As I arrived to the cinema, many attendees had already arrived and were gearing up themselves for the start of what was sure to be an eventful day.
The festival was now housing two screens, the main screen, reserved for the more bigger and popular horror films, and the discovery screen, geared towards the lesser known horror pictures.
I decided that the first film showing at the discovery screen was far more appealing to me compared to the odd experimental film being showcased in main screen.
The film at the discovery screen was an Australian thriller called, BURNING BRIGHT.
Taking a note from William Blake's famous poem "The Tiger", the story focuses on two siblings trapped in a house with a vicious and blood thirsty African tiger. With no communication available, they must use all their assets in order to survive the terrifying ordeal.
With a such a unique story in hand, the film did manage to hold a good sense pace throughout the duration. Although you could sense the budget was holding back some of the ideas the makers wanted to fully flesh out, they did a good job in working under such constraints. Although its far from being a masterpiece of suspense, it is well made thriller that that is definitely worth checking out. 7/10.
Afterward, I hopped over to the main screen to catch the closing minutes of EGGSHELLS, Tobe Hooper's directorial debut from 1970.
From what I saw its filled to the brim with ridiculous hippie iconography, psychedelic montages, and random hallucination sequences that made absolutely no sense. I figured that the randomness of it all was because I came in soo late, but everyone around me also seemed to have the same lost expression. I question whether Hooper even knew what he was shooting. It was just plain weird.
After a short break, the next film was a digital screening of the classic TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
Nothing really more needs to be said on how utterly ferocious and raw THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is. It's one of the finest of the genre and a true blueprint on how to make a proper horror masterpiece. 10/10.
After the screening, Tobe Hooper arrived on stage to discuss both his life and career. This was the first time he had traveled to the United Kingdom in over 19 years, so this really was a special appearance.
In the Q&A it was quite interesting to hear his reflections on the numerous films he had worked on in the past, including the over input Spielberg had on POLTERGEIST and the weak critical and public response given to the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2.
When a signing session was announced after the Q&A, a line formed that reached all the way outside of the cinema. For horror fans, Hooper is the pinnacle. He's their Micheal Jackson or Lebron James.
With my Mom and Dad in line with me, we got 3 very cool things signed, including my laserdisc, poster, and Blu-Ray of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. As he was signing, I asked what his thoughts on Dario Argento were. He responded, saying that he loved Argento and they are very good friends. He further went on to state that SUSPIRIA is his favorite film out of all of Argento's films. Smart man, this Hooper is.
At 5pm the festival resumed with the world premiere of the revenge film, ISLE OF DOGS with the cast and crew in attendance.
ISLE OF DOGS revolves around an affair taking place and two lovers hatching a plan to rid the husband and run off with a secret stash of cash. As you can predict, all does not go according to plan.
The film had some nice touches throughout, especially in the first quarter of the film, evoking the signature Giallo vibe with some creative murder setpieces and also inventively toying with the timeline really well. Unfortunately, the film became far too predictable and tedious as it wore on. 6/10.
After the Q&A, the cast and crew headed out to the lobby to hang out. Here's a random shot of the crowd after the screening.
Here's a cool snapshot I got of my Mom with the director.
Here also are some shots of the lead actress, Barbara Nedeljakova, whom you may know from HOSTEL.
She turned out to be really down to earth and graciously signed all my HOSTEL memorabilia.
Next up at 7:15pm was another British horror film, F. Do you notice a trend yet? If not, you will.
It takes the concept of Assault on Precinct 13 and mixes it with hooded schoolboys as mysterious assailants.
Although I dug the way it was shot with strong, cold colors, giving off a very icy flavor, the story was utterly generic with characters that came off very one dimensional. Also, the pacing was totally off in this one, it seemed as if the entire film was just a build up. So much so, think I must of have feel asleep during the third act. Now I don't know if that was because of lack of sleep or just poor filmmaking, but suspect the latter had much more to do with it. 5/10.
After F, I opted to head back to the discovery screen and catch this new Japanese horror film based on a very popular manga titled, HIGANJIMA: ESCAPE FROM VAMPIRE ISLAND. The film was over two hours long and I questioned whether I would have the stamina to take in such a film. I mean after the screening of F, my mind was slowly drifting into unconsciousness.
But I decided against such weak ramblings, ran to Starbucks and pumped by blood with an overload of coffee to keep me conscious for the next two hours.
HIGANJIMA tells a supernatural story of a group of friends heading off to a mysterious and haunted island in search for the lost of brother of one of their companions. The island ends up being inhabited to by a cult of ancient vampires, who wish to drink every drop of blood from these new trespassers. The companions are forced to fight both tooth and nail against the vampires, while searching for their lost companion and escaping the island. Along the way, they join forces with a rebellious group of ninjas fighting against the vampire cult and also encounter an array of fantastical creatures including harpies, giant spiders, and immortal monsters.
HIGANJIMA ended up having a great atmosphere that mixed both horror and adventure seamlessly well. The film is always exciting and creative and never repetitive or cliche. It's funny without being cheesy and engaging without being melodramatic. The action in the film is also pretty damn slick. HIGANJIMA is ridiculously fun, gory, bloody, and basically downright brilliant. 9/10.
After HIGANJIMA, the final film in the main screen was being still running, so I jetted over and caught the final hour of the amazingness titled, ALIENS vs. NINJAS.
The story is exactly what the title claims, ancient ninjas battling costumed aliens in the forests of feudal Japan. The film is soo over-the-top. Random action encounters, slime of every color spraying all over the place, cheesy effects, all accelerated to the Japanese extreme. It was the perfect midnight film to screen and the crowd really ate it up. 9/10.
We were finally released from the shackles of DAY 2 at FrightFest at a moonlit 2am.
As we left, here's a quick photo I grabbed of some of the upcoming films showing at the festival:
DAY 3 was set to provide us with werewolves, a revenged crazed female, alien-octopus' (don't ask), and a psychotic Chinese killer. Sounds like a great day ahead of us!
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