FrightFest 2015: Day One

Cherry Tree

How not to kick off the FrightFest weekend, it's a decision that one can't quite can't fathom how or why Cherry Tree was the opening film for this years festival, it seems to be the opinion of everyone at the festival that this was a stinker of a horror film. From the director of Wakewood I should have seen this coming; with yet another witchcraft horror where a teenage girl makes a pact with a local witch of the Cherry Tree society of witches to save her father from his imminent death in return give her a child that will be sacrificed. Despite the film having many elements from the gory blood soaked fantastical depiction of witchcraft and a stylistic approach that gives us moments of visual fairs, but the film is so crudely executed and progresses both narratively and with the character developments that makes giant leaps forward that make it incredibly hard to connect and find the narrative either believably or engaging - it literally seems that the new hockey coach reveals herself as a witch to our young protagonist and the next scene the young girl is onboard and unquestionable follows and commits to this horrible pact. In a world where in the realms of comics with great stories and characters in recent publications of Coffin Hill and Scott Synder's Wytches - surely there's potential for the film world to create something on that level of quality in the visual media of cinema, but Cherry Tree reminded much of Dario Argneto's Mother of Tears - the blood and violence is there but the rest is an utter mess.

3/10

Turbo Kid

Heading into Turbo Kid there were rather mixed expectations; didn't know whether this was a film that was going to be so bad it's good or a genre film made with the best intentions of recreating that post apocalyptic vision of the future that we had in the 80's with the likes of Mad Max/Road Warrior; fortunately this turned out to be the latter. In a year where Fury Road is getting all the critics attention it's actually Turbo Kid that is the better Mad Max film, the low budget action post apocalypse action hell ride that is Turbo Kid is not only a hell of a good ride that delivers the action, gore and futuristic vision of the future in a fake 80s movie fashion, at its very core is a wonderful heart felt story that is very charming, with one of the best performances of the year by Laurence Laboeuf as Apple, her loveable wacky and fully committed physical and emotional performance really does elevate the film into a realm of greatness. There's a great soundtrack to boot and a level of restraint shown by the director to ensure that film doesn't go too OTT and become mindless action orientated fluff that is forgotten in a breeze, no Turbo Kid is a film that you will want to revisit on numerous occasions, yes it's an acquired taste in terms of style and approach to filmmaking, but if you can get on board and forgive the film for a rather awkwardly paced beginning, you'll be rewarded with one of the most intelligent and entertaining post apocalyptic films in recent years. The references and homages are in the DNA of the film and not like so many films shoved in your face, a personal highlight was a certain Rat-Monkey from Braindead.

8/10

Stung

Giant killer mutated Wasps out on a killing spree that is localised to a garden party full of the older generation in a small town. What could have been great fun turned out to be a bit of a mess here, the film seems to lack a sense of cohesion in the direction of this creature feature and considering that they had Lance Henrikson on board for the project playing the town mayor, you'd hope that the film could at least deliver on the fun factor if not on the scares. Early on the build up to the attack of the killer wasps is actually very well crafted and with Clifton Collins Jr channeling his inner drug and alcohol induced Edward Furlong, the film has some pretty well crafted characters to drive the film forward, but too soon is the film thrust into a more closet and claustrophobic feel with a much smaller cast, the film loses its balance between the comedy and the horror. The effects and transformations feel and look uninspired, it's almost as if this film was just made for tax purposes at a certain point, to be fair it's not as if the film is a disaster or even a bad B-Movie but it's a rather bland straight to dvd title that does have some merit and highlights but they just aren't delivered upon enough to save the film from mediocrity; Stung lacks the venom to leave an impact on its audience instead it's more like an annoying buzzing bee that's volume is far to loud for its size.

4/10