Review: FrightFest Glasgow 2018

Over three days at the beginning of March, the Glasgow Film Theatre played host to FrightFest, held in conjunction with the Glasgow Film Festival. The three day event, showing thirteen films got of to a bad start due to adverse weather conditions, which resulted in the the cancellation of a screening of the film, The Lodgers. Because of the weather, which resulted in cancellation of trains and buses a number of people including guests and organisers of the event were unable to attend the event. For me, this meant I missed the screening of Ghost Stories, which I had been looking forward too. As a result, what should have been a three day event, became for most of the audience a two-day one instead.

DAY ONE

The Friday line-up had some potentially interesting films. We had a film nearly twenty years in the making, with others involving Big Foot, a Zombie outbreak, a film about sea creatures (no, not The Shape Of Water!) and a vampire hunter.

The Wanderers: The Quest Of The Demon Hunter

Kicking off Friday was this tale of a vampire hunter who is hired to go to Transylvania to deal with...well, that's just it, I'm really not quite sure. Some of the dialogue was mumbled in the film, which made it hard to make out at times what was going on. In truth, I've not been a fan of the lead actor, in the film, Armand Assante, in the past, but here, some of his dialogue is hard to work out. But even it was, I don't think it would have helped. The story seemed all over the place, with a character who seems to be important in the film, simply vanishing during the final act. It's either writer Octav Gheorghe and director Dragos Buliga didn't know how to resolve the film fully or something has gone wrong in the editing. It's a shame as there was potential here, but it doesn't work as well as it should have done.

Attack Of The Bat Monsters

One of the things about FrightFest, is that I never look at trailers for the films they show. So, all I knew about this film going in was what the Frightfest website had posted about it. Based on that, to be honest, I was expecting a spoof documentary about the making of a film called Attack Of The Bat Monsters.

But that's not what I got. What I go was a loving homage to the Drive-In films of the late fifties. it's a film that shows the invention the makers of the monster films of the period could pull off, as here the cast and crew working for Francis Gordon attempt to make a film in three days. It's a funny film, but not a mocking one, one that was made way back in 1999 and was only now getting its world premiere at FrightFest. The director's daughter (my apologies I forget her name) was there to introduce the film. Her father, Kelly Greene, who wrote the film as well as directing it, was unable to attend but I think he would have been very pleased with the reaction the film received.  It was embraced warmly be the audience who I think loved and enjoyed it as much as I did. It was one of the highlights of the event.

The Ravenous (Les Affames)

This Canadian film is in some ways reminiscent of George A. Romero's Diary Of The Dead. By that I mean that both films deal with the beginning of a Zombie outbreak. But here, writer and director Robin Aubert has decided to go with the 'fast' zombies rather than the slow moving ones. It's a film that also owes a debt, I think, to Stephen King's novel Cell.

One of the best things about the film is that it does play on the formula of bringing survivors together by putting the moment off, until around the halfway point. It also plays on the formula of other Zombie or Zombie-like films when it comes to killing its characters, playing with expectations, right up until its ending. It also has possibly one of the funniest deaths I have ever seen in a film.

It also does that thing so few films get right and that's the ending.  Zombie films often have downbeat, heartbreaking endings and The Ravenous has an ending that fits its story well indeed.

I liked this film a lot.

Cold Skin

Based on a novel by Albert Sanchez Pinol, Cold Skin is set, just before World War One breaks out, on a remote island in the Antarctic. A young man has arrived to take over from another, one how has died, according to the only other person on the island, the lighthouse keeper. However, he soon discovers that the two of them are not alone...

Before FrightFest, via Twitter a woman called Ally was excited about this film. I spoke with her before the film, where she explained that she'd loved the novel and was really looking forward to it. After the film I spoke with her again and she said the film was everything she had hoped for.

(As an aside, in part due to her passion for it I picked up the novel over the weekend. No pressure Ally!)

The film is almost a siege film, set in the lighthouse as the two men are forced to battle with creatures from the sea. The action set pieces are very well done, director Xavier Gens combining the CGI effects well into the action. But where the film excels is in the relationship between the two men, as we discover things aren't quite what they seem and also the reason for the repeated attacks is tied to the abuse being suffered by one of the creatures.

I wanted to love this film, I really did. However, this was a film where I think the weather conditions and the battle of sorts to make it to FrightFest caught up with me. Don't misunderstand, I didn't fall asleep during the film, but I did feel tired through it and I think this did effect me as I watched it.

I want to see it again and give it a second chance. It's an exciting film certainly, but I think I missed picking up on some of its nuances due to tiredness.

Next time, though I won't be so tired.

Primal Rage

On the other hand there are films like this I never want to see again. 

The story of a couple lost in the woods, confronting locals who may or may not have an agenda for them until they find out there is something else in the woods, isn't terrible.

Oh, no, that's not the worst part of this film, but pretty much everything else is.

The treatment of the lead actress and frankly the only interesting character in the film is shameful. She takes her clothes off near the beginning of the film, albeit for a reason that makes sense. However for most of the film after this she barely wears a thing. I'm not sure what they told the actress, Casey Gagliardi, about the role, but she deserved better than this. She is by far the best thing about the film.

The other characters I really didn't like, always an issue if you want the audience on their side. There's a subplot of sorts about native rituals and customs that just feels tacked on and doesn't really work and as for the ending, don't get me started.

The creature does indeed look like a person in a suit. The violence, is brutal and bloody and well staged by the director, Patrick Magee to be fair, but there is a rape scene in the film I really took offence too, in part as the character involved never gets the chance to resolve her story. At the end it's left to her shirtless, alleged macho boyfriend (and idiot frankly) to confront the creature, a 'bigfoot' type that also uses weapons (no really!). As a result the one character you care about, the only female character giving any worthwhile screen time, Ashley is told to run away, which meant I really didn't care about how the film would resolve itself. That being said, how it does, nearly had me standing and shouting  'really?' at the screen.

I mentioned a woman earlier, Ally. She walked out of the film, due to tiredness. 

She did the right thing.

DAY TWO

The Saturday line-up was going to bring magical fantasy to FrightFest, with children in Mexico, a confrontation with a devil, the true meaning of why Christmas family gatherings are not always the best idea, a film where sometimes keeping your head is the way to go and one that may question your dining out ideas.

Errementari: The Blacksmith And The Devil

Often decisions have to be made when going to a film festival. One of them is do you skip a film for a reason, perhaps needing to sleep after the previous days efforts, or that it doesn't sound appealing and so you decide to miss one and get more sleep for the others.

I can understand the logic in this. When I was at FrightFest in London last year, I chose to skip a few films, in part as I had limited time in London and there were other things I planned to do. As a result, I did miss some films that were highly regarded.

Which brings me to Errementari (The Blacksmith And The Devil).

The person in the row in front of me decided to skip this film, for his own justifiable reasons. What he probably didn't need when he arrived for the next film, was for me to be raving about it!

This Spanish fantasy film about a Blacksmith who harbours a secret and the young child who accidentally reveals it, was utterly magical. A story, where characters are not always what they appear, don't always act as you would expect takes some unexpected turns, leading to a visually stunning scene set at the gates into hell.

It does have some violence but does have some great moments of humour too, but the co-writer and director Paul Urkijo Alijo keeps his story focused on its characters which results in a moving film, one that has a fantastic ending, that makes you realise, like the films characters, not everything is what it might, as lines from a voiceover in the opening credits take on a new meaning at the end.

I loved this film from it's opening right until it's end. It's a wonderful fantasy film, without doubt one of the best films I will see this year.

At it's end, I tweeted I doubt I'll see a better fantasy film than this all year.

I really believed that at the time.  Who would have thought FrightFest had another card left to play?

Pyewacket

Sometimes inspiration can come from odd places. In a video introduction to the film, the writer and director Adam MacDonald mentioned that he took the word Pyewacket from a line in the film, The Guardian, made by William Friedkin way back in 1990, a film I have seen but barely recall.

In Pyewacket, a teen in a fit of anger after a row with her mother casts a spell, to summon a creature to kill her. However, she soon finds herself haunted by whatever was summoned and tries to find a way to reverse the spell.

It has to be said, a film like this could go one of two ways. It could either resort to the 'jump' scares most films of this type would try and do, or it could go for option two and try and build a sense of dread as we await what is coming. MacDonald chooses option two and the film is so much better for it.

It would have been easy to create a monster, or something towards the end, to reveal what the Pyewacket actually is. Instead, MacDonald leaves it open to what has been summoned. I have a few ideas on what happened during this film as I'm sure other have too and while the ending itself might be easy to predict, here I didn't mind it at all.

Praise has to be given to Laurie Holden who plays the mother and especially Nicole Munoz as Leah the teen at the heart of the story. One screen for the pretty much the whole film, she has to carry the burden and does it very well indeed.

Often what you don't see is scarier than what you do. Pyewacket certainly proves that. I enjoyed it a great deal.

Friendly Beast

When two robbers attempt to rob a struggling restaurant, the owner under pressure overpowers them and soon begins a tension fill evening as staff and customers find themselves on opposite sides...

Of all the films I saw at FrightFest, I think Friendly Beast might be the one where I was clearly in the minority. A lot of people found it an intense, powerful film. Personally, I wasn't a fan. I found it was too long, the behaviour of the characters didn't make sense to me, especially int the final act. It's a well made film, certainly, and it's well directed by Gabriela Amaral. And there is some tension in the film at times. However, that being said, I didn't think it worked, at least for me.

Not a bad film, just one I was slightly disappointed with.

Secret Santa

Because of the weather the co-writer and director of Secret Santa, along with some of the cast were unable to get to Glasgow for screening of the film. Instead, they sent a video, that contained a spoof of the Sinead O'Connor video for 'Nothing Compares 2 U' that went down well indeed. 

And then the film began and the cinema went crazy!

At a family gathering, someone has spiked the punch, which results in truths coming out, hidden and no-so secrets revealed that results in the family and catering staff all turning on each other.

Alongside co-writer Debra Sullivan, Adam Marcus has made a fantastic film that is both funny and violent and often very, very bloody. Normally a film like this, I find anyway, runs out of steam in its final act. 

Not here. Adam Marcus keeps the violence and laughs coming right up to the ending. 

I loved this film a great deal, It's bonkers, brutal and funny. 

Sometimes that's all you need!

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven)

And then there is Tigers Are not Afraid.

I wrote earlier, how I thought Errementari was going to be the best fantasy film of the year. What I never expected was that a few hours later, FrightFest would show this film. Writer and director, Issa Lopez takes the subject of children orphaned because of gang violence in Mexico, children trying to survive, while being hunted and adds a fantastical element, when a young girl, Estrella, whose Mother has vanished, is granted three wishes by a school teacher.

The addition of the fantasy element does invoke the work of Guillermo del Toro, but Lopez, does her own thing with it. Like del Toro her ghosts may be scary to see, but they are not evil beings, instead souls wanting to be released, including Estrella's missing mother.

One of the best things about this film and there are many, many things about this film to love, is that the other children, try to hold onto being children. We see them dancing, playing around, having fun, despite the threats they are facing. It adds a poignancy to the film later, when those hunting them find them, leading to tragedy.

I find it hard to fully explain this film, but what I can tell you is that it is an extraordinary work, right up there with Pan's Labyrinth and Let The Right One In as a truly special film. I won't hide it, I was broken by the film, That doesn't happen often, but when it does, I know I've seen something special.

And Tigers Are Not Afraid is certainly that.

I doubt I'll see a better film this year.

Sixty Seconds To Midnight

The final film of FrightFest was action film Sixty Seconds To Midnight, that has a man, a former soldier being attacked at his home by armed men as part of a TV show. Lie the title says, he has until midnight to stay alive and win the prize.

One of the films producers made the event and talked about how the film was heavily influenced by the action films of the period and you can see that. There are nods to the likes of Hard Target and The Running Man as well, perhaps to films like The Purge. You could even argue the final act of Bond film Skyfall is an influence too.

But, the film does have issues. I think the Sixty minute period is done in real time, but that being said, there is a lot of time between some of the action, especially in the opening period. I get what director Neil Mackay was trying to do, increase tension between each burst of action, but it doesn't work, instead it drags a bit.

The lead actor, Robert Nolan is an interesting choice. In the past a role like this wold have gone to someone like Charles Bronson. He doesn't look like your normal action star, which is why it works here. Those attacking his home don't really know who he is, or his past and underestimate him, to their cost.

The action isn't too bad in truth at times, but then the film tries to switch gears at its end, by having a more low-key final few minutes, which isn't what it needs, instead it needs a big final act, where all hell breaks loose. By not having it, it feels like the filmmakers just stopped rather than working out a worthy action packed ending. 

Sadly, it was a disappointing film to end the event. 

Special mention has to go to Paul McEvoy and Ian Rattray. Because of the weather, co-hosts Alan Jones and Greg Day and a number of announced guests were unable to make it, so it was left to them to introduce each film and both were funny and an admirable job. The few guests that did make it, including Tigers Are Not Afraid director, Issa Lopez were interesting and insightful to listen too. 

Add in some old trailers, which were fun to watch, a terrific action short, The Drop In and also four great ninety second films made as part of at FrightFest film challenge to encourage young Scottish filmmakers and that was FrightFest.

Like last year's event I had a great time, chatting with some fellow fans between films. It's a great social film event, that makes me want to, hopefully, be at the London event in August, the Halloween one also in London as well as coming back again for net year's event.

Hopefully then though, there will be much better weather!