manchester from 1st to 4th October 2015, GrimmFest North is THE event for horror, cult, fantasy and Sci-fi fans and is listed as one of the top 40 genre film festivals internationally.
This year sees the festival return to its original host venue at Manchester’s Odeon Printworks for a bigger, bolder and bloodier event than ever before. Zombies, monsters, ghosts, werewolves, freaky kids, witches and vampires will be taking over one of the largest screens in the Printworks building to unleash a howling, blood soaked, unstoppable monster of a festival.
Check out some of the highlights below…
THE HALLOW
Opening the 2015 GrimmFest festival is the North West Premiere of nerve-racking rural shocker THE HALLOW.
Directed by Corin Hardy, THE HALLOW tells the story of Adam Hitchens, his wife Claire and their infant son Finn, who move to their dream home in the remote Irish countryside. But the dream rapidly becomes a nightmare when they find themselves in a fight for survival with demonic creatures living in the woods.
Full-on, ferocious and packed with freaky folklore, this bone-chilling horror took the Sundance Film Festival by storm and helped to secure the director’s chair for Corin Hardy on the upcoming CROW reboot.
Director Corin Hardy and star Joseph Mawle (GAME OF THRONES, RIPPER STREET, THE AWAKENING) will also make a guest appearance at the screening so this one is not to be missed!
THE HALLOW is on Thursday 1st October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 7.00pm.
NORTHERN SHOWCASE
Celebrating the best in northern talent is a special Northern Showcase with a selection of the best, short film premieres from the region.
SFX maestro Shaune Harrison will be presenting the world premiere of his directorial debut, THE BOX with the film’s star, Dominic Brunt also in attendance. Other films include SNATCHERS, DRIVEN and PROCESS with special guest speakers Simeon Halligan, Joanne Mitchell, Drew Lovett Scott Feast and Stephanie Bryant discussing the pros and cons of making films ‘up north’.
NORTHERN SHOWCASE + Guest Speaker Panel is on Thursday 1st October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 9.00pm.
BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS
Rounding off the Opening Night Gala is the regional premiere of the savagely funny splatter-satire BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS.
This action-packed horror comedy stars Fran Kranz as Evan, a dutiful and overworked employee stuck at a soul-killing call centre whose new manager has a fairly extreme solution to increasing productivity. The film has been marketed as a mix between THE OFFICE and SHAUN OF THE DEAD but with more blood, dismemberment and vampires, of course.
BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS is on Thursday 1st October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 10.44pm.
DXM
Making its World Premiere at GrimmFest North is the latest offering from Andrew Goth – DXM.
When a group of young bio-engineers discover that quantum theory can be used to transfer motor-skills from one brain to another, they freely spread this technology, believing it to be a first step towards a new intellectual equality. But as the mysterious past of one of their group is revealed, dark forces emerge that threaten to subvert their discovery into a means of mass-control.
Visually stunning and conceptually-challenging, this explosive sci-fi thriller was one of the big talking points of this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is unlike anything else you will see this year.
DXM is on Sunday 4th October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 8.00pm.
ANTISOCIAL 2
ANTISOCIAL 2, the sequel to one of the hit films at Grimmfest 2013, will make its European Premiere on Sunday 4th October.
Expanding on the themes of the first film (where a computer virus becomes a literal virus) Sam finds herself lured into a trap, captured and locked in a facility dedicated to finding a cure for a world dominated by the virus. But as she struggles to escape, Sam begins to realise that her capture intentions are not quite as they seem and all the while, the virus prepares to update itself.
Be warned, after turning off your smartphones for ANTISOCIAL 2, you may very well feel reluctant to turn them back on again afterwards.
ANTISOCIAL 2 is on Sunday 4th October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 2.00pm.
EXCESS FLESH
The queasily satiric EXCESS FLESH, which recently left audiences reeling at SXSW festival in Texas, makes its UK premiere at GrimmFest North on Saturday 3rd October.
Featuring a powerhouse performance from the remarkable Bethany Orr, EXCESS FLESH tells the story of Jill, a plain girl with low self-esteem and serious body image issues whose obsession with her roommate Jennifer, boils over into violence.
This harrowing and deeply uncomfortable film offers an unblinking look at the ugly and unrealistic expectations placed on women, both in terms of behaviour and appearance. It will also make you question the wisdom of dieting, with its surreal and queasy imagery putting you right off your food – for life!
EXCESS FLESH is on Saturday 3rd October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 12.00 midday.
HOWL
The cast and crew of train shocker HOWL will be on hand for a special Q&A session following the North West Premiere of Paul Hyett’s eerie monster movie.
When a red-eye train out of London hits something on the tracks, the various passengers and crew find themselves trapped on the train in the middle of a forest full of feral humanoid creatures.
Taut, tense and tightly scripted, this old-fashioned monster movie is sure to win you over with its werewolf type creatures and disparate characters slowly escalating into hysteria – or at least put you off travelling on the British railway system.
HOWL is on Saturday 3rd October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 6.00 pm
CHERRY TREE
Also making its North West Premiere at GrimmFest North is eerie witchcraft chiller CHERRY TREE.
Following her father’s terminal illness, Faith finds herself drawn to her field hockey coach, Sissy Young, who seems to offer comfort and reassurance. But Sissy is head of an ancient coven of witches, with a very specific interest in the troubled young woman, and soon Faith finds herself agreeing to a terrifying bargain.
Directed by David Keating and written by Brendan McCarthy, this grim fairytale of birth, death, dark forces and deadly secrets is likely to provoke a lively Q&A session with the cast and crew.
CHERRY TREE is on Friday 2nd October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 8.00pm.
THE NIGHTMARE
Imagine being trapped in your worst nightmare and being unable to escape. This is exactly what happens to the subjects of Rodney Ascher’s THE NIGHTMARE, a chilling documentary about the terrifying phenomenon of sleep paralysis.
Mixing bone-chilling real-life anecdotes with terrifying reconstructions, this unsettling and confrontational documentary is guaranteed to cause more than a few sleepless nights, as it tackles the terrors of sleep paralysis, a condition in which the dreamer is locked within his or her own nightmare world and is unable to wake up.
Steven Paytner, one of the subjects of the film will also be at the screening to talk about some of his nightmarish experiences.
THE NIGHTMARE is on Saturday 3rd October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 4.00 pm
HELLIONS
Cult Canadian director Bruce MacDonald returns to the horror genre with HELLIONS, a horrifying Halloween shocker which makes it Northern Premiere on Sunday 4th October.
Pregnant and home alone, Surly Goth teenager Dora must survive a Halloween night from Hell when malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door in this hallucinagenic shocker, filled with striking imagery and one waking nightmare after another.
HELLIONS is on Sunday 4th October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 12 midday.
A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY
Finally, Christmas comes early – or not as the case may be – with the Northern Premiere of A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY.
Combining contemporary horror cinema with a festive twist on an old-school EC-comics-style anthology, A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY is a selection of interwoven stories that take place on Christmas Eve: a family who brings home more than a Christmas tree, a student documentary that becomes a living nightmare, a Christmas spirit that terrorizes and Santa slaying evil.
With its all-star talent and yuletide twist, this gruesome tale of terror boasts something for everyone and is destined to become a seasonal classic.
A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY is on Sunday 4th October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester at 6.00pm.
GrimmFest 2015 takes place between 1 to 4 October at the Odeon Printworks, Manchester. Check out the full line-up here and to book your tickets!
Donna is the Founder and Editor of Frankly, My Dear UK. By day, she works as a digital marketing specialist, by night she reviews film, theatre and music for a wide range of publications including WhatsonStage and The Reviews Hub. Loves Formula 1, prosecco and life.
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