Film Festival Fever

Written by Martin Unsworth Monday, 14 November 2011

Horror Obscura - by Martin Unsworth

Welcome to November, I hope you all had a very (un)pleasant Samhain. The past month has seen a flurry of activity in my native Manchester, namely two film festivals, Grimm Up North and The Festival of Fantastic Films. I attended both, and this month would like to give you a brief over view of the events, rather than my usual run through of forgotten horrors.

First up, Grimm Up North, now in their third year, and going from strength to strength. The emphasis on this festival is the more modern, and often as yet unreleased films. Shockers like Lucky Mckee's The Woman, Miguel Angel Vivas' Kidnapped (aka Secuestrados), Martin Kemp's directorial début Stalker sat beside retro screenings of David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone (1983) and the much maligned and highly under rated Halloween 3 – Season of the Witch (1982).

Highlights for me included the panel session which brought together Martin Kemp, Jonathan Sothcott and actor Billy Murray - best known as Don Beech in The Bill - to talk about their British film company Black and Blue Films. They all came across as being very confident and passionate in what they are doing, and thoroughly nice chaps. Sothcott, especially knows his stuff, and target audience, having previously made some of the extras that appeared on DVDs of films like The Blood On Satan's Claw (1972) and Hammer's final big screen horror (before their recent 'rebirth' of course) To The Devil.. A Daughter (1976)  . With them they brought their show reel which covered the companies output from Dead Cert to the films in post production at the moment, the gloriously titled Strippers VS Werewolves, Airborne (which stars Mark Hamill) and Elfie Hopkins. It is just a shame it was a YouTube quality clip played onto a 50 foot screen, making it virtually unwatchable.

Stalker which is, as Kemp is keen to point out, inspired by, rather than a remake of Expose (aka The House on Straw Hill) the 1975 film that became notorious as being the only British film on the video nasties list. In the original, a writer (Udo Kier) is struggling to find inspiration for his second novel and his agent has sent an assistant (Linda Hayden, who gets a role in Kemp's film as a nice nod to the original) to help with dictation and things. She does seem to spend more time with her hand in her pants than helping, but then nobody's perfect. Stalker takes a different route, with a female writer (Anna Brecon) recovering from a nervous breakdown and struggling with her second novel. She is sent a P.A. (Jane March) to help, too. That is pretty much where the similarity ends. The updated version does not have Jacko from Brush Strokes menacing the proceedings, but does have Billy Murray brilliantly portraying a sleazy journalist desperate to track the writer down for an interview and the gossip on her breakdown. Who would have thought that the book world would be populated by the same cutthroat journos that the newspaper world is famous for? The film is well made, and is probably the most commercial of Black and Blue's output so far. Having said that, I thought Dead Cert was not as bad as people make out, sure it is silly, but fun. Sadly, the team are not keen to do the follow up that is hinted at in the end of the film, and in all honesty they have collectively written it off as a film.

The films screened over the weekend were of varied quality, (quite literally since many were screened from DVD or Blu-ray) and the lack of actual real horror films was quite obvious after the fourth or fifth gritty and gruelling thriller. Some Guy Who Kills People, receiving it's UK première, was a welcome respite. The film follows Ken (Kevin Corrigan from Fringe/Superbad), fresh out of an asylum after a breakdown caused by school time bullying. Working a lowly job at an ice cream parlour, drawing highly personal comic books for himself and living with his world-weary mother (played excellently by Karen Black). When the several local meat heads wind up dead in particularly gruesome ways, the local sheriff (Barry Bostwick) scratches his head and struggles to find the culprit. Lucy Davis (The Office) plays Ken's love interest, and his daughter from a one week relationship (Ariel Gade) 11 years ago suddenly turns up in his life. Despite the jokey title, the fact it is directed by Jack Perez, the guy who gave us Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus and what might well have been an obvious and clichéd premise, the film was wonderful. The star of the show is Bostwick's sheriff, full of hilarious one-liners, and flippant attitude. The murders are surprisingly gory and handled in a fun way, so as not to be jarringly different from the rest of the film. Do yourself a favour and check it out if you get a chance.

The Dead (2010), directed by brothers, Howard and Jonathan Ford, this zombie film, set in Africa, is part road movie, part survival and part horror. The wonderful African scenery, from sprawling deserts to head high corn fields, and the never ending roaming of the undead all add to the atmosphere and tension. Rob Freeman is an army engineer and the lone survivor of a failed attempt to leave the country after an outbreak of the dead rising. No attempt is made to explain the resurrections, they are just there and out for blood (or flesh). Along the way, he meets a soldier (Prince David Osei) who has broke ranks to find his son who has been taken from his village to the safe haven set up on the other side of the country. You can read some subtext about Africa's own internal struggles into the mix, and the anguish facing the people there, when the two main characters first meet, the African soldier helps the American free his stolen flat bed truck from the rocky terrain, and he asks him to join him, “I thought you were going to leave like the rest of your people” he says with genuine pathos. The real plus of this film is the return of the old slow moving Romero style zombies and the tension caused by never being able to rest for fear of them turning up.

The Whisperer In Darkness is the second film made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, the first was an adaptation of The Call of Chtulhu in 2005, which was made as a silent movie, complete with old style inter-titles and score. Like Chtullu, Whisperer is filmed in “Mythoscope” which I suppose is the society's way of saying a mix of old and new techniques. Whisperer takes the style of the 1930/40s Hollywood B movie, similar to those put out by Universal and RKO. Lovecraft's story is of a reclusive old man who has strange creatures surrounding his land and a professor who is an expert in folklore who tries to debunk the story. The period detail added to the unique filming approach leads to some wonderful atmosphere and emphasis on story and acting. If there is any let down in the film, it is in the depiction of the creatures at the end, rather than CGI I personally would have preferred stop motion, costume or even better, to remain clearly unseen. A major gripe (although not the film's fault) was the sticky disc used to play the film at the festival. We all know how annoying they can be at home, so just imagine it on a giant cinema screen. I tried not to let it spoil the enjoyment of the film, but it only takes a thing like that to break the atmosphere and flow of the film. It was, however, a strong contender for one of the films of the weekend for me.

I was looking forward in a sick sort of way to seeing Robin Hardy's The Wicker Tree, despite it being almost universally panned, especially with the director in attendance. He was keen to point out it is not a sequel to the genuine classic The Wicker Man (1973) – one of my personal all time favourite films – but set within the same world. The film follows two Texan born again Christians, one a former slutty pop singer, now a gospel sensation and her fiancé, a slightly dim cowboy type, on a trip to Scotland to try and convert the heathens to the ways of the Lord. The big problem with the film is that is basically a re-hash of the classic. I personally would have been happier to have it called Cowboys For Christ (Hardy's original novel) or even The Riding Of The Laddie, the film's original title when it was mooted many years ago. The climax with the burning of the titular tree (which is a wonderful design) did feel as though it was shoe horned in there just to sell it on the back of a classic and to a ready made cult audience. The whole comparison to The Wicker Man will always inevitably be its downfall. That said, it is still not without it's own faults, but it is nowhere near as bad as it is made out to be. Although I admit I stood alone with that opinion amongst my Starburst colleagues. “Bag of balls” I think was the general reaction. Some of the humour fell a little flat, although I did find some moments amusing – it is amusing and telling that both myself and Starburst editor Mike Royce thought “Carry On Wicker Man” totally independently.  The music used was all in the same vein as the original but failed to convince as much as Paul Giovanni's original score for the classic, which had much more of a genuine folk feel to it. The modern day setting and location really does not help the film either. It is set in a village, rather than an island, where the women are unable to produce new offspring, and the inevitable sacrifices are there to try and put this right. The bloody big nuclear power station (named after Nuada – the sun god of the original film) obviously has nothing to do with this, and seeing as the plant's CEO, Sir Lachlan Morrison (Graham McTavish) is also the pagan leader of the community, it is blamed on a spiritual problem rather than radioactive. At one point he explains to the Americans “I'm like Monty Burns around here, whenever anything goes wrong they blame me” You feel that the religion is just a convenient cover up, rather than a deep-rooted belief system “I believe the old religion of the Celts.. it fits our needs at this time”. At the post film Q and A, Hardy promised a third instalment set in Norway, but to be honest I think he would be better off finding (or even writing) a better script set around a different subject. The problem with having such a great, influential and dare I say perfect cult film is the temptation to keep going back to the well, but I feel that judging from the reaction to this dip that the well has run dry.

Amongst the other films, we had the world première of Neil Jones' The Reverend which was okay, and would probably work better on DVD, although I've never come across a film being adapted from a graphic novel that has not yet been released. Urban Explorer utilises the hidden subterranean parts of Germany to great effect, but I feel descended too much into Hostel territory towards the end. The Divide is a post apocalypse drama set in the basement of an apartment building, where a group of survivors have gathered to seek refuge. Michael Biehn is the block's janitor whose space they have invaded, and solid support comes from Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren German and an unflattering performance (but well played) from Rosanna Arquette. The Woman is gaining a respectable reputation (this was my second time seeing it) and it was still as brutal as the first time. Kidnapped (aka Secuestrados) is another very brutal, gruelling but well made film which leaves you feeling like you've just done ten rounds with Mike Tyson, a million miles away from director Miguel Angel Viva's brilliant 2003 short I'll See You In Your Dreams in which a lowly woodsman single-handedly attempts to protect his village from marauding zombies. A film I was incredibly disappointed by - because I had hoped it would be a more traditional fantasy horror film - was The Theatre Bizarre. A portmanteau film, like the ones we love from Amicus, the stories told are very hit and miss (far too many miss) and the linking thread starring the brilliant Udo Kier was inadequate. A couple of the stories had potential, the first, The Mother Of Toads, directed by Richard (Hardware) Stanley and starring Fulci regular Catriona MacColl was the nearest we get to the tongue in cheek feel of the Amicus films (and the EC comics), and Tom Savini's section, Wet Dreams was the most satisfying. The final piece, “Sweets”, directed by David Gregory, (whose previous output has mainly been supplementary material for DVDs) is just indescribable.

In-between the screenings, there was hardly enough time to grab a quick drink, a flaccid hot dog and empty your bladder (not necessarily in that order) before the next shocker was unleashed. Coupled with the fact the festival's 'bar' was in the adjoining casino, which took another five minute (brisk) walk each way, you did not really have time to socialise or even discuss the film you had just seen, which I feel is a big part of these types of events. With only three days to screen seventeen films, you can imagine how tight the schedule is.

By stark contrast, The Festival Of Fantastic Films, now in its 22nd year, was a relaxed, casual get together of like minded folk, with an eclectic mix of classic and forgotten fantasy/horror films, and some low budget independents and amateur films that are showcased and put into competition.

Held at the Day's Hotel in Manchester, this is a low key, vastly under advertised event but well loved by those who attend. In the past the organisers have managed to bring together some of the genre's greats. To see a list of their previous guests of honour is like looking at a who's who of cult legends. Roger Corman, John Landis, Ray Harryhausen, Forest J Ackerman, Bert I. Gordon, Ingrid Pitt, Cannibal Apocalypse director Antonio Margheriti, Jean Rollin, Paul Naschy, Jimmy Sangster, Roy Ward Baker, Ruggero Deodato, David Hess, Janette Scott, Freddie Francis, Andrew Keir, Crispin Glover, Lamberto Bava,  Ken Foree, Val Guest, and many many more.
This year, the main attractions were a return visit from Robin Askwith (a personal favourite of mine, not least for his role in British sex comedies), Bobby Rhodes (from Bava's Demons), writer David McGillivray, director Norman J. Warren, Hammer unsung heroes Renee Glynne and Hugh Harlow, and all rounder Johnny Legend. Sadly, ill health prevented Richard Gordon, producer of classics such as Fiend Without A Face (1958) and First Man Into Space (1959) from attending. Richard has been a regular visitor to the festival and is always interesting so he was missed (and hope he gets well soon).

The films do tend to become more and more like wallpaper for the guests and general social aspects of the event. If there was one thing that I would use to recommend the FoFF to others it would be just being around like-minded people. That said, over the three days, 40 – odd films were shown over three screens, giving plenty of choice. Most were screened from DVD again, but in the confines of a hotel setting and the laid back nature of this beast, it is more forgivable than in a large multiplex. In the past, the team behind the festival tried to keep the amount on video to the minimum, preferring to try and source 16mm or even 35mm prints, but on the budget the festival has to run on at the moment, this is no longer as plausible. Even the programme for the event is a Xeroxed effort. Why spend money on glossy magazines to give away when that could be spent on getting a guest who would be much more entertaining and informative.

Films related to the guest were obviously screened, Tower Of Evil (1972) and Horror Hospital (1973), both produced by the absent Richard Gordon, and starring the wonderful Robin Askwith. The later being a brilliant mad piece of cinema, with Robin playing Jason, an ousted writer for a psychedelic 70s pop group, who decides to get away from it all. Seeing a newspaper ad for the strangely intriguingly named 'Hairy Holidays'. He turns up at the offices, to be met by a sleazy and lecherous Dennis Price and sent along to Doctor Storm's (Michael Gough) country health retreat with an unnerving wink. On the train he meets a smashing bird, Judy (Vanessa Shaw) who just so happens to be on her way to the same place. They obviously hit it off and within minutes of reaching the place, Robin has his backside out and they are up to all sorts. Things however are not what they seem at the health farm. The not so good doctor is using his clients as experiments to create his own race of mind controlled zombies. The film is a perfect piece of 70s horror cinema, with elements of horror mixed very well with a lot of (intentional) humour. At one point during a tension charged chase, Robin manages to stop and have a bite of a sandwich. Genius. Certainly one to watch with a group of like-minded people (although not the type who have been subjected to Dr Storm's experiment!) Also among the cast is Skip Martin, an actor of diminutive size (a dwarf in old terms) who also appeared in Hammer's Vampire Circus (1972). Skip is a reason to watch the film all on his own, with his wild-eyed expression and surprising pathos. “Don't forget to brush your teeth!”

Robin himself was in good spirits, playing up to his cheeky chappy character but also talking about his other output. It's worth pointing out that as well as the famous sex comedies and romps, Robin appeared in celebrated films by Lindsay Anderson (including the classic If..), Pier Paolo (Salo) Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales (1972) and a TV musical, Hans Brinker (1969) with Richard (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea) Basehart! He also spoke of the woeful Richard Driscoll films that keep getting regurgitated and re-issued every so often (the latest being one of the ones Robin did, originally filmed as Alone In The Dark in 2002, then released as Evil Calls in 2008, and out now on DVD – in 3D to boot – as Legend Of Harrow Wood). Robin actually did not have a bad word to say about Driscoll – apart from the quality of the films – but then, he has had his money unlike (allegedly) many that have worked with him and on the films.

Bobby Rhodes was represented by Demons 1 and 2 (1985/6). It was interesting to hear Bobby speak about his roles, despite being in both he plays different characters. The first film he is Tony the pimp, probably his most famous role, and in the second he is Hank the fitness instructor. Apparently he was in line to come back in a third film, but since it all fell through financially for director Lamberto Bava it never happens. He is keen to point out that the Michele Soavi film The Church (aka La Chiesa 1989) is not an entry to the cycle, despite being billed as such sometimes.

A batch of Norman J Warren films were screened, Satan's Slave (1976), Terror (1978), Inseminoid (1981) – in which he teamed with producer Richard Gordon to make what was one of the more memorable Alien cash ins (or rip off’s, depending on your point of view) and the often forgotten Bloody New Year (1987) which was Norman's last film.

The rest of the programme included such gems as The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror 1958), the first of the Amicus portmanteau films, Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1964), James Whales' brilliantly creaky The Old Dark House (1932), with Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, and Ernest Thesiger. Made just after Frankenstein and as far removed from the Universal Monsters series as it comes, Old Dark House is a wonderfully atmospheric piece set out in the wilds of Wales yet filmed on the Universal back lots, and has the camp humour that we came to love in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). It is thanks to Curtis Harrington, director of Ruby (1977) and the early Dennis Hopper film Night Tide (1961), a close friend of Whales' that we can see Old Dark House today since it was decaying in Universal's vaults unseen for years until he personally arranged it's restoration.

I took the opportunity to re-watch the William Shatner film, Incubus (1966) – featured in my column a couple of months ago – and I still enjoyed it as much.

There was a mini retrospective of the fantasy films of “Manchester's Orson Welles”, Cliff Twemlow complete with a talk by Salford University's senior film studies lecturer C.P. Lee. Twemlow was a bit of a local hero, I remember when I was growing up they filmed part of his GBH (1982) around the corner from where I was living. The film became an instant cult classic in my book, and when I finally managed to get a VHS of it, I relished every shot on low-end video moment of it. I would love someone to be able to go back and maybe 'remaster' the film. I have digitised my old video and if I had the expertise – and time – I would try myself but the quality of the video cameras used to film it was certainly not high definition. GBH is the sort of film that you can watch with a crowd and have a whole lot of fun, with dodgy dialogue, dodgier acting and some no doubt unintentional homo-erotic moments. Add to that, the club owner is played by Anthony Shaeffer, who, at the time I managed to see the film, was the voice over man for Saturday night favourite 3-2-1. Sadly, being of the gangster/protection racket genre this was not one of the films shown at the festival. If you are still none the wiser about Cliff, you will be surprised to learn that he was a composer too, and it is his tune  'Distant Hills' that played over the end credits of the long running UKTV show Crown Court which was a day time ITV hit for over ten years, and no doubt remembered by people of a certain age. He also wrote a song 'Cause I'm A Man' which would later be used in George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead (1978). His 1982 novel The Pike was being prepared as a film – with Joan Collins attached to appear – before the budget became too much to raise. He sadly died in 1993, otherwise I am sure he would have been enjoying a pint with the fans here too, and no doubt keeping an eye out for troublemakers being the ex-doorman he was.

There was also the Northern première of the UK film, Don't Let Him In (2011), which I was especially pleased to see on the bill, as I interviewed the director Kelly Smith for Starburst a few months back (still available here) and gave him the festival details. The film should get a UK release – probably straight onto DVD – early next year, and it is a pretty good twist on the psycho-in-the-countryside film.

On the rest of the bill, The Giant Behemoth (1958) rubbed shoulders with Roger Corman's War Of The Satellites (1958), early German/Polish Sci Fi flick The Silent Star (aka First Spaceship On Venus 1960) being shown in a subtitled 16mm print), Dario Argento's Cat O'Nine Tails (1972) on the same stream as the Jim Henson favourite The Dark Crystal (1982)?  How about a black and white 16mm print of When Worlds Collide (1951)? Only at the Festival of Fantastic Films, folks! Or if that's not to your taste you could do worse (well, no actually to be honest you could not do worse) than Birdemic: Shock And Terror! (2008) , a film so bad, festival president Ramsey Campbell wrote, “Even less plot than The Birds! Special effects more awsome than The Giant Claw! If they don't scare you, the acting and dialogue will!” Personally, I gave that one a miss! Too much good stuff to see.

Johnny Legend gave the Saturday night a kick start talking about growing up being interested in horror, rockabilly and wrestling. Stories about being a youngster going to visit hulking actor Tor Johnson and getting to know surreal comedian Andy Kaufman. For those who are not familiar with Johnny (or indeed Kaufman), Kaufman was the comic played by Jim Carrey in Man On The Moon (1999). Courtney Love plays Kaufman's love interest in the film, who in reality was Legend's sister. Johnny appears in the film too. He co-directed the Kaufman film My Dinner With Blassie (1983) and appeared in the 2001 Maniacs (2005) alongside Robert England. To top it off, he introduced a compilation of rare Ed Wood clips – including the full interview with Bela Lugosi after he had left rehab for morphine addiction, normally this is seen in Wood/Lugosi documentaries but only one or two lines used about him looking forward to working again, in this footage we see the interviewer practically badger poor old Bela about his other problems with alcohol and his personal life. To his credit, Bela kept his composure where I'm sure nowadays the celebs would be ranting and raving. This was followed by a new transfer of Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) everyone's favourite bad film.

Like I said earlier, the joy of this festival is that it is not a film marathon, you do not feel if you have not watched as many films as you can that you have not had your monies worth. The complete opposite to Grimm Up North. I for one, will be back next year if the organisers decide to continue. Every year, with low attendance numbers, is threatened with being the last, but thankfully they persevered and even on the years that have had very few guests (I was there one year that only David Hess and Michael (Mark Of The Devil) Armstrong managed to turn up) there was still a great atmosphere and fun was had by all.

Hopefully next year, we will be able to get behind the festival in advance and help with some publicity, which seems to be this particular festival's downfall. Everyone who goes, loves it and wants to go again, but short of word of mouth or stumbling across it on the internet there is not much room for new attendees, which of course would mean a bigger budget for guests. As a Manchester based magazine, I'm sure we would love to see more events like The Festival Of Fantastic Films and Grimm Up North happening here. The same goes for the other provinces, I know there have been horror and fantasy related festivals happening all over the country outside of 'that' London, and we would love to hear from you. I quite often find out about these things either too late, or I cannot make it to them for one reason or another, but if you let us know they are happening, hopefully you will have more bums on seats. One I'll miss due to other commitments is Abertoir which would have took place in Aberystwyth, Wales just before this will publish, which I am very upset at missing not least because the guest of honour is Victoria Price, Vincent's daughter.

London pubs' back rooms are regularly used for film screenings by people passionate about bringing cult and off the wall films to an audience. More of these type of things should happen, and if you know of any that are, let us know, we will give your event a shout out if you tell us about it in advance.

The Starburst's writers bar of choice, Fab Cafe in Manchester is planning on hosting a monthly B movie night, so hopefully I will see some of you down there sometime. The Sunday night film used to be a regular thing at the Fab, so it is nice to see it return in one form or another.

Finally, a mention must be made for the guys behind the 'Bring Classic Horror Back To Television' campaign who show a horror double bill (like the BBC used to) every month at the Roxy Bar and Screen in Borough, London. I try to get to as many of these as I can, although my scheduling has been right off the past couple of months (damn you rock bands coming and making me go and see you instead). The brains behind the campaign and the screenings, Richard Gladman is a thoroughly nice chap as is his partner in crime, Sarah James. Keep up to date with their events at here and do go along and support them if you can, tell them I sent you!

*****

I'm was very sad to learn that Richard Gordon, the legendary producer of such films as Fiend Without A Face, The Haunted Strangler and Horror Hospital passed away on November 2nd. He had been due to appear at the Festival of Fantastic Films, as mentioned above but was too ill to attend. Having met him several times at previous festivals, I can say he was a lovely chap, and always happy to talk about his (and others) films. He was 85.