Arrow Video FrightFest is returning to the Cineworld Leicester Square from August 26 to August 30, 2021, for five days of the very best of global genre cinema. 

FrightFest is bringing twenty-five films to the London-based fest, which includes four world premieres and eight International / European premieres.

Here’s a breakdown of the first wave announcement from the press release:

“The festival opens with the European premiere of Demonic, the latest, highly anticipated and petrifying new vision from artist Neill Blomkamp, director of DISTRICT 9. Shot in secret last summer in British Columbia, Blomkamp takes us on a unique voyage into a world terrifyingly similar to our own as he expertly juggles a thought-provoking crossover between forward-thinking science fiction and hi-tech horror.

“The Closing night film is the UK premiere of Rob Jabbaz’s feature debut, The Sadness, an instant cult classic that’s relentless, merciless and already being hailed as a bloody masterpiece. After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The age of civility and order is no more. There is only ‘The Sadness’.

“Gunslingers, ghosts and cults…welcome to the insane visual madness of a Sion Sono movie and the latest memorable slice of Nicolas Cage rage in the UK premiere of post-apocalyptic Grindhouse classic Prisoners of the Ghostland. Another independent-spirited actor firmly established within the genre is Elijah Wood and he is on top form as an FBI profiler assigned to interview Ted Bundy in No Man of God, which will receive its European Premiere.

“Comic book icon Alan Moore was last at FrightFest in 2014 with SHOW PIECES and he and director Mitch Jenkins team up once more to present the UK Premiere of mystery fantasy The Show. Then there’s the world premiere of British chiller The Kindred,with many of the stars attending, including James Cosmo, Steve Oram, April Pearson and Samantha Bond.

“Other World premieres include the shellshock creature feature Crabs!, the hilariously gory crowd-pleaser The Retaliators (featuring cameos and music by Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Five Finger Death Punch and Papa Roach) and FrightFest favourite Dominic Brunt is back with Evie, his thrilling and frighteningly sinister take on the shape-shifting Selkie myth, co-directed with Jamie Lundy and starring Michael Smiley.

“Broadcast Signal Intrusion, the first feature to proudly spring from FrightFest’s innovative ‘New Blood’ initiative with Queensbury Pictures / MP Media, will receive its UK Premiere, as will the unbearably tense, electrifying thriller Coming Home in the Dark, the one-take time travel suspense comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and from Kazakhstan, the cruelly comic misadventure Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It.

“Other UK premieres include ‘sonic slasher’, Sound of Violence, Alex Noyer’s extraordinarily eye and ear-opener, supernatural Thai slasher The Maid, the South African fantasy Gaia, the award-winning boy meets monster indie sensation Slapface, The Advent Calander, which heralds the return of outré French horror and the oddest US genre entry for years, the extreme comedy King Knight.

“A prime example of the Mexploitation New Wave is The Exorcism of Carmen Farias and FrightFest will be presenting the International premiere of Rodrigo Fiallega’s blood-drenched shocker. There are also International premieres for Julien Knafo’s mutant-tastic Brain Freeze and Offseason, director / writer Mickey Keating’s quantum leap into the big time with an astonishing slice of Southern Gothic.

“There are also European premieres for Edoardo Vitaletti’s gripping period occult drama The Last Thing Mary Saw, starring Rory Culkin, the German 70s nostalgia-fest Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes and Rob Schroeder’s startling puzzle box Sci-Fi mystery, Ultrasound.”

Get tickets at the official FrightFest website.