My Top 5 Films of 2011

First, a few that didn’t make my top 5 but still have to be checked out. In no particular order: Kill List, The Artist, Le Quattro Volte, The Woman, Bridesmaids, Rango, The Skin I Live In, Submarine, We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Archipelgo and the first 40 minutes of Insidious.

And while I'm sticking my two-cents in, my vote for the 'Most Overrated Film of 2011' is a tie between The Tree of Life and Take Shelter. The Tree of Life was a pretty bore whilst Take Shelter was pretty boring.

But onto the list, and at number 5…..

5. The Deep Blue Sea: Terrence Davies' seventh full length feature is also one of his best. An adaptation of the play by Terrence Rattigan, The Deep Blue Sea set 'around 1950' follows Hester (Rachel Weisz) as she leaves her dull, wealthy husband William (Simon Russell Beale) for the passionate Freddie (Tom Hiddlestone). Whether her choice was guided by a lust for love or need for passion, Hester soon finds herself in a desperate situation as characters find their own definitions of love soon to be in conflict with each others. Heartbreaking, beautiful filmmaking, Davies has creating another glorious time capsule as he captures the era perfectly, leaving you wishing for the return of the old fashioned pub sing-a-long. As stunning and classy a piece of cinema as you're ever likely to see.

4. Midnight in Paris: Grossing just over $53 million, Midnight in Paris leapfrogged  Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) to become Woody Allen’s most financially successful film to date. That may not be saying much in a year that saw Transformers: The Dark of the Moon steal just over $1 billon but this year saw Woody Allen make what some see as a long awaited return to form. Whilst I’m a huge fan, even enjoying recent flops like Scoop (2006), Cassandra’s Dream (2007) and Whatever Works (2009), Midnight in Paris is his best film since Mighty Aphrodite (1995) and without a shadow of a doubt, the most magical cinema experience of the year.

3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: The best British film of the year featuring the best actor of the year in Gary Oldman, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a tense 127 minutes that slowly gets under your skin. Called out of retirement to find a Soviet mole lurking in the smoke stained offices of MI6, Oldman plays George Smiley, a man both doing his job and coming to terms with the idea that some of his closest colleagues may be capable of the deepest form of betrayal. Swapping car chases, shoot outs and adventure for tense silences, stony faces and the best office Christmas party ever committed to celluloid, Alfredson has surpassed the achievements of his last masterpiece (Let the Right One In) and created a very special film indeed.

 

2. Melancholia: Lars Von Trier is something of an acquired taste. Responsible for the most depressing musical of all time (Dancer in the Dark (2000), the dullest Nicole Kidman movie, itself hotly contested accolade (Dogville (2003) and the most shocking film to creep into mainstream cinemas (Antichrist 2009), he is a unique genius at best and a pretentious bore at worst. Even if you like his films, he’s a difficult character to warm to in person, especially after claiming he ‘understands’ and ‘sympathises’ with Adolph Hitler. Remarks that saw him thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, this was a joke and like most public comments he makes, wasn’t to be taken seriously. Whether or not you buy the notion that Melancholia is based on his own battle with depression doesn’t matter because the film itself is a true classic. One thing that has always marred Von Trier’s work has been its tendency to fall into long, dull patches, a prime example being Antichrist, a film that’s more shocking moments were linked together by at least an hours worth of yawn. Fortunately, Melancholia breaks this tradition with a passion. Starting with a breathtaking end of the world sequence, the film then darts back in time and splits into two sections. The first ‘Justine’ rivals the opening of The Godfather (1972) for the title of cinemas greatest wedding (it’s at least its funniest) whilst the second, ‘Claire’, is a tense, dread filled wait for the apocalypse that slowly puts the fear of God into you. One of the best experiences I’ve had in a cinema for years (and if you can see it in a cinema – DO!), Melancholia is Von Trier’s best film yet and left the audience I watched it with pinned to their seats long into the end credits thanks to a horrific final image that I still can’t shake.

 

1. Black Swan: Yes, the first film I saw this year, (and my first review for this blog) simply hasn’t been bettered. There’s not much more to say that I haven’t already said in my earlier post (http://weneedtheeggsbpl.blogspot.com/2011/01/black-swan-review.html) but on this form, Darren Aronofsky’s next project, an adaptation of the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, looks set to violently trump the last attempt at filming the story, an attempt made by Evan Almighty (2007), which in all fairness wasn’t terrible, just more of a shame.  

Film4 Frightfest - Vile Review

 

And so Midnight Movie number 2: Vile. Directed by Taylor Sheridan, Vile managed to create one of the most uncomfortable atmospheres of the festival. Truly nasty, grim, violent and draining, the film for most of its running time shapes up to be something really quite special but, unfortunately, loses any credibility thanks to a dire ending. It may sound like the fate of most entries in the rapidly dying torture porn genre but in the case of Vile, this really is genuinely more of a shame than it sounds.

The film opens as a group of friends are targeted by a perfume selling older woman who in actual fact is something of an Avon service from the bowels of Hell. Before they have time to say thanks but no thanks, she has donned a gas mask and sent them all into a deep sleep. Waking up in a strange warehouse full of other strangers, the ground find themselves tied to chairs with vials (geddit) surgically attached to the back of their heads. A video then tells them that they have 22 hours to fill the vials with a chemical that is released from the brain when a person experiences pain.

So there we go. What follows, as can be expected, is an hour of self inflicted organised pain as the group take it in turns to reach the 100% mark that will unlock the doors and free them all. Vile almost immediately makes itself more interesting than just a film with a sick premise in its handling of personalities. There is a fantastic early discussion as to whether the men should only take part which provoked laughs and passionate ‘gender roles’ arguments from both the men on screen and the entire Frightfest audience.

Surprisingly dark humour also comes from the refreshingly organised manner that the cast get themselves together. The women don’t run around screaming, the men don’t break down and punch walls and the group avoid predictably breaking off into opposing factions. Instead, they pull their heads together and decide to each take a slice of the pain, the whole group attacking one member, then another, then another in a disturbingly calm manner. But as you can imagine, any moments of humour in Vile are soon quashed: this is a grim picture. Tweezers, boiling water, irons and a whole host of nasty rusty tools are used to create a solid hour of wincing.

From the flames of this nasty film arrived the most evil character seen at Frightfest. Kelly (Stefanie Braboza) (and yes I did have to look up the name as after an hour of group mutilation, faces and names tend to blur into one another) establishes herself as enemy number one early on by suggesting the ‘Men only’ policy but further makes herself hard to love by going way overboard in the first group beating by breaking a pair of legs. In fact, a clear indication of how effective Kelly is, is that when it was her turn to be hurt, in a film of solemn, brutal, pain-induced awkward silences, Frightfesters across the cinema passionately cheered.

Unfortunately, for all the good, interesting things that Vile does, in the end all the violence and nastiness just doesn’t have a point. There is a hint all the goings on in the film are to help with some form of medication, but rather than push the idea into a clear message, it remains only a hint and coupled with the fact that there really is no pay off, consequently it’s hard not to think ‘what’s the point?’. If the film was brave enough to follow a film like Martyrs (2008) in having a bold, damning resolution that had something to say, the violence in the film would have at least had some form of wider context to help make the bitter pill easier to swallow. Instead, we are left with an hour and a half of people beating each other up. Nothing more, nothing less.

As it is, the lack of point leave Vile a despicable, pointless near-miss that’s near impossible to recommend. Paul took to the stage prior to the screening and said that he hopes Vile will be torture porn’s final bow. If it is (and I’m sure most agree with Paul), it is something of a shame that the much despised sub-genre will go out with a nasty whimper rather than leaving with something to say.

Film4 Frightfest - Tucker and Dale Vs Evil Review

In what was one of the most heavily anticipated screenings of the festival, Eli Craig’s Tucker and Dale Vs Evil arrived on Friday night and immediately became a favourite of almost everyone who saw it. Playing with hillbilly horror conventions established by classics like Deliverance (1972), Tucker and Dale Vs Evil proved to be a true crowd pleaser and arguably the best horror-comedy since Shaun of the Dead (2004).

The story revolves around Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine), two well meaning hillbillies who are looking forward to a peaceful vacation in their new holiday home. Unfortunately for them, a group of horror-cinema savvy teens are also camping in the nearby woods, scaring themselves with tales that play like deleted scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).

When Alison (Katrina Bowden), one of the teens, falls into the nearby lake, Tucker and Dale lend a helping hand but their innocent cries of ‘We’ve got your friend’ start off a chain of deadly misunderstandings that leave the group thinking the harmless hillbillies are actually the kind of backwards folk they see hacking teens to bits on the big screen every weekend.

Craig then takes extreme pleasure referencing his favourite horror movies as each hillbilly horror trope goes against the lovable duo in increasingly bloodier ways as the teens begin to accidentally kill themselves off. To go into anymore detail would be spoiling some brilliantly clever misunderstandings but suffice to say, a chainsaw is at the heart of one of the best.

Despite the first hour essentially consisting of a series of horror conventions being turned on their head, it is a real credit to Craig that the film never feels formulaic or repetitive. Each gruesome mix-up is both clever and funny but the real strength and heart of the film lies in the performances of Tudyk and Labine as the title characters. Tudyk once again brings another reliably assured performance as the straight man of the couple whilst Labine brings that strange warmth and vulnerability that seems to come naturally to bigger actors with beards.

In what are clearly outrageous circumstances, the cynical Tucker and good natured Dale convey a real friendship that is actually affecting and is sure to induce glassy eyes in parts. What makes this even more impressive is that this kind of emotionally twang is somewhat absent from most comedy-horrors, with the only other recent example coming in the latter stages of Shaun of the Dead, “I don’t think I’ve got it in me to shoot my flatmate, my mum and my girlfriend all in the same evening.”

Funny, clever, gory and sure to leave a lump in the throat, Tucker and Dale Vs Evil is one of the best horror-comedies to date. A real winner at Frightfest, it prompts the thought that maybe Leatherface and co have been gravely misrepresented all these years.

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - Blood Runs Cold Review

Following Urban Explorers was my first Discovery screen film, the Swedish (but English language) Blood Runs Cold, a slasher made on a shoestring budget with a lot of charm, a lot of a laughs, a lot of good, a lot of bad and one of best killers I’ve seen in a horror film in a long time.

Directed by Sonny Laguna, Blood Runs Cold sees Winona, a struggling musician move into a new house in her snowy hometown. After she bumps into an old flame and his loved up friends, the four of them return to the house for drinks, partying and sex only to be rudely awoken the next morning by an axe-wielding maniac.

First the bad. The acting is terrible, the gore is poor and it’s as dumb as a movie can be. However, one thing saves this film in a big way – the killer. Wearing a jacket, snow goggles and woolly ski hat, he butchers the cast in a way that would suggest he knows he’s being watched.

Here is a maniac that walks past the window, stops and points at his prey for kicks. A killer that would rather axe an unlocked door to pieces rather than just opening it. You can’t help but imagine him wearing a smirk the size of his axe underneath his bandaged face. He is, simply put, up there with Freddy and Jason - except this  classic killer has seemingly wandered into a student film and therein lies the film’s greatest strengths and fatal flaws.

The sound is dire, I’m pretty sure I saw a mic in a mirror and thanks to shoddy colour correction, parts of the film carry a strange orange glow but these all add up to giving the film a strange amateurish  charm. Couple this with a truly memorable killer and Blood Runs Cold becomes a strange, somewhat kitsch horror movie.

It may seem that a forgotten horror icon is taking his anger out on the crappiest production he can find, but when embraced, Blood Runs Cold can confidently join the brilliantly terrible movie gang alongside Top Gun (1986), Crank (2006), and my all-time favourite, the beautifully bad Shoot Em’ Up (2007).

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - Urban Explorers Review

As my intended screening Rabies sold out, late afternoon arrived and I was looking at my second unexpected film of the day, German underground thriller Urban Explorers. Directed by Andy Fetscher, the film follows a group of adventurous twenty-something who get their kicks by explorering the neglected underground world of Berlin.

As they get dangerously into increasingly,  remote Nazi themed areas, one of them has an accident and is unable to move, but getting help becomes tricky as a strange and clearly mental Former East German body guard named Armin is discovered to be living beneath the surface, stuck in something of a time warp.

Unfortunately that’s about as much as an honest review as I can give as the screening was a bit of a botched job. After having no sound for the first five minutes, it turned out that the print was without subtitles. This seemed to have two effects on the audience – some enjoyed the threatening sense of alienation at not totally understanding the ramblings of the psychotic Armin, others found it frustrating. I fell into the latter.

However, without having a clue what Armin was saying didn’t ruin what was a generally well was made, genuinely suspenseful film with one great fridge-related scare and a surprisingly brutal ending.

An extremely shocked and apologetic Fetscher took to the stage afterwards and apologised for the print, telling Frightfesters that the dialogue was important and that we unfortunately missed some great jokes. Out of respect for what could be a better film with subtitles, I will let my review rest until I get the chance to see the film as it was intended.

Greatest Living Filmmakers: A Personal Top 5

Having recently rewatched my collection of David Lynch movies, I started to wonder who, alongside the great man himself, would make it into my top 5 greatest living directors working today. Whittling the names down was tough (The Coens, Coppala, Scorsese, Cameron, Godard), but here is my list in no particular order of the filmmakers that are still (almost) incapable of creating a dud.

Woody Allen

Having made almost a film a year since 1969, Woody is by far one of the most prolific filmmakers working today. Responsible for my favourite film of all time (Annie Hall) and loads more that easily make my top 20 (Manhattan, Love and Death, Stardust Memories, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Husbands and Wives, Match Point) Woody Allen has written some of the greatest lines heard in some of the greatest films of all time. Simply put: my favourite filmmaker of all time.

Quentin Tarantino

Before I met Annie Hall, there was Pulp Fiction. Unlike any film I had seen before, it was the movie that made me want a career in celluloid. He may have missed the mark by some way with Death Proof, but by taking his time (6 films in 19 years) he has managed to shape popular culture with his razor sharp dialogue, memorable set pieces and awesome soundtracks. One of the best of my lifetime.

Gaspar Noe

Creating horror without actually having made a "horror film" Noe has been responsible for creating some of most shocking images ever seen on the big screen with only 3 films. His first film, I Stand Alone, had a 30 second break that warned people what was following was shocking and that they should leave the cinema if they felt vulnerable. His shocking follow up Irreversible wasn't that kind and left Cannes shaken as 200 walked out and 3 had to be carried. His latest, Enter The Void, is a sprawling vision far too complex to be summed up here. Evoking feelings that run way deeper than anyting Hostel or Saw could dream of, Gaspar Noe has a visual style and ethos that make him one of the most exciting, disturbingly brilliant filmmakers working today. 

David Lynch

Where better to pick up from 'disturbingly brilliant' than David Lynch. Creator of Twin Peaks, Lynch has managed to bring dreams to screens everywhere since his warped maiden voyage, Eraserhead. His other surreal highlights include Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive  and Inland Empire. Whether it be that thing behind the dumpster or that room full of bunnies, Lynch knows exactly how to get under our skin in the strangest of ways. By peeling back the skin of the suburbia and showing us the bugs that crawl beneath, he makes a convincing argument that we may be living in a place more terrifying than anything in our nightmares. Don't eat cheese before bed, just watch Lynch.

Park Chan-Wook

The South Korean master of revenge Park Chan-wook has made some of the best films to come of out of Asia in the last 20 years. Rivaling the work of Takeshi Miike for sheer gut-punch nastiness, Chan-wook's visual flair, plot twists and Almodovar-esque puzzlebox structures have made for essential viewing. His best known work include Joint Security Area, Thirst and for my money, one of the great film trilogies of all time, 'The Vengence Trilogy'. Made up of three films unconnected by plot but united by the revenge theme, this trilogy is comprised of Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance. His next film, Stoker,  is his first in the english language and is suprisingly written by Wentworth Miller. Yep, him off Prison Break.

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - Total Film Icon with Larry Fessenden and the Horror Panel Discussion

 

This years Total Film Icon interview was director/producer/actor Larry Fessenden. Never heard of him? Neither had I. But after hearing him talk, I’ll soon be searching for his four feature films No Telling, Habit, Wendigo and The Last Winter.

He spoke of his passion for movies, his hatred of remakes and nasty franchises like Saw as well as the trials and tribulations he had when attempting to get films made, especially his remake of The Orphanage. Issues such as Del Toro’s insistence on building sets and Kate Winslet pulling out as she didn’t want to play another depressing character resulted in him losing the project and judging by his passion and excitement in describing how he would have done things, its both our loss and his. He described his role as a producer as ‘to protect the director’s agenda and fight against the executives who normally have pea-sized brains’. We would later see this in action in Ti West’s The Innkeepers, a film Fessenden produced.

This talk was followed by a horror panel discussion with Larry, Ti West (The House of the Devil), Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2), Adam Green (Hatchet) and Lucky McGee (The Woman) and his producer on The Woman, Adam van den Houten. The crux of the conversation was the sorry state that American horror is in due to the endless conveyor belt of studio led remakes, sequels and prequels. Green expressed his anger at fans that pay money to see the trash only to then slag it off when they could be supporting independent visions. He also told a story about a producer who put forward the idea of ‘a scary stove’ when he was in charge of Cabin Fever 2, a job that eventually fell in the lap of Ti West. West also expressed his dismay at how he was treated in the post-production of that film as well as telling the Frightfesters to use social media to spread the right messages about what should be scaring us at the cinema. Lucky McGee put forward the idea of rather than commissioning sequels and remaking classics, the studios should re-mastering and re-release them. An idea that went down well in Screen 1.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the talk was Total Film interviewer Jamie Graham admitting the greatest regret of his career was not walking out of a Michael Bay interview when Bay told him ‘Have you seen the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It really doesn’t hold up well’. A remark that is likely to see Bay lynched if he ever dared to come near any Frightfest event in the future.  

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - The Holding Review

After traffic kept me out of the first screening of Day 2, Rogue River, and my intended discovery screen film, A Horrible Way to Die, sold out, I was left in Screen 1, watching Emmerdale collide with The Stepfather in Susan Jacobson’s The Holding.

The film opens in frantic fashion with mother of two Cassie Naylor (Kierston Wareing) frantically burying the corpse of her husband Dean. Flash-forward eight months and Cassie is struggling to pay the bills for her cattle holding and fend off the unwelcome advances of her country bumpkin neighbours. Welcome to the stage Aden (Vincent Regan), a charmer claiming to be an old friend of Deans who soon finds himself slotting into the Naylor family, whether they like it or not.

The film looks great, not so much due to the Jacobson’s talent but rather than spectacular natural scenery of its Peak District setting and among the solid cast, Regan stands out with a perfectly menacing performance as a sweet-talker with a glint in his eye all too capable of melting into a glare. As soon as handsome stranger Aden walks onto the farm you pretty much know where the rest of the film is going. As Roger Ebert has said of his type ‘He's one of those guys with a bland smile and a voice so nice and sweet that right away you know he's twisted.’ In the movies, if ever a single mum finds a perfect man with shimmering abs, he’s usually a serial killer (The Stepfather), a vampire (Fright Night) or Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire). If horror movies tell us anything, it’s that as soon as that divorce is finalised, mum’s sense of judgement tends to go out of the window.

In a predictable film that unfortunately brings not much new to the table, a strange subplot involving the youngest daughter Amy (Maisie Lloyd) being obsessed with the bible is painfully neglected. In the Q & A after the film, the writer revealed that the initial script was much more supernatural, with Aden taking a more ambiguous existence, and Amy’s religious ramblings were a part of this initial draft. They kept her stuff in the final version as they ‘liked it’. Unfortunately, liking it doesn’t really justify keeping it in and despite it being the most interesting part of the film, it builds to nothing and feels (as it clearly was) like something from a different, far better film.

Whilst The Holding looks good with impressive acting and a few early twists and turns, it quickly turns into a story already done to death. Jacobson does throw in an out of place explosion in the final ‘sisters doing it for themselves’ third but it can’t save The Holding from being not bad, not good, just a film as formulaic as they come.

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - The Theatre Bizarre Review

And so the opening night of Frightfest 2011 came to a close with an anthology film called The Theatre Bizarre. Featuring stories directed by Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Tom Savini and Richard Stanley, The Theatre Bizarre like most anthology movies is a mixed bag with some good, some bad and some very ugly. After the first bookend piece introduced a girl wandering into a strange theatre full of seemingly paper mache audience members, a strangely powdered meat puppet played by Udo Kier entered the stage and introduced the first film – Richard Stanley’s Mother of Toads.

Mother of Toads (Richard Stanley)

Mother of Toads. Just say the name to yourself. Somewhere at sometime, a great movie is destined to team up with this awesome title. Unfortunately, just saying Mother of Toads is a million times more interesting than actually watching this opening short. The film surrounds the story of an old woman who tells a young couple the tale of the mother of toads, giving them a rare book featuring the story. The man then tracks down the old woman, entering her home and sleeping with her. The rest is entirely predictable (guess who the old woman actually is), the actors have about as much charisma and energy of a skid-mark and I’ve never seen someone suck all the impact out of an expensive ‘Mother Toad’ suit just by wearing it. Stanley directs his segment with all the skill and verve of a baked potato and when his film is lagging, as it does for most of its running time, he throws in a few arse-shots of the man’s girlfriend in a swimming pool. Why? Who knows? Aside from a brilliant ‘morning after’ shot that is obliviously played straight when it should have actually gone for laughs, Mother of Toads is a train wreck. A limp, dull short that feels long with no story, no flair, nothing of interest and without any tone or atmosphere, Mother of Toads is just plain bad despite the potential for amusing strangeness. The worst short of the lot, it could only get better.

I Love You (Buddy Giovinazzo)

Up next was I Love You, one of the more unconventional love stories of the night. The film stars Susan Anbeh as a wife telling her husband, Andre Hennicke, that their marriage is over. She has met someone else who is currently waiting in a car outside ready to whisk her away to her new and improved life. Hennicke shines in this piece and the moment that he asks for a more in-depth explanation into the demise of his marriage results in one of the best moments in the entire film. The line between comedy and tragedy has never seemed finer and Giovinazzo takes pleasure in slipping from one tone to the other. With a gruesome twist providing a neat ending, I Love You helped ease the pain inflicted by the toad and proved to be one of the best shorts of the film.

Wet Dreams (Tom Savini)

Savini’s tale is arguably the most complex as a couple battle it out in their dreams, dishing out gory and brutal punishments for each other; it’s the Inception of the group. After a brilliant opening establishes some of the man’s sexual insecurities, the film slowly descends into the doldrums as Savini struggles to capitalise on what could have been a really interesting idea. The dream-within-a-dream structure quickly becomes tiresome but fortunately a grim final act of vengeance pulls the film back up to the high standards of the opening. Not the best of the bunch by some way, but Mother of Toads it ain’t.

The Accident (Douglas Buck)

Douglas Buck created The Accident, the fourth and by far the best segment in the anthology. A bedtime conversation sees a mother explains to her daughter the idea of death, a concept that seems to have smashed its way into the child’s psyche due to an earlier accident that left a deer blankly gazing at her through the car window. This story features hardly any blood, guts or gore but is so much more haunting than anything else seen in The Theatre Bizarre. The image of the deer haunts us just as much as it does the little girl and aside from this truly unsettling dreamlike apparition, the mother’s words prove to be extremely consoling and moving. As it stands, The Accident is the best story of the film and one of the best things seen in the entire festival. Both powerful in its ability to haunt, move and engage with the life-changing moment that is our first confrontation with the idea of death, The Accident would be an award winner if it travelled as a stand alone short. This makes it all the more sad that it is likely to be remembered as ‘that good bit in The Theatre Bizarre’.

Vision Stains (Karim Hussain)

Someone had to follow it and that task fell in the lap of Karim Hussain with Vision Stains. The story follows a woman who kills people but not before extracting the fluid from their eyes via a needle and injecting it into hers, allowing her to see their lives flash before her eyes. Addicted to the stories of others, she writes down everything that she sees. One of the more gritty tales in the collection, this film struck a chord with me in particular due to my struggles with any up close eye action on a cinema screen. (Final Destination 5 also hit this nerve). With several nasty, close up eye injections and extractions, Vision Staines is initially a tough watch. However, there really is only so many times you can see a needle going into an eye and react to it and unfortunately it happens so many times in the film that by the end it completely fails to pack a punch. Combine this with the irritating voiceover of the main character and a ‘story’ that’s paper-thin,  Vision Staines ends up as merely an icky concept that runs out of steam, fast. Something that shouldn’t happen in any film, let alone a short one.  

Sweets (David Gregory)

Despite being one of the most visually interesting and well filmed pieces in The Theatre Bizarre, Gregory’s Sweets ends up biting off more than it can chew. There isn’t much of a story here aside from a girl who enjoys feeding her boyfriend all sorts of sickly sweets. With enough disgusting imagery of food on show to ruin an appetite for days, Sweets does succeed in its primary aim of revolting. However, it gets old fast and those looking for a truly interesting, scary and vom-inducing take on the subject of feeders should check out Brett Leonard’s Feed (2005) rather than stay and witness this disappointing final chapter of the anthology.

As the wrap-around cemented its position as being both dull and pointless, The Theatre Bizarre remained a bag mixed with more bad than good. Whilst I Love You is a funny and interesting short and the must-see The Accident is worth skipping to,  the rest are a muddled bunch of interesting concepts generally poorly executed. Except Mother of Toads, a short that even a toad with breasts couldn’t save.

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - Final Destination 5 (3D) Review

Final Destination 5 didn’t bode well when announced as the film following Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark on the opening night of Frightfest 2011. The previous instalment The Final Destination (2009) proved to be both a lie and completely terrible. The ‘3D’ tag, as it always should do, lowered expectations rather than raising them. And it’s a fifth instalment in a horror franchise – see Friday 13^th Part V: A New Beginning (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and Saw V (2008) for reasons as to why this is never normally a good thing. Lucky for us then that Final Destination 5 (3D) proved to be arguably the best in the series so far and one of the most well-received films of the entire festival.

Directed by Steven Quale, second unit director on Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009) (and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) but the less said about that, the better), Final Destination 5 once again takes the formula of the franchise (attractive teens cheat death before death comes back to get them one by one) but spices it up by introducing the idea that the teens can kill someone else who will then take their place in death thus sparing them a grizzly end.

So the disaster. So far we’ve had a plane explosion, a motorway pile up, a rollercoaster derail, and a crash at a speedway. This time its a bridge collapse and its the best opening to one of these films so far (and the ending is sure to please anyone who has followed the franchise from the off). The explosive premonition makes great use of the 3D and even rivals the spectacular train crash in Super 8 (2011) for sheer wow factor. Alongside this moment of destruction, the 3D in the film is actually worthwhile, never overly darkening the action and the opening credits sequence makes for the best use of 3D I’ve seen in a film alongside the slow-mo sequences in Jackass 3D (2010).

The film is consistently funny, the deaths always surprising and inventive with one set at a gymnastics try-out ranking as one of the best ‘meeting-your-maker’ moments ever seen in a Final Destination movie. The only worry in terms of how much this film surprised and entertained me comes with regard to the audience. I watched this with a Frightfest crowd who laughed on cue, applauded every death scene (almost giving the gym one a standing ovation) and gave the film a perfect atmosphere. Whether Final Destination 5 will be half as effective in a cinema full of chavs, mobile phones and talkers remains to be seen.

A horror panel discussion later in the festival saw directors Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Lucky McGee, Larry Fessenden, Ti West and Andrew van den Houten agree on how remakes, sequels and prequels tend to be on the whole bad and how irritating it is to see people pay money to see them, only to then slag them off when to actually stop the buggers getting made, you need to avoid giving them any money at all. Luckily no one pointed out to them that up to that point, the film that had got the best reception was a 5^th instalment of a franchise as formulaic as they come. Oh, and it was in 3D.

And that’s why Final Destination 5 stood out as one of the best of the festival. In an age where every other film is a bad remake or sequel, Steven Quale has managed to make a film so funny, so surprising and so purely entertaining that it provides some hope enough to remind us that in the right hands, even the most tired of formulas can be resurrected into something worth watching. 

Having said that, is it enough to make anyone hopeful about the upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D?.

 No.

Film4 Frightfest 2011 - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Review

The opening film of Frightfest 2011 was the heavily anticipated Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, the first film from Australian director Troy Nix and the latest producing role for Guillermo Del Toro of The Devil’s Backbone (2001) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) who also co-wrote it. The film was introduced by a pre-recorded video message from Del Toro in which he claimed the film was a labour of love after he and his brother were terrified so much by the original 1973 ABC TV movie that even whispering about it would send shivers down their spines. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that anyone will experience similar aftershocks after watching this version.

After a prologue hints at the gruesome past of the gothic Blackwood mansion, the film then speeds along to the present day where Sally (Bailee Madison) has been sent by her troubled mother to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) who are currently in the throws of renovating the place. It isn’t long before Sally uncovers a hidden basement and begins seeing small creatures around the house prone to sinisterly whispering sweet nothings into her ear but, as is always the case in these films, the adults struggle to believe her tales until its too late.

For its first 30 minutes, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark creates an uneasy atmosphere and subtle scares. The prologue is surprisingly nasty and the following shots of the house, the gardens and the large interiors all look great. The first half of the film is also the one that stinks most of Del Toro. Whilst the critters throughout the film could very well be relations of the tooth fairies in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), early shots of Sally wandering around the creepy house and exploring its mazy gardens carry serious undertones of Ofelia’s opening travels in Pan’s Labyrinth.

These initial visuals look good, however it’s the sound design of the film that really engages. As the whispers of the creatures and pitter-patter of tiny feet echoed around the Empire, it became clear that it was what we were hearing rather than seeing that would haunt us and made for genuinely unsettling listening.

Unfortunately, that’s about as scary as it gets when it comes to Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The biggest jump in the film is already ruined for anyone who has seen the trailer and Nix shows us the monsters too early and too often, meaning they lose any real sense of dread that they carried when they only existed in subtle whispers.

When it comes to the acting it’s a mixed bag. Bert and Ernie make a million times more convincing couple than Holmes and Pearce do but in their stereotypical roles as ‘work obsessed father’ and ‘girlfriend desperate to impress a kid that isn’t hers’ they do fine. It is Bailee Madison who shines as Sally, both funny when it calls for it and also convincingly afraid and interested in the waves of CGI mini-gits that she acts with for most of the film.

When the lights came up it became clear that aside from a fantastic scene with a teddy and an ending that surprised and pulled the film out of being average and into the ‘good’ region, Del Toro’s latest project is little more than the dark side of The Borrowers. Its fun and old-school in its pacing, but unfortunately Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark proves its title right.

Film4 Frightfest - Top 5 Films of the Festival

Frightfest 2011 is over and it proved to be an amazing festival. With great films and guests (had an awkward but hilarious camera moment with Simon Pegg), amazing hosts and the Empire providing the perfect atmosphere to watch horror in, I’m already preparing for next year. My reviews of every one of the 25 films I watched will find their way onto the blog across the week, but for now, here are my top 5 films from the festival in no particular order. The reasons why will be in the reviews, not here.

Final Destination 5 (3D)

 

Troll Hunter

The Woman

 Kill List

 Detention

The Wicker Man Review

I’m sure I’m not the only one to have had awkward encounters with 'classic' movies. Whether released before your time, or just missed by chance, we’ve all encountered films in which the surrounding hype has only done the film a disservice. Confused, disappointed or just left thinking ‘Why is it held in such a high regard?’ it’s easy to pretend you agree with the acclaim until a safe distance away from the hardcore fans to let the truth bubble to the surface. The most recent example of this happening to me was with Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973). I caught it on Film4 and just didn’t get it at all. Maybe the adverts punctured the effect and perhaps the years of critical acclaim didn’t help. Anyway, I've recently got it cheap on DVD in a bid to see how it plays second time around. The reason I bring this idea up is that I recently saw Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man released in the same year. With similar acclaim, it was only natural to be wondering whether I’d be experiencing a similar sense of crushing disappointment.

Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) receives an anonymous letter that takes him to the Scottish coastal island of Summerisle in search of a missing girl. When it becomes clear that the villages know more than they are letting on, and strange sexual rituals seem to be a village norm, Howie takes it on himself to find the little girl before the island’s May Day Celebrations, a date that due to the behaviour of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and the landlord’s daughter Willow (Britt Ekland), look sure to bring unknown troubles to the strange community.

Never terrifying, but always creepy. Hardy fills the screen with imagery beautiful, strange and chilling enough to maintain a near-constant state of unease. To say specifically the moments that affected me most would ruin it for those who haven’t seen the film, but Howie being watched by the townsfolk leaving for his plane is just one moment that isn’t easily shaken off.

Kim Newman’s highly regarded book of horror cinema is called Nightmare Movies. Although the book never plays with the idea, the ability to give nightmares has to be some sort of indication that a film has got to you. It happened to me with The Omen. It happened to me with Jacob’s Ladder. It has now happened to me with The Wicker Man.

With its gripping, uneasy atmosphere, beautiful strangeness and surprise musical elements and humour, The Wicker Man is a bona fide masterpiece. A horror film to rival any other. Not only a superb British film, but one of the greatest of all time, full stop. But remember, this is just my opinion. After all, they’ve said the same of Don’t Look Now in the past.

*I’ve not seen the remake but, despite my love for Nicholas Cage performance both good (Adaptation, Face-Off), bad (Season of the Witch) and mad (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans), I’ll be avoiding it. Robin Hardy’s upcoming film The Wicker Tree arrives at Frightfest in August comprised of the same DNA of The Wicker Man. It is apparantly a satire with a comic tone and as a result, very different from the original classic. Hardy himself is attending Frightfest and although I’d love to see him introduce the new film, it clashes with Spanish found-footage shocker Atrocious. Tough choice.

The Devils Review

Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971), based on Aldous Huxley’s The Devil’s of Loudun (1953) and John Whiting’s 1961 play, The Devils was recently shown in its rarely seen fully uncut form at the BFI on Friday with an introduction from critic Mark Kermode. Kermode is a champion of the film. He sought out the cut footage and has organised many of the recent UK screenings in the hope that they will provoke Warner Bros. into finally releasing the film uncut on DVD. His view: the BBFC have no problem with it now and so it should be made widely available.

Whilst the BBFC are fine with it now in 2011, that wasn’t always the case as the chequered past of the film’s release reveals. The film was cut by both the censors and Warner Bros, with key scenes including the infamous ‘Rape of Christ’ sequence removed and not restored until the recent uncut screenings. Even in a cut form, the film was butchered by almost every critic of the time. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars,  Judith Christ deemed it ‘a grand fiesta for sadists and perverts’, Derek Malcolm felt it was ‘a very bad film indeed’ and Vincent Canby claimed ‘It just may be that there's still enough mystery in an X rating to make The Devils more popular than it has any right to be.’

Some critics weren’t given the chance to air their views as the film was banned in various countries, including Italy where despite the film winning best foreign film at Venice Film Festival, it was banned and the films stars even threatened with jail time if they ever set foot on Italian soil.

But, anyway, is it any good?

The film deals with a number of ideas and themes regarding the relationship between the state and the church, with the basic plot consisting of unconventional priest/lothario Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) being accused of witchcraft after sexually obsessed Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) masks her bubbling sexual desires as demonic possession. This ‘possession’  is soon manipulated by Father Barre (Michael Gothard), Baron De Laubardemont (Dudley Sutton) and Mignon (Murray Melvin) into curse that soon grips the entire nunnery in a sexual frenzy.  

Almost every performance in The Devils is something special. Oliver Reed is outstanding as the powerful priest and manages to make his final appearance in the film something truly and unforgettably powerful. Vanessa Redgrave puts in a hysterical turn as the nun wrestling with her sexual fantasies and credit has to go to the numerous nuns in the film who go beyond the call of duty when dropping their habits in the incredible ‘Rape of Christ’ sequence.  

The film deals with issues surrounding faith and its use as a weapon of control and this is really where the controversial elements enter. Whilst there is a lot of graphic violence in the film, none really retains the ability to shock aside from a very grim burning at the stake scene complete with bubbling flesh and peeling skin that manages to both induce serious wincing but also rival anything seen in recent gore filled genre pieces. I’m looking at you torture-porn. Yes, the only real elements that still managed to make me smirk in a how-did-they-get-away-with-that way were the moments that would have been enough to make a nun swear. Whether it be a dream sequence in which a Christ-like Oliver Reed hops down from the cross to get his open wounds licked by a nun (who seems to enjoy it if you know what I mean) or a mother superior masturbating with a crispy tibia, its difficult to see any devout Christians swallowing this kind of material without screaming ‘blasphemy’ and deeming Russell the devil incarnate. In fact, while we’re on the subjects of horny nuns, the most shocking scene in the film does come in the ‘Rape of Christ’ sequence. To go into it would surely spoil the shock but suffice to say, Sister Act II: Back in the Habit it ain’t.

Derek Jarman’s set design has rightly received critical acclaim and helps to make the films final image mesmeric and the film isn’t without darkly hilarious moments, one such sees Oliver Reed fight off a swordsman with a crocodile. The Devils is an entertaining, thought provoking piece with sequences that are still shocking, even today. The film clearly deserves to be seen by the majority of Ken Russell fans and cinema lovers in general, a circumstance that its current situation is unfortunately not allowing. If you get a chance, see it.

Mark Kermode said before the screening at the BFI that it is vital that as many people who want to see the film, do so, with sold out events like Fridays hopefully showing Warner Bros that there is a demand for the uncut DVD release to become a reality. Here is a link to blog post by Mark Kermode filmed during the screening I went to on how these kinds of screenings can help push for a DVD release. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2011/08/the_devil_is_in_the_detail.html 

Film4 Frightfest Short Film Showcase Line-up Revealed

The line-up for the Short Film Showcase presented by The Horror Channel at this years Frightfest has been revealed and appears to be  a nice selection of weird and wonderful shorts from the UK, Canada, Spain, Portugal and Australia. After looking around, a few of these are already online on various sites but if, like me, you want to experience them first on the big screen at the Empire, ignore them in their online form and allow the descriptions below to tide you over until that last week in August.

Alistair from Australian director Aaron Cartwright focuses on two ruthless killers who pick the wrong house to break into. The tagline 'Being an only child can be Hell' hints that we might expect the title character to be something of a Australian cousin to Damien. Whether 10 minutes is enough time to impose a feeling of paedophobia on the Frightfest crowd, we'll have to wait and see.

Demonitron: The Sixth Dimension comes from Canada and is directed by Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell. The film follows a dancer who descends on a hellish journey into madness after a visit from a 'messenger of the sixth dimension'.What is the Sixth Dimension? Well, the 4 minutes and 25 seconds running time seems a little tight to fully answer that but with a title like Demonitron, who cares? Some reports suggest the film could be a fake trailer, like the Machete and Hobo With a Shotgun trailers, that take the form of a homage to features from the 1970s; showcasing some so-bad-its-funny special effects and dialogue. Whether, like Hobo and Machete it spawns a feature length film, we shall see.

Brutal Relax from Spain is about Mr Olivares. A man who is advised by his doctor to take some time off, find a little piece of heaven and relax. Unfortunatley, it seems that his holiday is destined to end in blood, guts, gore and the undead. Find a trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi516136217/

Banana Motherfucker. Yes. I'll let that title sink in for a moment. All the way from Portugal and by the people behind the popualar short film Papa Wrestling. I would put up a plot description but I think if the title hasn't ignited an interest, then trailer will suffice - http://www.adverblog.com/2011/07/07/banana-motherfucker/
And here is Papa Wrestling. Enjoy -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZMmjRceqM

Axelle Carolyn's British short The Last Post feautures an old lady in a nursing home who is visited by a man that no-one else. Whether he is hooded, has a penchant for chess and carries around a sickle remains to be seen.

Cold Call, a film by Clive Ford, takes place in the dead of night when two women and a baby are visited by an enthusiastic preacher and his assistant. They believe the world is about to end are will offer the trio salvation, reagrdless of whether they want or it not. Heres the trailer - http://vimeo.com/15196608 and a link to Ford's previous short film, Mothers Day - http://vimeo.com/10394832

Lovable Beetle Herbie is no where to be seen in Love Bug, the short film from Benjamin Kent. Frank believes his blind date is well out of his league. That is until she contracts a strange virus that signals his luck may be about to change. Unfortunately for Frank, as soon his luck begins to change, so does she - into a homicidal maniac.

Portugese short Bats in the Belfry won Best Portugese Horror Short at MOTELx 2010, Best Animation at Shortcutz Lisboa 2010 and won Joao Alves (who graduated in Marine Biology in 2005 and learnt his directing and animation skills through online tutorials and DVD extras) Best Young Director at Fantasporto 2011. This animated short features Deadeye Jack attempting to resume a botched heist with dark consequences.

Flesh Art from directors Nicholas Thompson and Chris Goodman revolves around a lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse using the body parts of others to make his own warped form of body art.

From the director of the upcoming feature length film Elfie Hopkins starring Ray Winstone and his daughter Jamie, comes the short Little Munchkin, a film that has been deemed 'Orphan meets We Are What We Are'. A superficial couple get their hands on what they see as the ultimate accessory - Margaret, their newly adopted daughter. Hell ensues when she is left alone with a babysitter on her first night in her new home. 

Is Demonitron: The Sixth Dimension good enough for a feature length version? Will Banana Motherfucker live up to the promise of that title? Who will triumph is the battle of the little shits, Little Munchkin Margaret or Australian Alistair? By the end of Sunday 28th of August, we will know all.

The Tree of Life Review

Considered a modern master, Terrence Malick is responsible for Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), The New World (2005) and his latest, The Tree of Life, sees him in a more experimental mood than usual.

The film opens with Mr O’Brien (Brad Pitt) and Mrs O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) receiving news that one of their three sons has died. The film then goes from briefly following one of the sons as an adult, Jack (Sean Penn in one of his more pointless roles) before showing us the Big Bang, the formation of the universe, a glimpse into life as a dinosaur before returning to more recent times to further explore the life of the O’Briens. Mrs O’Brien states at the start of the film that we either follow ‘the way of grace’ or ‘the way of nature’. The former being a caring, accepting existence whilst the latter is a more ‘do what it takes to get by’ attitude where being a little bit nasty once in a while is just a way of life. It becomes clear early on to the children that mum represents grace and dad, nature with the latter half of the film depicting the boys attempts to make their own choice. To say the film is a little ambitious would be a big understatement.

The Tree of Life is a beautiful film and I very much doubt that a better looking film will be seen this year. The moments in space with the planets and depictions of swirling cosmos (or heavens) is genuinely breathtaking and even makes the following dinosaur scenes easier to swallow. Malick’s focus on nature is ever-present and especially in the first 40 minutes, The Tree of Life plays out like a documentary. Shots of oceans, deserts, forests and animals all occupying their natural habitats are so captivating that you wouldn’t be surprised if David Attenborough popped up and began talking you through it. The same can be said for the final moments in the film. Both amazing to look at whilst being touching at the same time; you can’t help but feel you’re watching something very special.

Something that was special for the first hour and the last 40 minutes anyway. Yes, unfortunately despite the beauty that runs throughout the film, there are too many lulls, each of which making you feel every minute of the film's 2 hours and 20 minutes running time. Whilst Brad Pitt is great as the kind hearted but domineering father, the long spells following the children begin to drag and although appearing affecting initially, the continual whispering inner monologues of the characters slides into being pretentious and irritating.

When images exploring the creation of the universe appear alongside Sean Penn staggering through a wooden door frame into the nothingness of the desert, Malick makes it far to easy to simply deem The Tree of Life a load of pretentious dribble. And whilst this is clearly a deeply personal project for Malick, images of a giant in the attic and mum floating around the lawn often make it difficult to take what is clearly serious material very seriously.

The Tree of Life is a personal declaration of beliefs for Terrence Malick and the ambition and scope of the project has to be commended. However, despite the truly amazing visuals making it the best looking picture of the year so far, there are just too many too many frustratingly dull patches and moments that are far too difficult to defend against the inevitable cries of pretension. It may be a film that is best watched in the vein of Godfrey Reggio’s Qatsi Trilogy* and taken purely as a sensory experience but the flaws previously mentioned can’t help but leave The Tree of Life something of a disappointment. A difficult film to enjoy or truly recommend to anyone other than Malick enthusiasts.

*Godfrey Reggio’s Qatsi Trilogy consists of Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance (1983), Powaqqatsi: Life in transformation (1988) and Naqoyqatsi: Life as war (2002). With no dialogue or narrative, the films are made up of slow motion and time-lapse footage of American cities and landscapes (Koyaanisqatsi), life in industrial countries (Powaqqatsi) and conflict (Naqoyqatsi) put to music composed by Philip Glass. Each can be found on Google Videos, Youtube or cheap on DVD and make for interesting viewing.

Irreversible Review

Frequently topping lists of the most controversial movies of all time, Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible (2002) proves to be a film that actually deserves its tag. Films are all too often labelled as shocking in a bid to drum up controversy and put bums on seats when in actual fact they just sound worse than they actually are. (Whilst all having their moments, A Serbian Film, Antichrist and Ichi the Killer fall smack bang into this category). Irreversible proves to be deeply upsetting, difficult to watch, and actually shocking whilst all the while actually having something to say. This isn’t shock for the sake of shock.

The film follows couple Alex (Monica Bellucci), her boyfriend Marcus (Vincent Cassel) her ex Pierre (Albert Dupontel) on a night out. After an argument with Marcus, Alex leaves a party alone and is brutally raped and beaten in an underpass. The act of violence breeds more violence when Marcus and Pierre then head out to find the rapist and get revenge. Crucially the film is told in a reverse order like Memento and 5x2 and opens with the brutal act of vengeance, giving the film a mood and tone that gradually shifts the characters from hell to heaven, starting with violence and ending with a romantic bedroom scenario.

Newsweek reported that this was the most walked out movie of the year. The first half hour of the film has a background noise with a frequency of 28Hz (low frequency, almost inaudible), similar to the noise produced by an earthquake. It causes nausea, sickness and vertigo and added to apparently achieve these reactions. 200 walked out of the Cannes screening while three had to be carried. It’s clear to see why. If you stay past the brutal act of violence at the start of the film then the 9-minute rape sequence proves just as difficult to sit through. And so they should be. Through these sequences Noé brings up the point that if we’re complaining that the rape scene is too horrible and the violence too disgusting, it says more about what we’re used to as an audience than it does about Noé’s decision to include them. Irreversible is a film that confronts the audience head on and challenges them to think about what we accept on the cinema screen and why.

Aside from the controversy, Noé’s trademark visuals continue to dazzle. Just as his camera floated around Japan and in and out of everything and anyone in sight in his latest, the mesmerising Enter the Void (2010), in Irreversible the camera has just as much personality. It frantically bounces around, desperate to follow the action with images spinning into a disorientating blur when travelling back in time. For a film with content that makes you want to look away, his style can’t help but ruthlessly grip your gaze.

Irreversible is a must see film that truly shocks but only to make you think. By showing events in reverse order, Noé forces you to assess the gross acts in the film in a context that attempts to prove that violence only breeds violence. Alongside Enter the Void (I have not yet seen his first film, I Stand Alone (1998)), and Irreversible Gaspar Noé has established himself as one of the most important directors working today and one creating engaging films with a truly unique vision and style. One can only imagine and anticipate what he will produce in his next venture, a segment involving an exorcism in the anthology movie 7 Days in Havana to be released in next year.

For those who see the film and regard it as empty attempt at shock, Roger Ebert has written a useful review that outlines the importance of its reverse order. Check it out here - http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030314/REVIEWS/303140303/1023

Film4 Frightfest Line-up Announced

This year’s line up has finally been revealed and looks set to be a great week. The titles I’m personally looking forward to seeing include Rabies, Don’t Be Afraid Of the Dark, Vile, The Woman, The Divide, The Kill List, The Innkeepers, Chillerama, Inbred and Guinea Pigs but the full line-up looks amazing for both screens and can be seen below. I'll be putting up short reviews of as many of these movies as I can during the last week in August.

Main Screen

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark

Final Destination 5 3D

The Theatre Bizarre

Rogue River

The Holding

Total Film Interview with Larry Fessenden plus American Horror: A Discussion with Ti West, Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Andrew van den Houten and Lucky McKee

Urban Explorers

The Glass Man

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil

Vile

Troll Hunter

The Wicker Tree

Panic Button

Fright Night 3D

The Woman

Chillerama + Bad Moon Rising

The Divide

Short Film Showcase

Andy Nyman’s Quiz from Hell 2

The Innkeepers

Saint

Kill List + Shifter

Detention

Guinea Pigs Cancelled due to Post-production issues and replaced with A Night in the Woods

Dead Heads

Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps

Inbred

A Lonely Place to Die

Discovery Screen

The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry

A Horrible Way to Die

Midnight Son

Rabies

Blood Runs Cold

Kidnapped

Stormhouse

The Dead – Live Commentary

Atrocious

My Sucky Teen Romance

The Caller

The Devil’s Business

Film4 Frightfest 2011 Preview

In the last week of August, I'll be occupying a regular seat in Leicester Square's Empire cinema for the Film4 Frightfest 2011. The festival is a series of horror screenings and premieres that have included in the past, Ringu 2, Dark Water, The Eye, Oldboy, Switchblade Romance, Martyrs, Creep, Wolf Creek, Pan's Labyrinth, Them, The Host and Triangle as well as welcoming guest speakers that include Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and zombie maestro George A. Romero.

The opening film of the festival will be Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, produced by Guillermo del Toro and closing will be Julian Gilby's A Lonely Place To Die. The Norwegian handheld camera comedy/horror  TrollHunter will also appear at some stage and is already looking destined to be a cult classic.

The full line-up will be revealed on July 1st.

Here are trailers for the three that have been announced.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFE4lGvRt8E

TrollHunter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEo7H9tqSM

A Lonely Place To Die - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLfjAPdtt88