Kevin Lewis has built a reputation for fearless genre filmmaking, and his latest, Pig Hill, arrives at FrightFest 2025 with plenty of anticipation. After the cult success of Willy’s Wonderland, Lewis trades in tongue-in-cheek animatronic mayhem for something much darker: an adaptation of Nancy Williams’s novel rooted in Meadville, Pennsylvania’s unsettling urban legend of the “pig people.” The setup is promising.
Read MoreStrange Harvest (2024)
Stuart Ortiz, best known for co-directing Grave Encounters, returns with a daring experiment in horror storytelling: a faux true-crime documentary that blurs the line between reality and nightmare. Strange Harvest unfolds with such meticulous authenticity that, if stumbled upon mid-broadcast, it could easily pass for a legitimate investigative docuseries about a serial killer. The story follows Detectives Joe Kirby and Lexi Taylor as they unravel the return of “Mr. Shiny,” a sadistic killer whose ritualistic murders are tied not just to occult symbolism but to forces of a distinctly cosmic persuasion.
Read MoreEden (2024)
Ron Howard’s Eden is a survival thriller that blends prestige with pulp, historical truth with cinematic spectacle. Produced by Brian Grazer, Howard, Karen Lunder, Stuart Ford, William M. Connor, and Patrick Newall, the film assembles an impressive cast—Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, and Sydney Sweeney—for a story drawn from the real-life settlers of Floreana Island in the Galápagos during the 1930s. On paper, the premise is irresistible: a band of idealists flee modern civilization for paradise, only to discover that the most dangerous predators are themselves.
Read MoreTrust (2025)
In Trust, a taut psychological thriller directed by Carlson Young, Sophie Turner trades dragons and mutants for something far grittier—a panic room, a hacked iCloud, and a pregnancy that raises more questions than stakes. Set in the rural outskirts of Redlands, California, the film aims for visceral tension and trauma survival but lands somewhere between earnest ambition and overwrought genre mashup. Turner plays Lauren, a Hollywood starlet in hiding after a scandal leaves her life—and her trust—shattered.
Read MoreBrute 1976 (2025)
Director Marcel Walz’s latest film, Brute 1976, is a blood-soaked, bell-bottomed descent into grindhouse homage. Co-written with Joe Knetter and released by Cinephobia Releasing, the film aims to channel the chaotic spirit of ‘70s horror staples like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. It mostly succeeds—but not without hitting a few potholes on the desert road to cult glory.
Read MoreHell House LLC: Lineage (2025)
The Hell House LLC franchise has built its reputation on atmospheric scares, lore-heavy storytelling, and an uncanny ability to make simple images like a clown standing still in a dark hallway feel utterly terrifying. With Lineage, the fifth and supposedly final installment, writer-director Stephen Cognetti takes a new approach by moving away from found footage and into a more traditional narrative style. The result is a film that is both ambitious and frustrating, offering moments of genuine tension alongside stretches weighed down by exposition.
Read MorePools (2025)
Sam Hayes’ Pools crashes onto the indie scene with a splash, balancing stylized flair and emotional sincerity in a coming-of-age story that’s part Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, part Rushmore, and all heart. Powered by a breakthrough performance from Odessa A’zion, this is a film that isn’t afraid to get weird, go deep, and dive headfirst into the chaos of growing up. Set over the course of one neon-soaked night, Pools follows Kennedy, a rebellious college student with one last shot at staying in school.
Read MoreTake from Me (2025)
Take From Me, the feature debut from writer and director West Eldredge, is a slow-burning horror-thriller that weaves grief, temptation, and psychological tension into a story that sticks with you. Originally known under the title Love Dogs, the film follows John, a widowed Appalachian man portrayed with quiet intensity by Ethan McDowell. Still reeling from loss, John finds himself drawn to a mysterious young woman, Elizabeth, played by Kyla Dyan, who purchases his old farmhouse. As John becomes increasingly tethered to her, a local disappearance unsettles the town, leading the police captain to suspect a darker presence lurking beneath the surface of their seemingly quiet community.
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