So, that's it for another year. I sat through 21 features, 12 shorts and a host of trailers and previews. Even though I'd decided to stay a few nights at the Travelodge in Covent Garden instead of night busing it all the way back to Peckham in the middle of the night I'm still absolutely exhausted, the best way to describe it is that it's a lot like jet lag. Up to 14 hours a day spent in a dark cinema sends your perception of time and what day it is out of whack and I'm sure consuming enough caffeine, alcohol and sugar to give an elephant a case of the shakes didn't help either...
Overall it was a mixed bag this year, a few great films and more than a few stinkers, but I've found that's always the way with FrightFest. My first full weekend was back in 2003, and boy, things have changed a lot since then. It's now spread over 5 days in the massive 1,300 seat Empire 1 screen in Leicester Sq. This is both a benefit and a determent I feel - bigger and better screen but more people (and there are one or two I've come to recognise over the years as people to avoid at all costs).
Unfortunately, it's near impossible to spot anyone in a crowd when you're only 5'1 and everyone else towers over you, or simply walks straight into you as they assume you're a gap in the crowd... so there were a lot of folks from Twitter I wished I'd gotten the chance to say hello to, or at least chatted to more than just in passing. There's also my crippling shyness to take into account, the pinnacle of which saw me about 3 feet away from Gareth Edwards, director of Monsters, in The Phoenix unable to say how much I enjoyed the film. My networking and social interaction skills could, needless to say, do with improving.
I spent most of the weekend with my mum, a few of my friends were a little taken aback when I said she was coming with me, but really she's the only person I know who'd be willing to go with me and actually enjoy FrightFest. After all she was who introduced me to film and to horror in particular as a child. She hadn't been since 2004, but thoroughly enjoyed it this year and plans on going again. We were also lucky to have decent seats. Last year I was in row D and really struggled with subtitled films in particular, this year I was in J and it was a vast improvement, despite the guy next to me being a little odd and having an unnaturally loud laugh. Luckily he only showed up for a handful of films so I mostly had an empty seat next to me.
Thursday ended up being a bit of a wash out for me, literally... my phone died, I got rained on, my umbrella broke, I'd been up since 6am, my cupcakes didn't like being in my bag all day, I had wet feet all the way through both films and was in a thoroughly bad mood. The two films I saw on Thursday didn't do much to cheer me up either. I saw Hatchet back in 2006 when it was at FrightFest and wasn't overly impressed, I was always confused as to why people liked it so I didn't have high hopes for Hatchet II. I understand the genre and that it's supposed to be funny and have clunky dialogue and silly death scenes, but really to me it's just boring and it looked liked they'd knocked it out in about a week for a quick cash in. I really like Adam Green, he seems like a really nice guy, and he showed real talent with Frozen, but this really just wasn't for me. Primal didn't fare much better, a piss poor ozploitation film where the only things shocking were the acting and awful special effects. It was your usual 5 kids go camping in the woods and get knocked off one by one, this time by some kind of sucky slug demon thing in a cave that infected them and turned the victims into toothy ninjas who wanted to eat people, or at least that's as much as I could figure out about it. Absolute nonsense it was. I guess I can see why two such films were chosen as the crowd tends to be well lubricated and over-excited on the Thursday night and nobody really wants a film you'd need to think about too much, but still, the barrel was well and truly scraped this year. I missed Dead Cert in favour of putting dry shoes on and from what I heard I'm glad I did.
I decided to pass on Eggshells on Friday morning, I just wasn't in the mood for something like that, although I may have to check it out on DVD soon. I'd seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the big screen back in 1998 (I was 16 at the time, so I guess they weren't really checking IDs at cinemas much back then...) when it was finally released in the UK uncut. At the time I remembered not being particularly impressed and wondering what all the fuss was about, but seeing it again 12 years later I completely disagree with my 16 year old self and I think it has hardly aged a day. The cinematography and sound particularly stand out and the opening sequence still gives me the creeps. The Q&A with Tobe Hooper was also interesting despite the fact that he didn't much seem like he wanted to be there. Next up was Isle of Dogs which I really, really wanted so badly to like, but, I just couldn't. It was dreadful. It's so rare you see a female director at FrightFest and it was a real shame her film was one of the biggest stinkers this year. It had the production values of a dodgy ITV drama with poor continuity, stilted dialogue and a relentless noisy score. A real shame. I was supposed to see F at Bloodlines in Leicester all the way back in March but had passed it up due to not having been impressed with Johannes Roberts previous efforts, however I decided to give it a go this time and boy was I surprised. It's an extremely competent thriller with some great acting, particularly from David Schofield in a rare leading role. "Hoodie Horror" seems to have become a uniquely British addition to the horror canon since Eden Lake a few years ago and F has got to be the best example of this subgenre to date. I'm not sure if I was just relieved to finally see a film I liked (that wasn't something I'd seen before) but this really stood out for me as being one of the best films shown this year, definitely one too look out for. Red Hill was also far better than I was expecting it to be, a not entirely original but entertaining Aussie neo-western about a big city police officer relocating to a small town and having to deal with an escaped murderer hell bent on revenge... I had kind of figured out what was going on halfway through but I still enjoyed this. There should be more movies were Aborigines kill stupid white Australians. I missed Alien vs. Ninja, it's not just my thing and I probably would have fallen asleep anyway. 
Saturday started out fairly abysmally for me, I didn't like Cherry Tree Lane at all, it was extremely derivative and played up to every white middle-class Daily Mail reader's worst nightmare. Right down to the two central black characters, one who could barely read and the other a rapist with a crack addict mother. I loved London to Brighton but I'm starting to wonder if perhaps Paul Andrew Williams is a bit of a one hit wonder after The Cottage and now this. Things got even worst with The Tortured, which was torture in itself to watch, a truly awful film which seemed like one giant montage sequence that had some of the most god awful dialogue and acting I've ever seen. The "twist" at the end was also absolutely fucking ridiculous. There were plot holes as big as entire continents in this film... one to avoid at all costs. I'd heard bad things about 13hrs and I just didn't think I could sit through another awful film, so I passed on that to have an extended lunch before the I Spit On Your Grave remake. I had a real dilemma with this film. I don't have the time or energy to do a full write up at the moment, as I have a lot to say, but I do plan on doing a blog specifically about this film (and the original) at a later date, so keep an eye out. There were certainly some creative death scenes but overall I think the content of this film in this context was poor taste, do we really need an anal rape scene in a film clearly aimed and marketed towards the popcorn munching Saw/Platinum Dunes audience? I'm not so sure. I also thought the portrayal of the "retard" was fairly offensive, not to mention it also portrays every male character as a sadistic, remorseless rapist. Nice. So after a day of mediocre and downright awful films, boy was I glad for Monsters. What an achievement... hats off to the director who reportedly made it for around £15,000 and did all the special effects on his laptop. Without spoiling too much, it's a little bit like Lost in Translation meets some giant alien octopuses. The acting was great, and I think given that the script was largely improvised the director made a wise choice in hiring a real life couple to play the two leads. Shooting on location with local people in the smaller roles really helps give this film a sense of genuine realness and believability even though it's a story concerning giant aliens that have taken over most of Mexico. Don't get me wrong, it's not flawless, but when you consider the budget, shooting locations and time constraints it's an extremely impressive debut film from Gareth Edwards, who is undoubtedly one to watch out for in the future. I missed Dream Home in favour of consuming far too much alcohol, but judging from some reactions I'm regretting doing so. I'll definitly be giving it a watch when it comes out on DVD.
Part 2 to follow shortly.
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