Fancy some no-nonsense, ripped-from-the-headlines horror to go with all the fantastical stuff that will fill the screen at Frightfest?

If you do, then Bait may be the picture for you.

The second feature from Emmerdale-star-turned-horror-helmer Dominic Brunt (after his Before Dawn was lapped up by genre crowds a while back), this one is a real change of pace.

Essentially a brutal female revenge saga with many a nod to today’s cash-first, ask questions later society, here’s the synopsis:

Two women who dream of opening their own cafe in a work-depressed northern town go to the wrong person for a loan in this chilling allegory of the economic brutality independent businesses face within the austerity-led banking system.

Unable to meet the outrageous payment demands, the hardened duo must find it within themselves to take pitiless, bloody retribution on their mailicious aggressor.

I must admit, the ‘pitiless, bloody retribution’ part sold me, and the trailer also suggests something memorable.

Bait stars Victoria Smurfit and Joanne Mitchell as the partners-in-eventual crime, alongside the likes of Adam Fogerty, Jonathan Slinger and even Rula Lenska.

Bait hits Frightfest on Saturday, August 29.

Here’s that trailer:

 

 

About The Author

Simon Fitzjohn

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 two books, one on the horror films of director Bob Clark (2014) and the other on the history of the character Norman Bates (2015). His third book, on the work of British exploitation director Pete Walker, is due in 2017.