We sent horror movie obsessive and all-round weirdo Louise Holland to FrightFest at Glasgow Film Festival 2025 to enjoy the fun. This is what she saw…
Scared To Death
Scottish (fuckin’ yassss) filmmaker Paul Boyd rocked up to FrightFest Glasgow with his comedy-horror flick Scared to Death. It stars Lin Shaye (Insidious franchise, There’s Something About Mary), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses) and relative newcomers Olivier Paris, B.J. Minor, Victoria Konefal, Jade Chynoweth, and your new favourite everything Kurt Deimer. The film is set during the pre-production stages of a horror movie and in the name of research our characters set off to… take part in a séance… in an abandoned orphanage… where five children were found dead… because obviously. What follows is some typical horror movie trope-age –
‘Argh we’re locked in!’
‘Argh, the house really is haunted!’
‘Argh, this character is possessed!’ etc
And what Boyd does is turn every one of these on its ass to provide you, dear cinema-goer, with something that feels fresh and interesting. Discussing the film at FrightFest he mentioned that he was ‘shitting it a bit’ about whether the jokes would land well with a Scottish audience – I’m sure the filled-to-capacity theatre echoing with the sounds of people simultaneously laughing and shitting themselves put him at ease. Scared to Death does lean more into its humour, thanks in large part to the casting of Shaye and Deimer but if you surrender yourself to the chaos, there’s more than a scare or two to be had.
The Doom Busters
Set during World War Two with a soundtrack straight outta 1984, and a premise from a rejected comic book – a group of army rejects finally get their wish to be part of the war when aliens drop in to their village – I was not sure this would be my jam. Now, I wasn’t wrong… HOWEVER, just because I didn’t fall in love with it does not mean it isn’t good, or that it’s unworthy of your delicate eyeballs. The script is very funny, the acting is top drawer and the set pieces are pretty impressive, especially because The Doom Busters was made for the teeny tiny sum of only EIGHT GRAND. Take that in a while, I’ll wait.
Seriously, eight thousand on a feature-film is madness and these Makers used it well. Writer/director Jack McHenry certainly didn’t let financial constraints get in the way of his ambition and that is a valuable lesson for every one of you who ever wanted to make a movie.
The Doom Busters is very aware of itself; if you think something sounds a bit cheesy or looks a bit ridiculous, they know it too, they’re all in on it and lean into the absurdity. So, I’m writing this and realising that I obviously care for it more than I first thought. Whatever, I’m allowed to change my mind, you don’t know me! I must give props in particular to actor Timothy Renouf who was a stand-out for me with his performance as William Buxton, upper-class toff who goes from prick to prince.
Hearts of Darkness: The Making of the Final Friday
This documentary, presented at FrightFest by none other than Adam Marcus, was a particular highlight for me. If you love horror films, if you love seeing how they’re made and if you love what happens in the world when people are decent to each other, then you want to watch this. It’s an in-depth tell-all about how the most controversial film in the Friday 13th franchise was made. It is also a love letter to the genre and does well to pay homage not only to the then 23-year-old Marcus who wrote and directed part 9, but to the actors and visual effects wizards who brought his insane vision to life.
You’ll get insight into the red tape creatives need to cut in order to get things done, as well as a behind-the-scenes map showing how Marcus et al managed to pull it off. Honestly, it nearly made me turn back into the film school kid who tried to write a horror film about a shopping trolley…
The American Backyard
Italia maestro Pupi Avati proves age is just a number with his latest offering being released at eighty-three. The film sees a troubled writer (that’s a thing?!) fall for an American nurse after a single glance. A year later and Lui, played with a quiet and beautiful grace by Filippo Scotti, moves to The States to work on his novel. As film-fate would have it Lui finds himself living across the yard from his nurse’s family home, but she’s not there; Barbara never made it back from Italy.
Nobody knows where Barbara is, and there’s been talk of other women disappearing in the region only to be found later completely mutilated. Sounds great, right?
Well, I wish it landed because the only things the film has going for it are the acting by Scotti and the backdrop. It felt a little Lynchian at times but ultimately left me wanting. The rest of the acting is too over-the-top, the timing of the film is too long even though the story moves at a rapid pace and the pay-offs feel like an added extra nobody asked for. The American Backyard tries to take us back to a more striking age of Italian cinema and forgot us by the side of the road en route.
In Our Blood
Emily has been estranged from her addict mother for years, but when she receives a letter from the now sober woman wanting to reconnect, documentarian Emily and her cinematographer bud Danny go on a road trip to New Mexico to get some answers and hopefully build some bridges. Shot as a documentary (stop rolling your eyes and let me finish), In Our Blood takes a turn when Sam, Emily’s mother, goes missing after they first meet.
Not satisfied by the police handling of things and the naysayers who suggest Sam has relapsed, Emily and Dany decide to sleuth it out themselves. To what end? You’ll need to watch it to find out. Seriously, you NEED to see it.
The cinematography is stunning and you genuinely care about the main characters. This is how you do a movie like this – none of your garbage “found” footage, no pointless story breaks, no absurd set-ups, EVERYthing is intentional and it’s a masterclass in striking, goosebump-inducing filmmaking. I went into this film completely blind, save for a basic premise. You’ll now do the same. I like notebooks and bourbon… y’know, because you’ll want to thank me…
A Mother’s Embrace
We are in Rio, the year is 1996, and a record-breaking storm is about to hit. Young firefighter Ana, returning to work after dealing with the death of her mother, goes with her team to an elderly care facility after a call comes in concerning the structural integrity of the building. Upon arrival it becomes very clear very quickly that this facility is a far cry from the cliché – there’s not a knitting needle or bingo dabber in sight, and nobody seems to want them there.
The film opens in Ana’s childhood and sets the film to a standard that it ultimately cannot meet. It’s a shame really because all of the elements for the perfect horror are there; troubled lead – check! Spooky dilapidated house – check! Creepy old folks with a creepy secret – check! But it just didn’t hit in the way I wanted it to. I almost think the opening sequences were too good, they were almost a separate entity to the remaining run of the film.
Cristian Ponce does well to deliver a feeling of general unease throughout, and the traumatised Ana is played with a subtle intensity by Marjorie Estiano, but even these qualities combined could not muster up any real fear or energy for the overall film. I felt it ran too long and went a helluva long way for a metaphor.
