Fright Fest 2011 - Day 2 - My Two Cents

It’s FRIDAY! (Friday, gotta get down on Friday!) and what was meant to start with a double attack of gritty never-trust-nice-strangers exploitation and genre-flipping serial slasher subversion instead, thanks to London traffic and the voracious quick sell of Discovery Screen tickets, began with world premiere of Brit-Flick farmhouse thriller: The Holding. Impressed I was not. On planning my festival line-up, The Holding was one of those I had flicked aside as being a catch-on-cable-in-two-years film and resided to the very very bottom of my Fright Fest pile. But alas there I was, Friday afternoon: grinning and bearing. And to say it was better than expected is both a good and bad thing. The feature length debut from Susan Jacobson, focuses on a mother and her two young girls who, thanks to a recently AWOL husband, have to strugglingly run the family farm on their ownsome. Enter friendly stranger who knows an inordinate amount about the family. Cue tension, dissension and sinister intentions. Its by-the-books thriller that felt somewhat out of place in a horror festival (but then again, so could some of my favourite films of the weekend), yet for what its worth it looked slick in its rain-soaked Derbyshire setting and carried some surprisingly intense emotional playoffs. Then it had some supernatural-ish curve-balls which went wholly undeveloped and instead stuck out worse than an amputee team in a relay race. What exactly was the Aden/Dean parallel? Why was the little girl (which, by the way, gave a younger Abigail Breslin a good run for her money) dogmatically obsessed with religion without any influence from the household? It was little things like this, plus the overall collapse into clichés that left me sighing and overall very ‘Meh’ about this British ‘effort’ (yes those quotation marks are entirely intentional). But if there’s one thing gained from The Holding, It’s who knew poop could burn that much? Energy crisis averted.

3/10

Breaking the silver-screen run; us, the Fright Fest audience was treated to actual human contact (iknowright?!) in the form of writer/director/producer/actor/horrorgenius Larry Fessenden. Taking the place of last year’s Tobe Hooper interview (lest said about that the better), Larry filled the room with opinion, astuteness and effervescence that Hooper lacked. While most people likely scoffed at his name following the Film 4 Icon moniker, 30 minutes later I’d be darned if this ethos wasn’t changed (if not least for the short showreel played at the beginning which demonstrated his knack for the nasty). He spoke of his awakening to horror in his youth where he used to listen to bootlegged audio cassettes of movies in order to get a grasp of their sound design; something that can be seen rife across much of his works (the howling creatures in The Last Winter, for example); and how the genre warped his own child hood aswell as his child’s (who Larry frequently tells that each day could be the last in the world!). With even more enthusiasm comes his vehemence against certain moves in both horror (the removal of pathos from the genre) and humanity (the destruction of ecology). Quelling Fessenden’s fervour, though a pleasure to watch, proved to be an ardour for the interviewer and only happened once the stage was engulfed by directorial genre giants for the American Horror panel discussion. Ti West, Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Lucky McKee and Andrew van den Houten; just say those names aloud a second, did you just wee a little? No; just me then. With equal zeal to Fessenden and more anecdotal stories to the slaying of studio exec’s than you could shake a machete at, Green and Lynch trade lynching for LOLs; expressing the negativity in American horror cinema at the moment, but all with a tongue-in-cheek take. Where the boiling vehemence to the state of the genre really came from was Mr West who, with knee-breaking truthfullness pointed to the very cause of the endless remake/reboot/refuckup machine: us the audience. Best get our act together then.

So, after a stark dressing down, it seems appropriate that the follow up film is not an American production. Climbing up the pillars of clichés laid before it, the German made Urban Explorer(s) showed that even an entirely original script can’t help but avoid comparisons. The obvious parallels will come from Creep, The Descent and possibly even Hostel, something that many people used to it’s downgrade but I, for one, thought lent in its favour. While lacking the sorrow of Creep or the gut wrenching tension of The Descent, it stands as a nice little film; and also, when considering its making, an amazing looking one. Director, Andy Fetscher, recalled in a post film Q&A how the entire movie was shot Guerrilla, illegally on location in Underground Berlin, and with minimal crew and equipment. Oh, and they faced gun wielding transients and criminal detainment. A Michael Bay production it was not; which only serves to make you like the film ever the more. Perhaps the thing I liked most about the movie turned out to be a mistake. The print we saw came – much to the director’s visible distress – without subtitles, something the audience only knew after watching. While many saw this as ingratiating, I liked how it helped the audience in empathising for and inhabiting the situation with the American girl who didn’t speak a word of German. Somewhat of a happy accident? Despite being formulaic to the max, and with a tendency for overdramatics (it took its story and concept, very *very* seriously), it was bolstered by great lead performances (serious kudos to the eye contact conversation between Nick Eversman and Nathalie Kellie) and sometimes gorgeous cinematography. Moreover the Eden-Lake-ending-esque set piece on the subway was truly both real and terrifying. Possibly the only problem I had with the film, and with the subgenre in general, was that even after explanation the antagonist seemed to have no reason for torturing the kids. Sort of like a Hobo Without A Cause (please let’s get Jimmy Dean raised from the dead to take on shotgun vigilantism , or Rutger Hauer as the 50’s rebel icon Jim Stark). Better script ideas aside, Urban Explorers is a great little film. Give it a chance and have a laugh in the dark. Unt schieze acht Mickey Mouse.

7/10

Next up saw us make a geographic shift both physically and cinematically. Over in the Discovery Screen, ultra-low budget Swedish beyond-the-grave slasher Blood Runs Cold opened to an audience that was likely less than jumping at the opportunity to see it. To say I was would be a lie, but I chose to see it over The Glass Man, and gladly so. Everyone, and I mean everyone in that auditorium thought at some point this movie was crap, the less-than-stifled inappropriate laughter was exhibit a). But here are few things I love about Blood Runs Cold:

- Its world premiere had an audience of 26.
- The monster villain woar leather loafers.
- The director knew not of continuity or the difference between night and day.
- The final-girl was a stealth ninja.
- The film was Swedish, trying to be American, yet the actors spoke in Irish accents.
- It made me both laugh and cry (though the latter was due to the former).
- It was shot for $5000 on a still camera.
- It. Kicks. Ass.

Sure, this movie is kinda sucky. It is. But it also somewhat rocks, and not just in that so-bad-its-good way. It takes the house of 20-somethings stalked by a masked monster ethos and plays it as straight as it was played in 1978. There’s no exposition, no explanation and no reason. Why does the monster look like a cross between something from Watchmen and a gimp? Who knows. Why is there an ice cave under the house (thats supposedly in North Carolina)? No idea. And the point is, with this kind of film, you don’t need to. I cant put my finger on why, but this is a really enjoyable watch-with-buds-and-buds movie. Will it sit with Let The Right One In and Cold Prey as Scandinavian horror gems? Probably not. But who cares? Stick on some snow covered loafers and appreciate indie cinema.

6(callmecrazy)/10

What was next? I can’t seem to... oh yeah. TUCKER AND FREAKIN DALE!
To say I have been looking forward to this film for a while is an understatement. When the trailer first hit Youtube over a year ago (temp visual effects and all) I was seriously stoked for this movie. I mean who wouldn’t be, its got sweet gore, hilarious subversions of a classic and loved subgenre AND killer (no pun intended) lead characters. It was a cult film before it ever hit any theatre, let alone Britain’s biggest genre festival. Now; to say I loved it after the credits rolled off screen would also be a massive understatement. Taking the backwoods horror premise and flipping it on its head, T&DvsEvil pits two rough-around-the-edges best friends moving into their Evil Dead-esque cabin against a coral of horny teens looking for sex and booze. Through pitfalls and contrivances Tucker and Dale think the kids have a suicide pact and the teens think the rednecks are psycho killers. Cue genius send ups of everything from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to in-car happy endings. Uproaring laugh alongs, sick splatterfest and genuine pulled heart strings. I can’t think of anything Tucker & Dale doesn’t do to excellence. There’s not much I can say about it that isn’t simply reiterating superlatives and textual smiles, so I’ll keep this one short. I loved it. Everyone in the theatre loved it. Quite simply: This. Film. Is. Awesome. Defined.

8/10

When I was a kid my Gran always used to say not to expect things to much, bear this in mind...Pulling us into our final film of the night was the world premiere of medical torture porn (for lack of better nom-de-plume), the directorial first from Taylor Sheridan, and what Paul McEvoy optimistically posited as the last in this dying subgenre. With the synopsis reading like a cross between Hostel and a behind the scenes expose on NHS pharmaceutical beta testing one would expect something a little different, a little more than the run of the mill. My Gran was right. Vile sets up somewhat promisingly, a group of individuals are abducted by a doctor and are used for harvesting a particular neurotransmitter, one that is only secreted when undergoing extreme pain. Sounds a contrived way to engage pointless torture for 70 minutes? It is. The ethics or corporation behind the drug, something that could have made this film interesting and different, are never explored; instead 5(or 6, or 10, I can’t remember) inflict pain and hurt ruthlessly upon each other. When it comes to movies like this, you thing you really rate them on are the torture set ups; it sounds grim and sadistic but it’s true. For a film that’s called Vile, they’re really not so much. You’ve got hands in boiling water, asses on hot plates and arms in cupboard doors. Nothing really to write home about. But also of common sense questioning, these people are told they must inflict pain to blah de blah blah. Why don’t they try a pinch or a bite or a hair pull first? Is it me or wouldn’t you test the parameters before snapping your femur. Nonsensical, not so grim and a little bit pointless, all hampered by the fact it put me to sleep (and for this reason, please do question my review to the hills); Vile left a decidedly bitter taste in my mouth. I liked the credits though.

4/10

Fright Fest 2011 - Day 1. My Two Cents

50 odd days of anticipation, countless reviews, previews, and views read, and a night sleeping on the streets of London avec the gutter Clubbers and hobo hordes lead to this: Fright Fest 2011. Opening Night.

And boy, did it start with a bang... for all of 4 and a half minutes. Then it swiftly went downhill for 2 hours until a Mrs Cruise got snapped up like a Lego kit and sucked into a stove. I am, of course, talking of Dont Be Afraid Of The Dark. The Troy Nixey lead, Del Toro produced gothic remake of the 1973 less-than-classic. In my preview blog I mentioned that it looked like an amped up and ramped up Goosebumps episode yet I still went in expecting El Orfanato, which was probably my undoing. For me this big studio release had all the hallmarks of a sweet supernatural creature feature yet fell just short of being great; relinquishing it squarely to the ‘meh’ category. Thats not to say it didn’t have its gem moments; the under-the-sheets scene for one takes the biggest as best scare of the night (possibly the weekend, though we’ll get to that); the gothic grandiose opening wracks up the tension and anticipation for a creature design that –when revealed- is regrettably scarier when hand drawn by a 5 year old. Suffice to say, the fairies were nothing more than dextrous versions of the Compys’ from Jurassic Park 2 and however macro-close the camera got up in their grill, their chirpy chirps or pre-pubescent screams ultimately failed to elicit much more than wry smiles or tired giggles.. Where the film ultimately stalls for me is in its male lead; my God can Guy Pearce suck all the charisma from a role. What the heck happened to the dude from Memento? No one liked him, no one empathised with him and no one got why the heck he was in this film. Saying that, he made Bailee Madison look all the more amazing than she already did. That girl is adorable and my God does she break hearts in this. BUT she isn’t the greatest thing of this movie (and this goes to her credit); that accolade goes to the insane and I mean INSANE sound design of the movie. When it thunders: you duck; when those creatures are a-scampering around Sally’s room: you’re turning in your chair to see whats behind you. In short, the Dolby is stunning and, if your local has a solid sound system, worth the price of admission in itself. Oh and its bleak-ish ending is very brave considering the nature of its release and came as a stark shock to the audience. In writing it has a lot more going for it than I first lay claim, but considering Del Toro has been working on this for going on 20 years now and with a nice budget behind it, it just felt there should have been more. One more note, though the cinematography is beautiful if not leaning a little on the CG side, heck, the movie was BRIGHT; maybe the DP should take the title as note: dude, don’t be afraid of the dark

6/10

Following a short intermission the crowd was hit with a surprise between the eyes- applauded by some, sighed at by others. Cockneys VS Zombies. Spewed from pen of the wonderful James Moran the test footage shown (3 scenes in all) looks simply genius. British zombedy as it should be *coughShaunoftheDeadcough* done! However thought to have a pensioner suntan and sleep their way through an undead apocalypse deserves a medal or a pot o’ jam or something. All I have to say is (as a southerner) WHY IS IT PLAYING GLASGOW?!

7 meals-on-wheels /10

And the award for biggest surprise over the festival/year/genre/historyoffilm? Final Destination 5 kicks all kinda butt, pulls all the right punches and manages to be a hell of a well put together movie too boot. Belying both the title and atrocity of The Final Destination (2009), FD5 (as the kids are calling it these days), is quite simply genius. Opening with a monumental bridge collapse that features THE most fantastic use of 3D I’ve ever seen (the aerial-shot impaling) and some tidy CGI then wait-whats going on? we’re zooming out of the eye of a guy that just got physically discombobulated and its old ground from here on out. Each kid will die in a spectacular mêlée of domino effect coincidence and red herrings, wrought with actual tension and –in the case of poor Candice who isn’t as bendy as she thinks she is- actual shock. Each of these murder set pieces elicited football game cheers. And lets not even get started on the racial spews of the massage scene. If ‘Yum Yum Dim Sum’ (said not in reference to food) didn’t get a laugh, nothing will.
Both gimmicky and self aware, it really is the best of what it could be. And possibly, some may say (though I still love the first) the best of the bunch. And then the end comes around. When that final reveal kicks in with some brilliant ‘Forest Gump’-esque insertion editing, the reaction was utter mindblowness. A simple yet genius punch to the gut that follows perfectly from the series’ homages littered throughout (the TV on the bus being tuned to Channel 180, or the placement of the exact logging truck from FD2). Its these touches, big or small, that shows the film makers really set to make FD5 as a calling siren to the fans. And boy, do we hear the call loud and clear.

8/10

So what better way to follow a golden Buddha turning someones head into a cherry slushee? Bleak (and I mean bleak) Spanish infanticide of course. Without any prior fanfare or even announcement, Holy Gloria crept onto the screen then persisted to hold the audiences’ throat with fanatical, rosary ensnared hands. 8 minutes later and the auditorium (previously raucous with laughter) is deathly deathly silent; a grim mirror to the stark and austere film that had just played out. ‘Por Gloria Divina’ is a sublime piece of short film-making that will likely go criminally unnoticed and/or be massacred into a feature length American remake. Here’s hoping both of these are untrue.

9/10

**For the sake of those that didn’t catch it, find it online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLiTXfLKU4

You will not regret it.

So there’s been a nominal trend going on thus forth, it begins with 6 and ends with 9, a legit linear sequence that can be summed up by the D:Ream song “Things Can Only Get Better”. If only such was true. The figurative spanner in the works, the third Back To The Future, the crappy too-frozen bit in the icecream; The Theatre Bizarre- a portmanteau whose potential awesomeness before watching set a stratosphere of expectations- royally screws with this linear trend. A 10 it is not. A 6 it is not.
Divided into 6 shorts, its best to look at Theatre Bizarre’s fragments each in turn before commenting any more on the product as a whole. Things kick of the opener and all purpose wrap-around “Theatre Guignol” which is based around a little girl venturing into an abandoned movie theatre and triggering an old human puppet show to burst to life, led by flaking ring master Udo Kier. Sounds like an episode of To Catch A Predator right? If only. While it carries a great concept and some nifty FX- it never really leaves the confines of these benefits, grounding it as nothing better than a tableaux opening much like the Creep in Creepshow (only, half as cool).
Pulling out the gates as the first real short in the anthology, Richard Stanley’s “Mother of Toads” redefines how crapola a film can be. ‘Why?’ doesn’t cover it. Heck even ‘Whathefuuuu’ doesn’t cover it. To say it was abysmal even falls short. Let this cover it: to anyone in the festival, all you had to do was say the words “Mother of Toads” and it would trigger instant cringed laughter... Mother of Toads *sniggers*.
NEXT! Buddy Giovinazzo’s “I Love You” takes a totally different angle, coming from the slow burn drama aspect of horror shorts. Its all black comedy and quizzical tension until things step into fifth gear in the last 30 seconds, paying off which is truly gut wrenching and stunning final long shot. Gloriously shocking and brutally emotional. This is what should have kicked off the anthology.
The most well known name on the bill steps up to the plate next. Tom Savini’s “Wet Dreams” pulls some Diet-Inception strings and plays around with the dream within a dream concept that constantly juggles the protagonist/antagonist conundrum. While the insectoid vagina was a surprising touch and the paraplegic reveal was nasty, overall it falls a little flat. A revenge tale at its core without any real morals to bounce off of.
Douglas Buck takes to the helm yet, and steers the ship seemingly back to film school in what is the anthologies most restrained and stylish affair: “The Accident”. An epistemological ode to the meaning of death, all taken from a child’s eyes is endearing in a harsh and honest way that stuns with earnest dialogue (Mummy, will that man ever get up?) and stark imagery (the mercy killing of a paralysed deer) in equal measures. It may feel out of place in the mix of that which comes before and after it., but it. Is. Good. Richard Stanley sat over there in the corner. WATCH and LEARN!
What The Accident pushed in subtlety, Vision Stains rains home in intravenous retinal injections and cheesier than Cheetohs voice over. Vision Stains carries the epistemological ideals to what is the meaning and worth of anothers’ life story. A clever tale of addiction loses its merit unfortunately quick given what it has to play with through no real fault of the lead actress of the directorial style. It just... fizzles out. A shame really, given how nasty both the premise and effects are.
By this point, despite some enjoyable segments, the omnipresent and utterly pointless wraparound insidiously butts its head in and doesn’t help the audience in their awareness of its running time. Never a good thing. So when Udo’s monologue seems to wrap to a conclusion and the inference of the little girls transformation is alluded I felt myself smiling at this sinister resolution. Then the title card for Sweets came up. And I realised there was a whole other 15 minutes to go. Crap.
David Gregory, I have a bone of contention to pick with you. I have what could be considered the opposite of a food fetish. When there’s a ‘cute’ food fight on a sitcom, I’ll swiftly find another programme. Food is food. Food is not clothes. Food is not moisturiser. And food is not sexy. So when Sweets opened with feeding and a room a-gulf with old food I pretty much curled up and found my happy place. Sit me through A Serbian Film or Gini Pigu any day over this please. If repulsion is the aim, then Sweets is the game. I, personally, loathed it. But maybe that’s an issue of mine not Gregory’s. The one good thing about my revulsion was that I did not see the Hansel & Gretel feeding-up-for-feeding twist coming. So I guess that’s something.
And then Udo’s back but now he’s lost all inhibitions he’s making Michael Jackson look like a picture perfect babysitter, he’s only bailing a little girl into a box. What did I say about the sexual offenders register check, Udo? No wonder he wasn’t in town supporting the film!
And that was it, the end of the movie and the end of the first night. A somewhat disappointing piece of potential genius, that if made 20 years ago could be a cult favourite. Yet being what it is, such a happening is unlikely... hopefully. If in 2040 my kids come to me and say ‘Dad, we’ve found this bitchin flick’ (because yes, they will talk they were from the 80’s) ‘from the olden days called Theatre Bizarre’ I will lose faith in the genre. Watch Theatre by all means, it’s got some bubbling genius hidden in there. But afterwards go stick on Creepshow.
1-whotheheckknows/10

... “Mother of Toads”...

Day 2 - Film 7 Vile vs Stormhouse

And so Day 2 draws to close with not a bang, but a whisper. Atleast, that is, if media and marketing are to go by. For the layman neither Stormhouse or Vile will likely instigate any Pavlovian salivation. So whats the fuss? With no instant sway, which one should is worth staying awake/out of the pub for?

Vile - Mainscreen 11.55pm

That's all we got, sorry. Trailers: zilch. Preview images: scant.*. All we know is this: its torture porn (sigh/cheer accordingly), but with a purpose. 8 strangers wake up in a room with glass vials (see what they did there?!) attached to their heads; and the only way in which they can survive or escape is to harvest a neurochemical to be used by the maniacal doctor antagonist as a future drug. Only catch? The sole way to gather this chemical is by inducing extreme pain. Cue the murder set pieces. So what we've got is a cross between Cube and a behind the scenes on the beta testing of NHS drugs.

Will this directorial debut from Sons of Anarchy actor Taylor Sheridan show that torture porn (for lack of other sub-genre nom-de-plume) still has something fresh to say like the great Borderland. Or will it be just another stale slice of pizza from the Saw canon. Then again, with promises of hot branding irons, boiling water and the poster-boy pliers, even if it is a stale slice of pizza, it may carry its fair bounty of meat.

*for a few, non spoilerish, non descript, non-anything images. Check out the Vile page on Bloody Disgusting

**************Update, after serendipitous surfing on another film, I stumbled across a trailer for Vile which has thus far evaded all the main avenues of search. Find it here. ***************************************

Stormhouse - Discovery Screen 11.30



So, lets face it, some may love spending a Friday night watching undeveloped characters slowly slaughter each other in the name of survival. But for others (an increasingly growing group) torture porn was dead 5 years ago. And for those people, Fright Fest have cracked out the opposite of TP. A Roswell-esque supernatural flick about a military experiment on an imprisoned entity which, after the arrival of a psychic, begins to go horrifically awry.
Where the intensity of the movie comes from though, is paranoia. Seeing as the entity in question possesses individuals on a whim, with viewers left not knowing who to trust and who to disgust.
Another rung on the British ladder to being a true icon of horror once again? Probably not, but that doesnt mean it cant kick some ass!

So what's your midnight fancy; medically licensed torture or governmentally licensed paranormality?

Day 2 Film 6 - Tucker & Dale vs Evil vs Kidnapped

This is going to be a hard one for this writer. Not to choose. But to unbiasedly write about them both. For me, Tucker & Dale is one of the very biggest highlights of the festival. And Kidnapped is well... what it says.

Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Mainscreen 9.55pm

TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE TUCKER AND DALE.

Can you gather something from that?! THIS is something to be excited about. When the lineup was first announced back on the 1st of this month and this writer sat down for a Youtube marathon to watch all the trailers. There were 4 that I got really really excited about it. And this is one of them:

You know how 'Zombieland' took zombie conventions, flipped them headlong and made them funny; well it looks like Tucker & Dale is gonna do that somersault for 'Friday the 13th'/'Wrong Turn' ethos of horror. Having seen the first half (albeit without any visual effects added), I can tell you this film is funny. It is clever. It is dumb. Its just what you want in the midst of a day of bleak horror. This looks set to break the tension just like Andy's Quiz or Adam Green & Joe Lynch's 'Road to Frightfest' shorts do.

Kidnapped - Discovery Screen 9.30pm



So for those that dont seek that tension release and would prefer something a little more... vicious, there is Kidnapped. And viscous it certainly looks. Taking a Haneke/Zombie hyper real approach to its violence, this little Spanish flick seems set to take what Mothers Day did earlier this year and smash you in the face with it. Repeatedly. As winner of best horror at Fantastic Fest, this looks like it could be a real surprise success for those that take the Discovery Screen gamble.

So theres your choices, LOL's or :O's?

Day 2 Film 5 - The Glass Man vs Blood Runs Cold

Next up for Friday its home-grown recession thriller versus Swedish beyond-the-grave slasher. Take your pick?

The Glass Man - Mainscreen 7.05pm

What would you do to save your family from debt? What would you go through to prevent your loved ones from knowing you lost everything? Well thats what fan favourite Andy Nyman must decide when faced with ominous debt collector James Cosmo. Yes you heard that right, Andy Nyman. When you pull off arguably the scariest way to spend a night in London at (no, not a Camden clothes store) the Duke of York Theatre for 'Ghost Stories', you know the horror fans are going to eat up anything your in, produced or vaguely breathed on.

Sure the director, for whom Glass Man is a feature length debut, starred in the abhorent 'Mother Of Tears', but for most that should just a be a snow cone on the iceberg that is the awesomeness Glass Man could be. Could be.

Blood Runs Cold - Discovery Screen 7.30pm

So what could possibly contend with the Nyman?

Go watch this trailer; no, now. Go.

Thats what can compete with Nyman. How amazing does it look. Sure the trailer seems suspect in how it gives so much away, the monster looks like a cross between something from 'Watchmen' and a gimp and it flaunts its micro budget like a pre-emptive excuse. But LOOK AT IT. How wonderful is that final shot? How clear does everything look considering it was shot on a camera reserved usually for stills? How nice is it to see something that holds that retro-ish feel while simultaneously looking polished and gleaming? It seems when it comes to horror Scandinavia is the new Japan in the way they seem to be turning out true gems what with 'Let The Right One In', 'Cold Prey' and 'Dead Snow' to name a few. Will Blood Runs Cold follow suit?

So what'll it be? Glass Man or Blood Runs Cold?

Day 2 - Film 4 Urban Explorer vs Rabies

And award to the two film billing that the majority of people will know nothing/care little about goes to these two little flicks. Will either of these films catch festival goers enough to cancel any Saturday evening dinner plans?

Urban Explorer - Main Screen 5.00pm

Neil Marshall did it. Cristopher Smith did it. Nick Hamm did it. Can Andy Fetscher do it? What are they doing? Doing for the subteranean world what Jaws did for sharks. Spelunking under metropolitan Berlin may not sound like a Saturday night out for most, but for some select few, it is. And of course being a voluntary minority in a horror film means one thing: that niche activity/environment you love so much happens to have a psycho killer that loves it more. Who will survive and what will be left of them yada yada yada. Will the first true stalk-and-slash of the festival be a sleeper hit or a sleepy miss?

Rabies - Discovery Screen 5.15pm

A "Hebrew horror comedy"? "Turning horror conventions on its head"? A slot at Tribecca? A one hundred percent positive review aggregate? These are promises that hint at something much more than your run of the mill body-count, turn-your-brain-off, hack 'n' slash. 'Kalevet' is Israels first horror movie and feature debut from Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado (yep, that was a copy and paste job), but gimmicks aside (lest they be used as excuses), will it be a good movie?

Murder in the woods or murder in a tunnel?
Either way it looks like you'll be playing a Cluedo for 90 minutes.

Day 2 - Film 3 - Total Film Interview vs Midnight Son

What may seem like an easy decision to most festival goers, glowing reviews may make you want to rethink before indefatigably choosing the horror panel discussion over the preview of Scott Leberecht's subtle vamp musing 'Midnight Son'.

Total Film Interview & American Horror Discussion - Main Screen 15.05

Call it budget reasons, lack of true inspiration (have you seen Craven or Carpenter's latest offerings), or based off of last years flacid affair, but this year Fright Fest has shrugged it's 'horror icon' section and interview in favor of an interview with little known but fairly proficient director/producer, Larry Fessenden. While many people may shrug at this name, a quick glance at his credit sheet will impress anyone who's been up on the horror scene for the past 5 years; working behind such undeniable favourites as 'House of the Devil' and 'Stakeland' aswell as lesser known gems 'The Last Winter' and 'I Sell The Dead', and even the festival's Sunday afternoon spooky romp 'The Innkeepers', he seems to know his stuff. Partner this with a panel containing fright fest favourites Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Ti West and Lucky McKee (arguably the greatest american genre directors of this decade), all of which have movies premiering or previewing at this years festival to discuss and divulge about, and this discussion looks set to blow anything of years past well out of the water.

Get your camcorders out kids, this looks like one for the history books.

Midnight Son - Discovery Screen 3.00pm

We all know vampires are (however tiresomely) 'in' at the moment. When you've got the mainstream drooling over 'Twilight Saga' and the genre fans re-writing their top 10's with 'Let The Right One In', its no surprise the 'V' word has touched down at Fright Fest again. And while the sub-genre has seen its atrocities these past 12 months ('Dead Cert', anyone?), Midnight Son seems set to attack the cluttered canvas with a new shade of red. Taking the bleak, indie stylings of Van Sant and crossing it with servings of refereshingly real violence, this mircocosm vampire tale should even give the horror discussion panel a run for its money.

Reasons to watch Midnight Son:

1. Its directed by a visual effects artist, who, among other things, has worked on Burton's 'Sleepy Hollow'. Thus, this movie is going to look the bomb.

2. It's a cheap, indie affair. Showing support for these flicks, especially at festival runs, gets these kind of movies both distribution deals and actually made in the first place. Want more Let The Right One In and less Twilight? Show the powers that be that you like these movies.

3. Its an homage piece to Romero's classic 'Martin'.

4. It has a violent finale that made BloodyDisgusting's Brad Miska (who, for those that dont follow the site like a mantra, watches upwards of 300 horror flicks a year) "exclaiming OMFG".

If it makes Mr Disgusting shit his pants, then bring me some of that shit.

For me this is one of the tougher decisions to make this year. While the obvious will more than likely win over, Midnight Son looks a strong contender and for those that get passes to this film purely because they couldnt get into the mainscreen are sure to be pleasantly rewarded.
So whats your thoughts? The legends of this decades horror all in the same room? Or a quiet unassuming but potentially genius vampire fable?

Day 2 - Film 2 'The Holding' vs 'Horrible Way To Die'

Next up (or first up for those who celebrated a tad much the night before) is

'The Holding' - Screen 1 12.45



This is the first of a rain covered bunch littered all over the fest this year: rural brit flicks that ride the ridge between horror and thriller. 'The Holding', the feature length debut from Susan Jacobson, focuses on a mother and her two young girls who, thanks to a recently AWOL husband, have to strugglingly run the family farm on their ownsome. Enter friendly stranger who knows an inordinate amout about the family. Cue tension, dissension and insidious intentions.
It may not bring anything new to the genre but, since reviews are on the nonexistent side, who knows, maybe it will! Considering it was shot for an estimated 3mill. the film looks slick, and any movie where Georgia Groome is not in an 'Angus, Thongs & Full Frontal Snogging' flick is good to me.

'A Horrible Way To Die' - Discovery Screen 12.30



Making a serial killer movie in 2011 is a bit like beating a dead horse, your not gonna go anywhere fast. See Scream 4 for example a). Yet Adam Wingard's taut and supposedly violent thriller is raking in golden reviews that cite it as simultaneously embracing and subverting the genre that seems so tired and overwrote. What strikes me is how reviews are saying the movie situates the audience there with the serial killer (much like 'Behind The Mask', 'Monster' or 'Henry'), yet all released footage seems to follow Sarah, the murders ex girlfriend. Seems like a bag of mysteries for sure. If none of that captures your attention, it also stars AJ Bowen of House Of The Devil, The Signal and Hatchet II genius. Still unconvinced? Go check out the make up effects in this image. Sold?

So who will you be watching die? Brits in the country? Or blonde beauts in the snow?

Day 2- Pt 1 'Rogue River' vs 'Man Who Saw...'

Friday Morning brings us Festers (get it? as in 'to fester' and/or as in 'fest'ival LOL lol lol...) the first decision of the 5 days: Jourdan McClures's Dont-trust-strangers-fable 'Rogue River' or the documentary on 'horror icon' Paul Naschy.

'Rogue River' - Screen 1 10.40

Anyone seen Mum & Dad? How about Timber Falls? Or maybe a film where a lead character - usually a woman- stumbles , or willingly enters, into a stangers house - usually in the woods. Strangers who seem nice and trusting for a second but wait, whats that? then go ape-shit crazy and ends up hacking (or atleast attempting to) the aforementioned protagonist limb from limb. Know that one? Well thats what Rogue River appears to be if the trailer or synopsis is anything to go by. Even the shocks seem to be rehashed, for anyone thats seen Mothers Day (2011) or The Loved Ones (2010) the boiling water mouthwash seen in the trailer wont be overly surprising. Buts that not to say it wont be welcomed with uncomfortable leg crossing and eye-squinting-wincing. Although this looks by the books, it still looks good. Gritty and raw in look (how abouts that 70's exploitation'esque poster?) and with a lead from genre staple Bill Moseley, Rogue River looks to be a perfectly adequate horror/thriller and is sure to pleasantly surprise more than a few of us.

'The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry' - Discovery Screen 1o.35


*No trailer seems to be in circulation for this film, so the above is what looks to be an early cut of the doc's opening.

The passing of Paul Naschy in 2009 was to the spanish horror community like the death of Vincent Price was to the rest of the world. This isnt to say this documentary/homage will only be of interest to this niche group. This European horror legend's IMDB account reads like a bonafied catalogue of early horror cinema. He is a legacy. The attractive title comes from an anecdote in which Naschy recalls being on the set of I Spy (1966) with a very aged and disgruntled Boris Karloff who - being left out in inclement weather waiting for a late taxi, sufferingly weep. It is one of very many round-the-camp-fire-tales the life of such an established actor must have. This Angel Agudo documentary, hosted by Mick Garris, and with a plethora of horror cinephiles such as Joe Dante and John Landis, looks to shed some of these tales and recount the life of the legacy.

So which will it be? 'Rogue River' or 'El Hombre Que Vio Llorar A Frankenstein'?

Opening Night

Thursday 25th August

'Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark' 6.30pm



Here it is, the big opener: Del Toro's latest role in the producers chair. From the footage thats been released it promises, if nothing else, to contain some stellar jumps and gorgeous cinematography. Looks to be akinto Joe Dante's 'The Hole' (2010), amped and ramped up, and with some rhyme and reason to the spooky goings on to boot. Can Del Toro's productorial hand guide this to be on par with The Orphanage? Lots more footage to come on this one.

'Final Destination 5' 9.15pm



So apparently David Ellis' 4th installment was not 'THE Final Destination'; but we all knew that. Who cares. The 'Final Destination' are great fun and a packed cinema of true horror fans (several on the side of inebriation) will surely be the best place to cheer/jeer along to this deathfest. With rumored uppings of Tony Todd's role, the brilliant Nicholas D'Agosto and Emma Bell (of Frozen and Walking Dead fame), and several pre-lim' reviews saying its the best of the bunch, I gotta say, it looks good. Plus, I defy anyone to not wince at the gymnast backflipping onto the nail scene. Nasty.

And finally in our introduction to 2011's festivities is

'The Theatre Bizarre' 11.30pm



A horror anthology, Udo Kier as a human puppet, graphic vomiting,a cinema called The Theatre Guignol (Hey Gordon-Lewis fans) , severed achiles tendons, a vagina with pincers, an 8/10 from Bloodydisgusting.com's Brad Miska and effects.by.Savini.(Need i say more). This simply looks incredible; freaky, grimy, funny, and best of all genuinely disturbing. Plus check out it's poster.



I love me some protein

Also worth noting, may this be the double showing with the highest body count ever? What with it being a FD movie and an anthology (that looks to be sustainably gory) back to back? Place your bets on deaths folks, I want guesses in the comments. Whoever gets closest will win a meal with Katie Holmes.*

Oh yeah, and all of these are the films UK premieres. Any chance of spotting Guillermo? Tom Savini? Jeremy Kasten?

*This may not be true, but on request I can always procure a wig.