Fright Fest Showcase 3

HACK by Ben Mallaby

I remember the first time I went to someone else’s home and was told to remove my shoes. I was baffled. I asked why and the …noise. It was bestial. I did so and resolved never to have their door darken me again. I also went around to a house with vegans and omnivores, picked up a sausage roll on the way, and thought my crusts touching the table was horrendous. They also felt there was something to be said about the writing style in ‘little black sambo’, so I’m not too anxious about it. The little rituals of compliance in someone else’s home are taken to a Ballard-like level of absurdity, and the dark consequence is delivered with a confident morbid aplomb with Toby Williams lead in violence and etiquette. It is an enjoyable slice into the petite bourgeois; just leave the wine. 

THE NEW GIRL Savannah Ayoade-Greaves

I used to work in a college. I worked in the library. The service was mainly used to drop students off when teachers could not be bothered. I would create these big book displays. A colleague would do elaborate celebrations for Black History Month. Sadly, the neglect of the last two years meant a more significant portion of students just wanted wifi and shouting. There were those for whom the library could have been a refuge, a place to focus study away from a turbulent home life, to escape into the more fantastical horrors of Stephen King rather than life as a young black woman. They rarely got the chance as crab culture and peer pressure would enact in front of me, with little leverage to change it. Ayoade-Greaves creates a taut sense of suspense and status and how it takes a lot of bite to cut through the expectations of others to place yourself at the top of the food chain. It’s smooth, sharp and simple and conveys without exposition. A new view of horror is emerging in this, and many will embrace it.

VESTIGE Joseph Simmons

My mother passed away close to three years ago. I have her old mobile. It has her texts. After a while, I was looking for her voicemails in mine to try and keep them; by then, the service had deleted them. I have a box of mementoes on top of the photos and birthday cards. Shopping lists and notes that she had ‘gone hospital. But her passing was not a shock; as an adult, I could look back at a life lived. The young lead has not had that, and his fixation on finding the traces of his father while his grandfather, reeling from his loss, tries to understand what is happening within him. It’s a story of fixation and family, cycles repeating through absence and the silhouette of the father made between son and granddad is riveting. It is worth seeking out, although what you will find is shocking. 

PABLO HONEY Jamie Yuan

A kitchen sink comedy-drama, although the kitchen sink is covered in ectoplasm, and the drama is from the upheaval of inertia. Emma is a significant lead, not so much limited and finding life-limiting as she contends with the struggles of unemployment and a partner who is, at best flights, and his worse, a possessive gas lighter in one home. Its comedic slapstick and pratfalls are perfect, and you can’t help but feel that Emma’s solution is the best possible given the situation. Slightly lewd, always funny and taking what can be a depressing environment to find the brightest laughs, it’s a warming film with a pleased ending. 

NOSEPICKER Ian Mantgani

I was five and scared of the hallway, so I used to see in the corner of my bedroom. That lasted about two weeks before my folks realised the stench and allowed me a night light.

I was a grubby kid at times at school. Looking back, my lack of self-care also came from the bullying so that I would retreat from within myself. It was mainly my hair. I used to call myself a dandruffologist. That was pretty teens. Our introverted anti-hero is nose-picking. I am Working in a college. Yes, that’s post 16. The times I found gum on a table. Or I saw spitting straight in the bin. It’s grim. The young lad just needs everyone off his back. He is mesmerising and almost peanuts in how the adults talk around and rarely to him. It’s a slimy form of Volpone Revenge and a cute, although for me, instead a squeamish watch. It will sometimes leave your skin crawling but also refreshes like a face mask. It’s a great look.