Britgeek here.
Day 2 of Film4 FrightFest, perhaps the biggest of the five in terms of the line-up, kicked off with the highly anticipated NIGHTBREED: THE CABAL CUT, which unfortunately, due to the fact that the film was re-cut using footage from ancient VHS tapes, looked rather dire. It will be interesting to see how the film makes the jump to Blu-ray given the issues with quality. Many who attended the screening were unsure of the film.
Speaking of VHS, if you've been following me on Twitter or read my selections in my FrightFest preview, I was dying to see V/H/S. I was practically salivating at the thought of finally seeing this horror movie that had been hailed as deeply disturbing and at times startlingly original for an anthology film. I walked out of the screening no more than half an hour ago as of writing and I'm bitterly disappointed. It isn't this scary or disturbing marvel. It's actually more comedic than horrific, but at least it's frequently very funny. The best segment involves an online chat via Skype-like software, yet why this was put on a VHS tape and ended up in someone's house is beyond me. The segments aren't weighty enough and a lot of the time they don't make a great deal of sense. The pay-offs and the wraparound are weak. While some of it is done with vigour, I'm truly gutted with the overall movie. Although more enjoyable, it suffers from the same detractions as THE THEATRE BIZARRE, which was another anthology movie from last year's FrightFest.
[REC] 3: GENESIS also screened today, my review of which you can read HERE. While a good portion of the audience similarly loathed it, many enjoyed the new horror-comedy direction and found it refreshing. The same cannot be said for HIDDEN IN THE WOODS, however, which I'm glad I avoided as I haven't heard a single positive about it all day. Most are astounded as to how it was even considered, let alone accepted into the festival.
Italian master of horror Dario Argento graced the Empire with his presence this afternoon as this year's Total Icon, giving an interview about his career from THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE to DRACULA 3D, before signing copies of Alan Jones' newly reprinted book on his career. It was nice to see him. I can now cross that one off the bucket list.
While Dr Karen Oughton is about to hit a screening of ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY, I'm now gearing up to finish Day 2 in the Main Screen with a particularly apt midnight movie about a killer clown. A clown-based slasher comedy starring comedian Ross Noble... this could go one of two ways.
Congratulations are in order to both Gary Verby and Leza Salmon who won the AMERICAN MARY caption contest and have each nabbed a pair of tickets to Monday's special preview screening with the Soska sisters.
Full reviews of all the above will be up very soon.
Right, STITCHES, let's go!
TTFN
Follow me on Twitter!
