The Opening Night Gala line-up of the forthcoming Grimmfest festival (running 2nd – 5th October in Manchester) has been announced and will feature three premiers.

The annual festival of horror and cult film, which is now into its sixth year, is set to release the full line-up next week.

Headlining the Opening Night Gala is the English Premiere of Brian O’Malley’s Scottish/Irish horror movie Let Us Prey, starring Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) and Pollyanna McIntosh (The Woman).  “We join Rachel (Pollyanna McIntosh), a rookie cop, as she is about to begin her first nightshift in a neglected police station in a Scottish, backwater town. The kind of place where the tide has gone out and stranded a motley bunch of the aimless, the forgotten, the bitter-and-twisted who all think that, really, they deserve to be somewhere else. They all think they’re there by accident and that, with a little luck, life is going to get better. Wrong, on both counts. Six (Liam Cunningham) is about to arrive – and All Hell Will Break Loose!”

The stars and director of Let Us Prey are set to join the proceedings on the opening night as Pollyanna McIntosh, Liam Cunningham (tbc), Douglas Russell, Hanna Stanbridge and Brian O’Malley will be taking part in a Q&A session following the film.

 

Following Let Us Prey will be the UK premiere of Suburban Gothic (Directed and co-written by Richard Bates Jr), starring Matthew Gray Gubler (500 Days of Summer), Kat Dennings (Thor), Ray Wise (Robocop, Twin Peaks), Jeffrey Combs (Reanimator), John Waters and The Soska Sisters.  Featuring a stand out cast, Suburban Gothic tells the tale of Raymond (Matthew Gray Gubler), a college graduate who can’t find work, but is able to channel the paranormal.  Raymond returns home to his overbearing mother, his racist ex-jock father and old school tormentors to discover the small town being terrorized by a vengeful ghost and calls upon local bartender Becca to help solve the mystery.

 

The night will open up with the world premiere of ‘Vegan Feminist Horror’ Short Film The Herd, which also stars Pollyanna McIntosh as well as Victoria Broom (Stalled) and Charlotte Hunter (Emmerdale).  The film is directed and produced by Melanie Light and written by Ed Pope.

“Imprisoned within inhuman squalor with other women. Paula’s existence and human function is abused as a resource by her captors. Escape, on any level, is hopeless as the women are condemned to a life of enforced servitude at the whims of their imprisoners for one reason only – their milk.”

 

Grimmfest - featuring short film The Herd

Grimmfest – featuring short film The Herd

 

The full festival pass for Grimmfest 2014 is available now and promises exclusive competitions, goody backs and access to everything at The Dancehouse including Suspiria, live scored by Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin.


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