Last week, our friends at the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham, England, promised that we would find out what feature films they are bringing to this year's event. Today is the day and for three days and four nights the Mayhem crowd will fill the Broadway Nottingham and experience some of the best international genre cinema currently on the festival circuit.
Opening night has a South East Asian flavor, starting with Raging Grace, the story of an undocumented Filipina housekeeper and her daughter staying in a home of a family with dark secrets. The evening concludes with the Filipino explosive action flick, Topakk (Triggered), the story of a former soldier who protects a young woman from a corrupt police death squad.
Other titles familiar to readers will be the unearthed Japanese horror flick, Door, and the latest timey-wimey flick River, from Junta Yamaguchi. Equally hilarious is the dialogue-free slapstick comedy Hundreds of Beavers.
Everything you need to know about this year's lineup is in the official announcement. Tickets are on sale now!
Mayhem Film Festival announces full festival line-upIndividual tickets and Frankenstein ticket packages to also go on saleWith just a month to go before Mayhem’s 19th edition takes place at Broadway, Nottingham (12-15 October), the team is excited to reveal this year’s full festival line-up. With a mix of premieres, previews, classics and Q&As, there is something for every fan of horror, sci-fi and cult cinema in this year’s programme.Mayhem Film Festival will open on Thursday 12 October with a preview of Paris Zarcilla’s Raging Grace. Following an undocumented Filipina immigrant who takes on a job caring for an ailing man to try and provide for her young daughter, Raging Grace is a chilling thriller with hints of gothic horror. Rounding off the first night will be Richard V. Somes’ violent action-packed martial-arts thriller, Topakk (Triggered) in which a former special forces operative attempts to save a woman from a corrupt police death squad.Friday 13 October sees day 2 of the festival, and superstitions are at the heart of our opening film. Set in 17th-century England, Sean Hogan’s To Fire You Come at Last follows a group of men struggling to ignore ancient folk tales as they set off to carry a coffin on a long walk to the local graveyard. Director Sean Hogan, previously at Mayhem in 2011 for The Devil’s Business and in 2015 for Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD, will return for a post-screening Q&A.We’ll then delve into the archives for giallo-inspired Door from Japanese director Banmei Takahashi, in which a woman becomes increasingly paranoid after being threatened on the phone by a local salesman.We’ll move into the evening with the previously announced UK Premiere of Bertrand Mandico’s mind-bending epic Conann, before ending the day with Joe Lynch’s gory horror Suitable Flesh.We’ll open Saturday 14 October with Mike Cheslik’s Hundreds of Beavers - a no-dialogue live-action cartoon epic in which a drunken applejack salesman must defeat hundreds of beavers to have a chance at being with the woman of his dreams.We’ll then head into Matt Vesely’s sci-fi thriller, Monolith, in which a podcaster tries to get to the bottom of an alien conspiracy after discovering the existence of a mysterious artefact, before delving into this year’s beloved Short Film Showcase, featuring 15 films from around the world.The evening will start with the previously announced Where The Devil Roams from the Adams family who we are absolutely delighted to welcome to this year’s festival. John Adams, Lulu Adams and Toby Poser will join us for a post-screening Q&A, before we wrap up the evening with Robert Rodriguez’ cult sci-fi horror, The Faculty.Our last day will open with River, another time-loop fantasy from Junta Yamaguchi (Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, Mayhem 2021), before stepping into the UK Premiere of Franck Khalfoun’s (Maniac, Mayhem 2012) Night of the Hunted - a bloody thriller in which a woman is tormented by a lone sniper after stopping at a gas station in the middle of the night.The previously announced bloody folk horror from Ariel Vida, Trim Season, will round-up the afternoon.As we move into our final evening, we’ll present the remarkable The Animal Kingdom from French director Thomas Caillet - a body horror sci-fi set in a not-so-distant future in which some humans begin to mutate into other animal species.We’ll then close the festival with the previously announced UK Premiere of Thomas Sainsbury’s surprising debut feature, Loop Track.Full Festival Passes are still available for £85, giving you access to all films and events from this year’s festival. Individual tickets and Frankenstein ticket packages (where you can select four films for the price of three), are now also available. For more information, and to book tickets and passes, please visit www.mayhemfilmfestival.com. For Frankenstein ticket packages, please visit Broadway’s box office or contact them on 0115 952 6611.Mayhem Film Festival takes place at Broadway, Nottingham on 12-15 October 2023.MAYHEM FILM FESTIVAL 2023 - FULL FESTIVAL LINE-UPThursday 12 October7.00PM - RAGING GRACE // Dir. Paris Zarcilla, UK, 100m, 20239.15PM - TOPAKK (TRIGGERED) // Dir. Richard Somes, Philippines, 113m, 2023, with English subtitlesFriday 13 October2.30PM - TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST + Q&A // Dir. Sean Hogan, UK/US, 43m, 20234.15PM - DOOR // Dir. Banmei Takahashi, Japan, 95m, 1988, with English subtitles7.00PM - CONANN [UK Premiere] // Dir. Bertrand Mandico, Belgium/France, 105m, 2023, with English subtitles9.15PM - SUITABLE FLESH // Dir. Joe Lynch, US, 101m, 2023Saturday 14 October12.00PM - HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS // Dir. Mike Cheslik, US, 108m, 20232.15PM - MONOLITH // Dir. Matt Vesely, Australia, 94m, 20224.15PM - Short Film Showcase // Dirs. Various, International, 120m, 2023, partly subtitled7.30PM - WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS + Q&A // Dirs. John Adams, Lulu Adams & Toby Poser, US, 93m, 202310.00PM - THE FACULTY // Dir. Robert Rodriguez, US, 104m, 1998Sunday 15 October12.00PM - RIVER // Dir. Junta Yamaguchi, Japan, 86m, 2023, with English subtitles2.00PM - NIGHT OF THE HUNTED [UK Premiere] // Dir. Franck Khalfoun, US/France, 95m, 20234.00PM - TRIM SEASON // Dir. Ariel Vida, US, 100m, 20236.45PM - THE ANIMAL KINGDOM // Dir. Thomas Cailley, France, 130m, 2023, with English subtitles9.30PM - LOOP TRACK [UK Premiere] // Dir. Thomas Sainsbury, New Zealand, 94m, 2023