FrightFest Announces 2025 Short Film Showcases
FrightFest has presented the best in global genre short film since 2004, and this year’s selection of provocative tales highlights a record-breaking year of entries as the festival programmes four Short Film Showcases, all offering their own terrifying twists and turns.
This year’s selection, screened at the Odeon LUXE West End, unleashes the latest genre gems from across the world. There are 29 world premieres, with nine countries represented, spanning four continents.
Check out the full FrightFest Short Film Showcase lineup below:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 1
DEAD TOOTH (London Premiere)
Director: Romane Eilahtan
With: Tara Lindström. France, 2024. 20 min.
Tara has a dental appointment to fix a dead tooth. But one unexpected event after another turns this endless day into hell. Will Tara find a way to smile again, and at what cost?
OBEY! (International Premiere)
Director: Jordan Wippell
With: Paige Phillips, OpieQ. US, 2025. 11 min.
After the tragic death of her viral dog, Max, a pet influencer is confronted by a vengeful spirit demanding an apology for a life of exploitation.
TAPESTRY (World Premiere)
Director: Jason Sheedy
With: Erin Ownbey, Sam Jenkins, Clay Randel. US, 2025. 7 min.
A desperate mother performs an occult ritual to resurrect her lost child.
FLOWERS (World Premiere)
Director: Nic McRobbie
With: Mia Fitzgerald, Alex Henderson, David Vikman. Australia, 2025. 5 min.
A backyard experiment with a mind-altering tea made from Flowers results in a whole lot more than expected…
PANDORA, INC. (International Premiere)
Director: Joe Lueben
With: Jacob A. Ware. US, 2025. 12 min.
While his wife and kids are out of town, a stressed-out illustrator risks losing everything when DAWN – an alluring A.I. creation -mysteriously arrives at his home and begins to seduce him.
VASEN (World Premiere)
Director: Kristofer Vishnu Kiggs Carlsson
With: Johanna Smitz, Juliette Mayson, Natanael Horner. Sweden, 2025. 8 min.
In a cold 18th-century Sweden, two sisters fight for their survival as they find themselves trapped in a farmhouse by the maleficent Gårdstomten and his army of man-eating Mylings.
VOWELS (International Premiere)
Director: Rafael De Leon
With: Alexa Smith, Sunny Makwana, Chelsea Carpenter. US, 2025. 5 min.
Ava needs to record a self-tape, but her speech impediment keeps getting in the way.
FIVE STAR (International Premiere)
Director: Kai Hamada Hasson
With: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Tate Hanyok. US, 2025. 14 min.
When late-night locksmith Soung Kang is asked to lock a door forever, he discovers a dark secret that pushes him to extraordinary lengths to secure his five-star Yelp review.
MURDERBIRD (World Premiere)
Director: Barrett Lesly Shuler
With: Sophie Isbell, Adam Raickovich, Elly Kouri, Donovan Edelstein. US, 2025.16 min.
In an attempt to save his relationship, a man buys his girlfriend a rare exotic bird. After the couple develops a deep emotional bond with the bird, its true colours begin to emerge.
Saturday, August 23: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 2
NEEDLETEETH (World Premiere)
Director: Daniel Lewis Martin
With: Aidan Rivers, Owen Mulhall. UK, 2025. 16 min.
In rural Ireland, a reserved farm boy lives under the stern watch of his father. When their sheep are found brutally slaughtered, a creeping suspicion grows alongside a strange hunger…
THE MAN THAT I WAVE AT (London Premiere)
Director: Ben Stephen Hyland
With: Sam Pamphilon, Marek Larwood, Rebecca Shorrocks. UK, 2025. 11 min.
After a gentle ribbing from his wife, a man experiences an existential crisis trying to work out the identity of the man that he waves at.
MY BEST FRIENDS (World Premiere)
Director: William Willoughby
With: Paul Ginns. UK, 2025. 13 min.
An apparent act of kindness—Alex brings home take-away food for his best friends—has horrifying repercussions.
BLOODBUZZ (World Premiere)
Director: Daisy Bata
With: Beth Taylor, Johnny Vivash, Ed Hartland. UK, 2025. 15 min.
Amid a bug-infested heatwave driven by climate breakdown, a troubled, conspiracy-obsessed teen on the run is taken by a reclusive farmer. But when her manipulative stepbrother arrives, it’s not just the mosquitoes she will have to survive.
NO ONE IS COMING TO RESCUE YOU (World Premiere)
Director: Ruth Platt
With: Ema Cavolli, Arseniy Cassidy, Joseph Pollock, Jasper Jacob. UK, 2025. 9 min.
Harry has brought his new girlfriend to meet his family on a beautiful summer’s day. Little does he know she harbors a long-standing, dark revenge against his doctor father, whom he hero worships.
GILDA (World Premiere)
Director: Matty Ride-Smith
With: Kylie Ann Ford. UK, 2025. 10 min.
An evening unfolds in real time as Gilda, a struggling performer to sets up a kids’ club, finds herself terrorised by an occult presence.
INEBRIATED (World Premiere)
Director: Max R. Lincoln
With: Bethan Cullinane, Sharon Small, Patrick Brennan, Mark Strepan. UK, 2025. 12 min.
To rescue her possessed boyfriend, Van must confront her demons, beginning with her parents.
YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL (Special Presentation)
Director: Mookie Ma
With: Brendan Howley, Tara-Marie Tigue. UK, 2025. 12 min.
A lonely prowler of the night has a chance encounter with the girl of his dreams, but is she his redemption or his doom?
Sunday, August 24: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 3
THE LEOPARD / WAAGH (World Premiere)
Director: Mukti Krishan
With: Arjun Amedkar, Sagar Deshmukh, Sharvari Patankar. India, 2025. 20 min.
When a leopard wanders into a redeveloped apartment complex in Mumbai—its natural habitat long since encroached upon—fear quickly spreads.
WHITCH (International Premiere)
Director: Hoku Uchiyama
With: Rosemary Hochschild, Alicia Blasingame, Nora Harriet. US 2024. 6 min.
After putting her daughter to bed, Aura discovers an intruder in her house: an elderly lady who acts strangely familiar, and who is hell-bent on performing a bloody ritual before midnight.
CLICK (European Premiere)
Director: Kyle Baughman
With: Jenna Luck, Holden McNeil. US, 2024. 9 min.
A woman becomes increasingly troubled by the mysterious computer programme her boyfriend is developing.
DIY (European Premiere)
Director: Tony Gardiner ACS
With: Damon Herriman, Claire Lovering, Alexander England. Australia, 2024. 12 min.
After a bizarre mishap hanging a picture frame, a young woman stumbles into her neighbour’s secret life, realising her only chance of survival is to commit to an outrageous lie.
THORNS (UK Premiere)
Director: Nir Paniry
With: Lestonja Diaz, Jesse Gallagher. US, 2024. 7 min.
When a young college student checks on her married best friend, she unravels a mysterious paranoia that runs much more than skin deep.
CRUZ (The Kook Cook) (World Premiere)
Director: Cai O’Leary
With: Michael Olavson. US, 2024. 7 min.
Cruz is a disgruntled surfer who hails from Santa Cruz. He lives in the desert during the week and murderously hunts hipsters during the weekend.
PIMPLE (World Premiere)
Director: Fernando Alle
With: Tiago Rodrigues, António Chaves, João Miranda, Dinis Lima, João Vilas. Portugal, 2025. 5 min.
A young boy’s pimple bursts, leading to a bloody disaster.
IT LOVES ME SO (International Premiere)
Director: Colin Dean Treneff
With: Jenna Moloney. US, 2024. 11 min.
After a painful breakup, a woman’s heartbreak unwittingly attracts a love-deprived demonic entity determined to claim her soul for a terrifying eternal romance.
PRAYING MANTIS (International Premiere)
Director: Mack Breeden
With: Sam Straley, Mack Breeden, Story Slaughter. US, 2024. 14 min.
On the run after abandoning his post, a Confederate soldier takes shelter in the isolated cabin of two women who now find themselves at his mercy.
HAMMER (English Premiere)
Directors: Alejandra Parody, Ben Sottak
With: Ajani Russell, Jessica Pimentel, Ray Acevedo, Magdalena Borlando. US, 2024. 12 min.
1666, Cartagena, Colombia. An enslaved woman accused of witchcraft comes face to face with evil incarnate.
Monday, August 25: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 4
WATCH ME BURN (World Premiere)
Director: Sofia Spotti
With: Lucy Griffiths. UK, 2025. 21 min.
After an accident that left her mostly deaf, Rue moves to a remote village with her parents. Feeling isolated, she befriends a group of girls who convince her to go ahead with an act of cruelty.
THE FAIRY MOON (UK Premiere)
Director: Craig Williams
With: James Swanton, Johnny Vivash, Julia Davis. UK, 2025. 12 min.
In a small English town, a man’s life unravels after a troubling roadside encounter with a sinister stranger.
FRAME (World Premiere)
Directors: Olivia Cordell, Libby Morris
With: Alison Rogers. UK, 2025. 5 min.
When mysterious photos begin to appear on her digital picture frame, an isolated woman begins to suspect she’s not really alone.
OUIJA GO OUT WITH ME? (World Premiere)
Director: James Kennedy
With: Hatty Preston, Leah Brotherhead, Freddy Quinn. UK, 2024. 16 min.
Since the death of her boyfriend, Harriet has been traversing the hell that is the online dating scene, but to no avail. Then Harriet finds a Ouija board in the basement and an idea forms…
UNDERTONE (UK Premiere)
Director: Shaun Munro
With: Shaun Munro, Toby Norton, Eliza Chadwick. UK, 2025. 12 min.
A sound recordist captures strange sonic phenomena underneath their house, and things…escalate from there.
HOMECOMING (World Premiere)
Director: Troy Alexander
With: Maya-Nika Bewley, Troy Alexander. UK, 2025. 9 min.
When Lucy returns from a camping trip, her cruel partner Mark is suspicious. She insists nothing happened, but sometimes coming home is the hardest part…
DON’T LOOK (UK Premiere)
Director: Danny Murphy
With: Olly Rhodes, Danny Murphy, Valor Grey, Morgan Colquhoun, Liam Robertson. UK, 2024. 14 min.
A group of friends plays ‘Don’t Look,’ a game where opening your eyes summons deadly spirits. Their thrill turns to terror as they unleash supernatural forces and must confront their worst fears to survive.
GRANDMA IS THIRSTY (UK Premiere)
Director: Kris Carr
With: Harris Kiiza, Harrison Little, Jessie Johnson, Dean Kilby, Matt Swift. UK, 2025. 15 min.
All George wants is to stop getting pushed around by the local bullies. So, when a pair of weird twins offer to introduce him to their grandma—who can “make him big & strong”—he jumps at the chance.
FrightFest 2025 runs from August 21 to August 25 at Odeon LUXE Leicester Square and Odeon LUXE West End. Check out the full program and purchase tickets here.
Categorized:News
