Grimmfest, Manchester’s International Festival of Fantastic Film, will be returning to regular venue, Manchester’s Odeon Great Northern, on the 9th – 12th October for four ferociously full-on days of the best in genre cinema.
Following on from the recent announcement of the features line-up, the Grimmfest Team are delighted to reveal that the “surprise” film completing that line-up will be a special preview screening of GOOD BOY, Ben Leonberg’s much-anticipated tale of canine loyalty put starkly to the test in a house full of malevolent entities.
This year, the festival line-up also boasts at least six international premieres and ten UK premieres in the short film category, all grouped into three themed programmes, plus a couple supporting feature films.
PROGRAMME ONE: FAMILY VALUES explores parental responsibilities and abuses, filial resentments and revenges, sibling guilt, and grandmotherly anxiety, in a series of tales that reminds us that blood ties can get tangled… and bloody.
A father strives to provide for his family, in Jorge Sermini’s body horror fairy tale, DAUGHTER, with astonishing practical effects by Steven Kostanski (PSYCHO GOREMAN).
A father and daughter fight for survival in a world on the brink of collapse, in HUNTER, Pavlos Sifaki’s chilling study of dehumanisation.
A young man’s desire for closure becomes the most brutal revenge imaginable, in Javier Méndez Cañada’s grotesque folk horror nightmare, MU.
A confused grandmother begins to suspect there are mysterious invaders in the house, in TIME EATER, Ryan Couldrey’s powerful study of the terrors of dementia.
A phone sex worker finds herself faced with a horrifying moral dilemma in Julia Habner’s deeply uncomfortable and disturbing JEFF.
And a desperate gambler would do anything to get his brother back, in Cameron Voris’s quietly savage WHOLE.
PROGRAMME TWO: AWKWARD offers uncomfortable situations, performance anxieties, social faux pas, peer group pressures, the tentative, treacherous nature of romance, and the slippery, competitive nature of friendship, in a series of tales in which things get a little, well… awkward.
A would-be swinger quickly realises she’s out of her depth in Sam Fox’s louche, loungecore “Jazz Horror”, OPEN WIDE.
A man in search of a parking space quickly comes to regret picking up a hitchhiker, in Brian Lederman’s claustrophobic black comedy CROWDED OUT.
A woman under pressure takes refuge in a self-actualisation tape, in Emily Bennett’s mischievous monologue movie AFFIRMATION.
A young gay woman starts to fear that her girlfriend’s self-described “femme” friends are not at all what they appear in Allie Perison’s sharply satiric SHE DEVIL.
A young woman starts to feel distinctly uncomfortable during a second date, in Joe Savage’s pitch-black comedy of modern romantic mores, ITCH.
A young woman’s desire to make new friends places her in danger from a sinister party game in Jordan Pfeifer’s chilling CALL EARL.
A young girl’s obsession with obtaining a much-coveted collectable figurine is thwarted by her pet gerbil in Renaud Parra’s riotous black comedy, DAMSEL IN GEEKSTRESS.
An over-sharing young man seems way too determined to tell us all about his wonderful girlfriend in Alexandra Warrick’s darkly satiric and deeply disturbing Y.M.G.
And James P. Gleason offers the ultimate Nightmare Dentist story, in the outrageously mean-spirited comedy, BABY BLUES – GOING DARK.
PROGRAMME THREE: THE CRAWLING CHAOS offers encounters with Elder Gods, Cosmic Consciousnesses, dimension-spanning entities, and the darker, more repressed aspects of the Self, in a selection of Tales that might best be described as… Weird.
Paolo Gaudio’s DAGON is a slyly postmodern stop-motion spin on Lovecraft’s classic early tale.
Guilherme Daniel’s CANTO offers an idiosyncratic, lyrical and claustrophobic reimagining of ‘Pitman’s Model’.
A bereaved artist seeks closure and reunion with lost love in Joseph Diaz’s eyeball-searing cosmos-spanning, TRIANGLE, starring Ezquiel Rodriguez (WHERE EVIL LURKS) and Spanish genre Maestro Jaume Balaguero (REC).
Jennifer Rosiquez explores every creative artist’s worst fear, in the darkly funny and disturbing IMPOSTER SYNDROME.
A scientist’s encounter with something discovered UNDER THE ICE unlocks inner traumas and repressed memories, in Michel Kessler and David Oesch’s consciousness-expanding psychodrama.
And life goes on as usual in the face of cosmic horror, in Polly Schattel’s wryly humanist AFTER THE FALL, adapted from the short story by Jeffrey Thomas.
PLUS… An Aztec warrior battles Elder Gods in MISSING PARTS, Tamás Rolfesz’s elegant animated homage to Lovecraft and Erich Von Daniken, which will be screening with TRIBE.
And a sound engineer is haunted by an eerie sound after she records a violent event to use as a sample in a song, in LOUD, Adam Azimov’s chilling exploration of creative obsession, which will accompany RABBIT TRAP.
Full and day passes and individual tickets are available at https://www.grimmfest.com/festival/
GRIMMFEST: Manchester’s International Festival of Fantastic Film. Grimmfest bring the very best in new independent genre cinema and classic genre films to Manchester UK and beyond, with regular screenings throughout the year and the main festival in early October. Grimmfest is now in its fifteenth year and was recently invited to join the Méliès International Festivals Federation, becoming its second British and first English member.
