In this episode of the Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh sits down with FrightFest co-director Greg Day. She also catches up with filmmakers Ali Cook and Paul Boyd, whose films both premiered at this fantastic and terrifying strand of horror at the BAFTA-qualifying Glasgow Film Festival. Dubbed “the Woodstock of Gore” by Guillermo del Toro, Pigeon Shrine FrightFest is the UK’s leading horror and fantasy film festival.
A seasoned film and television publicist, Greg Day has worked with icons such as Dario Argento and George A. Romero, represented Columbia Pictures, and served as Head of Entertainment Publicity at Channel 4.
After Greg, we hear from comedian and magician-turned-filmmaker Ali Cook, who discusses The Pearl Comb, his fantastical mermaid-themed short. Then, Scottish filmmaker Paul Boyd joins us to talk about Scared to Death, his darkly comic haunted house feature, which had its international premiere at the festival.
https://soundcloud.com/film-ireland/frightfest-co-director-greg
The 26th FrightFest takes place in the heart of London's Leicester Square and runs 21st - 25th August 2025.
THE PEARL COMB
WRI/DIR: Ali Cook. Cast: Beatie Edney, Ali Cook, Simon Armstrong, Clara Paget, Roxana Cook, Thomas Stocker. A doctor – hell bent on proving a woman’s place is in the home and not practising medicine – discovers the source of a woman’s unearthly power when investigating her miraculous claim to be the first person to cure tuberculosis.
https://vimeo.com/1012432414
SCARED TO DEATH
WRI/DIR: Paul Boyd. Cast: Lin Shaye, Bill Moseley, Rae Dawn Chong, Olivier Paris. Jasper is a young opportunistic filmmaker yearning to climb the Hollywood ladder. Working as a lowly production assistant, he seizes his chance to be a ‘real’ director when he suggests to his cantankerous boss that the crew and actors from their upcoming horror film attend an actual séance in an old, haunted house for research. They choose an abandoned children’s shelter closed for 70 years since the mysterious murders of five children in 1942, apparently discovered scared to death. Once the séance begins, the motley crew find themselves trapped and haunted by the children . . . and something possibly worse.
Ali Cook – Director and Writer
The Pearl Comb follows Ali’s BAFTA-longlisted short film, The Cunning Man. The Cunning Man was screened at 88 international film festivals, including FrightFest; the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival and Cinefest; the BAFTA- and BIFA-qualifying Norwich Film Festival; the BAFTA-qualifying Underwire Festival and Carmarthen Bay International Film Festival; and Morbido. It won 33 awards and was runner-up for the prestigious Méliès d’Argent award at the Abertoir Horror Festival. So far, The Pearl Comb has won the Méliès d’Argent, Best After Hours Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and fifteen other awards. It has played twenty festivals including Tampere, Fantasia and HollyShorts. Ali began his writing career by writing and starring in seven of his own comedy series for Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky 1. His series Dirty Tricks (Channel 4) was nominated for a British Comedy Award. He’s also an actor and credits include Ragdoll on BBC One with Lucy Hale, ABC Murders (BBC One) with John Malkovich, and the BIFA award-winning feature Kajaki. His next project is a feature film: The Grimoire, currently in pre-production.
Greg Day - FrightFest Co-Director
An experienced film and television publicist who has worked with Dario Argento, George Romero, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Columbia Pictures. He is a former head of entertainment publicity at Channel 4.
Paul Boyd – Director and Writer
Born in Scotland, Paul’s journey as a filmmaker began as a teenager. His Super 8 films earned him a place at the prestigious St Martins School of Art in London, where he graduated with a BA Hons in Fine Art Film. After directing 30 (or so) low-budget music videos in the UK, Paul moved to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time career in filmmaking. He signed a directing contract with Ridley Scott & Associates, where he helped develop Black Dog Films as its first contracted director. There, he created music videos for Lenny Kravitz, INXS, Seal, Jamiroquai and others.
Paul went on to a directing contract at Propaganda Films under the leadership of Steve Golin. Here, Paul directed award-winning, world-class music videos for superstars Shania Twain, Sting, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams and the Backstreet Boys. Paul has over 200 music video credits to date, garnering 2 billion views on YouTube. Paul directed five of the music videos on Shania Twain's hit album Come On Over, currently listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest-selling female album of all time. Paul's collective videos for Shania have over 750 million views on YouTube.
Paul expanded into commercials, directing campaigns for Jaguar, Toyota, VW, L’Oréal, Target, P&G and Clairol, to name a few. He was a pioneer in the use of product placement in music videos, with his worldwide smash for Sting, Desert Rose, featuring the new line of Jaguars in 1998. Paul worked as Head of Production for Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) at Weapons of Mass Entertainment for seven years, producing and directing music-themed documentaries. Paul wrote and directed his debut feature film Vicious Circle (2009), which was released theatrically and won numerous festivals, including Best Picture at the NY Latino Film Festival. Now an auteur writer-director, he has made the stoner comedy I, Challenger (2021), the Covid drama We Are Gathered Here Today (2022) and the horror comedy Scared to Death (2024), which is currently playing at film festivals.
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