02 – 05 October
“Screening the best in horror and cult film since 2009”
Were you one of those children with a vivid and twisted imagination in the style of Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft? Did you stay up late being scared to the point of desensitisation by knife-wielding maniacs and malevolent spirits flashing across your TV screen? Perhaps you checked for monsters under your bed with a toothy grin on your face each night? Whatever age you were when you discovered your appreciation for all things macabre and grotesque, the annual moment has come to sit back and enjoy four days of movies, special guest appearances and Q&As. If that isn’t enough for you Dario Argento fans out there, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin will be rocking the house of horrors to fulfil your morbid delight at the 2014 Grimmfest.
Grimmfest Festival Director Simeon Halligan boasts: “We always try to make each Grimmfest bigger than the last and I think this year has been really strong for independent horror and genre titles, I’m really excited by what were going to screen at Grimmfest, I’m convinced it’s our best line up yet!” Thursday’s opening Gala screenings certainly reflect Halligan’s sentiments with Melanie Light’s ‘Vegan Feminist Horror’ short The Herd kicking off proceedings.
This is followed by the UK premieres of Brian O’Malley’s Let Us Prey, starring Liam Cunningham and Pollyanna McIntosh (recently seen in Scottish set thriller White Settlers) and Suburban Gothic which features Matthew Gray Gubler, Kat Dennings, accompanied by cult favourites Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), plus directors John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Cry Baby, Serial Mom) and The Soska Sisters (American Mary).
Friday is all about Goblin! The Italian progressive rock band from the 1970s will honour fans with their presence by performing their atmospheric and spellbinding soundtracks live in two special screenings of Suspiria and Dawn of the Dead: The Argento Cut.
The weekend will host disturbingly amusing and chilling international films including: Oliver Frampton’s The Forgotten, the comedy-horror from New Zealand Housebound, Coherence (starring Nicholas Brandon of the Buffy ‘Scooby Gang’), the supernatural German slasher The Samurai, Ivan Kavanagh’s The Canal, the ferociously feral and funny Zombeavers and WolfCop, the Zom Rom-Com Life After Beth (with Aubrey Plaza) and The Flight of the Conchords creators’ mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows.
The Grimmfest Fringe also returns with two themed independent horror showcases. ‘Women in Horror’ will celebrate strong heroines and ladies who have been scorned with a fury befitting the devil with Truth or Dare, Julia, The Well, Chelsey Burdon’s short about revenge She and the Venezuelan thriller The House at the End of Time. Whereas ‘Head F**k Cinema’ presents mystifyingly shockers such as Devil’s Mile, the Sci-Fi L.F.O., The Reconstruction of William Zero, Open Grave and the first Australian Giallo Sororal.
A selection of impressive new short scares will also be shown throughout the festival. Alice Lowe brings us Solitudo, John Hannah in Get Some, gothic Spanish comedy Don’t Play with Your Food and Lovecraft inspired Vomica to name a few.
For tickets to Grimmfest, monthly movie screenings, competitions and spine tingles, simply log onto http://grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/