Frightfest 2024 | What horrors are set to unfold this weekend as Glasgow Film Festival curates video nasties?

Welcome to FrightFest Glasgow 2024, where terror meets the silver screen in an electrifying celebration of horror and fantasy cinema. Born from the macabre visions of Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray, and Alan Jones, FrightFest emerged in 2000 as a beacon for horror enthusiasts, setting its stage in the darkened halls of London's Prince Charles Cinema. From those humble beginnings, FrightFest has evolved into a global community, drawing audiences and luminaries from across the world to revel in its unique atmosphere of fear and fascination.

Since its inception, FrightFest has been on a relentless quest to provide the UK with a horror fantasy festival of international calibre, mirroring the esteemed events of Europe's horror circuit. From its early days at the Prince Charles Cinema to its triumphant move to Leicester Square's Odeon West End, where it premiered George Romero's "Land of the Dead" in 2005, FrightFest has continually raised the bar for genre festivals.

In 2006, FrightFest expanded its horizons once again, relocating to the Empire Cinema for its 10th anniversary, showcasing an unparalleled lineup of spine-chilling premieres. As the festival grew in stature and scope, it found a new home at the VUE West End, embracing state-of-the-art facilities and a multitude of screens to accommodate its ever-expanding roster of films.

In 2017, FrightFest returned to its roots, taking up residence at London's Cineworld and Prince Charles Cinemas, where it has since remained a pulsating hub of horror creativity. But FrightFest's reach extends far beyond London's borders, with thrilling Halloween extravaganzas and a chilling presence at the Glasgow Film Festival every February.

Outside of its flagship events, FrightFest continues to captivate audiences with special screenings and exclusive premieres, showcasing the latest offerings from genre titans and emerging talents alike. From Dario Argento's chilling appearances to chilling discussions with the likes of Clive Barker, FrightFest remains a vital conduit for horror aficionados worldwide.

But what is set to turn your blood cold and send a chill up your spine from the titles being screened at this year’s event?

What’s screening as part of Frightfest Glasgow 2024?

You’ll Never Find Me (18)

A sharp and twisted thriller featuring outstanding central performances from Jordan Cowan & Brendan Rock. An isolated man living in the back of a desolate caravan park is visited by a desperate young woman seeking shelter from a violent storm. As the savage storm worsens, these solitary souls begin to feel threatened- but who should really be afraid?

• Screening: Thursday March 7 2024, 8:50pm

The Soul Eater (18)

Two detectives with entirely different work methods are sent to the sleepy French mountain town of Roquenoir. One is investigating a series of gruesome deaths. The other is searching for some missing local children. Soon, they realise their cases are connected… by an old folklore legend of a malevolent creature, the terrifying incarnation of the Soul Eater.

• Screening: Friday 8 March 2024, 1pm

The Deep Dark (18)

It’s 1856, and in the historic coal mines of Northern France, a group of miners find themselves trapped in the subterranean depths after a cave-in. But they soon realise they are not alone… Decades later, veteran miner Roland is forced by management to accompany Professor Berthier underground to take samples and measurements. A sudden landslide prevents them from surfacing, and they, too, must face the ancient mutant that constantly craves blood. 

• Screening: Friday 8 March 2024, 3:25pm

The Invisible Raptor (18)

The Tyler Corporation has finally figured out how to engineer a prehistoric raptor genetically, but they didn’t stop there… they also made it invisible. Unfortunately for them, he’s a really smart invisible raptor. After easily breaking out of its enclosure, it’s now up to washed-up amusement park palaeontologist Dr Grant Walker and hapless loner Security Guard Denny Danielson to stop the predator before it wreaks havoc on the entire community of Spielburgh County. With the help of local celebrity chicken farmer Henrietta McCluckskey and Grant’s old flame Amber, they uncover the truth behind the mysterious apex predator.

• Screening: Friday 8 March 2024, 6pm

Wake Up (18)

From RKSS, the directorial collective behind “Turbo Kid,” “Summer of 84” and “We Are Zombies”, comes a fresh take on the slasher genre where classic adrenaline-fueled horror and Gen Z environmental issues collide in one twisted night from hell. A group of young activists set out to make a political statement by vandalising a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, a desperate fight for their lives begins.

• Screening: Friday 8 March 2024, 8:45pm

Kill Your Lover (18)

Dakota has had enough of her toxic relationship with Axel, but the feeling isn't mutual. As she tries to end things, Axel becomes something different, something monstrous. He gradually succumbs to the poison of the decaying relationship, becoming a creature with increased aggression, a touch that melts skin and, worst of all, he's contagious. Both an uncompromising breakup film and a wild body horror shocker, FrightFest alumnae and co-directors Alix Austin and Keir Siewert's debut feature roars with a punk edge, award-winning practical special effects and soars via dynamite performances from newcomers Paige Gilmour and Shane Quigley-Murphy.

• Screening: Friday 8 March 2024, 11pm

Mom (18)

Meredith is a struggling mother abandoned by her family and partner after the appalling death of their newborn son. Alone in her house after separating, she becomes more and more isolated, unaware that the death of her baby has caused the birth of something far more sinister. An entity conceived from tragedy that is determined to make her relive over and over again the darkest moments of her existence and keep her family forever torn apart.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 10:30am

The Funeral (18)

Cemal, a lonely hearse driver, has been entrusted to secretly transport the body of a murdered young woman, Zeynep, to her parents’ home at their final request. But he hears strange groans from the back of the vehicle during the journey, even though Zeynep hasn't got a pulse. As her body comes back to life, the moment he sets eyes on her, Cemal falls in love with the undead woman. So he must constantly feed her flesh by committing his own murders, even if it means dealing with the police force’s attempts to capture a serial killer.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 1pm

Custom (18)

The long-awaited first feature from award-winning, Brazilian-born and UK-based filmmaker Tiago Teixeira; in this paranoid horror thriller, blurring the lines between death and sex, reality and fantasy, Jasper and Harriet are arthouse pornographers struggling to make ends meet. Their stock in trade is producing custom-made erotic films for an exclusive clientele into the forbidden, the shocking and the strange. As they hit rock bottom, that’s when they encounter ‘The Audience’, a mysterious client offering life-changing money to perform strange rituals on videotape.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 3:35pm

The Well (18)

Federico Zampaglione, the Italian Rob Zombie, director of Shadow and Tulpa: Demon of Desire, returns to the extreme horror genre with a dark supernatural chiller starring Lauren LaVera, fresh from her eye-catching lead role in the box-office phenomenon “Terrifier 2.” She plays Lisa Gray, a budding art restorer who travels to the small Italian village of Sambuci just outside Rome to bring a medieval painting back to its former glory for a wealthy and titled client. Little does she know she is placing her life in danger from an evil curse and a monster born of myth and brutal pain.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 6:05pm

All You Need is Death (18)

A young couple records and collects folk songs in rural Ireland, selling them to a mysterious, rich buyer. When rumours of a song never-before-heard reach the couple, they find themselves in an uneasy alliance with a music professor to discover an ancient song, a taboo ballad that may end up unlocking some dark truth from the forgotten past that will alter all their isolated lives.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 8:25pm

Last Straw (18)

Alan Scott Neal makes a vibrant directorial debut with a welcome addition to the canon of socially on-trend chiller thrillers.  A rural roadside diner becomes the host of a maniacal killing spree – leaving young waitress Nancy to clean up the bloody mess. After firing the staff at her dad’s diner, she covers the last shift of the night by herself. Little does she know though, she is far from alone. The day is returning to haunt her and when things begin to spiral out of control, she must fight for her life over one long night.

• Screening: Saturday 9 March 2024, 10:45pm

Where can I get tickets to the screenings at Frightfest Glasgow 2024?

Tickets for individual screenings or to see the entire Frightfest Glasgow programme in full can be found by visiting the official Glasgow Film Festival 2024 website.