Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 Lineup Unveiled

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024, the UK’s premier horror and fantasy film festival, has announced its thrilling lineup for this year’s event. Marking its 25th edition, the festival will run from Thursday, 22 August to Monday, 26 August, taking over the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square in London. For the first time, the festival will utilise all seven screens, including two ODEON Luxe West End screens, to showcase a diverse selection of horror films from around the globe.

The festival opens with the world premiere of Broken Bird, the highly anticipated directorial debut from actress-filmmaker Joanne Mitchell. Based on an original story by Tracey Sheals and Mitchell’s award-winning short Sybil, the film tells the disturbing tale of a mortician, played by Rebecca Calder, whose dark desires spiral out of control.

Closing the festival is the English premiere of The Substance, the latest film from French writer-director Coralie Fargeat, known for her previous hit Revenge. This Cannes 2024 award-winning feminist body horror stars Demi Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity who uses a cell-replicating substance to create a younger version of herself.

Hugh Grant also stars in one of the festival’s standout films, Saint Clare, where he plays a diabolical character who traps two young Mormon missionaries in a deadly game. The film also features Bella Thorne, who shines as a serial-killing teenager. Thorne’s directorial debut, the short film Unsettled, will also premiere at the festival.

The festival lineup boasts an impressive array of films, with 69 features from 11 countries across four continents. These include 25 main screen premieres and 45 Discovery Screen titles. FrightFest will also celebrate its legacy with a range of retrospectives, restorations, and panels, along with a special short-film showcase.

Co-director Alan Jones reflects on the festival’s enduring impact: “FrightFest, the Dark Heart of Cinema, has been beating loud and proud now for an amazing 25 years. Our past 25 glorious years have shown FrightFest in a state of continuous evolution, something we are determined will never, ever stop.”

This year’s festival highlights include the international premiere of An Taibhse (The Ghost), the first Irish language horror film, and The Dead Thing, a neo-realist take on The Invisible Man for the online dating era. Other notable premieres include Strange Darling, a twisty serial-killer chiller by JT Mollner, and A Desert, the powerful debut from Joshua Erkman. Steven Soderbergh presents the European premiere of the witty cyber-suspense thriller Cold Wallet.

Additionally, the main screen will host the world premiere of the sci-fi high Test Screening, and UK premieres of the engrossing Dead Mail, the Luxembourgish drama The Last Ashes, and the post-apocalyptic thriller Survive.

The Discovery strand continues to champion emerging voices, featuring films like The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine by Graham Skipper, Carnage for Christmas from 19-year-old transgender filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay, and The Bunker, an alien invasion shocker starring horror icons Tobin Bell and Tony Todd.

The UK is strongly represented with 17 Discovery screen gems, including the world premieres of Derelict, Cinderella’s Curse, Cara and Charlotte, Bogieville, and Never Have I Ever. The festival will also showcase a 4K restoration of Jake West’s Razorblade Smile, celebrating its 25th anniversary.

FrightFest’s First Blood strand will spotlight emerging British talent with six world firsts, including Sophie Osbourn’s The Monster Beneath Us and Aled Owen’s Scopophobia. Documentaries will explore tech-centric genre cinema (So Unreal), the rise of boutique specialty collector labels (Boutique: To Preserve and Collect), and early Millennial genre films (Generation Terror).

As always, we’ll be publishing a full list of what is screening and where soon. For a full list of films and booking details, visit FrightFest.

Passes go on sale from Saturday, 13 July at noon, with single tickets available from Saturday, 20 July at noon. Join the celebration of 25 years of FrightFest and experience the best in horror and fantasy cinema at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024.