FrightFest '24

FrightFest ‘24

 

 

Oh, is it that time of the year again? It seems to come around so quickly. The films and friends are equally part of it, and it’s hard to convey to non-goers just how much fun FrightFest can be. But: down tothe serious business of lording my humble opinions on the treats on offer.

Beginning with a live organ performance for us to settle down to, and...

 

Broken Bird

Director: Joanne Mitchell.

Cast: Rebecca Calder, James Fleet, Jay Taylor, Sacharissa Claxton.

UK 2024. 96 mins.

 

Intriguing from the start, then stumbles with its rhythm as it takes a little too long for its various elements to click, rambling its focus. But Rebecca Calder’s highly affected performance keeps it compelling until a satisfying grand Gothic finale. Calder’s Sybil is the unforgettable villainess-cum-anti-hero, ripe and deluded in a humdrum world. She certainly makes her marks in the gallery of eccentric, fantasist psychos. With particularly British black humour and loneliness, the film aims for pathos, themes of loss and trauma stretching across characters, and mostly hits it mark.

 

Test Screening

Director: Clark Baker.

Cast: Chloë Kerwin, Drew Scheid, Johnny Berchtold and Rain Spencer.

USA, 2024, 92 mins.

 

Set in and playing off of that particular 80s Satanic Panic and church-fuelled fear of anything not ultra-conservative, ‘Test Screening’ benefits from superior performances. It generates a real Dead End Town claustrophobia, some ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ eeriness and po-faced satire before going for broke. The influences are obvious and even if nothing new, it means what it says, even up to its final imagery. It may err on the side of earnestness, but there’s real attention to the hurt social repression causes, even if it secretly wants body horror fun.

 

The Invisible Raptor

Director: Mike Hermosa.

With: Mike Capes, Sean Astin, Sandy Martin, Chad Bullard.

USA 2023. 112 mins.

 

Well firstly, to reveal how gullible I am: this screening came with “Invisible Raptor” action figures… and I looked at it, and I almost went back to say that I had picked up an empty one… then: *Oh*.

 

Silly, funny, a little overlong and a little clever, it’s a fun romp with committed performances. The threat is kept real – the bathroom attack is genuinely tense – even whilst having chicken-fucking jokes, and there are many Spielberg and a ‘Goonies’ easter eggs. It stretches too long until it tries to have genuine emotional character resonance, losing some comic propulsion, but there are many funny lines and gags that keep it afloat. 

 

Strigoi

Strigoi

Writer & Director - Faye Jackson

2009 - UK

Stars – Catalin Paraschiv, Rudy Rosenfeld, Constantin Barbulescu

 

There’s no getting around that this is set in small community Romania and that is spoken in English with Romanian accents. This only adding to the feeling of a comedy sketch writ large (it's a British film). After a surprising opening plunging us straight into drama, the pacing is then more of a smoulder.

 

However, it’s droll and deadpan, consistently amusing and dryly funny (“Are you drinking my blood?!”), driven by its low-key agenda right to the end. A folklore vs vampire tale dressed up in a murder mystery: returning home to his village, Vlad suspects a town conspiracy to cover-up a lynching and sets about being brusque and suspicious of everyone, trying to get to the bottom of it.

 

Catalin Paraschiv as Vlad is agreeably bristly and down-to-earth, a necessary balance to the broader satirical village types. There are themes of being an outsider, of leaving for better things but that plan not quite working out; and the draw of going home again only unearthing more unpleasant truths. It’s not run on totally typical horror tropes; there’s a whole cultural history it is built upon which. Although much will undoubtably go over the heads of anyone unfamiliar with Romanian history and archetypes (that's me), there’s the sense of being educated to its richness. Alexandra heller-Nicholas writes,

 

“In this film, the villains are those who hold powers; not just politicians, but land-owners whose legacy of stealing the homes and livelihoods of their neighbours impacts the present day in very real ways – economic bloodsuckers.”

 

And that’s easy to relate to.

 

There’s folk horror here, also a committed and unfussy approach to merging the supernatural with the prosaic: it’s the kind of world where the supernatural is part of everyday trouble. In that way, it's a small delight.

Frightfest 2022 Day 3: 'Something in the Dirt', 'She Came from the Woods', 'LOLA', 'Dark Glasses', Candy Land', 'Deadstream'

Something in the Dirt

Directors: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead.

With: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead,

Sarah Adina Smith, Ariel Vida.

USA 2022. 116 mins.

Another wonderfully heady offering from the Moorhead & Benson duo. What starts seemingly as a couple of guys find incredible phenomena in their LA apartment, which thy then intend to document/exploit, unfolds into full-scale conspiracy theorising and increasing sadness. Filmed by the duo and producer during lockdown, again it’s the stacking up of ideas that engross (morse code in fruit!), but their evocation of male relationships are always excellent. As an vocation of thinking you have something wold-shattering that you can't quite reach so head into conspiracies and delusion, it stands as a striking analogy. 

From the first flush of friendship to the moment where the more you know of someone, the more you can hit your target hen you criticise, they excel at providing deep characterisation so that even their arguing during mid-phenomena doesn’t strain credibility.

She Came Frrom The Woods

Director: Erik Bloomquist.

With: Cara Buono, Clare Foley, William Sadler, Spencer List.

USA 2022. 101 mins.

Summer camp. Kim Wilde's ‘The Kids in America’. Yep, it’s the 80s homage. The turning point from coming-of-age to horror is the high point, coming as a surprise, and from there on it’s a well-done homage of things you’ve seen before, but enjoyable as horror comfort food. With acting  a cut above average and a somewhat uninteresting spook.

LOLA

Director: Andrew Legge.

With: Emma Appleton, Stefanie Martini,

Rory Fleck Byrne, Aaron Monaghan,

Hugh O’Conor.

UK 2022. 76 mins.

Hugely impressive and inventive alternative history filmed with a Bolex camera and vivid imagination, blended with reimaged historical footage. A highlight is the music by Neil Hannon, reinventing popular songs for this alternative reality. It's all thoroughly convincing. The scope the film is able to achieve is wide, with the skill to hand to make it work while formally playing with the medium. Quietly stunning, provocative and a festival highlight.

Dark Glasses

Director: Dario Argento.
With: Ilenia Pastorelli, Asia Argento,
Andrea Gherpelli, Mario Pirrello.

Italy 2022. 86 mins.

We are at the stage where there are not any set-pieces to offset the daftness. Admittedly, I find Argento films unintentional comedies, and this is no different (excepting ‘Suspiria’, which I love). Dodgy “blind” acting; dodgy police procedure; “Let’s hide in the reeds!” and the water snake attack with the following road fight, is notably comedy gold. Unconvincing. But funny.

Candy Land 

Director John Swab.

With: William Baldwin, Eden Brolin, Olivia Luccardi,

Sam Quartin.

USA 2022. 90 mins

And here’s the grindhouse homage. But even though you feel you might catch some some very nasty germs or a STD just by watching it, and even though it’s explicit, it never quite feels sleazy. But it IS gory and a shocker. One of those films that IS the era rather than just pastiche, but with a modern sensibility. Well played and effortlessly engrossing, it’s got its subversive side in that it’s not the blasphemous sex workers that are the unhinged.

Deadstream

Directors: Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter.

With: Joseph Winter, Melanie Stone,

Jason K. Wixom, Pat Barnett.

USA 2022. 87 mins.

Showcasing Joseph Winter’s brilliant comic performance, this is both hilarious and scary. The relatively new internet culture genre is truly finding its footing, and perhaps reaping more multi-layered rewards than just straight Found Footage. Certainly, our funny internet-celebrity protagonist has to face manifestations of his own fame-hungry demons.

Peppered with many great one-liners and details that reap narrative rewards later, belying its seemingly superficial veneer. The social media comments scrolling are sure to provide even more comedy upon a second watch. But, again, considering how daft this is, and no there is just something inherently creepy about empty buildings like this. I admit also to being on edge at times.

FrightFest 2022 day 2: 'Next Exit', 'The Harbringer', 'A Wounded Fawn', 'Night Sky', 'Final Cut, 'Midnight Peepshow'

Next Exit

Director: Mali Elfman.

With: Katie Parker, Rahul Kohli, Karen Gillan, Rose McIver.

USA 2022. 103 mins.

(Cool poster.) In a world where the existence of ghosts has some scientific proof, a mismatched couple head across the country with the intention of giving up their lives to further study.

Despite the supernatural backdrop (and a fine creepy opening), this is mostly a road trip of two central brilliant performances of an odd couple going through existential crisis. If it perhaps becomes a romcom for horror fans, the characters and performances convince hard, with a lot of humour and pathos on the way.

The Harbringer

Director: Andy Mitton.

With: Gabby Beans, Emily Davis, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Cody Braverman.

USA 2022. 87 mins.

Horror being the perfect genre for expressing the personal and global anxiety and terror of the pandemic. ‘The Harbinger’ starts with standard ghost/demon spooking, but as it goes on its use of dreams and despondence gets increasingly sophisticated so that it becomes apparent that the film is after deeper existential horror.

Rooted in crucially warm and believable performances, the failing reality and psychological threats are layered on to capture the dread and fear of the early pandemic years, especially the psychological toll. It proves itself something truly haunting and captures that sense of being at a loss and losing all the time which defined the early days of the pandemic.

A Wounded Fawn

Director: Travis Stevens.

With: Sarah Lind, Josh Ruben, Malin Barr,

Katie Kuang.

USA 2022. 91 mins

With some formal play, style, psychedelica, and great performances, this pumps colourful juice in the serial killer genre. It’s a kind of abstract revenge and Final Girl flick where the murderer-in-denial is tormented seemingly by a group of performance artists (embodying his obsession with myths). Trippy and artfully done and topped off with an audacious closing credits sequence.

Night Sky

Director: Jacob Gentry.

With: Brea Grant, AJ Bowen, Scott Poythress, Sandra Benton.

USA 2022. 96 mins.

Another slow-burn road movie with good central performances ('Next Exit' being the other), this one is like 'Starman' crossed with 'No Country for Old Men'; although Alan Jones namechecks road movies from the '70s. With the thriller element in play, the narrative keeps moving until the canyon and bright lights finale, and up until then its proven decent if not quite profound entertainment. Includes a decidedly nasty, pontificating hitman and Brea Grant effortlessly doing "innocent".

Final Cut

Director: Michael Hazanavicius.

With: Romain Duris, Berenice Bejo,

Finnegan Oldfield, Gregory Gadebois.

France 2022. 111 mins.

Unneeded remake of brilliant 'One Cut of the Dead'. It wisely expands on the meta by namechecking that this is indeed the French make of the Japanese original, but with very few new jokes of its own it only illuminates the strength and artfulness of that source material. When you know the gag, the first crucial long-take seems to have missed the point - the opening long-take of the original was amusing if seemingly clunky, but clearly timed its errors so that they never quite clued you in to this being "bad", never quite made you give up before its reveal. I am not sure that the timing and sensibility of this version would not have just signalled "bad" or made me suspicious from the off. When you know the original, it is likely to bore here because you know what's coming. However, so strong is the gag that when the second half kicks in, there is still a lot of hilarity still to be had.

Midnight Peepshow

Directors: Jake West, Airell Anthony Hayles, Andy Edwards, Ludovica Musumeci.

With: Chiara D’Anna, Richard Cotton,

Sarah Diamond, Roisin Browne.

In the sleazy side of London, Soho, men are arseholes and women are femme fatales and sirens, all manipulated by the mysterious entity "Black rabbit", a dark website for transgressive sexual fantasies. The film mostly avoids exploitation (it's mostly the men who get the worst here), but with its sinister Russian sex-abusers organisation (which apparently is only interested in the handful of cast that we see, despite a seemingly global audience), undernourished motivation, a little "A Serbian Film" imagery and nonsensical surrealism, it's not as transgressive as it thinks. Despite Richard Cotton's devoted and haunted performance and a great sleazy Soho atmosphere, it doesn't quite convince. (I am thinking 'The Beta Test' and 'The Special' did this better.)

Amusements

 This month, I got to see Bloodywood live, I must sayI moshed to my heart's content. This was the "Nine Inch Naan" tour, I believe. So much fun and so wonderfully heavy. The band came out into the crowd when we were waiting for the show to start and handed out naan. Beneath the Indian folk metal outraged exterior, you could see they were having such fun. I was happy to be in the thick of it. 

Somehow found myself right at the front.

"Nine Inch Naan" tour vinyl.

________

This is the sound of my childhood.

The sound of my teenage years.

And some horror comedy...

Teeth

Writer & Director: Mitchell Litchenstein

2007, USA

‘Teeth’ doesn’t dress up its vagina dentata as a hulking monster.  She doesn’t turn into a big cat either. Nope: this is the most direct example of vagina dentata horror, with an excellent poster design making it obvious but not crude (well, the poster above). And that’s how the film plays out: clear but not vulgar. It has a lot of sleaze, but the film itself is not sleazy. It’s not a revenge fantasy, it’s not controversially feminist treatise against the patriarchy. ‘Teeth’ rides from a generation of extreme horror that means there’s no need for analogy, but black humour undercuts grimness and polemic. There’s melancholy and sadness instead of rage and comic book craziness.

Jess Weixler is Dawn O'Keef, a high school spokeswoman for abstinence, wearing her “purity ring” with pride and, it seems, a little out of fear of sexuality. There’s the overly familiar high school setting, a slightly heightened reality, the kind of colour palette familiar from 80s teen comedies – but it feels a little more muted after the cave. The feel is more akin to Bea Grant’s ‘Lucky’: there’s a sadness here. The performances and attention to character are more akin to indie sensibility than John Hughes. They could all be caricatures, and the gynaecologist and the lewd old man certainly verge on that – for comedic effect – but Jess Weixler gives Dawn full-bodied respect rather than just a prudish judgementalism. Similarly, John Hensley as her irredeemable brother Brad manages, through the scuzziness, to project a lost defeatism beneath the nihilism. Even The School Lesson Of The Film’s Theme doesn’t feel too, too obvious… even as the nuclear plant looms over the town.

One of the themes is the insufficient protection given by piety and/or Faith. The “purity ring” is no safeguard against rape. After the attempted rape in the cave, Dawn is forced to confront her sexuality, and there’s also no real room for support at home, what with her dying mother and obnoxious brother. But, you see, it’s not sex that is the problem, but how the boys treat the girls. A little respect will save us all. Although through duplicitous means, when Dawn believes that sex is consensual – he even asks her if she wants to stop, and there is no reason to think he wouldn’t listen her if she said no – it is enjoyable for her and it’s all wonderful. This is not an anti-sex film and one of the subtle enjoyments is seeing whatever fears and reservations dawn has about sex falling away and a new vibrancy comes into her character. It is only when he answers his phone during sex and confesses that he had a bet that reprisals come. The other subtle enjoyment is Dawn realising that she is in control, that her apparent curse is in fact a weapon.

Its successful restraint means this is funny and nuanced where it could have been broad and bluntly vengeful. ‘Teeth’ is an easy watch, even at its darkest and most provocative, doing a fine job of mixing tones of the humourlessly outrageous with grimness and empathy, never short-changing the focus on respect for its young protagonist.