Complete Film4 Frightfest Program Announced!

THURS 23 AUGUST

19.00. BLACK SHEEP (UK Premiere)
Are you ready for the violence of the lambs? In the Bad Taste tradition of Peter Jackson, Kiwi director Jonathan King’s zombie sheep black comedy is a shear delight. Sheep-phobic farmer Henry Oldfield wants to sell his share in the family farm because his evil bother is genetically altering the mutton to create a super-sheep. Then a toxic lamb foetus escapes infecting the flock turning them into rampaging bloodthirsty monsters and humans into were-sheep. Sublimely silly, hilariously gory and packed with every possible sheep-shagging joke, the latest cult sensation from New Zealand is flocking marvellous.

New Zealand 87 minutes Director: Jonathan Levine

Nathan Meister – Henry Oldfield
Danielle Mason – Experience
Peter Feeney – Angus Oldfield
Tammy Davis – Tucker
Glenis Levestam – Mrs. Mac

21.15. BLACK WATER (European Premiere)
A terrifying tale of survival in the mangrove swamps of Northern Australia. Grace, her boyfriend Adam and younger sister Lee are on holiday and decide to take a river tour. When their boat capsizes, in the ensuing panic, their amateur guide disappears into the murky depths. Based on a true story, directors Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s tension-laden adventure revolves around an all-too-real life-threatening dilemma. The sudden reptilian attacks, and desperate attempts to get back to their submerged boat raise potent apprehension and imaginatively stretch the suspense to nail-biting levels.

Australia 90 minutes Directors: Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich

Diana Glen – Grace
Maeve Dermody – Lee
Andy Rodoreda – Adam

FRIDAY 24 AUGUST

10.30 HATCHET – LIVE! SPECIAL EVENT
Since screening Hatchet last year Adam Green’s debut film has since gone on to become an acclaimed festival favourite and the cause of much ratings controversy in America. With his horror masterpiece about to be released worldwide FrightFest has invited to do something unique - a live commentary where he will watch Hatchet alongside the audience divulging all the filmmaking secrets of bringing his terrifying Victor Crowley legend to life. What it was like working with horror icons Kane Hodder, Robert Englund and Tony Todd. And was every scene really done in only one take?

USA 90 minutes Director: Adam Green

Joel Moore - Ben
Tamare Feldman - Marybeth
Deon Richmond - Marcus
Mercedes McNab - Misty
Kane Hodder – Victor Crowley/Mr Crowley

12.30 THE DEVIL’S CHAIR (World Premiere)
It has become a tradition for FrightFest to premiere the independent work of director Adam Mason and now it’s the turn of The Devil’s Chair. Cult actor/writer/composer Matt Berry (The Mighty Boosh) plays one of a group of students taken by their psychology teacher on a class trip to an abandoned insane asylum. There they find a room with a chair in it. When Nick’s girlfriend sits down, the chair springs to life and drains her blood...and the door open for a forceful demonic attack.

UK 87 minutes Director Adam Mason

Matt Berry – Brett Wilson
Andrew Howard – Nick West
Louise Griffiths – Melissa
Elize du Toit – Rachel Fowles
Nadja Brand – Dr. Clairebourne

14.45 SWORD BEARER (UK Premiere)
What would you do if you were born with a strange supernatural gift? So when you became enraged, a retractable blade magically emerged from the palm of your right hand to kill at your bidding? Such is the wild premise of the biggest blockbuster hit in recent Russian film history. An astonishingly unique horror, full of nerve-jangling gore and fabulous fantasy, it’s a galvanizing spectacular of poignant romance and unusual thrills.

Russia 108 minutes Director: Filipp Yankovsky

Artyom Tkachenko - Sasha
Chulpan Khamatova - Katya
Leonid Gromov - Roschin
Aleksei Zharkov - Father
Aleksei Gorbunov – Klim

17.15 THE SIGNAL (UK Premiere)
Do you have the crazy? Find out in the horror hit of the Sundance Film Festival 2007. One day, for no apparent reason, the world’s televisions, radios and telephones turn against it. All forms of communication are jammed by a strange signal. Everyone is instantly out of touch. Much worse, pulse exposure turns people into rampaging killers. Told in three interconnected ‘transmissions’, each uniquely helmed by different directors, the film is a potent commentary on the dangers of modern dependence on electronic communication and the ease homicidal impulses might be excused in the advent of social order breakdown,

USA 95 minutes Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Anessa Ramsey – Mya
Justin Welborn – Ben.
A. J. Bowen – Lewis
Sahr Nguajah – Rod
Matthew Stanton – Jerry

19.45 P2 (World Premiere)
From Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur and Franck Khalfoun, the directing/writing team behind Switchblade Romance and The Hills Have Eyes remake, comes a taut visceral chiller reminding just how vulnerable we all are. It’s Christmas Eve and Angela is last in the office. Down in the parking lot, her car won’t start and a friendly security guard arrives… When next she wakes up she’s tied to a chair. It seems the unhinged guard has invited her to dinner - which is going to involve more than just a meal! If Angela wants to live, she must find a way to escape from level P2 of the basement that has now become her living hell.

USA 98 minutes Director: Franck Kalfoun

Wes Bentley – Thomas
Rachel Nichols – Angela
Simon Reynolds – Bob Harper

22.00 ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE (London Premiere)
A psychotic stalker kills anyone getting close to sexy, sassy Texas cheerleader Mandy Lane in director Jonathan Levine’s tightly wound shocker. Skilfully recreating the raw choppiness and rough-edged grind-house feel of classic exploitation. Levine puts his canny chiller through retro filters for a scintillating post-modern charge. The bitch slap atmosphere a pure delight and the gory deaths are terrifically cringe inducing. And then there’s the surprise twist that’s as psychologically unsettling as it is daring- making this the smartest deconstruction of the slasher genre in ages.

USA 88 minutes Director: Jonathan Levine

Amber Heard – Mandy Lane
Anson Mount - Garth
Michael Welch - Emmet
Whitney Able - Chloe
Aaron Himelstein – Red

00.15 SHROOMS (World Premiere)
Five Americans head to rural Ireland for fungi fun on an organized package holiday where magic mushrooms are the Party Central fuel. But there’s one psychedelic mushroom that promotes the strongest of hallucinogenic trips. It’s that potent variety Tara ingests…just as her college friends start getting brutally slain by a shadowy maniac. Adding smart twists and turns, director Paddy Breathnach’s short, sharp shocker piles on an arsenal of visual trickery for high acid style. The raft of accomplished performances further makes Shrooms a top attraction in the growing Irish horror stakes.

Ireland 84 minutes Director: Paddy Breathnach

Lindsey Haun – Tara
Jack Huston – Jake
Max Kasch – Troy
Maya Hazen – Lisa
Alice Greczyn – Holly
SAT 25 AUGUST

11.00 COLD PREY (UK Premiere)
A hit last year in its native Norway, director Roar Uthaug's debut feature is a brutally effective stalk-and-slash horror that makes terrific use of spectacular snowy mountain range vistas and wonderful widescreen. Opting to escape ski resort crowds on their weekend break, five friends go snowboarding in pristine isolated wilderness. When one of them breaks a leg, they retreat to a remote, shuttered ski lodge that appears to be deserted. No such luck. Brilliantly orchestrated sneaky scares and imaginative direction make Cold Prey a cool chiller in every sense.

Norway 93 minutes Director: Roar Uthaug

Ingrid Bolso Berdal - Jannicke
Viktoria Winge - Ingunn
Rolf Kristian Larsen -Tobias
Endre Martin Midtstigen - Mikael
Tomas Alf Larsen – Erik

13.00 JOSHUA (London Premiere)
Director George Ratliff’s Sundance hit is the class act of 2007. Like his Biblical namesake, 9-year-old Joshua has the power to make things come tumbling down. With his affluent yuppie parents, the gifted and precocious Joshua leads a loving and enriched life among the upper denizens of Manhattan. But everything suddenly goes haywire as the family starts to fall apart in a scintillating horror-of-personality Bad Seed tale. Psychologically astute and superbly written Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga shine as Joshua’s puzzled parents.

USA 105 minutes Director: George Ratliff

Sam Rockwell – Brad Cairn
Vera Farmiga – Abby Cairn
Celia Weston – Hazel Cairn
Dallas Roberts - Ned Davidoff
Jacob Kogan – Joshua Cairn

16.00 STORM WARNING (European Premiere)
From Jamie Blanks, Urban Legend director, comes the most unusual gore-fest of all. On a weekend boating trip a couple become lost in a heavy storm and end up in a desolate swamp surrounded by eerie forest. They come across a decrepit house and discover a large crop of marijuana in the barn, suggesting the owners, whoever they are, might not welcome their accidental arrival. Welcome to a backwoods world of pain that had Cannes 2007 screening audiences covering their eyes shrieking in gleeful shock.

Australia 100 minutes Director: Jamie Blanks

Nadia Fares – Pia
John Brumpton – Poppy
Robert Taylor – Rob
David Lyons – Jimmy
Matthew Wilkinson – Brett

18.30 WRONG TURN 2 (World Premiere)
Dale Murphy is hosting and producing his own reality TV show ‘The Apocalypse: Ultimate Survivalist’. Six contestants must spend six days in a simulated post-apocalyptic wasteland and the winner will walk away with $100,000. Located in a remote part of West Virginia’s dark woodlands, the contestants discover that what they are really fighting for is their survival - against a family of hideously deformed inbred cannibals who plan to ruthlessly butcher them all. Director Joe Lynch's homage to the Video Nasty era of extreme horror is a love letter to 80's splatter sequels.

USA 90 minutes Director: Joe Lynch

Henry Rollins – Dale Murphy
Erica Leehrsen – Nina Papas
Daniella Alonso - Amber
Texas Battle - Jake
Crystal Lowe – Elena

21.15 DISTURBIA (London Premiere)
The surprise smash American hit of the year is a sassy update of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window. Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones 4) assaults his Spanish teacher and gets confined to house arrest. Bored he voyeuristically spies on friends and neighbours with binoculars – especially newly arrived Sarah Roemer’s pool parties – eventually coming to the alarming conclusion that the weird loner next-door (marvellously menacing David Morse) is a wanted serial killer. A clever weaving of thrilling action, hi-tech hardware and fresh suspense.

USA 104 minutes Director: D. J. Caruso
:
Shia LaBeouf – Kale
Sarah Roemer – Ashley
Carrie-Anne Moss – Julie
David Morse – Mr. Turner
Aaron Yoo – Ronnie

23.45 THE DEVIL DARED ME TO (EuropeanPremiere)
Director Chris Stapp’s nutty combination of The Road Warrior, Jackass and ‘Mad’ magazine is flat-out hilarious. Randy Cambell comes from a long line of stuntmen and he'll stop at nothing to follow in their freaky footsteps. With help from a few loyal lunatics can Randy rise from toilet duty to become New Zealand's premiere stunt-maniac and perform the ultimate daredevil feat, jumping across Cook Strait in a rocket car? The Devil Dared Me To is one hell of a ride mixing side splitting gags and crazy death-defying action while poking fun at the pretensions of Hollywood blockbusters.

New Zealand 75 minutes Director Chris Stapp

Chris Stapp – Randy Cambell
Bonnie Soper – Tracey Jones
Matt Heath - Dick Johansonson
Dominic Bowden – Sheldon Snake
Tom Kane – T Bone

SUNDAY 26 AUGUST

11.00 JACK KETCHUM’S THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (European Premiere)
The latest movie to emerge from Jack Ketchum’s best-selling canon is director Gregory Wilson’s strongly disturbing and upsetting adaptation of one of the most truly horrendous and infamous crimes in American history. It’s 50s suburbia and everything seems innocent enough in the Chandler household until Meg and her crippled sister arrive with their aunt. Ruth Chandler and her three tear-away sons have little use for their guests. Annoyance quickly turns to abuse, then torture, spiralling out of all control. The girls’ only hope lie with neighbour David, a witness to the atrocities that go beyond his shocked comprehension.

USA 90 minutes Director: Gregory Wilson

Blythe Auffarth – Meg Loughlin
Daniel Manche – David Moran
Blanche Baker – Ruth Chandler
Graham Patrick Martin – Willie Chandler Jr.
William Atherton – Adult David Moran

13.15 BOTCHED (World Premiere)
Botched is an unusual comedy horror thriller sparkling with gore, gags and gemstones.
After a heist ending in disaster, professional thief Ritchie Donovan (Dorff) still owes a Russian godfather a fortune. Given one last chance, he’s sent to Moscow to steal a priceless antique crucifix locked in a safe in a skyscraper penthouse. The robbery ends in murder and Donovan and his Russian accomplices are forced to take hostages when, seemingly trapped by the police, But it’s not the police they need worry about. For an unknown serial killer plans to go on a beheading spree…

UK 100 minutes Director; Kit Ryan

Stephen Dorff – Ritchie Donovan
Jamie Foreman – Peter
Geoff Bell – Boris
Hugh O’Connor – Dimitri
Sean Perwtwee – Groznyi

15.45 POSTAL (European Premiere)
Director Uwe Boll returns to early career territory with this horror satire based on the video game in which a postal service employee embarks on a kill-and-destroy mission. Insulting, irreverent and politically incorrect, Postal follows two days in the life of the Postal Dude. After a humiliating job interview and a nearly lethal trip to the welfare office, Dude goes to see his Uncle Dave. Despite being the successful leader of the town cult, Dave is also in financial difficulties. Together they hatch a plan to rob an amusement park. Unfortunately, the much better organized and better-equipped Taliban has arrived.

USA/Canada/Germany 106 minutes Director: Uwe Boll

Zack Ward – Postal Dude
Dave Foley – Uncle Dave
Chris Coppola – Richard
Ralf Moeller – Officer John
Michael Benyaer – Mohammed

18.30 SEED (World Premiere)
Prepare to be doubly shocked by the FrightFest World Premiere of Seed. Not only does it push the boundaries of cinematic violence to unprecedented levels, it also proves Uwe Boll is a director of great visual style and deft assurance. Yes, that Uwe Boll. The one who’s taken more flack than perhaps any genre filmmaker deserves and staged that infamous boxing match to take on his critics. This spine-tingling exploration of mental torture will cause a re-evaluation of his merits as it unfolds the stark tale of an insane mass murderer scheduled for execution..

Canada 85 minutes Director: Uwe Boll

Will Sanderson – Max Seed
Ralf Moeller – Warden Wright
Michael Pare – Detective Bishop
Jodelle Ferland – Bishop’s daughter
Andrew Jackson – Dr. Parker Wickson

21.00 WAZ (English Premiere)
Designed as film noir taken to extremes thanks to startlingly grisly horror twists, WAZ is based around a mathematical equation formulated by population geneticist George R. Price disproving altruism and selflessness exists. Trying to overturn his theory, a deranged serial killer constructs worst-case scenarios where victims are given the choice to die painfully or kill the ones they love. Stellan Skarsgard and Melissa George put in stunning turns as cops caught up in a sleazy rash of slaughter connecting to dark past secrets. Also featuring a haunting Selma Blair, this tense thriller will stay with you long after the poignant climax and the murderer’s identity is revealed.

UK 103 minutes Director: Tom Shankland

Stellan Skarsgard – Eddie Argo
Melissa George – Helen O’Mara
Selma Blair – Jean Lerner
Ashley Walters - Daniel
Paul Kaye – Dr. Gelb

23.30 SKINWALKERS (UK Premiere)
Approaching his 13th birthday, Timothy is about to reach the time of his lycanthropic transformation. Guarded from birth by shadowy protectors who know the power he holds, Timothy’s dangerous gift can control the destiny of his kind now divided into two warring clans. One wants their curse to end so they’ll become human again. The other embraces their wanton bloodlust. Under a full red moon, the violent feud erupts in violent carnage pitting brother against brother, lover against lover and good against evil. From Jason X director James Isaac comes the howling return of werewolf horror.

USA 110 minutes Director: James Isaac

Jason Behr – Varek
Elias Koteas – Jonas
Rhona Mitra – Rachel
Matthew Knight – Timothy
Kim Coates - Zo

MON 27 AUGUST

11.00 THE ZOMBIE DIARIES (Preview)
In the early 21st century, an unknown bird flu-like virus began spreading among populations. Within weeks it engulfed the entire planet. Upon death, the corpse would stay reanimated until no longer able to support itself. Three compelling video diaries chart the early days of the plague right to the last apocalypse. A documentary crew travel to the countryside to make a report on the undead and get accidentally caught up in the outbreak. Serious scares and sophisticated tension bookmark The Zombie Diaries a sleeper hit in the making.

UK 81 minutes Directors: Kevin Gates, Michael Bartlett

Russell Jones – Goke
Craig Stovin – Andy
Jonnie Hurn – John
James Fisher - Geoff
Anna Blades – Vanessa

13.15 KM 31 (UK Premiere)
A box-office smash in Mexico, Km 31 reinvents the oft cinema told legend of La Llorona/The Crying Woman. Twin sisters Agata and Catalina have developed a psychic way of communication. Following a terrible road accident at junction Kilometre 31, Agata is left mutilated in a coma and Catalina begins to experience the painful terror her unconscious sister is going through. Determined to solve the mystery of what happened at the ill-fated spot, Catalina discovers a local legend telling of malignant spirits prowling the highway. Km 31 spearheads the revival of genre interest in Latin America. Getting a major UK release later in the year, this marks your first opportunity to see what got Mexico jumping.

Mexico 103 minutes Director: Rigoberto Casteneda

Iliana Fox – Agata/Catalina
Raul Mendez – Omar
Adria Collado – Nuno
Carlos Aragon – Ugalde
Luisa Huertas – The Old Woman

15.45 SPIRAL (European Premiere)
Last year FrightFest proudly presented the European premiere of Adam Green’s Hatchet. So we’re delighted to welcome Green back with his stunning latest work co-directed with lead Hatchet star Joel Moore. Spiral couldn't be more different and confirms the arrival of an especially talented filmmaker. A dysfunctional auto insurance office worker is living out a possibly homicidal fantasy alter ego. When new employee Amber Tamblyn shows an interest in him and poses for the talented artist, his rattled mind unravels and dark closet skeletons are revealed. Green’s sparkling Hitch-cocktail is precision direction, deft pacing, startling imagery and clean style. The undercurrent of sly suspense never subsides in this teasing psychodrama packing a final shock punch.

USA 90 minutes Directors: Adam Green and Joel David Moore

Joel David Moore - Mason
Amber Tamblyn – Amber
Zachary Levi – Berkeley
Tricia Helfer – Sasha
David Muller – Will

18.30 DAY WATCH (Preview)
FrightFest premiered Night Watch and we are thrilled to debut its successful sequel based once more on Sergei Lukyanenko’s best-selling trilogy. Night Watch clairvoyant Anton continues to fight Day Watch demons to save his son from their dark clutches. If he finds the ancient Chalk of Destiny, he can rewrite history and change the future to alter fate. Terrific 007 type action and dimension hopping melds with truly impressive visuals: the mask of snow, the tango of death, the yo-yo of doom and the renegade Ferris Wheel trashing Moscow Godzilla-style outdo anything in recent Hollywood memory.

Russia 132 minutes Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Konstantin Khabensky - Anton
Vladimar Menshov - Geser
Mariya Poroshina – Svetlana
Aleksei Chadov - Kostya
Zhanne Friske - Alisa

21.15 THE ORPHANAGE (First screening since Cannes 2007)
Last year we had the honour of hosting the first post-Cannes screening of Guillermo del Toro’s future Oscar-winner Pan’s Labyrinth. And this year we preview executive producer del Toro’s presentation of director Juan Antonio Bayona’s equally acclaimed horror fantasy The Orphanage. Clearly bearing the Mexican maestro’s artistic touch throughout, yet showcasing Bayona’s own individual stamp, it’s an involving ethereal tale of Laura re-opening the abandoned coastal Spanish orphanage where she grew up as a home for disabled children. But a troubling web of past memories soon starts enveloping her psyche. For something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the cavernous house, something waiting to inflict appalling damage on her family. From the lyrically haunting build-up and startling nerve-jangles to the poignantly moving fairytale ending, this superlatively evocative stunner closes the Film4 FrightFest 2007 on the highest of notes.

Mexico/Spain 105 minutes Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

Belen Rueda – Laura
Fernando Cava – Carlos
Geraldine Chaplin – Aurora
Roger Princep – Simon
Monsterrat Carulla – Benigna