Brighton HorrorFest Returns For Third Year

Following two successful years, Brighton HorrorFest returns to Sweet Venues with its biggest events programme yet.

2018's festival sees the return of Edinburgh Fringe sell-out hits, Father of Liesand Talking to the Dead; a tantalising tale of an unsolved murder in West Germany, and a modern day séance show boasting all the old Victorian parlour tricks. Other offerings from the recent Edinburgh Fringe include Phantasmagorical- a spooky storytelling show with a magical edge, and Fear Itself- a TED talk gone wrong with a terrifying finale.

This year's HorrorFest sees a large number of shows travelling down to Brighton from all across the UK, with Liverpool-based Thaddeus Bent's Fear-tre of Fear telling character-comedy filled ghost stories, and Victorian beat poet Paul Voodini from Sheffield presenting The Raven and Other Nasty Poems. Essex-based Tracy Wise also pays a visit with a mysterious exploration into the dark origins of fairy tales with Nursery Crimes.

Of course local companies are also stretching their macabre muscles, with cabaret and burlesque from the Foo Foo Fighters: Gothic Horror, spooky storytelling from Cast Iron Bitter Sweets, and Sary; an adaptation from Different Theatre (Metamorphosis;So You Say; Underworlds) of the 19thcentury Sussex folk tale of Ol' Sary Weaver. Extraordinary storyteller Jason Buck also makes a welcome return to Sweet Venues once again with his new selection of stories in Love, Death, and the Devil's Son.

If you prefer your scares based in a more cerebral setting, Adrian Jameson from The Other Realm Theatre (Pickman's Model) will be presenting two short lectures about The Deviland The Witch Hunts, and Two Bit Productions provide a live scored audio drama about a documentary team visiting Chernobyl, with The Worm King. Multi-award-winning writer/performer Emily Carding from Hastings will also perform Quintessence, a modern Frankenstein tale with an Artificial Intelligence twist, which was developed earlier this year in association with the London Science Museum.

London-based Hermetic Arts are also returning after success with their production BADD in 2017, with their new production Unburied, in which Carrie Marx investigates the story behind the missing tapes from a 1978 children's Folk Horror TV series. Following along with the TV theme, Will Swygart returns with a special horror-comedy edition of his Niteskreenfranchise which delighted squealing audiences at Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year, this time called Friteskreem.

There's also something for the movie fans this year, with the introduction of the Boo-tique Cinema, screening short films from local upcoming film-makers and linking them up with some classic (and some more obscure!) features.

If you like your horror with a comic twist, there's also Extreme Improv Halloween Mayhem, and award-winning sketch troupe Dirty White Boys present Mistress to the Midnight; a live stage show spoof of the classic British horror film.

Artistic Director, JD Henshaw, said, "Everyone here at Brighton Horrorfest and Sweet Venues are so excited to be entering year three of the festival - new venues, new shows, new terror! What's not to love about spending the run-up to Halloween huddled in the dark, wondering what might be lurking behind the stage curtain? We can't wait to see everyone and bring together this celebration of all things unnerving..."

Brighton HorrorFest runs 16th- 28thOctober at Sweet Werks, 15-17 Middle Street, and Sweet@The Welly, The Duke of Wellington, 70 Upper Gloucester Road. For more info and tickets, visit www.sweetvenues.com