A rich vein of new horror is set to be unleashed at the London Film Festival 2022, which starts on 5 October 2022.
Horror highlights of LFF 2022 include –
Coma
Locked indoors, a teenage girl passes time in a state of limbo. She follows the channel of a mysterious YouTuber called Patricia Coma. FaceTime chats with girlfriends with whom she shares a passion for serial killers are interspersed with stop-motion animations of talking Barbie dolls and a VR perspective inside a terrifying forest; the juxtaposition of these elements creates an unsettling and disorienting observation on growing up in our troubled times. Where is the line between reality and an imagined world? Introduced by Bonello as letter to his 18-year-old daughter, Coma is a hugely creative, genre-bending and multi-layered film. The last entry in his trilogy on youth, it conveys the angst and guilt of living in a ‘sick’ world while conveying faith in the creative power of a younger generation.
Enys Men
On a remote island off the Cornish coast, a volunteer environmentalist records daily observations about a rare flower growing near the cliff edge. Going about her tasks with meticulous care, the nameless ecologist lives a life of isolation and repetition, her routine only occasionally interrupted by a local man who comes to deliver petrol for her antique power generator. But as changes suddenly appear on the plant she is studying, the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur, plunging the volunteer into a nightmarish, metaphysical dreamscape. Triumphantly delivering on the promise of his extraordinary debut, Jenkin’s sophomore feature is a fascinatingly abstract, almost dialogue-free throwback to the British folk horror films of the 1970s – steeped in cine-literacy yet bracingly singular in its own right.
Nanny
Aisha is a Senegalese nanny, working undocumented in New York for a wealthy white family. She looks after her ward Rose, secretly feeding the girl jollof rice when she won’t eat the food her mother leaves for her. Meanwhile, Aisha’s son remains at home in Senegal, as she tirelessly works to raise money for him to join her. As Aisha’s relationship with her employers gains complexity, so too does her connection to home, finding herself haunted by figures from West African folklore like the water spirit Mami Wata and the trickster god Anansi. What are these symbols trying to warn her about – her employers, or something darker lurking within her own life? With a stunning and distinctive visual style, Jusu weaves together a complex and tense portrait of labour, privilege and motherhood. Nanny is a remarkably accomplished first feature with a layered and compelling performance from Anna Diop at its centre.
Attachment
In this slow-burn horror, a Danish woman is forced to reckon with her girlfriend’s family secrets when she moves with her to London’s Orthodox Jewish community.
The Kingdom Exodus
Lars von Trier returns with the long-awaited third season of his landmark supernatural hospital drama, 25 years after the first series aired.
Linoleum
The struggling host of a TV science show builds a rocket ship in his garage while a series of mysterious occurrences make him question his own reality.
New Normal
Six tales of loneliness, romance and brutal murder interconnect in this ingenious horror-comedy set in social media-obsessed, post-pandemic Seoul.
NightMare
Like the 3am screams of a new-born, this chilling Norwegian pregnancy horror is guaranteed to give you sleepless nights.
The Origin
Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘period film’, Andrew Cumming’s Palaeolithic horror movie is a true original.
You Won’t Be Alone
There are films you watch and films that you experience. This captivating folk horror fairytale is unquestionably the latter.
Find out more about London Film Festival.
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