Those fiendish fellas at Frightfest have stoked the fires of anticipation for horror fans across the nation by revealing the opening and closing films for this year’s gore-soaked shindig.

Frightfest the 13th (see what they’ve done there), will run in London from August 23-27, with more screens, films and guests than ever before.

And kicking off and closing the marathon of mayhem will be a brace of British offerings that look likely to hit the spot.

First up on the 23rd will be The Seasoning House, a claustrophobic, psychological horror from director Paul Hyett.

Starring genre favourite Sean Pertwee, alongside Kevin Howarth and Rosie Day, this hard-hitting tale of war-time sexploitation in a Balkans brothel is sure to get tongues wagging.

The flick is Hyett’s first as director, after overseeing the special effects in such fare as Doomsday, The Descent 2 and The Woman In Black.

Rounding things off neatly on the 27th will be Tower Block, a suffocating suspenser that sees a mystery sniper terrorising residents of a London block of flats.

Co-directed by James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, the film stars Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell and Russell Tovey.

For both films, cast and crew will be heading to the capital to showcase their wares.

Film4 Frightfest co-director Alan Jones said: “Once more Film4 Frightfest is delighted to be showcasing the key British talent of the future with our opening choice of The Seasoning House, and our closing film, Tower Block.

“Both films are works of quality, sensitivity and bloody-minded bravado and the directors deserve to follow in the footsteps of such other talents we have promoted early in their careers such as Christopher Nolan, Neil Marshall, Chris Smith and James Watkins.”

Frightfest honchos have also secured the much-anticipated REC3 for the festival, Paco Plaza’s gloriously over-the-top sequel that mixes a zombie apocalypse with a high-profile wedding.

Tickets go on sale on June 30, with the full line-up revealed the day before.

About The Author

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Simon is a journalism tutor in London, who also just happens to be a movie fanatic, with a craving for the darker side of cinema. He has written three books - on the horror films of director Bob Clark (2014), the history of the character Norman Bates (2015) and the work of British exploitation director Pete Walker (2017). He is currently working with director Richard Loncraine to explore all avenues in a bid to orchestrate the re-release of 1978 Mia Farrow chiller Full Circle