FrightFest 2015 - Day Two

POD

Rarely do I say that a film feels longer than its actual runtime and it be said in a positive manner; but I do feel that POD does feel like the exception to the rule here, at only 76 mins in length the film is filled with such great suspense and tension and keeps the audience  guessing as to the direction of the script where the balance of the the psychological and supernatural elements are played out very finely tuned that it didn't matter which pathway the film took at its final turning point as the audience would be onboard with either direction. The performance by Brian Morvant as the sucluded and unhinged Martin as his siblings Lyla and Ed travel out to the family cabin to attempt a family intervention following a distressed voicemail message; the interplay between the actors has real chemistry and there's a sense that POD is supernatural mystery in the vein of those 2 parter X-Files of yesteryear. The introduction of genre workhorse Larry Fessenden might not sit well with everyone, but it worked for me. What is a POD? Is there anything behind that locked door? And what is hidden in the Basement? Genuine scares ensue and a mystery that keeps you on your toes and compelling. 

7/10

The Rotten Link

Enter the rural world of a small Argentinian community where we are introduced into this inclusive community through a stocky and  quite clearly a mentality challenged oaf by the name of Raulo the local lumberjack as he delivers recently chopped fire wood to the nearby houses of the community on foot. Soon it becomes apparent that this small community is on the rather odd side of humanity; everyone has the purpose and its suggested that if you become 'used up' then you will longer pass in the world of the living. A slow burn where the drama takes on a rather black and dark sense of humour that gives us a great set of characters that really pulls us into the world of the bizzare that explores the mentality of a small closed off community much in the vein and pacing of Bedevilled but with the sense of humour that we find in Calvaire and this blend really makes for a rather interesting film where the characters really keep us compelled, and while the pacing at times can seem to get rather bogged down a little in places, it's ultimately paid off well with a gory and blood soaked final act that will please the most hardened horror fan, it's certainly not a film for everyone given the pacing and the fact that it's much more a condensed drama/thriller on a whole, but a film of the incestual nature with whorehouses where those of all ages take great pleasure in, at times in joint experiences; The Rotten Link is bizzare and wonderful.

7/10

Worry Dolls

I can't imagine why or even fathom how I came to the expectation for this film to be one of the highlights of the festival, obviously I hadn't seen any of the trailers leading up to this years FrightFest or surely I would have be able to pick this film out as the stinker that it well and truly is. The film kicks off with a kidnapped teenage girl that escapes from the grips of a clearly deranged serial killer, only for an immense mount of gore to be spilled by a our mad man with a 3 foot long drill as a more extreme Leatherface weilding chainsaw homage. The fact that the film does tend to linger on the gore for far too long to turn the shocking violence into something quite comical sets the film up on very shaky ground - and from then on we have just a series of stupid people making stupid and inplausable actions that really does beg the question - What were the writers thinking? There's a voodoo angle that plays out in rather predictable fashion to coincide with the actions of rather dumb police officers; Worry Dolls is a strange beast as it's unclear as to want to make of the intention behind the script; it certainly doesn't work as a horror film and even less so as a crime thriller; the entire cast feels mis-cast here and deliver nothing more than lucklustre performances across the board. Worry Dolls might not be as offensively bad and mis-guided as say a former FrightFest horror show like Dark Touch, but its certainly a damp squib with a laughably pointless stinger post credits scene.

3/10

III

A rather unique and special film for this years FrightFest; not entirely a genre film that one would expect to see at the festival and quite clear why this film ended up in the discovery screen section of this years line up; made out to be an exploration of fear with a sense of Tarkoviskian fairy tale with rich beautiful photography, the film itself is a rather striking Arthouse film that explores the world of a small european town that is struck down by a mysterious disease that takes the life of the mother of two sisters (Ayia and Mirra) - soon after the death of their mother, Mirra the younger sister falls ill herself and Ayia seeks the advice of the local parish priest who has been a close family friend from a very young age; the priest reveals a path into the subconcious world where Ayia is forced to confront their deepest fears in this vibrant dreamlike fantasy world, the film becomes a bizzare mix of Inception meets Pan's Labyrinth with that eastern european essence of a Tarkovsky - and while what follows becomes all rather complex and theoretically spellbinding, I couldn't say that the film was convouluted in any way; easy to follow yet intelligent, those expecting a film with monsters and creature abound that feature in the trailer might be disappointed, but as a dreamlike experience with a lasting effect that is best left to ingest over a good nights sleep - III has a lot to offer and though it might over stretch itself in the finale here, at least it's reaching for hefty heights even if it doesn't quite have the execution to be considered unconditionially successful.

7/10

JeruZalem

Oh found footage how I fail to find the enthuasism to really commit to any indepth writing/review or basic sharing thoughts on a genre where the example at hand is rather lacklustre and lacking in originality or something that might resemble something vaguely different than the vanilla that we are offered with JeruZalem - with a title and poster like this, it's easy to on the surface see this as a direct-to-dvd rip-off of World War Z; and in all honesty if you took World War Z and slapped the found footage style with the use of the Google Glass technology to showcase the horror and carbon copied the key stand out moments from REC and Cloverfield then you have JeruZalem in a nutshell basically. Now I'll have to admit that my opinion and thoughts of this film are kind of swayed into the negative given my experience of battling with motion sickness and the nausea that plaqued me from start to finish, the film has its moments of hitting the right beats to create some really great atmosphere, but most of the key scenes just felt lifted from the likes of REC and Cloverfield and just not as well executed as either of those films, JeruZalem is certainly not the worst example of the found footage genre, the characters and the setting for the film are both fine and like I said it does have itself moments, but it felt unnecessarily bloated and lacked any great impact that would ever lead me back for a repeat viewing; maybe for zombie/found footage/post apocalyptic fanboys only.

5/10

Bloodsucking Bastards

A horror comedy with vampires - boring, yawn, done to death; you might say, but Bloodsucking Bastards is anything but boring and dull, its a fun filled ride of death, blood and a troubled relationship, if you take Shaun of the Dead and swapped the zombies for vampires and the streets of London for a soulless office space of a lifesucking company then you get a pretty good idea of what to expect here. Our lead character Evan, who has just found himself dumped by his beautiful girlfriend and co-worker Amanda, is an overworked employee that instead of recieving the much expected promotion he believes he deserves, ends up effectively being demoted and his new boss is a arch rival from high school coming back to haunt him and turns out to also be a vampire and soon begins to turn the entire office into real Bloodsucking Bastards that effectively were anyways. Madness ensues and Evan with his best mate Tim (the office slacker) team up to kill the horde of office vamps. With great writing and a great cast where everyone gets the moment in the limelight and no-one failing to deliver the goods, its an ensemble comedy horror that doesn't suffer from any overshadowing of some of the lesser characters, yes everyone will walk away talking about how fucking funny and hilarious Tim is, but you'll be laughing out loud the entire time and won't forget the highlights feature the supporting cast here - Bloodsucking Bastards feels fresh and has a great sense of humour and really hope that this film acts as a platform for much of the talent to go onto great things in the future. Bam Snap!

8/10