The Total Film FrightFest Awards October 2020

With Halloween fast approaching, Britain’s premiere genre festival, FrightFest, lined up a whopping 44 movies for fans to sink their fangs into between October 21 and October 25.

For the second time this year, FrightFest went digital in order to respect social distancing (25 movies played over the August Bank Holiday Weekend – for those Total Film FrightFest Awards, see here). And while there could be no excitable huddling in Leicester Square as fans dissected each movie, social media witnessed the FrightFest family at its most animated (It’s alive!), eagerly anointing the new gods and monsters of the genre.

Total Film, as ever, kept an eye on all of the films on offer… all the while expecting said eye to be punctured by the point of a sharp blade at the earliest opportunity (see the Lucio Fulci Eye Trauma Award, listed below).

So here, for your pleasure or howls of disagreement, are Total Film’s picks of the best of the fest…

Best Film

And the nominations are… 

Blood Harvest

For the Sake of Vicious

Honeydew

Let’s Scare Julie

Relic

Slaxx

Stranger

The Stylist

Woman of the Photographs

The World We Knew

And the winner is…

Relic

Best Director

And the nominations are…

Natalie Erika James – Relic

Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen - For the Sake of Vicious

Matthew Benjamin Jones and Luke Skinner – The World We Knew

Devereux Milburn – Honeydew

Dmitriy Tomashpolskiy – Stranger

And the winner is…

Devereux Milburn – Honeydew

Best Actress

And the nominations are…

Jill Awbrey – Held

Bridget Graham – Dangerous to Know

Brea Grant – Lucky

Barbara Kingsley – Honeydew

Najarra Townsend – The Stylist

And the winner is…

Najarra Townsend – The Stylist

Best Female Ensemble

And the nominations are…

Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote – Relic

Troy Leigh-Ann Johnson, Isabel May, Odessa A’zion, Brooke Sorenson, Jessica Sarah Flaum – Let’s Scare Julie

And the winner is…

It's a tie!

Best Actor

And the nominations are…

Sylvester McCoy – The Owners

Johann Myers – The World We Knew

Jonathan French – Caveat

Struan Rodger – The World We Knew

Willem de Wolf – Tailgate

And the winner is…

Sylvester McCoy – The Owners

Best Monster

And the nominations are…

Marbles’ dad – Dead

Benny – Benny Loves You

Giant Cyst – Cyst

The Devil – The Reckoning

Killer pants – Slaxx

And the winner is…

Killer pants – Slaxx

Best Death

And the nominations are…

Face in motorbike wheel – Spare Parts

Scissors in nape of neck – The Stylist

Head squished by cart – The Reckoning

Slow Collapse after being stabbed in jugular – The Funeral Home

Head crushed by hammer – Hosts

And the winner is…

Head crushed by hammer – Hosts

Best Gore

And the nominations are…

Benny’s rampage – Benny Loves You

Head under carriage wheel – The Returned

Lord’s dismantlement – Slaxx

General Radford torn apart – Skylin3s

Hole shot through mutant – Scavenger

And the winner is…

Benny’s rampage – Benny Loves You

Best Scare

And the nominations are…

Drumming rabbit – Caveat

Continually checking the corpse – Caveat

Meeting Karen – Honeydew

Man in corner of room – The Funeral Home

Mrs. Durer appears! – Let’s Scare Julie

And the winner is…

Continually checking the corpse – Caveat

Best Gross Out

And the nominations are…

Peeling scab – Woman of the Photographs

Scalping – The Stylist

Squeezing pus – Cyst

Bandaged jowls – Honeydew

Recurring crushed head – Hosts

Chestburster – Alien on Stage

Escape from knocked-over portaloo – Concrete Plans

And the winner is…

Peeling scab – Woman of the Photographs

Lucio Fulci Eye Trauma Award

And the nominations are…

Hammer lodged in socket – For the Sake of Vicious

Eulis’ overhaul – Honeydew

Sacrificing own eye as part of initiation test – Baby Sitter Must Die 

And the winner is…

Hammer lodged in socket – For the Sake of Vicious

Best Sustained Violence

And the winner is…

For the Sake of Vicious

The Enough-with-the-torture-porn-already

And the nominees are...

Breeder

Butcher

Honeydew

The Owners

The Nights Before Christmas

The Reckoning

Redwood Massacre: Annihilation

Scavenger

And the winner is…

Butcher

Most Disturbing Weapon

Weed killer sprayed from canisters – Tailgate

Most Unexpected Star appearance

And the winner is...

An armless, legless Lena Dunham being fed human flesh – Honeydew