Heading to Horror Channel FrightFest 2017? Horror Channel Manager Stewart Bridle lists some of the fearful flicks to catch.

Horror Channel FrightFest returns to London this August and has its usual abundance of riches for the genre film fan. Choosing what to watch can be a hard and painful process every year and I often want to clone myself just so I can enjoy it all. With such a fantastic line-up for 2017 the task seems even harder but for what it's worth here's ten of the films that I recommend you treat your eyeballs to.

CULT OF CHUCKY
Everyone's favourite "friend to the end" returns to play at FrightFest once again and this time to do the honours of opening the festival itself. It's strange to think we're now on the seventh film of this unlikely franchise which has gone to some pretty strange and Meta places during the run so far. 2013's Curse Of Chucky brought the series back to its simple slasher roots a little and this instalment is set to continue that story with Fiona Douriff returning from that movie alongside previous series stars such as Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany and even Alex Vincent as the original Andy Barclay. Series creator Dom Mancini looks to have crafted another fun and frightening entry that draws on many elements from the movies series so far so will this bring things full circle and be the final playtime for Chucky?

IT STAINS THE SANDS RED
Although this actually took it's FrightFest bow in Glasgow back in February I'm glad it's also getting an English premiere at the London event as it is one of my favourite horrors this year. Yes, zombie movies are certainly a dime a dozen these days but this one pairs it all down to a simple but incredibly effective story of a lone woman being relentlessly pursued through the desert by a single, undead shambling corpse and is all the better for it. With a tour-de-force performance from Brittany Allen as the Las Vegas party girl caught up in this slice of the apocalypse and direction from Colin Minihan, of Grave Encounters and Extraterrestrial fame, this movie is by turns thrilling, hilarious, shocking and sad (not since Day Of The Dead's Bub will you find yourself caring as much for a flesh-eater). The feedback from its showing in Glasgow was extremely positive with many fans stating that although they didn't like zombie movies they very much enjoyed It Stains..., so if that sounds like you then take a bite out of this.

SEQUENCE BREAK
There's a fair bit of science-fiction related horror this year and one of the stand-out shockers is Graham Skipper's Sequence Break. With touches of 80's classics such as Videodrome and Altered States this is described as a surreal sci-fi romance set around a video arcade repairman who encounters a strange new console and a beautiful young woman leading to disturbing manifestations of weird and grotesque bio-mechanical creations and the breakdown of reality itself. Skipper has been the stand-out star of previous FrightFest hits Almost Human, The Mind's Eye and Beyond The Gates, which all have their fair share of strange and retro imagery, so it will be extremely interesting to see what he will produce from the other side of the camera.

LEATHERFACE
If there is one franchise that has suffered from fatigue with multiple sequels, prequels, reboots and reinventions its that surrounding chainsaw-loving Texan Leatherface. So the question is what could yet another entry into this saga have to recommend it and the answer lies in directors Julian Maury and Alexandre Bustillo. The French writing and directing team have been behind some amazing slices of Gaelic horror such as Inside, Livid and Among The Living and now they bring their extreme sensibilities to this story of the origin of the skin-masked psychopath. Let's hope this puts the buzz back into the saw.

TO HELL AND BACK: THE KANE HODDER STORY
While FrightFest is great for checking out the latest cinematic scares it's also perfect for getting to go behind the make'up and masks to discover the talent involved. This year horror icon Kane Hodder, the man who has welded Jason Voorhees' machete and Victor Crowley's hatchet, has brought this documentary about his amazing life and career to the festival. With harrowing tales of a childhood of torment, a horrific on-set accident that left him scarred for life and then working to create some of horror's greatest and most iconic monsters this should be a special and interesting film about someone who is rightly regarded as not just a great stuntman but an important and much loved ambassador for the genre.

ATTACK OF THE ADULT BABIES
With one of the most interesting titles of the festival this year and an intriguing premise to match this promises to be a lot of fun. Featuring fat men in nappies being tended to by nurses in suspenders on the surface but delving deeper into themes of hypocrisy and moral corruption from those who control society all wrapped up in scenes that are promised to make even seasoned gore-hounds reach for the sick bags (tales from the Glasgow showing of preview footage mentioned the invention of a 'shit-cannon' for some effects work). Director Dominic Brunt is regular FrightFest attendee and has amazed with previous movies Before Dawn and Bait so get ready for him to take it to a whole new level with this one. Best bring a bib though!

CANARIES
One of the best additions to FrightFest in recent years has been the 'First Blood' strand, exposing audiences to debut movies from up and coming British film makers, and one of the stand-out efforts this year looks to be this Welsh sci-fi horror comedy from Peter Stray. Coming on like a version of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste set in the Valleys this looks like it could be quite innovative with not just alien invasion but also time-travel involved, all happening during a pissed-up New Years Eve party. Go in expecting aliens in rain-macs, lots of beer and some biting Welsh humour and show your support for some home-grown horror.

MAYHEM
Work can be hell at times, even at Horror Channel HQ, and no more so than in Joe Lynch's action-packed comedy. The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun is an attorney that wishes he'd taken a sickie the day an infectious outbreak hit's his law firm making everyone act out their wildest impulses. FrightFest favourite Lynch has proved he has both great chops at the scares and laughs with Chillerama and Wrong Turn 2 and last movie Everly was an impressive action thrill-ride so with Mayhem combining all of those elements we should be in for a fun and crazy day in the office.

LOWLIFE
If you're flagging a bit by the final day of the festival then this bat-shit crazy caper should certainly wake you up. An addict, an ex-con and a Mexican luchador collide when an organ-harvesting job goes horribly wrong and these sordid small-timers must fight with all they have to save a pregnant woman from a nasty fate. There's always a few out-there flicks each year and Ryan Prows' debut looks like it could be a future cult classic as it weaves insane and bloody violence, a Pulp Fiction like vignette narrative and some memorable characters into what can be a hard but extremely interesting watch.

TRAGEDY GIRLS
This year's festival closer brings the satire to the slasher in a way that hasn't been seen since the Scream series. With a comedic modern theme that speaks of obsession with social media status, and how far some will go to maintain their online profile, this movie should bring the hilarity along with the horror. Rising stars Alexandra Shipp and Brianna Hilderbrand power director Tyler MacIntryre's follow-up to previous FrightFest hit of female fury Patchwork as High School seniors that use a serial killer and his murders for their own ends. Closing movies can be divisive among the crowds but are always something interesting and I think there'll be much to make you click the 'like' button for this one.

Ship to Shore Phono Co. is to release the original soundtrack to the folk-horror film Hellbender!

Growing up is hell! Young teenager Izzy and her mother have an isolated existence in their secluded home deep in the mountainous woods, living as one with nature and passing the time playing in their two-woman band H6LLB6ND6R. Izzy has an immunodeficiency disorder which prohibits her from seeing other people, but when she encounters a lost hiker on one of her woodland treks it kickstarts a chain of events which reveals the dark truth behind her segregation from civilisation.

Mixing authentic old school witchcraft with modern coming-of-age drama, the film-making Adams Famil...

In 2020 Rob Savage took the found footage drama and dragged it into the 21st century with Host, a gripping and truly chilling paranormal take on the online meeting format. Filled with wit, invention and some terrific jump scare, the movie become a huge hit. Now Savage is back with Dashcam, another take on online horror, this time though he's ramped it up to 11 and delivered a bold, brutal and brilliant piece of horror.

Annie Hardy is on a crazy horror road trip to the UK to meet up with her old music partner, Stretch (Amar Chadha-Patel). After upsetting his partner and stealing his car, Annie...

Horror Channel is moving to a new home on Freeview, find us on channel 41 from the 25th May 2022.

Go to Freeview for more information on how to continue watching.

"They are hostile, these Sensorites, but in the strangest possible way..."

Demon Records presents a narrated TV soundtrack from the very first series of Doctor Who, The Sensorites starring William Hartnell as the Doctor.

The TARDIS lands on board a spaceship, in orbit around a planet known as the Sense-Sphere. The Doctor and his companions learn that the human crew have been imprisoned on their craft by the Sensorites, who blame them for the introduction of a fatal disease. When the Sensorites steal the TARDIS lock, the travellers are forced to go with the aliens to their planet and attempt to broker peace between the races. But ...

From small beginnings in 1974 as a local cinema and university event, Film Fest Gent has grown yearly in stature and is now recognised as one of the major destinations for the film industry. A vital component is the celebration of film music in the shape of the World Soundtrack Awards which honours the very best composers at work in the world of cinema.

In 2015, renowned Hollywood composer Alan Silvestri was lauded for his outstanding contribution to screen music in a career which extends over forty years. With over 100 film and TV credits he has created memorable music for many of the most revered and profitable films of the modern era including Back to The Future, ...

Originally released on the 31st of July 2015, the vinyl edition of John Carpenter's classic 1981 thriller, Escape from New York mirrored the expanded CD release from 2000, with over 20 minutes of previously unreleased music plus music from scenes deleted from the final print and original dialogue highlights.

The masters for that CD were re-mixed from the original multi-track session tapes by long-time Carpenter associate Alan Howarth making it a true unmissable release.

Silva Screen Records will re-release this score on red vinyl for the first time on May 27th.

Issued on limited edition white vinyl is Max Richter's emotive and minimal score to Damon Lindelof's TV series The Leftovers which is about a post-apocalyptic global event where 2% of the world's population disappears without explanation. Richter's approach explores the feelings of the protagonist's family, the Garveys, through intimate, small-scale music.

He tackles this psychological landscape by bringing a ritual quality to the score, while themes of departure and loss are represented by a sense of sonic decay, relying on the instrumentation of a few sustained tones on pianos, harps and celesta.

Max Richter is a classically trained composer that defies bo...

Back by popular demand having been originally released in 2013 on black vinyl, the now classic soundtrack to Doctor Who Series 1 and 2 has been repressed on coloured vinyl for the first time thanks to Silva Screen Records.

The enduringly popular music to Doctor Who Series 1 & 2 features some of Murray Gold's finest work alongside two songs from Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), Song For 10 from 2005's Christmas Special and Love Don't Roam from The Runaway Bride.

Gold is one of the most popular British composers working in film and TV with successes including Alien Autopsy, Casanova, Shameless and Mischief Night.

This new editi...

This June, Horror Channel once again journeys into the history of genre cinema with The Vintage Vault, presenting double-bills of classic sci-fi and horror films every Sunday night.

The vault is unlocked on Sunday June 5th with Nathan Juran's Ray Harryhausen inspired 20 Million Miles to Earth. This is paired with Fred F. Sears' rampaging alien bird yarn The Giant Claw. Then on Sunday June 12th, we have The Monolith Monsters, in which the world is attacked by thirsty giant crystals, followed by the beastly mutant classic The Deadly Mantis.

On Sunday June 19th, the brilliantly lurid The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), directed by Terence Fisher, hits our screens, followed ...

Ryan Simon's British supernatural chiller Demon Eye, starring Darren Day, and Liam Fox, and Brad Baruh's Coen-sequel mystery thriller Night Drive, starring AJ Bowen and Sophie Dalah, both receive Friday night UK TV premieres on Horror Channel.

There are also channel premieres for John Carpenter's cult classic Assault On Precinct 13 and Finnish-German sci-fi Nazi horror spoof Iron Sky: The Coming Race, directed by Timo Vuorensola (Iron Sky) and starring Udo Kier, reprising his role as Adolf Hitler.

Plus, cult classic Farscape returns with the channel premieres of Season 3 and 4. This Australian-American Sci-Fi TV series, created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, has proved a big hit with Horror...

Zombie cinema is a genre that's literally dying on its feet. Restrained by its own concept strong or original movies of the undead are few and very far between. The TV series The Walking Dead and all its spin-offs has ensured that every possible avenue of interest or uniqueness has been followed. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is a brutal and bloody entry and attempts to deliver a more violent and relevant to today's de-sensitised audience.

In a zombie infested Australian wasteland, hard-edged soldier Rhys (Luke McKenzie) - who uses zombies as fuel for his barbie - dedicates his days to tracking down and capturing s...

Rob Savage's provocative new horror Dashcam will be released in selected UK cinemas on Friday June 3, by eOne and will be available for digital download from Monday June 6. Savage, who was the genius behind Host in 2020 seems to have tapped into what makes found-footage such a chilling genre and this time has turned the tension up to 11!

Dashcam follows Annie Hardy on a crazy horror road trip. Viewed through her livestream, this abrasive musician's night takes a dangerous turn after she agrees to help transport a frail elderly woman out of town. As you can guess, things don't go to plan and a surreal road-trip begins to unfold...