Frightfest 2023 Day One - Thursday

 

It's Frightfest time again! And this time around, for one festival only (probably), this one's extra special for me as it sees the launch of my latest film book, pictured above. If you're coming to Frightfest and fancy picking up a copy I'll be doing official signings on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th August 5.15 to 6.15pm on both days, but I'll also be around for the whole festival so do please come and say hello! Because of that HMC's coverage of the festival programme may not be as thorough as in previous years but, in traditional Frightfest fashion, I still intend to exhaust myself watching as many films as possible, so let's get started:

Suitable Flesh

An excellent and charismatic cast, including Heather Graham, Bruce Davison and Barbara Crampton is wasted in this bland adaptation of H P Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep. Despite a screenplay from frequent Stuart Gordon collaborator Dennis Paoli that adds dollops of sex to the mix, the garish lighting and workmanlike approach to much of the material makes SUITABLE FLESH feels a lot more like a sub-par episode of 1990s TV shows like Red Shoe Diaries or Alain Siritzky's The Sex Files than anything worthy of many of the talents involved. The usual reliable Steve Moore provides a score so horribly derivative that soundtrack enthusiasts may derive a modicum of pleasure from guessing which different composer is being ripped off with each scene change but that's about it. A disappointingly poor and frequently rather silly effort.

Joe Lynch's SUITABLE FLESH has been picked up by Vertigo Releasing and is due out in cinemas in October

The Dive

Twenty minutes into THE DIVE I realised I had seen it all before, inasmuch as this turns out to be an English language remake of the 2020 Scandinavian picture BREAKING SURFACE. Two girls go diving and one gets trapped by falling rocks, leaving the other to alternate between trying to get help and trying to lever the rocks free. Picked for Frightfest because 'the underwater scenes would look good on the IMAX screen'. They certainly did, and even if you're familiar with the original this is a tense, well-made thriller that's on general release from tomorrow.

THE DIVE is out in cinemas from Vertigo Releasing on Friday 25th August 2023

Cheat

A gloomy small Pennsylvania town is the setting for this surprisingly decent genre effort that boasts atmospheric photography, a deliciously scary and effective music score, and some visuals that are absolutely spot on. A folk horror myth about a vengeful ghost who murders cheating partners turns out to be true in a film that's equal parts IT FOLLOWS and LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH in its unrelenting spectral killer that threatens the lives of some likeable and well-drawn characters. CHEAT is low budget and a bit rough around the edges but nevertheless it's a real surprise and the highlight of Thursday night's films.