USA 2020. 87 mins.

Directors: Andy Collier, Toor Mian. With: Barbara Crampton, Sophie Stevens, Ludovic Hughes, Lukas Loughran.

WORLD PREMIERE - Barbara Crampton , the hardest working horror actor and The First Lady of FrightFest, returns to her UK homebase with a cosmic chiller from directors Andy Collier and Toor MIan, the team behind CHARISMATA. After the death of his mother, New York-based Isaac and his pregnant wife Emma return to the Norwegian village on a remote island of his birth to deal with an unexpected inheritance. There they find themselves caught in a waking nightmare as an ancient frightening evil is awakened to claim the colour of madness in a birthright of its own.

NZ 2020. 90 mins.

Director: Hayden J. Weal. With: Thomas Sainsbury, Hayden J. Weal, Jess Sayer, Jennifer Ward-Leland.

UK PREMIERE - A laugh-out-loud comedy horror buddy murder mystery... with ghosts. Marbles, a hapless stoner, can see dead people, thanks to a homemade drug. Officer Tagg, a recently deceased wannabe super-cop is on the trail of a serial killer. So when Marbles' mum plans to sell the family farm, and the only way of buying it is taking the money offered by Tagg in exchange for his help, Marbles accepts. Will the unlikely duo of directionless medium and ghost cop get over their prejudices and navigate their way through ghouls, perverts, a mysterious hooded figure, and an unexpected shot at love.

Ukraine 2019. 86 mins.

Director: Dmitriy Tomapolskiy. Cast: Anastasiya Yevtushenko, Darya Tregubova, Maria Bruni.

UK PREMIERE - Inspector Gluhovsky, whose track record in solving cases is unrivalled, is assigned the case of the mysterious disappearance of a team of six synchronized swimmers during their performance at a water therapy clinic. How could they suddenly vanish into thin air? Five years later, she dives into an apparently similar case: the unexplained evaporation of a woman from a bath in a locked room built alongside a sewage purifying treatment facility. How are these cases connected and how does a doll with real hair relate to it? As Gluhovsky investigates, she also has to find out who she really is.

UK 2020. 97 mins.

Director: Chris Smith. With: Jessica Brown Findlay, John Lynch, Sean Harris, John Heffernan.

UK PREMIERE - Hosting the premieres of CREEP, SEVERANCE, BLACK DEATH, TRIANGLE and DETOUR, FrightFest has a long history with director Chris Smith. So we are delighted to showcase his latest pre World War II horror about the most haunted house in England. Reverend Linus, his scandal-ridden new wife Marianne and her daughter move into a manor with a terrifying secret. When a vengeful spirit haunts the little girl and threatens to tear the family apart, they are forced to confront their beliefs and turn to black magic by seeking the help of famous occultist Harry Price or risk losing their daughter.

USA 2020. 97 mins.

Director: Derek Carl. With: Rachael Perrell Fosket, Patrick D. Green, David Withers, Jason Reynolds.

EUROPEAN PREMIERE - From the brains of two besotted fans, director Derek Carl and writer Hank Huffman, comes a loving, note-for-note, pitch-perfect recreation of one of the greatest cult B-movies. THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1962) related the doom-laden fable of a doctor experimenting with transplant techniques to keep his girlfriend's head alive when decapitated in a car crash. His hunt for a new body continues in full-colour this time as the cheeky new version takes account of its forward-thinking social issues, from gender inequality, to bodily autonomy, to sexual repression, and gives them a fresh coat of silly camp paint.

Canada 2020. 183 mins.

Director: David Simpson. With: David Simpson, Demelza Randall, Andrew Robert Wilson, James An.

WORLD PREMIERE - Best known for his award-winning speculative sci-fi series, POST-HUMAN, join director David Simpson on an epic journey employing the Zeigarnik effect, a psychological consequence that continually resets the viewer's attention span by giving their minds new mysteries to ponder. A troubled young woman recovers from a suicide attempt in a secluded cabin, but when a series of unexplained and terrifying incidents occur, she realizes someone - or something - has a far darker future planned for her. A fast-moving psychological thriller, filled to the brim with intelligent philosophy, existentialism, post-trauma family dynamics, parental responsibility, responsibilities between generations, and even the meaning of life itself.

USA 2020. 90 mins.

Director: Jeffrey Reddick. With: Kourtney Bell, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeffrey Holm.

EUROPEAN PREMIERE - From Jeffrey Reddick, creator of the FINAL DESTINATION franchise, a thrilling new take on supernatural karma and its horrific consequences. Caitlin Kramer is a young woman trying to overcome her traumatic past. Walking through the park one day she sees a man brutally assaulted. But, instead of becoming a Good Samaritan, like her, no one intervenes to stop the attack. Instead they all start filming the shocking event with their smart phones, recording every bloody detail. Soon the uncaring witnesses find themselves targeted by someone - or something - out for revenge. Can Caitlin avoid her inevitable fate?

USA 2020. 96 mins.

Director: Aaron B. Koontz. With: Melora Walters, Natasha Bassett, Zachary Knighton, Noah Segan.

UK PREMIERE - The legendary Dalton Gang battles a coven of bloodthirsty witches in a hybrid Western horror with gunfights and gore. After gang leader Duncan reluctantly recruits his straight-arrow younger brother Jake to participate in their next great train robbery he's seriously wounded when the heist goes sideways. Finding shelter in a seemingly uninhabited ghost town, Jake seeks help for their wounded leader and is surprised to stumble upon a welcoming brothel in the town's square. But the beautiful women who greet them are actually a coven of witches with very sinister plans for the unsuspecting outlaws, especially the virgin among them.

UK 2020. 91 mins.

Director: Julius Berg. With: Maisie Williams, Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, Jake Curran.

UK PREMIERE - The seventh 'Doctor Who', Sylvester McCoy, and Swinging Sixties icon Rita Tushingham take on Maisie Williams (Arya Stark in 'Game of Thrones') in the Home Invasion horror adapted from the graphic novel 'Une Nuit de Pleine Lune' from legendary creators Hermann and Yves H. One night in 1990s rural England, a retired couple finds their isolated house besieged by a gang of young criminals. The thieves think it will be easy to make them give up the secret of their safe. But they have no idea what nightmare they've gotten themselves into as they fight to escape the house alive.

ALSO PLAYING - Aftertaste - Director: Chloe Wicks. With: Jessica Brown Findlay and Joe Dempsie. UK 2020. 12 mins.

After several years of friendship, Moll and Alfie are getting together. As they navigate this exciting, sometimes awkward transition, Moll struggles with a secret that threatens not only their blossoming romance, but also Alfie's life. With slick direction and mesmerising performances from the two actors, this is a short film about shame, appetite and intimacy.

UK 2020. 110 mins.

Director: Neil Marshall. With: Joe Anderson, Charlotte Kirk, Sean Pertwee, Steven Waddington.

UK PREMIERE - England. 1665. The great plague has caused a frenzy of fear, distrust and death. Desperate and terrified, the population turns to superstition, the Catholic Church taking cruel advantage of the grim witch-hunting opportunities presented. Recently widowed Grace Haverstock is at her wit's end when her landlord attempts to force her into paying debts with sexual favours. Her refusal means she must face horrific interrogations at the hands of Britain's most ruthless Witchfinder General. But she is not alone. And her journey won't end here. Not without a reckoning. From Neil Marshall, director of THE DESCENT, DOG SOLDIERS, DOOMSDAY and CENTURION.

Argentina 2020. 92 mins.

Director: Laura Casabe. With: Alberto Ajaka, Edgardo Castro, Javier Drolas, Lali Gonzalez.

UK PREMIERE - The Argentina powerhouse writer/director Laura Casabe, who graced FrightFest 2016 with the unique surrealist thriller BENAVIDEZ'S CASE, returns with her most astonishing and shocking horror to date. A period drama unlike any other, the place is South America, the time 1919. The indigenous people of the Guarani tribe has either been exterminated or reduced to servitude. Julia, the wife of a wealthy landowner, gives birth to her third dead child. In desperation over yet another stillbirth, she begs Kerana, her indigenous housekeeper with ancient powers, to bring him back to life. And indeed she does, but not alone!

ALSO PLAYING - Bianca: Phase 1 - UK PREMIERE - Director: Federico Zampaglione. With: Linda Zampaglione, Giglia Marra. Italy 2020. 9 mins

A stylishly violent short horror thriller, shot in lockdown in Italy on writer/director Federico Zampalione's iPad in three days and starring his ten year old daughter Linda in the title role and his partner, actress Giglia Marra. The story centres on the tense, unpredictable relationship between a girl and her mother stuck at home...

Denmark 2019. 107 mins.

Director: Jens Dahl. With: Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Anders Heinrichsen, Signe Egholm, Olsen Morten Holst.

UK PREMIERE - A renowned health supplement company, run by a ruthless businesswoman, is selecting and abducting young women as part of an experiment bio-hacking babies' DNA to enable her clients to reverse the aging process. When Mia goes to investigate, she finds herself trapped, branded and tortured in a grim underground facility. Familiar faces start to appear, and she realises that she is not alone in this. Can she somehow find inner strength and escape from the nightmare?

ALSO PLAYING - Bianca: Phase 2 - UK PREMIERE - Director: Federico Zampaglione. With: Linda Zampaglione, Giglia Marra, Claudia Gerini, Marco Chermaz, Giula Chermaz . Italy 2020. 16:39 mins

Phase 2 of the Italian lockdown has begun and Bianca (Linda Zampagilone) and her mother (Giglia Marra) decide to go to the reopened local park to enjoy their new found freedom in the sun. But an evil presence is stalking them and when Bianca is kidnapped, her mother enters a nightmare world trying to find and save her daughter from a terrible danger.

USA 2020. 90 mins.

Director: Kohl Glass. With: Kristen Marie Jensen, Nathan Stevens, Scarlett Hazen, Riley Scott.

WORLD PREMIERE - When a Mustard Scout faces a life or death test will she have what it takes to survive? Babysitter Josie Jane just found the perfect hiding spot for a game of hide-and-seek with the child in her care. Seconds later, the family's home is invaded by a pack of brutal cultists, hunting down an apocalyptic secret hidden within its walls. They terrorize the family. But they don't know about Josie. Armed with useful skills she learned in childhood, Josie fights the cult - and her own fears - through a long night of terror and a world of shattering twists.

Canada 2020. 91 mins.

Director: Andrew Thomas Hunt. With: Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Emily Alatalo, Jason Rouse.

UK PREMIERE - In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere - an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts... customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they're going to get out alive.

Japan 2020. 89 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kushida. With: Toshiaki Inomata, Toki Koinuma, Hideki Nagai, Itsuki Otaki.

UK PREMIERE - From debut director Takeshi Kushida, a captivating, confident and visually magnificent romantic thriller. Solitary photographer Kai is afraid of women. This doesn't keep him from shamelessly retouching their photos when asked because he's expert with the Photoshop brush. On a forest trek, he encounters Kyoko, a model with a fresh scar on her chest. Asking Kai if he can erase the scar in future photographs so her social media profile can keep growing, soon she grows hesitant to show her followers an increasingly manufactured version of herself. And Kai is motivated for the first time to challenge his feminine perceptions.

Netherlands 2019. 82 mins.

Director: Lodewijk Crijns. With: Jeroen Spitzenberger, Anniek Pheifer, Roosmarijn van der Hoek, Liz Vergeer.

UK PREMIERE - A Dutch DUEL with a ferocious bite. Hans is a self-confident, cocksure man who decides to visit his parents on the other side of the country. With his wife and two young daughters along for the ride, the road trip goes well. Until a road raging, traffic fight with a weird van driver causes a major family upset. Ed, the van driver, wants revenge and follows the family making their journey an assault course death trap. With Hans' ego on maximum overdrive, he starts to lose control of himself as Ed pushes every fearful and vulnerable button.

UK 2020. 91 mins.

Director: Will Jewell. With: Amber Rose Revah, James Lance, Kevin Guthrie, Charley Palmer Rothwell.

WORLD PREMIERE - High in the remote Welsh mountains, five builders are bought together to renovate a sprawling old farmhouse. Housed in mouldy Portacabins, tensions soon simmer amongst the men and between the self-entitled aristocratic homeowner. World-weary old-timer Dave and kindly Foreman Bob try to keep the peace. But his nephew Steve falls under the malign influence of bigot Jim, the pair taking a dislike to Ukranian Viktor. As the weather closes in and payments are late, tempers fray. Blood is spilled. As the blue-collar men are confronted with an increasingly dark spiral of moral choices, Jim makes an astonishing proposition.

Canada 2020. 92 mins.

Director: Adrian Langley. With: Simon Phillips, Michael Swatton, Julie Mainville, Anne-Carolyne Binette.

UK PREMIERE - After their car breaks down, four youths find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere. One pair stays with the car whilst the other pair head-off to find help. Little do they know they are being watched by a family of sadistic butchers who have retreated to the backwoods and, from the deep freeze of winter to the dog days of summer, anyone who crosses their path is dead meat. Soon the friends are tied up in their wooden outhouse being kept 'fresh' and have little time to escape before it's their turn on the chopping block.

Sometimes women need to take matters into their own hands in Watch!, Special Ending, Hammurabi, and She Lives Alone. The kids might save the day, in The Rougarou and Saving Daddy, but they also might need some protection in Night Feed and Council House & Violent. And the world is full of strangeness and dangers, both real and intangible, in The Appointment, Lights Out by Catapus, and The Mime.

Council House and Violent (London Premiere)
Director: Ross Graham. Cast: Amber Thomason, Dan Gaisford, Jay Robertson. UK 2020. 5 min.
Just when you think you've found the perfect flat, of course that's when you find out your landlord wants you for his Satanic cult.

The Rougarou (London Premiere)
Director: Lorraine Caffery. Cast: Victoria Dellamea, Jacob Tolano, Deneen Tyler. USA 2019. 14 min.
Gerty might be little, but she knows some fairy tales are true, and she needs to be prepared.

Watch! (World Premiere)
Director: Dan Auty. UK 2020. 4 min.
A detective on assignment. A woman under surveillance. But who really has the upper hand?

Saving Daddy (UK Premiere)
Director: Aaron Sanchez Rubio. Cast: Jorge Molina, Jesus Martinez Baez, Cesar Dominguez Garcia. Cuba 2020. 6 min.
A little boy's father collapses, but don't worry! He's watched enough medical shows to know how to save him.

Special Ending (International Premiere)
Director: Jihyun Im. Cast: Sewon Jun. South Korea 2019. 9 min.
Goyeon applies for a legal euthanasia program to end what she thinks is her mundane existence. Then she has an unexpected blind date.

The Appointment (European Premiere)
Director: Alexandre Singh. Cast: Sam Crane, David Bamber, Catherine Steadman, UK 2019. 20 min.
A misanthropic novelist tries to find out why he has an appointment he doesn't remember making, with someone he cannot recall.

She Lives Alone (UK Premiere)
Director: Lucy Rose. Cast: Rachel Teate, Lauryn Elise, Karen Littlejohn. UK 2020. 13 min.
Maud finally has some peace after her abusive mother dies. But living alone in the barren countryside might be driving her mad.

Hammurabi (International Premiere)
Director: Patrick Kennelly. Cast: Bethany Orr, Joe Lando, Unati Mangaliso. USA 2019. 10 min.
A man is kidnapped by a deaf woman, whose deadly plan needs an interpreter.

Lights Out by Catapus (London Premiere)
Director: Ben Walden. UK 2020. 3 mins.
A man is driven insane by a barrage of technological advertising, in an animated music video.

Night Feed (World Premiere)
Director: William Allum. Cast: Emma Allum, William Allum. UK 2020. 1 min.
It's feeding time for Emma. But is she awake or is this a nightmare?

The Mime (UK Premiere)
Directors: Mark Lediard, Gavin Williams. Cast: Ruth Mary Johnson, Daniel Watson. UK 2019. 2 min.
Don't make a mime angry. Seriously.

Canada 2020. 81 mins.

Directors: Gabriel Carrer, Reese Eveneshen. With: Lora Burke, Colin Paradine, Nick Smyth, James Fler.

UK PREMIERE - It's Halloween night and nurse Romina just wants to relax after a hard day. Suddenly all hell breaks loose when desperate Chris breaks in demanding angry justice for a wrongdoing from the past. The crazed intruder is owed a debt of blood and wants a mystery confession from his hostage. Then, just as suddenly, a band of masked mercenaries invade the house causing even more mayhem. New alliances will be tested as the occupants struggle to survive a night marked by death. Loaded with guts and gore, here's the eye-grazing splatter rollercoaster head-on-collision to leave you begging for more.

Canada 2020. 93 mins.

Director: Thomas Robert Lee. With: Catherine Walker, Hannah Emily Anderson, Jared Abrahamson, Don McKellar.

UK PREMIERE - Folklore horror brimming with unsettling atmosphere and haunting imagery, writer/director Thomas Robert Lee's dark coming-of-age shocker is the bewitching surprise of the year. Young Audrey Earnshaw and her mother live covertly as occultists on the outskirts of a remote Protestant village. Having gone to enormous lengths to hide Audrey's existence from the superstitious community due to her secret birth, Agatha is mortified when a local mourner catches sight of her offspring. Reeling from a series of inexplicable tragedies, hardships and crop failure, the whispers begin, suspicions grow and hysteria mounts. But Audrey's powers are increasing along with the misplaced anger...

Canada 2020. 90 mins.

Director: Edward Drake. With: Johnathan Lipnicki, Avery Konrad, Timothy V. Murphy, Annette Reilly.

WORLD PREMIERE - From the producer of IT FOLLOWS, a fairytale about a family with a monstrous secret. Bored Chance Sinclair is sentenced to live with her draconian grandfather, August, after a violent incident at school. Locked inside the sprawling Sinclair Estate, Chance begins to question the source of her family's immense wealth and power. When her scheming mother hires a troubled chef to poison August, the family's monstrous secrets are revealed over one bloody night. Every soul is up for grabs as a Games Night gets underway and Chance learns that being a part of this family is a blood-in, blood-out proposition.

Australia 2020. 89 mins.

Director: Natalie Erika James. With: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote, Jeremy Stanford.

PREVIEW - First-time writer/director Natalie Erika James crafts an unforgettable new spin on the haunted-house movie. When her elderly mother Edna inexplicably vanishes, daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam rush to their family's decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay's concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she's been clashes with Sam's unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna's behavior turns increasingly volatile, both sense an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her.

UK 2020. 78 mins.

Director: WW Jones, Luke Skinner. With: Struan Rodger, Johann Myers, Finbar Lynch, Kirk Lake.

WORLD PREMIERE - Gangsters versus Ghosts in a neo Film Noir with a dark existentialist twist, a mile-wide streak of hypnotic originality and an exclusive soundtrack by the cult French band The Liminanas. After a job goes bad, six armed robbers must spend a single night at a deserted safe house. But during the stay their pasts come back to haunt them and the men find themselves fighting for their lives and their sanity. What is real and what is the product of their tormented minds? And is it guilt or ghosts that will finally push them over the edge?

UK 2020. 86 mins.

Directors: Danielle Kummer, Lucy Harvey. With: Employees from the Wiltshire and Dorset Bus Company.

FIRST BLOOD - SPONSORED BY THE HORROR CHANNEL - SPECIAL PREVIEW - You read about it in the news. Now live the story of the Dorset Bus Drivers whose amateur dramatics group created a serious stage adaptation of the sci-fi horror classic ALIEN. Despite finding ingenious solutions to pay homemade homage, the show was a crushing flop. But fate suddenly had them whisked from their village hall to a London theatre to perform their accidental comedy masterpiece for one night only. With wobbly sets, awkward acting and dodgy special effects, will their debut in London's glittering West End be all right on the night? And where is the Alien? It's behind you!

UK 2019. 94 mins.

Director: Karl Holt. With: Karl Holt, Claire Cartwright, George Collie, James Parsons.

FIRST BLOOD - SPONSORED BY THE HORROR CHANNEL - UK PREMIERE - Give three cheers for FrightFest alumni Karl Holt, a 2007 prizewinner in our Zone Horror Short Film Competition with HALFWAY. Finally he's back with the feature length version of his first 2006 short where Chucky meets FATAL ATTRACTION! After the accidental death of his parents, Jack must sell his family home and start a new life. Cleaning out the house, Jack trashes his family belongings including his beloved childhood stuffed animal, Benny. It's a move that turns lethal as Benny springs to life with one goal in mind, protect Jack at all cost, even if the price is death.

UK 2020. 104 mins.

Director: David Ryan Keith. With: Danielle Harris, Damien Puckler, Gary Kasper, Jon Campling.

FIRST BLOOD - SPONSORED BY THE HORROR CHANNEL - WORLD PREMIERE - Twenty years ago at the infamous Redwood Farm, the owner went mad and killed his family and himself. Shrouded in urban legend ever since, a stranger obsessed with the unsolved Redwood murders convinces a group of bereaved family members to venture into the wilderness in the hope of proving the existence of the notorious burlap bag-masked maniac. Their quest for truth sees a sinister turn of events, as the hunters become the hunted and a blood-soaked fight for survival ensues when they find that the sinister tales told of the axe-wielding psycho farmer are very real indeed.

UK 2020. 89 mins.

Directors: Adam Leader, Richard Oakes. With: Neal Ward, Nadia Lamin, Frank Jakeman, Jennifer K. Preston.

WORLD PREMIERE - When a family invites their neighbours, a sweet young couple, over to celebrate Christmas Eve and some very happy personal news, they do not realize that their dinner guests had just become hosts to a malicious entity hellbent on taking over the world. And soon the family find themselves fighting for their lives in a night of unimaginable terror. Like THE STRANGERS at the festive season with an otherworldly twist, HOSTS is a simmering sci-fi thriller where the palpable tension of a singular event belies an even more sinister takeover on a global scale.

UK 2020. 81 mins.

Director: Martyn Pick. With: Steve Guttenberg, Clark Gable III, Toyah Wilcox, Nicholas Vince.

WORLD PREMIERE - Joe Johnson, at the top of his stand-up comic game, decides to share a Halloween weekend away with a group of friends. They decide on the theme of a 1980s retro party, and jokingly suggest that if they get drunk, high, and behave badly enough, hopefully they'll attract their own psycho killer. The joke is suddenly very much on them though, as in turn they reach their grisly demise at the hands of The Heckler, an uninvited guest out to turn their nostalgic horror movie fantasy into a terrifying reality, before delivering an unforgettable punchline...

USA 2020. 69 mins.

Director: Tyler Russell. With: Greg Sestero, Eva Habermann, Jason Douglas, Gene Jones.

WORLD PREMIERE - Say hello to director Tyler Russell who is about to make all Sixties Monster Movie fanatics' zipper-suited and lousy special effects dreams come true. It's the early 1960s and a small-town doctor invents a machine that uses laser technology to remove skin abnormalities. He pulls out all the stops to make sure his final chance to get the patent on his 'Get Gone' appliance goes smoothly. But his nurse thinks the contraption is dangerous and not ready. The struggle between the two causes the apparatus to malfunction creating a giant cyst monster that goes on a bloody rampage.

ALSO PLAYING - Why Wake A Sleeping Chinchilla? - Director: Simon Willcox. With Jessica Willcox, Sophie Willcox, Ruth Willcox. UK 2020 5 mins.

WORLD PREMIERE - Young Sadie is troubled by harrowing guilt dreams of her dead sister Charlie, nightmares which her slightly sinister mother insists aren't real, but Sadie isn't so sure... This supernatural horror oozes classic 70s vibes, with a pinch of J-horror and a certain nasty take on Alice Through the Looking Glass. With top performances from its young cast, it's a family-made movie which explores the dark side of blood ties.

UK 2020. 98 mins.

Director: Marc Price. With: Phoebe Sparrow, Daisy Aitkens, Simon Dwyer-Thomas, Charlotte Mounter.

WORLD PREMIERE - Remember Marc Price? The upstart director caused a media sensation at FrightFest 2008 after making his zombie horror COLIN for fifty quid. Well, he's back, with a bigger budget for an ongoing battle for humanity when a group of rookie space fighter pilots face an armada of unbeatable enemy ships. When the trainee pilot and her mortally wounded gunner are shot down, they crash land on a nearby planet. An enemy craft offers the chance of spare parts to fix her ship, but then she spots another survivor - an enemy alien soldier with no intention of letting her escape.

Chile 2020. 72 mins.

Director: Patricio Valladares. With: Romina Perazzo, Domingo Guzman, Carolina Escobar, Cristial Cuentrejo.

WORLD PREMIERE - From FrightFest's favourite Chilean, Patricio Valladares, director of NIGHTWORLD and HIDDEN IN THE WOODS, a deliriously twisted tale of alien insemination, cannibalism, and true love. Kevin and his girlfriend Evelyn are camping in the woods when she is abducted and impregnated by otherworldly beings. As the entity inside her begins to grow at a rapid rate, Evelyn's cravings can only be satiated by the taste of human flesh. When she brutally attacks a doctor, they go on the run to the big city where they can find help to remove the embryo that's slowly taking over Evelyn's body.

USA 2020. 83 mins.

Director: Jud Cremata. With: Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson, Isabel May, Odessa A'zion, Brooke Sorenson.

EUROPEAN PREMIERE - Emma has recently moved in with her cousin Taylor after her father's untimely death. The victim of a prank by Taylor's friends, Emma ups the ante by planning to scare the mysteriously reclusive girl who lives across the street. All they know is Julie's alone and the house is rumoured haunted after a little boy vanished years ago. But what starts off as a simple plan becomes a nightmare of wrong choices with horrific results in a surprising horror, cleverly filmed in one uninterrupted continuous take - once the camera started rolling it never stopped until the shocking end.

Argentina 2019. 74 mins.

Directors: Luciana Garraza, Eric Fleitas. With: Nayla Churruarin, Sofia Lanaro, Gonzalo Tolosa, Tisso Solis Vargas.

UK PREMIERE - MAD MAX meets NATURAL BORN KILLERS in a slice of cruel sci-fi action horror from Argentina. In a post-apocalyptic future, where the sky appears to be as rusty as the stolen vehicles, the broken-down social landscape has been devastated by disease and economic crisis. Tisha is an organ trafficker and ignores the sweat-ridden faces of fear every time she stabs a human being to steal their body parts. But the money she raises is for a steely purpose - to find the whereabouts of the brutal cartel that murdered her family and wreak an explosive viscera-packed revenge.

USA 2020. 106 mins.

Director: Devereux Milburn. With: Sawyer Spielberg, Malin Barr, Barbara Kingsley, Stephen D'Ambrose.

UK PREMIERE - It's been a rough night for Sam and Riley taking a backwoods road trip. First, they're kicked off a campsite; then, their car breaks down. Looking for help, the couple ring the doorbell of an isolated house owned by Karen, a peculiar older woman who lives with her even stranger son, Gunni. Waiting for someone to arrive to fix their ride, Karen offers them something to eat. And that's when Sam and Riley's night shifts from exasperating to a whole new screaming nightmare. A feverish blend of twisted violence and macabre humor introducing an unforgettable new geriatric horror villain.

France 2020. 90 mins.

Director: Liam O'Donnell. With: Rhona Mitra, Lindsey Morgan, Alexander Siddig, James Cosmo.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM - WORLD PREMIERE - First an extraterrestrial force threatened to swallow Earth's entire population. Then a driven detective embarked on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship. Now comes the thrilling third entry in the epic sci-fi action SKYLINE franchise, once again written and directed by co-creator Liam O'Donnell. Captain Rose Corley has extraterrestrial superpowers meaning she is the only person powerful enough to vanquish the alien marauders. When a virus threatens to turn Earth-dwelling friendly alien hybrids against humans, Corley assembles an elite team of mercenaries on a mission to the alien world to save humanity.

USA 2020. 101 mins.

Director: Jill Gevargizian. With: Brea Grant, Najarra Townsend, Laura Kirk, Sarah McGuire.

UK PREMIERE - Based on her 2016 short, welcome FrightFest alumna Jill Gervargizian to the exciting feature debut fold. Everyone dreams of being someone else... but for Claire that dream goes from an obsession to a living nightmare. Her job as a hairstylist allows her to move through other people's worlds, but when the right target sits in her chair, she does more than observe the client's life - she ends it, and keeps a permanent souvenir. Her lonely life, meticulous method and shocking secrets are suddenly thrown into turmoil when her regular client, Olivia, asks her to style her hair for her wedding.

Canada 2020. 77 mins.

Director: Elza Kephart. With: Sehar Bhojani, Stephen Bogaert, Romane Denis, Brett Donahue.

UK PREMIERE - The on-trend couture horror comedy of the year! At Canadian Cotton Clothiers the flagship store staff is preparing for 'Monday Madness'. For joining the range of supposedly organic, GMO-free, fair-trade, ethically sourced tops and bottoms is the eagerly awaited new line of Super Shaper designer jeans - thermally activated denim that adapts to any body size. But one pair has been accidentally soaked in sweatshop blood and wants revenge on the hipster customers brought to the store by hot social-media influencer Peyton Jules. Get ready for the tightest fitting bloodbath in horror history guaranteeing a clean up in every aisle.

UK 2020. 88 mins.

Director: Damian McCarthy. With: Ben Caplan, Tiffany-Ellen Robinson, Jonathan French, Conor Dwane.

UK PREMIERE - A stunningly unique feature debut from Damian McCarthy, director of the FrightFest 2010 short film, HE DIES AT THE END. A lone drifter, Isaac, suffering from partial memory loss, accepts a strange job from his old landlord Barrett, to look after his niece Olga, a psychologically troubled woman living in an abandoned house on an isolated island. When Barrett convinces Isaac to confine his movements to the house with a harness contraption and leaves the two of them alone, a game of cat and mouse ensues with Isaac fighting to survive amid the terrifying resurgence of his own memory.

The children might be the real danger in Bakemono and Teething, or our childhood monsters might miss us in Your Monster. Things get surreal in death and after, in Norman, Heat, and Disco Graveyard. Grief and obsession can lead to madness in Are You Sleeping and Melomaniac, while some adults need to learn how to handle evil things, in The Devil's Dice, Don't Walk, The Hag, and Peaking.

The Devil's Dice (London Premiere)
Director: Matt Brothers. Cast: Luke Russell, Helen Yates, Marty Huntford. UK 2020. 4 min.
The trailer for a forgotten gem of British cult cinema has finally resurfaced. Watch it if you dare.

Bakemono (European Premiere)
Directors: Sumire Takamatsu, Jorge Lucas. Cast: Claudia Fabella, Shio Muramatsu, Daisuke Suzuki. USA 2019. 10 min.
Parents can use a scare tactic to get their child to eat their dinner. But that doesn't mean they should.

Are You Sleeping (World Premiere)
Director: Crystal Yu. Cast: Amit Shah, Phyllis Ho. UK 2020. 6 min.
A man's struggle with sleep deprivation leads to him to a frightening discovery

Melomaniac (World Premiere)
Director: James Charalambides. Cast: Fred Woodley Evans, Elliot Greene. UK 2020. 17 min.
A musician struggles to find inspiration in the abandoned home his idol, and his erratic state becomes dangerous for him and his boyfriend.

Heat (London Premiere)
Director: Thessa Meijer. Cast: Famke Louise, Daniel Kolf, Anouk van Efferen. The Netherlands, 2019. 2 min.
A girl just wants some ice cream on a hot day, but it seems she might have gone to the wrong parlour.

Your Monster (UK Premiere)
Director: Caroline Lindy. Cast: Kimiko Glenn, Tommy Dewey, Scott Michael Foster. USA 2019. 16 min.
A heartbroken and lost Laura moves back home, only to find her childhood monster still in the closet, only this time, his motives are a little different.

Teething (UK Premiere)
Director: Glen Matthews. Cast: Hugh Thompson, Josh Cruddas, Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves. Canada 2019. 9 min.
A night janitor at a hospital must protect an infant from a deadly monster. But there might be something even more dangerous in his care.

The Hag (International Premiere)
Director: Jaelyn Ellis. USA 2020. 7 min.
This short documentary tells of the legend of a supernatural creature that haunted a small community for centuries in the American South.

Norman (London Premiere)
Director: Gigi Romero. Cast: Javier Botet. Spain 2019. 3 min.
A dead man contemplates life, and the person who took his away.

Peaking (London Premiere)
Director: Daniel Rands. Cast: Louisa Harris. UK 2020. 7 min.
A sound recordist is trying to capture room noise, but something else is making noise, and maybe she shouldn't go listening for it.

Disco Graveyard (European Premiere)
Director: Izzy Lee. Cast: Izzy Lee. USA 2020. 3 min.
Don't be dead. The dead are dumb. Be weird.

Don't Walk (European Premiere)
Director: Hannah George. Cast: Toby Williams, Rachel Stubbings, Richard Rycroft. UK 2020. 8 min.
Jon and Val like to take a nice stroll, but they might want to quicken their pace if they want to stay alive.

Argentina 2020. 86 mins.

Director: Mauro Ivan Ojeda. With: Luis Machin, Celeste Gerez and Camila Vaccarini.

UK PREMIERE - Think you've seen it all when it comes to haunted house and possession movies? Well, think again, as you delve into debut director Mauro Ivan Ojeda's harsh and heartbreaking Argentine horror. Bernardo is an undertaker running his mortuary business in the same house where he resides. Up front are his clients. In the back, his dysfunctional family lives among coffins, wreaths and mischievous supernatural entities that visit on a daily basis. They attribute these paranormal manifestations to the dead bodies. But finding the real source of all this madness becomes their quest, even if they find terrifying truths as well.

Mexico 2020. 94 mins.

Director: Rigoberto Castaneda. With: Daniel Martinez, Lisette Morelos, Paulina Gil, Horacio Garcia Rojas.

UK PREMIERE - FrightFest premiered director Rigoberto Castaneda's KM-31 in 2007 before it was acclaimed as the No. 1 box office Mexican horror film of all time. Now he's back with another stunningly innovative dark action fantasy. When a former drug-runner tries to buy his way out of the Cartels, he expects trouble. Bringing his family into a safe house surrounded by armed guards, a little girl breaches the perimeter. Not long after bringing her in, a group of unknown assailants with near-mystical powers come after her, and it quickly seems that an armoured compound filled with soldiers might not be enough...

USA 2020. 81 mins.

Director: Natasha Kermani. With: Yasmine Al-Bustami, Brea Grant, Kristina Klebe, Kausar Mohammed.

UK PREMIERE - IMITATION GIRL director Natasha Kermani returns with a script by writer/star Brea Grant, creator of 12 HOUR SHIFT. Firmly rooted in distressing current issues comes a potent metaphor for our disturbing times. Luck isn't with self-help author May Ryer lately. Her books aren't selling and when a masked intruder breaks into the house she shares with husband no one seems concerned. Even the condescending investigating cop says she's lucky things didn't go worse. But then they do as the attacker keeps appearing, continuing to terrorize May with an almost supernatural ability no matter how valiantly she fights back.

Canada 2020. 95 mins.

Director: Paul Tanter. With: Simon Phillips, Sayla de Goede, Kate Schroder, Anne-Carolyne Binette.

WORLD PREMIERE - Slay bells ring, are you glistening... with blood! When a series of murders in the Yuletide season are found to be linked, FBI Special Agent Natalie Parker is tasked with tracking a pair of psychotic serial killers. But she soon discovers the couple are not only crazy, having met in and escaped from an asylum for the criminally insane, but have based their personas on Santa and Mrs Claus. As Christmas approaches, they slaughter their way through their special naughty list, playing a cat and mouse game with the FBI and leaving a trail of bloody bodies in their wake.