FrightFest returns as part of Glasgow Film Festival for its 20th edition. As always, it will take place over three days at Glasgow Film Theatre, from Thu 6 to Sat 8 March. The 2025 edition of the festival includes four world premiere features, while the short film showcase highlights filmmakers exclusively from the UK and Ireland, including two from Scotland. 

The festival kicks on Thursday evening with the sci-fi thriller Psyche, from Stephon Stewart. A young woman and a computer embark on a mind-bending quest. Stephon Stewart will be in attendance.

FrightFest’s proper two-day pass event begins on Friday 7 with Izzy Lee‘s debut, House of Ashes, an unpredictable ghost story. Fayna Sanchez plays a grieving widow enduring a haunting while under house arrest. Sanchez and writer/ producer Steve Johanson.

This is followed by UK premiere of The Last Sacrifice, an unusual documentary that examines the cultural influences on the folk horror genre in the ’70s in the guise of a true crime documentary. Filmmaker Rupert Russell will be there for the screening.

Next is the World premiere of David Luke Rees’s sinister UK-set horror By The Throat, starring Sex Education‘s Patricia Allison and Bridgerton star Rupert Young.

‘Where Dad’s Army meets Predator‘ is the pitch for The Doom Busters. Jack McHenry‘s period gorefest promises a silly good time. McHenry and the cast will be present for the screening.

Friday evening climaxes with the UK premiere of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pedro Kos’ feature debut In Our Blood. A mix of psychological mystery and horror, it follows a woman searching for her missing mother.

Cristian Ponce’s occult thriller A Mother’s Embrace begins Saturday’s screenings. A UK premiere, the film sees a group of firefighters attempting to evacuate a nursing home during the Rio storms of 1996. The residents have other ideas.

FrightFest presents its renowned Short Film Showcase strand, previously only a part of the London event., This shines the spotlight on home-grown talent, unleashing the creative imaginations of seven up-and-coming directors from the UK and Ireland.

Jason Voorhees fans are in for a treat with the World premiere of Hearts of Darkness: The Making of the Final Friday. Michael Felsher‘s documentary goes behind the scenes of Jason Goes to Hell, the ninth installment of the Friday the 13th franchise. Felsher and Jason Goes to Hell director Adam Marcus will be present for the screening.

Veteran director Pupi Avati (The House with Laughing Windows) returns with the UK premiere of The American Backyard. The Giallo legend returns to his gothic roots with a thriller starring Rita Tushingham.

This is followed by the International premiere of Paul Boyd’s supernatural comedy horror Scared To Death, which stars genre icons Lin Shaye and Bill Moseley. In the dumbest of dumb moves, a film crew conduct a séance in an abandoned children’s orphanage. It’ll probably be fine…

There has always been a dark undercurrent to the Grimm fairy tales that have made them ripe for horror reinvention. FrighFest concludes with another, Rumpelstiltskin. Director Andy Edwards will be in attendance along with cast members Hannah Baxter-Eve and Joss Carter, who plays the title character.

FrightFest co-director Alan Jones said: “There has never been a better time to be a fan of the horror, fantasy and science fiction genre and FrightFest, the UK’s biggest and most influential event, plays its vital part in spreading the communal message. This includes our residency at the Glasgow Film Festival, where the FrightFest audience is vibrant, welcoming and eager to embrace the dark unknown, and we absolutely love being a strand of such a truly interactive experience with the art of film”.

Pigeon Shine FrightFest runs as part of Glasgow Film Festival from Thu 6 to Sat 8 Mar 2025 at Glasgow Film Theatre