I love going to film festivals and am planning to attend as many as I can, this year. But I can’t physically get to them all, so was really pleased to be able to remote review for Horror on Sea, an annual horror film festival held in Southend-on-Sea. Hopefully I’ll make it some day, but attending from the comfort of home is a privilege too! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on some of the movies showing at the festival (which runs Friday 10th January – Sunday 12th January, and Friday 17th January – Sunday 19th January) here, along with trailers and artwork, where I can!

USA , 57m, 2024, Directed by Dale Fabrigar

Seven tales of terror that include a ballerina, a retiring hit-man, a mysterious package, a deadly nightmare, an insightful fortune teller and an actor who would kill to get a part.

Horror on Sea opened with Very Frightening Tales, directed by Dale Fabrigar. At just 57 minutes, this anthology movie whizzes through 7 separate tales with a very small cast, some of whom play multiple roles.

The film opens strong, with a very fun and silly intro (“Show Open”), which I’d hoped would set the tone for the rest of the movie. I love anthologies and appreciate the mix of stories and visuals, but was disappointed each tale didn’t have the same campy vibe as the opening. That said, though, there were some effective stories, a stand-out being “Fortune”.

Two women visit a fortune teller, played by Sally Struthers (one of two more recognisable faces), who warns them if one of them doesn’t admit to a terrible secret, they will die that night. The story was well-paced and had some great creature and prop design – definitely my favourite of the tales. The others either had an interesting story that I feel wasn’t explored fully in the short run time, or went on for a little long for the amount of plot. There were definitely some really interesting ideas (especially with “The Delivery” and “Brave”) that I think could have been more effective with a longer run time. But that’s the nature of shorts, sometimes, I guess.

Overall, it was a fun watch that I’d recommend to fans of indie anthologies.

Very Frightening Tales is available to watch for free on Amazon Prime, or you can rent for 99p.