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Christmas might not have been cancelled yet, but it's likely to feel a little constrained by circumstances this year.
But that doesn't mean you have to settle for a lump of coal in your stocking. The Grimmfest Team have sold their souls to Santa to secure a suitably sinister sack-full of goodies, a sleigh full of slayers. Two nights of festive frights, seasonal shockers and merry mean-spiritedness, delivered right into your homes. Fearsome feature films, startling shorts, and all manner of eerie extras; everything you need for a chilling Christmas and a cruel Yule.
On Friday December 11th, Grimmfest favourite Lora Burke (POOR AGNES, LIFECHANGER) is a nurse forced to abandon her Hippocratic Oath in a brutal, bloody battle for survival, in Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen's ferocious FOR THE SAKE OF VICIOUS. And love means never having to say you're sorry, no matter how far you go to preserve it, as real-life couple Sophie Rundle and Matt Stokoe put everything on the line in Jennifer Sheridan's emotionally harrowing ROSE.
In support, a selection of shocking shorts dealing with domestic dread and family-focused fears. In the middle of a pandemic, a father struggles with his own infection and his duty to protect his daughter from harm, in Syvia Pradas' heartrending US [NOSOTROS]. A teenage girl longs to escape from the isolation of rural England, only to realise just how trapped she is, in Garreth Carter and Will Douglas' quietly devastating THE FARMHOUSE. A young woman is disturbed in the middle of the night by her boyfriend's return from the pub, and the growing suspicion that he is not alone, in Simon Stanford's unsettling INCUBUS. A man is haunted by spectres of his own guilt in Martin Thomas' oneiric THE SHALLOWS. A woman confronts her worst nightmare, in Ryan Harr and Jacquelyn Ferguson's nerve-jangling REFLECTED. A young carer starts to feel increasingly under threat in her patient's home in Damien Fannon's subtly creepy and claustrophobic THE KEEPER.
On Saturday December 12th there's a controversial countdown to Christmas in DEATHCEMBER, a sour and shocking seasonal spin on the multiple microshort anthology. Twenty four short films, twenty-four directors, and a whole host of top genre talent: an advent calendar crammed with toxic treats. And because you've all been so good this year, Grimmfest is screening the film in its uncut form. Finally, in this age of online festivals and socially distanced screenings, Maximiliano Contenti's elegantly retro-styled slasher RED.
SCREENING [ AL MORIR LA MATINÉE] offers a timely reminder of what we are all missing: a classic night out at the cinema. Popcorn, overpriced sodas, the chance of romance. And the possibility of being stabbed through the head by a violent lunatic.
And as an aperitif, a selection of startling shorts. An army pilot survives a plane crash, only to find he's leapt from the frying pan right into the fire in Ben and Jacob Burghart's appropriately named SUSPENSE. A young social media influencer takes increasingly extreme risks to win more followers in Sean Q. King's slyly satiric LIKE ME DEADLY. A young man receives an unexpectedly troubling birthday present from his fiance in Dinh Thai's darkly comic MAKE A WISH. And a young girl has a very bad day at school, in HERE THERE BE TYGERS. Polly Schattel's surreal, gender-flipped reinterpretation of Stephen King's very first published short story.
Plus cast and crew Q&As, Christmas competitions and other goodies.
Just add mulled wine and mince pies for the perfect festive film show.
For more information https://grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/
For tickets: https://xmahorrornights.eventive.org/welcome
For any enquires please contact: katieb@grimmfest.com
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