The Total Film FrightFest Awards 2023

frightfest 2023

There was blood. There always is. But this year’s FrightFest proved again just how much more there is to the horror genre than hosing hemoglobin.

Rounding up 72 movies from around the globe and packing them all into five days of magical mayhem, the UK’s leading genre festival gave us everything from serial killers, ghosts, and zombies to ghastly mythical creatures, soul-chilling visions of eternal damnation, and realities that splintered before our saucered eyes. There was even a severed tongue infected with herpes, should you wish to ogle such a thing.

But enough of the babbling. It’s time to get down to business. So, let us, as ever, celebrate the best of the fest. Yep, it’s that time of year again – the time for the Total Film FrightFest Awards…

Best Film

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Black Mold (John Pata)

Cold Meat (Sébastian Drouin)

Monolith (Matt Vesely)

The Moor (Chris Cronin)

New Life (John Rosman)

Pandemonium (Quarxx)

River (Junta Yamaguchi)

Where the Devil Roams (John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser)

And the winner is…

Where the Devil Roams (John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser)

Best Director

John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser (Where the Devil Roams)

Chris Cronin (The Moor)

Sébastian Drouin (Cold Meat)

Quarxx (Pandemonium)

Junta Yamaguchi (River)

And the winners are…

John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser (Where the Devil Roams)

Best Actress

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Riko Fujitani (River)

Jenna Kanell (Faceless After Dark)

Toby Poser (Where the Devil Roams)

Lily Sullivan (Monolith)

Sonya Walger – (New Life)

And the winner is…

Lily Sullivan (Monolith)

Best Actor

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Andrew Bailes (Black Mold)

Allen Leech (Cold Meat)

Woody Norman (Cobweb)

Ted Raimi (Failure)

Nick Stahl (What You Wish For)

And the winner is… 

Woody Norman (Cobweb)

Best Scare

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Figure in the road (To Fire You Come at Last)

‘Five… five… five…’ (The Moor)

Thudding coffin (Black Mold)

Creeping around the basement (Home Sweet Home: Where Evil Lives)

Hiding in backseat (Cold Meat)

And the winner is…

‘Five… five… five…’ (The Moor)

Best Death

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Toy boy (Pandemonium)

Face ripped off by squid monster (Minare)

Car carnage (Here for Blood)

Elevator carnage (Farang)

Body split in two (How to Kill Monsters)

And the winner is…

Toy boy (Pandemonium)

Best Monster

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Billy (Pandemonium)

Mother squid (Minare)

Poundcake (Poundcake)

Scarecrows (Black Mold)

First pus-faced zombie (Herd)

And the winner is…

Billy (Pandemonium)

Best Gross Out

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Severed herpes tongue (What You Wish For)

Tooth Chisel (Where the Devil Roams)

Throat Slit (My Mother’s Eyes)

Burnt Face (Here for Blood)

Gut slit (Eight Eyes)

Leg break (Herd)

Hand chopped off (Trim Season)

And the winner is…

Severed herpes tongue (What You Wish For)

Best WTF?! Ending

(Image credit: FrightFest)

Sewn up (Where The Devil Roams)

A dog’s life (Good Boy)

Eternity (Pandemonium)

And the winner is…

Sewn up (Where The Devil Roams)

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That's it from this year's FrightFest! For more scares, check out our list of the best horror movies of all time.