THE LAST VIDEO STORE [FrightFest Halloween 2023]

Expanding their short film of the same name, co-writers/directors Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford evoke the affection for VHS with this Evil Dead meet Clerks romp.

Kevin (Kevin Martin, also seen espousing the joys of working in a real video shop in Cult of VHS) is the custodian of Blaster Video, a geek whose social skills are as lacking as his knowledge of obscure films is vast. When Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) comes in to return some overdue tapes that her recently deceased father had taken out, a nightmarish fight for survival begins. One of the titles returned is a mysterious ‘cursed’ tape, the Videonomicon, which should never be played. Naturally, the curious Kevin pops it into his machine and presses play…

The resulting carnage sees relics of the video era blast from the cathode ray screen and into the shop, with Kevin and Nyla attempting to fend them off. It’s all a glorious ode to the schlocky titles we loved in the ‘80s, right down to the simple visual and practical effects. Think Charles Band meets early Sam Raimi, and you won’t be far off. How much you get out of this knockabout horror-comedy depends on your connection to the forgotten time that Kevin (the character and the actor) has enveloped himself in. It’s all about nostalgia, after all.

Many of us will relate to Kevin, and the enthusiasm of all involved is contagious, but The Last Video Store suffers by trying too hard. Had this come before the likes of Scream, people would be flipping out over it. As it stands, it’s a lot of fun, but we can’t help feeling that it’s all been done before. Which, we guess, could also be indicative of the plethora of titles that flooded the video shop shelves back in the golden age of rental, before the evil conglomerates got their claws into it.

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THE LAST VIDEO STORE screened as part of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween. 

8 FOUND DEAD

The holiday rental home horror subgenre picks up pace with the addition of director Travis Greene’s 8 Found Dead. This comedy-horror of manners isn’t so smarty pants about it as to hide the letters ‘Airbnb’ in its title, but it’s still pretty arch.

When two couples convene at a sleek, modern guest house in the desert for a weekend getaway, they’re disarmed to find the place already occupied by Liz (Rosanne Limeres) and Richard (Tim Simek). Splitting its narrative between the couples’ staggered arrival times, Greene and screenwriter Jonathan Buchanan draw suspense from the surely impending atrocities – less whodunnit, more what have they dun?

A slick, striking opening sequence sets the table well, even if it’s not entirely representative of the slow burn which follows. Greene and Buchanan are far more interested in building tension and tormenting their characters through vicious banter and the barbed tongues of its villains.

Like Who Invited Them before it, this is a subverted take on the home invasion subgenre – the violence building steadily through microaggressions and snide commentary. It’s not quite so polished as its 2022 predecessor – nor so fun as Barbarian’s own deliciously uncomfortable opening – but its splattery climax still succeeds in getting the blood pumping.

The body count may be a foregone conclusion, but the charm is in the journey there. In this respect, 8 Found Dead is an entertaining, if slightly bumpy, ride.

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8 FOUND DEAD is out now on digital platforms.

CALVAIRE (2005)

Often imitated, never bettered, no horror film has ever managed to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle delirious lunacy of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. A lot of hapless teenagers and idiot hippies have followed in those footsteps in the years following, but none have managed to get further than the dinner table and a chittering madman in a butcher’s apron.

Until, that is, 2004’s Calvaire (The Ordeal, in English, or a variation on ‘fuck,’ or ‘bloody hell,’ if you want to be Quebecois about it). Adjacent to the early noughties’ French extremist movement (see also: Martyrs, Inside, Haute Tension), Fabrice Du Welz’s backwoods horror film is surprisingly lacking its peers’ excessive gore but remains the most troubling of them all.

When his van breaks down in rural Belgium, cheesy crooner Marc (Laurent Lucas) takes refuge in a remote inn, run by the strange but seemingly harmless Bartel (Jackie Berroyer). Only Marc’s simpering countenance unlocks something in the lonely old farmer, who sees something in the singer that he previously recognised in his wife. Uh-oh.

A sucker punch, a haircut, and a length of rope later, Marc finds himself the guest of honour at an increasingly unhinged Christmas with Belgium’s own League of Gentlemen. Here the slow burn reaches peak burn, and narrative gives way to surrealist dance routine, heavy-handed symbolism (the crucifixion is so on-the-nose as to be up it) and all manner of screeching, screaming, and snot-nosed snivelling.

Now remastered, the imagery pops, and the Belgian countryside looks more chilly and foreboding than ever – but it’s in the sound design where Calvaire truly unsettles. From Marc’s miserable crying to the squealing of a tortured pig, it’s a hard, almost unbearable listen – and the closest any film has ever come to capturing the insanity of Texas Chain Saw’s dinner table sequence.

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CALVAIRE is out now on digital platforms. 

THEY WAIT IN THE DARK

they wait dark

Amy (Sarah McGuire) is on the road with her adopted son, Adrian (Patrick McGee). They’re heading towards Amy’s former home, now hers, following her father’s death. They are fleeing Amy’s ex, Judith (Laurie Catherine Winkel), who left Amy with a knife wound in her side. With help from her old school friend, Jenny (Paige Maria), she looks to be getting her life together, but Judith isn’t the only thing from her past that she has to fear…

Tautly written and directed by Patrick Rea (I am Lisa), They Wait in the Dark is an always twisting, raw tale that blends mounting dread, be it from demented partners or vengeful spectres. Amy’s early life is explored in flashbacks that gradually reveal secrets and flesh the story well. Her past is full of abusive elements, be it from her mother or partner, and obviously, this has an effect on her. There’s no denying that she is desperate to save her child, and she’s certainly pushed to the limits. The patient way that Rea drip-feeds the audience what they need to know is impressive and certainly leaves the viewer questioning their feelings. He also avoids the usual pitfalls of low-budget filmmaking with the help of his cast (even the youngster McGee puts in a great performance) and his dialogue. It’s naturalistic even when building to the fantastical elements. Hanuman Brown-Eagle’s cinematography plays a big part in selling the story, as does the impressive sound design.

Punching well above its weight, They Wait in the Dark is well worth checking out.

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They Wait in the Dark is out on digital platforms from November 13th.

KILLHER

Another low-budget horror film, another camping trip gone awry. This is no rote day out for hoary old genre tropes, though, and director Robyn August (plus screenwriter Tom Kiesche) soon turns the scenario on its head.

Combining a wedding planning session with a weekend in the woods, Mattie (Jenna Z. Alvarez) and her friends fall prey to a demented monster when they set up camp next to, uh, Mr. Rogers (Kiesche himself, sans red cardigan). Picked off one by one (or worse… kidnapped), the friends face a terrible fight for survival amid the tents and the trees. So far, so Wrong Turn. 

Where KillHer sets itself apart from the rest (and there’s a lot of the rest) is in its commitment to subversion and a cheeky refusal to take any of this seriously. Where it might put some off is in its remarkably out-there performances (M.C. Huff’s Eddie is energetic, to say the least) and relatively slow buildup. Its sense of humour won’t be to all tastes either, even if the jokes are less well-worn than other horror comedies.

This is a fresh and vibrant take on the comedy slasher film, buzzing with wit and energy and palpable enthusiasm for the genre. Its snarky approach won’t appeal to all, but the effort is appreciated.

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KILLHER is out now in the US.

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

The latest instalment in a growing subgenre of horror films inspired by children’s stories (see also Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Three Blind Mice, The Mean One), a beloved 19th-century nursery rhyme gets its turn on the murder-go-round in Jason Arber’s Mary Had a Little Lamb.

This surprisingly gritty slasher film follows true crime podcaster Carla (May Kelly) as she investigates a series of disappearances in the middle of rural nowhere. There, she and her crew (including Ray, played by screenwriter Harry Boxley) encounter ageing weirdo Mary (Christine Ann Nyland) and hear tell of the deformed ‘little lamb’ she keeps hidden away upstairs.

Forced to stay the night after a series of calamities, Carla will come to learn the shockingly bleak story behind the nursery rhyme, while her friends and colleagues are led to the business end of the axe, like lambs to the… well, you know.

There are few surprises to be found here beyond the straight face with which Arber and Boxley choose to tell their story. Kelly and Nyland acquit themselves well, even as the story gets sillier and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre cribbing becomes more blatant. The Lamb (Gaston Alexander) looks a little goofy, but those with a thing for grotesque horror Furries should find their appetites mostly sated.

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MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB is out now on digital platforms in the US.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S

Nine years ago, a global gaming phenomenon was born when Five Nights At Freddy’s was released on PC, and now it is the turn of Freddy and the Gang to make their way onto the big screen as Blumhouse brings us the latest video game movie adaptation.

Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) is a man down on his luck when it comes to holding a job. Having to take care of his younger sister Abby (Piper Perabo) after their parents have passed away, he is offered a job by a job counsellor (Matthew Lillard) as a night security guard at an abandoned restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. Soon after he starts his new job, Mike begins to have visions of when his young brother disappeared and, through meeting a local police officer, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), discovers that the animatronics that roams the pizzeria hold a dark, sinister secret along with the owner of the restaurant.

Directed by Emma Tammi, who also co-wrote the film with original game creator Scott Cawthon, this fun, spooky tale of murderous animatronics haunted by vengeful spirits is a thrill ride from start to finish that is a perfect Halloween flick. The film is a love letter to fans of the games, with every frame dripping with stellar attention to detail and a host of Easter eggs and cameos whilst also possessing a solid story and enough scares and memorable moments to satisfy new audiences experiencing Cawthon’s elaborate and deep-lore-ridden world for the first time. The animatronics are fully realised as a physical presence thanks to impeccable work by the Jim Henson Creature Shop.

Five Nights At Freddy’s is an absolute blast from start to finish – a frightfully fun, goofy, and wacky scare-fest that everyone can enjoy this spooky season.

 

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Five Nights At Freddy’s in UK cinemas now. You can read our interview with director Emma Tammi here. 

HOW TO SAVE THE IMMORTAL

How To Save The Immortal Starburst Magazine Review

This Russian-to-English animated fantasy has its fair share of kooky charms, from haunted fog to a chirpy Ginger roll (Daniel Barnes), to a desperate king driven by a nasty Punch puppet (Jordan Worsley). Sadly, some of the elements that keep it going don’t quite save what is an ultimately formulaic romp that will likely only appeal to very young viewers and leave others fidgeting increasingly.

The story centres on the immortal and snappily dressed Drybone (Andrey Kurganov), who has been unable to find a bride for three hundred years. But when the feisty warrior Barbara (Liza Klimova), who is quite literally opposed to a relationship, is sought by the desperate King Lentil (Michael Kleeman), Drybone is blackmailed into attaining his chosen lady for the King. Naturally, these two loners end up striking a connection along the way.

No prizes for guessing how some of this fantasy stuff pans out. How To Save The Immortal may have some of its own quirks, but its structure is familiar to anyone of any age who has ever watched any romantically inclined fantasy before, from Beauty and the Beast to – particularly – Shrek, the latter with which it takes a great deal of its DNA. With its bride-pursuing, villainously pathetic King, action-ready heroine, prickly but lonely lead, and chatty sidekick (albeit replacing a donkey with a ginger bap here).

The animation is certainly on the lower budget end of the market but has its appeal, while some of the voice work also feels half-power, though the effort is largely there overall. However, where How To Save The Immortal slips up is in its plotting, which is a great big tangled bundle. One minute, there is the immortal needle MacGuffin, the next a largely forgotten undead witch subplot and it all feels overstuffed and constantly all too easily distracted. Characters litter the frame, bobbing about here and there, some with very little purpose. While the main plot just all feels too familiar, like a bootleg of bigger, better and – it has to be said – far older movies.  

We can’t bring ourselves to give an innocent film featuring bat sidekicks called Stoker and Bram too harsh a grilling, but for viewers over the age of 6, this may prove a bit of a trudge. How To Save The Immortal might have gotten by on some of its successes but feels a bit too forgettable to land that much-needed, memorable, magical touch.

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HOW TO SAVE THE IMMORTAL is in cinemas from October 27th.

SUITABLE FLESH

SUITABLE FLESH

by Martin Unsworth

Joe Lynch (Mayhem) heads to H.P. Lovecraft territory with this adaptation of the short story, The Thing on the Doorstep and crafts a disturbing shocker destined to be a cult favourite.

Heather Graham is Dr Elizabeth Derby, a psychiatrist who becomes a little too involved with her enigmatic patient, Asa (Judah Lewis). Asa has a multiple personality problem, which Elizabeth thinks might be down to his possessive father, Ephraim (Bruce Davison). The truth is much stranger and deadly as Ephraim is, in fact, possessed by an evil entity that allows him to switch into his son’s body. He has his sights on using Elizabeth to keep his essence alive. Elizabeth’s long-time friend and colleague, Dr Dani Upton (Barbara Crampton), might be the only hope of saving her soul.

Suitable Flesh opens at a moment in the story where Graham’s character is in a padded cell, frantic and accused of murder, with Crampton listening in disbelief at what has happened. We then flashback to the first meeting with the troubled Asa. While this might take a little bit of the surprise out of the tale, it’s an instant hook that draws the viewer into the action nicely.

Lynch shows his flair for being inventive with the camera, which is quite dizzying in places. (Hats off to cinematographer David Mathews!) It’s something that elevates what could have been a routine body-swap story to something much more interesting. There are plenty of gnarly moments and touches of humour (particularly from the morgue attendant, played brilliantly by genre favourite Graham Skipper). It’s Heather Graham who shines, however, seemingly relishing the chance to ramp up her performance as the evil slips in and out of her body. It’s always a delight to see Barbara Crampton, particularly when her role gets more physical in the climax.

While things don’t get as cosmic as some Lovecraft adaptations, there’s certainly enough strangeness to keep fans happy.

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Suitable Flesh is in UK cinemas and VOD from October 27th.

RETRIBUTION

It would seem that this writer is in an ever-dwindling minority, as they remain seated in the waiting room for entry to the growing bored of the Neeson season action films club. Indeed, we certainly aren’t there yet. True, of late, some of the Irish hard man’s recent films like Memory and Blacklight may have fallen flat, but his always reliably sturdy work in the lead and his chosen filmography’s throwback charms keep winning us over. And this remake of the 2015 Spanish thriller El Desconocido is another to add to the collection.

His latest action vehicle (literally) is kind of like Speed in the family Mercedes, and by golly gosh, it is another ‘90s thriller blast! The story sees Neeson play Matt Turner, a financier at Nanite Capital in Berlin, whose job is straining his relationship somewhat with his wife and kids. However, one morning on the school run, Matt is contacted by an anonymous caller, who has informed him that there is a pressure-triggered explosive under the car seat that will go off unless Matt does exactly as this mysterious bomber asks.

Some of the story beats probably won’t hold up to intense scrutiny (of course), but like Non-Stop, Unknown, Honest Thief, The Ice Road, and The Commuter before it, this writer was having too much fun to really care about that. Hey, sue us; this stuff is still working for many of us in that apparent minority!

The sterling work of both director Nimród Antal (Predators) and Neeson conjure some real thrills out of this zippy, blowy-uppy plot device, while the story actually works relatively hard in getting you to care for the family in crisis and not just see them go kaboom. There’s even a pretty decent twist and some good lines of dialogue thrown in for good measure.

The ending itself may be a bit spontaneous (with closing credits radio news reports filling in any gaps), though fair play for how they actually found a somewhat bonkers way out of this seemingly inescapable situation, and the concise and energetic 90 minutes getting there flies by like one of those mad drivers trying to beat the morning traffic. Though they don’t have a bomb under the car seat as an excuse!

Of course, you have seen some of this stuff before, but our reliable hero still looks good doing his thing, while there are some slickly-delivered thrills to enjoy that will eventually be right at home on those Saturday night action seasons on the classier TV Channels. Preferably while enjoying a nice takeaway meal or some snacks. That said, seeing Retribution on the big screen feels equally just right… if not more so.

Liam Neeson will return… probably in another deadly vehicle trap, trying to clear his name against another barmy bomber or criminal madman, and we will be seated right there for every minute of it. There is something comforting about these types of movies, which rarely are made at all nowadays, let alone so confidently and efficiently.

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Retribution is in UK cinemas from October 27th.