‘Healing Andy’ Brings Found-Footage Mayhem to Midnight Slot

FrightFest’s First Blood strand will welcome one of its boldest selections yet this year with the world premiere of Healing Andy, a found-footage horror-comedy shot entirely on a single iPhone. The film, written and directed by Villablanca, screens as the Midnight Movie on Saturday 23 August, delivering a chaotic fusion of break-up trauma, influencer satire, and cosmic dread.

Set against the sun-drenched backdrop of an Italian honeymoon gone wrong, Healing Andy follows its titular character (Matthew Kay) after he’s left at the altar. Rather than wallow in despair, Andy’s well-meaning but social media-obsessed friends convince him to turn the ill-fated trip into a public-facing ‘bros getaway’. Among them is Holger (Frederick Lysegaard), a charismatic influencer more concerned with engagement metrics than emotional recovery. What starts as a vlogger’s dream quickly unravels into something far more disturbing, especially following the arrival of Ginger (Gemma Acosta), a stranger whose presence shifts the mood from holiday to hallucination.

Villablanca’s film leans into absurdist humour and genre disruption, balancing slapstick violence and paranormal paranoia with a sharp critique of performative masculinity and curated online identities. The director, who also produced and edited the film, has assembled a cast that includes Samuel Nunes de Souza, Elliott Eason and Lucia Saavedra, creating a loose, improvisational energy that heightens the film’s realism even as it plunges into surreal territory.

Past FrightFest First Blood titles such as Death of a Vlogger and The Moor have gone on to build cult followings, and Healing Andy looks poised to follow in that tradition. Its low-budget ingenuity recalls the early days of the found-footage subgenre, but with a distinctly modern edge. Shooting entirely on a single iPhone lends the film both authenticity and a certain visual instability, a perfect fit for a story that blurs the line between emotional unravelling and extraterrestrial horror.

The film is produced by Villablanca, Frederick Lysegaard and assistant producer Jasmine Clark. With its midnight slot locked in and its gonzo premise generating early buzz, Healing Andy stands out as one of the most unpredictable offerings in this year’s FrightFest line-up.

For more information on this year’s fantastic FrightFest, and for tickets, visit frightfest.co.uk.

Healing Andy trailer