As 2015’s Grimmfest draws ever closer, the organisers behind the festival of horror and cult film, set to be held at Manchester’s Odeon at the Printworks, have released details of some of the special guests who will be in attendance.

Thursday 1 October:

The opening night of Grimmfest 2015 features a showcase of Northern shorts including the world premiere of The Box, the directorial debut of Shaune Harrison, the SFX make-up guru who has worked on everything from Hellraiser 3 through to The Avengers.  The director will joing Grimmfest alongside stars of the film Dominic Brunt (Emmerdale) who has recently showcased his own directing skills with gritty, intense horror features Before Dawn and Bait, and Joanne Mitchell, his partner and creative collaborator, writer, producer and star of both films.

The gala headline opening feature will be the North West premiere of rural shocker The Hallow whose director Corin Hardy will join proceedings.  Hardy has just been named the director on the upcoming Crow reboot.  Star of The Hallow Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) will also be in attendance.l

Friday 2 October:

The UK premiere of German Angst, a portmanteau of tales of terror will find Denis Lysons star of the central story ‘Make A Wish’ introducing the film and talking about his experiences on set.

Cherry Tree will also receive its North West premiere screening.  The woodland witchcraft shocker’s screenwriter and producer Brendan McCarthy will join Grimmfest 2015 for this.  He will be joined by two of the films starts, Naomi Battrick (Crossing Lines, Waterloo) and Sam Hazeldine (The Machine, Ripper Street).

Saturday 3 October:

The acclaimed documentary The Nightmare will be screened.  The film, which explores the phenomenon of sleep paralysis features real-life subjects, one of whom Steve Payter will be joining grimmfest to share some of his unsettling dream experiences.

The evening will feature Paul Hyett’s shocker Howl, a true ‘Werewolves on a Train’ piece, receiving its North West Premiere at Grimmfest.  The event will welcome SFX maestro turned director Hyett alongside one of the film’s stars Holly Weston (Wisdom and Filth, John Carter, Hollyoaks) who was at the very first Grimmfest as the star of Splintered, directed by Festival Directors Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones.

Sunday 4 October:

Celebrating the release of the remastered Hellraiser, Grimmfest 2015 will be joined by author, anthologist and Hellraiser exper Paul Kane, whose latest novel Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell sees master detective matching wits with the Cenebites.

Closing Grimmfest 2015 will be the conceptually-challenging Sci-Fi epic DMX, a fusion of theology, quantum physics, psychedelia and martial arts, whose visionary director Andrew Goth will be joining the event to introduce the film.


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