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
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