After two days, I was in my stride, or so I thought. I knew I'd be getting a late start on the Sunday, as I'd agreed to met some people from a group I'm a member of, but that aside, I was raring to go, starting with a film I'd been hoping to see since I saw the trailer at the FrightFest Glasgow event.
DAY THREE: SATURDAY
Book Of Monsters (2018)
One of the things about FrightFest is that you get all sorts of premieres. You can get UK ones, or England ones, previews, European premiere and on occasion a world premiere. FrightFest had a few of those but Book Of Monsters was one I was really excited for. The story of a young girl, having her birthday party and being attacked by monsters had a great mix of blood, gore and laughs. I was smiling from the moment it began right up to its end. Which is more than could be said for the director as there were a couple of glitches during the screening which must have left him truly mortified. He didn't have to worry as even with them, it was still a great film. Credit to the cast, Lyndsey Craine, Michaela Longdon and Lizzie Stanton for giving good performances among the bloody carnage.
I tweeted after the film, never mind a Buffy reboot, I want more of this.
I stand by that. Check it out when you can.
Heretiks (2018)
After St. Agatha on Friday, nuns were back with bloody vengeance in Heretiks. The story of a young woman believed to be a witch but saved by the Mother Superior of a convent under a threat of some kind, it's a well made film, from director Paul Hyett who also co-writes the film with Conal Palmer (from a story by Gregory Blair). However I would say that I think its a better directed film than written one. I don't think the story of the film holds up when you think about it, but the cast, headed by Claire Higgins as the Reverend Mother are all pretty good and it has a cameo from the great Michael Ironside.
Towards the end I do think the ending gets overblown as we get zombies rising from the grave (zombie nuns, a new one on me I think!) but I did enjoy the film.
The Devil's Doorway (2018)
Nuns were out in force in the next film I saw (told you there was a theme!). The Devil's Doorway is a found footage film, but set in 1960, as two priests go to a investigate a supposed miracle at a home for so-called 'fallen women' but instead find something else.
As is often the case in a found footage film it's often the case that the easier solution would be to drop the camera and run like hell but that aside, there was a lot to like in this film. The director Aislinn Clarke and her co-writers Martin Brennan and Michael B. Jackson have created a story that keeps twisting and surprising, but also never forgets the scares. It's one of the scariest films I've seen in some time, leading to a truly unsettling ending.
In fact I would say, for me anyway, its the best found footage film I've seen since [REC], that's how highly I rated it.
I really loved this film and I think it was the scariest film I saw at FrightFest.
F.U.B.A.R (2018)
After two films involving Nuns, it was something of a relief to watch a film about a Stag do going horribly wrong. F.U.B.A.R. is another example of what you expect isn't what you get and being all the better for it. I was expecting the Stag do on a paintball excursion based on a zombie attack to, well involve actual zombies. That it doesn't is the first surprise. The second is how funny it turns out as the group have to fend of those who actually run the event when things take a turn for the worst, and keep getting worse.
The cast are first rate and Ben Kent directs the film well, with knowing nods to the Zombie genre and the script co-written by Kent and Joel Wilenius is very funny at times.
Possibly the most surprising film over FrightFest for me, I really enjoyed it.
Upgrade (2018)
Upgrade was possibly the most mainstream film shown at FrightFest, I think. It has the involvement of Blumhouse, who have made some impressive horror/thrillers recently, including Get Out, The Purge series and Happy Death Day.
Here, writer and director Leigh Whannell turns to science-fiction as a man, left disabled after being shot and his wife killed, is giving the chance to get the use of his limbs back, via a piece of new technology and then using this to hunt down those repsonsible is a terrific film.
The story is well told, including an ending you perhaps don't expect. The performance from Logan Marshall-Green is first rate and as I said it's very well directed and written by Leigh Whannell. But what lifts the film above some others of its kind is the fantastic action scenes. Marshall-Green really goes for it, as the technology takes over and he has to watch almost helplessly as his body takes on his enemies in brutal fights that are well staged and shot.
Whennell is probably best known for horror, with the likes of writing films such as the Insidious films, but here shows he's just as comfortable in the action genre.
A good film and I hope it leads to bigger things for him.
Fright Fest (2018)
If you call your film Fright Fest (or as it came up in the credits American Fright Fest) and you bring it to a festival called FrightFest, you better come ready. Sadly however, the film doesn't come up with the goods.
The story, of a small town holding a horror event in an old psychiatric hospital while a bus carrying convicts crashes nearby, well, you can probably see where this is going. Add in a washed-up director on drink and drugs who is overseeing the scares in the hospital, well you really know where this is going. And sadly it does with no surprises. The violence is well staged at times, but the performances are a bit weak.
When the original line-up for this year's FrightFest was announced, a film called Blood Fest was listed for opening night in the Discovery screen. It was then removed from the listings. I tracked it to a cinema before FrightFest to check it out and if you strip everything else away it has a very similar plot.
It also uses it so much better.
DAY FOUR: SUNDAY
Sunday was a later start for me. I'd agreed to met up with members of a Twitter film club (called, perhaps unsurprisingly A Film Club). That was a good meeting, good food and company.
But I had to leave early, as I wasn't missing this!
Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros. Years (2018)
As someone who has been a fan of Hammer and their films since I was a child, any excuse to see anything about Hammer on a big screen is welcome. This documentary, well made by Marcus Hearn focuses on the period between 1968-1974 when Hammer was in a production relationship with Warner Bros. With interviews from some of those working for Hammer at the time, the documentary delves into a period that, as the director said beforehand, is perhaps misunderstood. Certainly I thought Hammer at the time was struggling to update itself for modern times, but what is revealed is that Warner Bros. insisted on certain things. They wanted a Dracula film with Christopher Lee even if he was getting tired of the role. The documentary shows that even when Hammer was trying new things it wasn't always the right things.
It was a fascinating insight to a period of Hammer's past, one I enjoyed very much indeed.
Terrified (Aterrados) (2017)
In his video introduction to the film, writer and director Demian Rugna asked who was ready to be terrified? Well the short answer is yes...but with issues.
There's no denying the film has some well staged moments and some good jump scares. However, i really don't think the story fully holds up. The film seems to suggest that there is a time distortion or similar behind the events going on, but whatever the cause I don't think it fully worked and the final scene which is a nice little scare on its own, doesn't add anything either.
Sadly, I thought the film no more than okay.
Anna And The Apocalypse (2017)
Of all the decisions I made at FrightFest, the choice between Anna And The Apocalypse and Tigers Are Not Afraid was the hardest. I'd seen Tigers Are Not Afraid at the Glasgow event and loved it. It's still the best film I've seen this year. I've been telling anyone in earshot to see the film. My heart said go see it again.
But my head was saying go see Anna And The Apocalypse. The reason was simple, I'd not seen it. And in the end cold, hard logic won out.
And I'm glad it did. Simply put Anna And The Apocalypse is a fantastic film, a high school comedy musical with zombies. The songs are great, it's funny, charming, emotional and just great fun.
The film is very well directed by John McPhail and the cast are wonderful, headed by a potentially star turn from Ella Hunt as Anna.
I really envied those seeing Tigers...but I'm glad as hell I went to see Anna. The apocalypse never sounded so good!
It comes out later this year. I will be seeing this again!
DAY FIVE: MONDAY
The final day. You never truly realise how quick events like these can go. But coming up there was to be the dance party from hell (more on that later).
Wolfman's Got Nards (2018)
There are some films that as soon as you see them you know you are going to love. Case in point, The Monster Squad. From the time I saw it at the cinema, back in 1987(!) I've loved it. It's funny, tense, thrilling and has some good scares in there too.
Wolfman's Got Nards, a documentary about the film and it's fans is a wonderful love letter. For a film that was considered a flop on release, seeing the way those involved with the making of it and the fans who were there at the beginning or came later, the love it has was truly emotional. I may even have shed a tear...maybe!
With interviews with cast, crew and fans, it's a wonderful look at how one film has developed a cult following over time. It's a wonderful documentary one of my favourite documentaries ever.
Now the only question is, when will someone give The Monster Squad a damn UK DVD/Blu-Ray release?!
The Field Guide To Evil (2018)
An anthology film based around a book revealing the secrets of creatures from around the world, The Field Guide To Evil suffers a major issue in that it doesn't work. I could see what they were trying to do with it, but it never really worked on any level. The only story that worked was the last one, directed by Peter Strickland, but the rest just never worked at all.
Of all the films I saw at FrightFest, I would say this was the worst.
The Tokoloshe (2018)
In some ways, The Tokoloshe is similar to Under The Shadow and The Babadook, in that it involves a woman trying to protect a child from a supernatural force. However, while it it never reaches the heights of this films there are some truly creepy and unsettling moments in the film as Busi a cleaner in a rundown hospital has to overcome her own past and help a young girl.
Director Jerome Pikwane does create an uneasy atmosphere at times, although I don't think the story co-written by Pikwane and Richard Kunzmann fully works. The ending too seemed a little anti-climatic.
But despite any issues I had, I did enjoy it.
The Golem (2018)
My first thought on reading the FrightFest guide about The Golem was that it was a variation on Pumpkinhead. I was wrong on that. The story of a village under threat and a woman who brings the Golem to life to protect them, is pretty good. The violence and action when it comes is well staged and the setting in the 17th century is well used.
But there was an issue for me, in that the main character Hanna well played by Hani Furstenberg never fully gets the audience on her side by her actions. If she is meant to be the character the audience is siding with, then she needed to be more sympathetic to a degree. Her husband in the film deserves more sympathy I think if looking at the film from that point of view.
However, despite this, I liked the film from the Paz brothers.
Climax (2018)
The final film of FrightFest, appropriately enough, Climax is a film I admired more than I can say I enjoyed it, even if enjoyment is the right word. Directed by Gasper Noe, a director that before this I'd only seen one of his films, Irreversible, a film I really thought unpleasant and nasty, Climax is the story of a dance troop's rehearsal that descends into a drug fuelled journey to hell when someone spikes the punch.
The music is superb, the dancing fantastic, the opening number truly amazing. And for the first part of the film it sets the scene well, including seeing at the opening video interviews with each dancer. However once the troop is drugged, it soon turns nasty as dancers turn on each other, including violence, the wrong people hooking up for sex and dancing themselves into exhaustion.
Visually it's dazzling to watch. Or would be if Noe would stop twirling the camera. I get the feeling he was trying to show the effects of the drug on the audience as well as the troop but it does make you kind of dizzy watching and certainly towards the end, you are sometimes unsure who is doing what to whom.
At the end of the film, we find out who was responsible for spiking the punch, but there's no real motive as to why. A book suggests why, but it's an odd reveal I think for the film.
I said at the start, I admired the film more than I enjoyed it. That's true. I can also say it's not one I'll forget any time soon either!
And with that, FrightFest was at an end. For me, it was 22 film over the five days. It was a great event, not just with the films, but also meeting up with those I met last year, but also others I have exchanged messages with on Twitter.
This was my first full FrightFest London. I plan on being back for the 20th year next year.
Bring it on!
No comments:
Post a Comment