THE PREY (Short Film)

Halloween is almost the perfect time to set a horror film. It’s making something original and striking that’s usually the problem. Writer/director Webber has no such problem in this short-and-nasty little shocker.


On the way home from a party, Ethan (Alexandrou) and his girlfriend Mel (Van Cleave) are having a few heated words. He thinks she’s been in a mood all night, and after a flippant remark about her costume, she insists on getting out of the car and walking.


Everyone knows those areas of a town where it’s not altogether safe for anyone to walk alone, never mind a woman. Well, this appears to be one, as it’s not long before she’s finds herself being followed. The pursuer pulls out a knife as she turns a corner to a secluded spot. It’s not going to end well, is it?


The thing with watching (and certainly reviewing) short films is that more often than not, there’s a punch line, or some kind of twist that revealing too much of the plot will instantly give away. That’s very much the case here, although anyone with knowledge of the genre will have some sort of idea as to what’s going to play out.
What the short does have is wonderful pacing (yes, it’s only eight minutes, but not one second is wasted or out of place), strong acting and some impressive, nasty, effects. To top all that off, there’s a payoff that is just perfect.


If watching Mel walk the dark streets in her striking red dress jogs a few memories, it’s completely understandable as Rebecca Van Cleave was famously the body double for Lena Headey in Game of Thrones, when Cersei had to do the walk of shame. Watching this, she won’t be just doubling for long, as she certainly has a promising future.


If you get the chance to see The Prey on a festival screening, do yourself a favour and don’t miss it. It ticks all the right boxes for a short, and is totally entertaining.


THE PREY / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JAMES WEBBER / STARRING: REBECCA VAN CLEAVE, SAM GITTINS, JAMES ALEXANDROU

INNER DEMON

Kidnapped by a pair of murderous psychopaths and subsequently escaping, a girl hides out in their cupboard while the plot of a horror film happens around her. Part brutal kidnap thriller, part supernatural horror schlock, Inner Demon is all cliché, one of the more divisive movies of this year’s FrightFest.

Young Sam is the kidnappee in question, abducted from her home one night, along with her kid sister Maddy. Escaping from her kidnappers thanks to a mix of her own tenacity and their incompetence, she makes a good fist of getting away – until, that is, she accidentally takes refuge in the cupboard of their farmhouse. She and her audience had better get used to those surroundings – the film barely leaves the place once she gets there.

Dark, moody visuals, strong gore and some genuinely troubling themes make Ursula Dabrowsky’s Inner Demon a difficult one to dismiss – especially in the face of Sarah Jeavons’ spirited lead performance – but it’s an equally hard one to defend. As bloody and terrified as Sam gets, there’s a sense of dullness to everything from the initial chase sequences to the later doom and gloom of life within a household of serial killers. All the time we’re left waiting for the inevitable shift of tone and subgenre, which takes its sweet time in arriving. The Madeleine McCann references, if intentional, are ill-advised, lending a sour taste to a film which already has enough problems to deal with.

As Sam would no doubt admit, there’s only so much one can accomplish from the inside of a cupboard, and it’s this which really hampers Inner Demon. In spite of its accomplished lead performance and impressively oppressive atmosphere, this one is just a bit too introverted.

INNER DEMON / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: URSULA DABROWSKY / STARRING: SARAH JEAVONS, KERRY ANN REID, ANDREAS SOBIK / RELEASE DATE: TBC
 

THE NIGHTMARE

It’s the documentary about night terrors that will be sure to give you night terrors. Such is the reputation Rodney Ascher is surely hoping for with his latest dramatised documentary, detailing the sinister subject of sleep paralysis.

For the uninitiated (careful: if The Nightmare is to be believed, just reading this synopsis should be enough to cause it), sleep paralysis is a disorder which plagues many a sleeper – a waking nightmare, so to speak. The most common experience being of a shadowy figure (often wearing a hat, sometimes not) standing in the corner of one’s room, slowly approaching. Occasionally, he (or she – it can also take the form of an old hag, although this is never explored here) is accompanied by minions, like a hellish Blue Man group or, well, Gru and his Minions.

Part talking head film, part Crimewatch dramatisation, The Nightmare is certainly effective, with screenings reporting audience members screaming in their seats and experiencing paralysis of their very own once tucked up in bed afterwards. The audience at FrightFest, obviously, being made of tougher stuff, where one chap was noticed to be napping through the film. Whether he experienced a visit from The Shadow Man remains to be seen. This combination of talking heads and dramatisations works particularly well, like a real-life Sinister or Insidious. There are jump scares aplenty, as well as a slowly encroaching sense of dread which hangs heavy for long after the film ends. The universal nature of nightmares (we’ve all had ’em, paralysis or no) means that this sense of horror hits hard, particularly during the more quietly surreal moments (one particular phone call is especially chilling).

Still, there’s the same faint bullshitty whiff to it that accompanied Ascher’s majestically pretentious Room 237, and its repeated insistence that sleep paralysis can be caused simply by hearing about sleep paralysis feels particularly desperate. While there’s no doubt that some will be so affected by The Nightmare, for the most part, it’s as likely to give you bad dreams as an episode of Countryfile. Well, maybe a couple.

THE NIGHTMARE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: RODNEY ASCHER / STARRING: SIEGFRIED PETERS, STEPHEN MICHAEL JOSEPH, YATOYA TOY, NICOLE BOSWORTH / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 

THE VISIT

After the back-to-back disappointments of After Earth and The Last Airbender, both commercially and critically, M. Night Shyamalan returns to his roots writing and directing this small scale horror film that thankfully doesn’t include him in the cast list.

Seeing an opportunity to give their mother some much needed “me time” with her new boyfriend and for them to learn a bit about their family, teenagers Becca (Olivia Dejonge) and Tyler(Ed Oxenbould) go and stay with their estranged grandparents for a week, grandparents who their mother (Kathryn Hahn) hasn’t spoken to in 19 years. Of course, budding documentarian/documentary filmmaker Becca brings along enough cameras to record this momentous occasion, whilst Tyler unfortunately brings his rap “skills”.

At first “Nana”(Deanna Dunagan) and “Pop-Pop” (Peter McRobbie) seem straight out of a Frank Kapra movie; Nana constantly baking sweet things while Pop-Pop takes care of the land. It’s not long, though, before Becca and Tyler start noticing that something’s not quite right around the isolated farmhouse and start asking some questions. What are those strange noises in the house at night? What’s hidden in the shed at the end of the yard? What’s down in the basement that Tyler and Becca are not supposed to go in?

While most horror aficionados may guess what’s going on before the rest of the audience, Shyamalan deftly plays tug-of-war with the audience’s expectations. Setting up strange behaviour by the grandparents that appear to have perfectly reasonable explanations when examined in the cold light of day and their advancing age. Overreactions to Becca’s invasive interview techniques seem a lot less out of the ordinary when Becca herself doesn’t react to well under similar, in-camera, questioning from her brother.

It may not be clear from the marketing but the whole film, with some very minor exceptions, is shown only through the lenses of Becca’s two cameras, but The Visit manages to avoid feeling like “just another found footage movie”. There are plenty of effective scares throughout, but the audience, like Becca and Tyler, are kept guessing as to their nature; are they supernatural in origin, is there a medical explanation or could there be something else going on?

Once the threat is finally revealed, some of the suspense is lost, but this doesn’t quite take away from what has gone before. The blow is also softened considerably by the wicked sense of humour that runs throughout, although many may groan at Tyler’s thankfully infrequent rapping.

The Visit is by no means a perfect horror film, but it does show that Shyamalan can still tell a scary story and tell it well. Hopefully he continues to do so and avoids the nonsensical twists and bloat that plagued his work after his initial success.

THE VISIT / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN / STARRING: OLIVIA DEJONGE, ED OXENBOULD, DEANNA DUNAGAN, PETER MCROBBIE, KATHRYN HAHN / RELEASE DATE: OUT

Expected Rating: 4 out of 10

Actual Rating:
 

SOME KIND OF HATE

A sensitive issue, this. Or a ‘problematic’ one, if you want to go in for all that modern lingo we use when talking about movies like Some Kind of Hate. A movie in which the most talked about scene depicts two young women (one supernaturally undead, the other just the regular sort of not dead) making out via the medium of self-harm.

Perpetually furious and repeatedly abused by both his peers and the adults in his life, volatile metalhead Lincoln is pushed too far one day at school and violently assaults a bully. Sent to a wilderness camp for reprobates, Lincoln doesn’t do a much better job of fitting in there, and soon finds himself picked on by a different set of bullies while a different set of adults shrug their indifference. At least here he has a bad girl cheerleader to keep his spirits up. Oh, and the vengeful ghost Moira, all too willing to dispose of his enemies for him.

Any violence Moira inflicts upon herself is subsequently visited unto those she pursues – so whatever damage she does to herself manifests itself on Lincoln’s enemies’ bodies. This doesn’t stop them from trying to shoot, stab or otherwise fight her off though, resulting in some sort of bizarre self-harm-ception (to borrow a bit more terrible modern speak). It effectively turns self-harm into a superpower, taking all that pain and rage and turning it upon those responsible.

Sensitive issues indeed. Adam Egypt Mortimer trusts his audience to make up their own minds, depicting the topic in a sympathetic light without directly condemning or approving of it. The story resembles an angry, raw A Nightmare on Elm Street or It Follows, its slasher villain immediately effective and memorable, wearing a necklace made of razor blades and constantly crying, like Moaning Myrtle gone bad. Unfortunately, she falls to pieces whenever Sierra McCormick is asked to do any of the heavy lifting. The finale is derailed by flat acting and a script which has her monologuing for lengthy periods of time. Mortimer’s attempts to set her up as the next Freddy Krueger (including post-credits sting) irritate, lingering when we should be concentrating on this film and its story.

A powerful film with resounding themes and a remarkable sense of energy and emotion, Some Kind of Hate will stir up a lot of emotions, positive and negative. Whatever the case, it deserves seeing so one can make up their mind about it first-hand. Trigger warning, by the way.

SOME KIND OF HATE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ADAM EGYPT MORTIMER / SCREENPLAY: BRIAN DELEEUW, ADAM EGYPT MORTIMER / STARRING: MAESTRO HARRELL, GRACE PHIPPS, SPENCER BRESLIN, SIERRA MCCORMICK / RELEASE DATE: TBC
 

WE ARE STILL HERE

Grieving the death of their son, a couple relocate to snowed-in New England, trying to rest, recover and start anew. The last thing poor Paul and Anne need, then, is the emergence of the evil spirits residing within their home, threatening not only their lives but that of the eternal soul of their deceased son too.

Genre legend Barbara Crampton continues her career resurgence (four movies this FrightFest alone!) with We Are Still Here – possibly her best role to date, post-You’re Next (it’s better than that one too). In a starring role, she gets plenty to wrap her teeth around, imbuing Anne with a quiet strength in spite of everything she’s been through. Andrew Sensenig is good too, employing a series of excellent rollneck jumpers in his fight against evil. Then there’s Larry Fessenden, stealing the show as the pair’s hippy friend.

A love letter to Fulci and the Italian masters, this retro horror tale recalls his House by the Cemetery (as you might have guessed from the nudges and winks in the script and character names) by way of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. And yet in spite of the gore and shocks, We Are Still Here is surprisingly gentle – a sweet and tender portrayal of grief and acceptance in the face of losing a loved one. It’s like a less raw version of The Babadook – there’s a deep sadness and tiredness behind it, as opposed to screaming anger – a sense of emotion that grounds the horror during its most shocking moments.

Like last year’s Housebound, there’s a chance that We Are Still Here will be overlooked in favour of its louder, more brash peers, but its story is well worth hearing out.

WE ARE STILL HERE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: TED GEOGHEGAN / STARRING: BARBARA CRAMPTON, ANDREW SENSENIG, LUCY FESSENDEN, LISA MARIE / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19TH


 

ROAD GAMES

The Hitcher without quite so much hitching. Thumbing a ride around rural France, young Jack meets fellow ‘hiker Veronique, similarly lost without a clue. Met cute, the pair manage to get a ride from a lonely local, who invites them back to his country house for dinner with his wife. But with a vicious murderer on the loose and said wife being played by genre legend Barbara Crampton, there’s more at play here than meets the eye.

No, really, there is. Its twists and turns should be Road Games‘ bread and butter, and yet it remains surprisingly dull most of the time. The first half (and then some) is all build-up for a story we’ve all seen many times before – the second a reasonably entertaining game of cat and mouse between the young lovers and their pursuers. It looks beautiful and is technically very well done (that most of the action happens during the daytime is appreciated) but simply isn’t as clever as it thinks it is.

It’s great to see Crampton continue her career resurgence, but there’s no hiding the fact that Road Game wastes her talents. Clearly uncomfortable acting in French and barely given more to do than she was in You’re Next (albeit spread across more screentime), she’s surrounded by idiots and rarely given the chance to stretch herself. Thank heaven for Frederic Pierrot as the creepy yet likeable Grizard, being the film’s most charismatic star.

Interesting yet over-long, melodramatic and fatally predictable, Road Games is a backwoods horror film with a sheen of class, respectability and Barbara Crampton. These things go some way to save the day, but there are times when these road games feel like a dreadful trudge.

ROAD GAMES / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ABNER PASTOLL / STARRING: ANDREW SIMPSON, JOSEPHINE DE LA BAUME, FREDERIC PIERROT, BARBARA CRAMPTON, FEODOR ATKINE / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 

TURBO KID

The post-apocalyptic future wasteland of 1997. In a world without water, a young survivor known only as ‘the kid’ survives in his underground bunker, obsessively collecting the comic book adventures of a superhero known as Turbo Rider. Happening across the mysterious Apple (Laurence Lebeouf) while on a scavenging trip, the kid is slowly brought out of his shell. Genre-typically, it’s not long before Apple is kidnapped and the kid must channel his own inner superhero to rescue his new best friend. The ridiculously overpowered laser blaster he finds out in the desert will come in handy there, then.

What we have here is a retro pastiche ‘80s sci-fi action film, pitched somewhere between Mad Max, Hobo With a Shotgun and Guardians of the Galaxy. It started life as an idea for an ABCs of Death segment, before its potential was realised and the story developed into a feature film. And that’s for the best; while Turbo Kid has all of the anthology series’ trademark gore and violence, it lacks its cynicism, possessing a wonderful heart even as the blood sprays and the innocent are violently murdered.

Lebeouf steals the show as Apple, but there’s strong competition all around. Francois Simard is a likeable hero as the kid, and Michael Ironside does a tremendous job as the villainous Zeus. It’s a meatier role than we’ve seen him tackle in a while, and he takes it with aplomb, maliciously snarling his way to the villain hall of fame (it’d be great to see how he gets on with Hobo With a Shotgun‘s Drake), buzz-saw wielding Jason Voorhees-esque sidekick firmly in tow. It’s a rich world, like a Fallout videogame crossed with a (knowingly) tongue-in-cheek version of Waterworld.

In spite of the near incessant blood spray and Ironside’s all-consuming malevolence, Turbo Kid is a triumph of sweetness; a cheery BMX toting Mad Max with real emotion and heart.

TURBO KID / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: FRANCOIS SIMARD, ANOUK WHISSELL, YOANN-KARL WHISSELL / STARRING: MUNRO CHAMBERS, LAURENCE LEBOUEF, MICHAEL IRONSIDE, EDWIN WRIGHT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 5TH

 

TURBO KID

The post-apocalyptic future wasteland of 1997. In a world without water, a young survivor known only as ‘the kid’ survives in his underground bunker, obsessively collecting the comic book adventures of a superhero known as Turbo Rider. Happening across the mysterious Apple (Laurence Lebeouf) while on a scavenging trip, the kid is slowly brought out of his shell. Genre-typically, it’s not long before Apple is kidnapped and the kid must channel his own inner superhero to rescue his new best friend. The ridiculously overpowered laser blaster he finds out in the desert will come in handy there, then.

What we have here is a retro pastiche ‘80s sci-fi action film, pitched somewhere between Mad Max, Hobo With a Shotgun and Guardians of the Galaxy. It started life as an idea for an ABCs of Death segment, before its potential was realised and the story developed into a feature film. And that’s for the best; while Turbo Kid has all of the anthology series’ trademark gore and violence, it lacks its cynicism, possessing a wonderful heart even as the blood sprays and the innocent are violently murdered.

Lebeouf steals the show as Apple, but there’s strong competition all around. Francois Simard is a likeable hero as the kid, and Michael Ironside does a tremendous job as the villainous Zeus. It’s a meatier role than we’ve seen him tackle in a while, and he takes it with aplomb, maliciously snarling his way to the villain hall of fame (it’d be great to see how he gets on with Hobo With a Shotgun‘s Drake), buzz-saw wielding Jason Voorhees-esque sidekick firmly in tow. It’s a rich world, like a Fallout videogame crossed with a (knowingly) tongue-in-cheek version of Waterworld.

In spite of the near incessant blood spray and Ironside’s all-consuming malevolence, Turbo Kid is a triumph of sweetness; a cheery BMX toting Mad Max with real emotion and heart.

TURBO KID / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: FRANCOIS SIMARD, ANOUK WHISSELL, YOANN-KARL WHISSELL / STARRING: MUNRO CHAMBERS, LAURENCE LEBOUEF, MICHAEL IRONSIDE, EDWIN WRIGHT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 5TH

 

TALES OF HALLOWEEN

Ten Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 


T

en Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

 

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

 

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 

That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBCTen Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

 

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

 

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 

That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBC