 |
||||||||
|
FRIGHTFEST 2001 FESTIVAL REPORT
If it's the August bank holiday and it's London, it's got to be the FrightFest. Only in its second year, FrightFest has already established itself as the leading UK horror festival, four days of the latest genre movies spiced with shorts, sneak previews and personal appearances by many of the film-makers. This year's event has been particularly highly anticipated due to the excellent quality of the line up - UK premiere's for some of the year's hottest movies, including Dario Argento's new movie Nonhosonno [2001], the controversial Japanese epic Battle Royale [2000] and the even more outrageous The Isle [2000] and Trouble Every Day [2001]. The weekend kicked off with something of a shock for we poor, weather-obsessed much-rained-upon Brits - not only was the sun shining but it was blisteringly hot [by UK standards anyway] and the forecast for the weekend was for more of the same. But while most of London geared up for a weekend in the park, or at the famous Notting Hill Carnival, the faithful gathered at the Prince Charles cinema, just off Leicester Square. Thankfully, the Prince Charles is just about the perfect venue for this sort of thing in central London - it's easily accessible, boasts comfortable seating and, most importantly, it's air conditioned. Things got under way just a few minutes late, but given the large and enthusiastic crowd that had gathered outside, that's no surprise. The festival kicked off with the three very tired organisers, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy and Ian Rattray taking to the stage for the briefest of introductions before we settled in for the first film of FrightFest 2001. The Bunker [2000] kicked things off in some style. A spooky, stylish gothic horror set in World War I, it was the first of a handful of British horrors being shown over the weekend that were raising hopes in some quarters that British horror was again in the ascendancy after decades in the doldrums. If there is to be a comeback and The Bunker is any indication of the films that might be to come, it'll be a cause for some celebration. The film was introduced by director Rob Green, whose short film The Black Cat [1993] had been shown at the Prince Charles back in 1995 during the Britfest horror festival, and by four members of his cast. Green noted that it was going to be word of mouth that made or break an independent British like The Bunker and jokingly asked that, if we liked it, we spread the word and if we didn't we "shut the fuck up!" I'm happy to report that The Bunker is exactly the sort of thing that British horror fans should be talking about - it isn't perfect by a long way [it has a strong first half but seems to get a bit lost in the latter stages and it could have done with a few more solid scares] but it's certainly a step in the right direction. The performances were first class all round and during the the first half of the film, Green's direction is unbeatable - the growing sense of paranoia and claustrophobia that grips the stranded German troops is brilliantly handled. Sadly, a few loose plot ends let it down but it was a promising first feature from Green who was seen, along with star Christopher Fairbank, milling with an appreciative crowd outside the cinema afterwards. After a short break to get our breath back [during which time I hooked up with some old friends from a former life on the Isle of Wight and was briefly stopped by festival co-organiser Alan Jones to gauge reaction to the film we'd just seen] it was time for the second film and another British offering. Where The Bunker had been made on a miniscule budget and had effectively used a handful of well chosen sets and locations, Revelation was a heftier budgeted offering that travelled the world for its bewildering range of locations. Revelation was the first film from Romulus Productions [creators of, among many other classics The African Queen, Oliver! and Room at the Top] since The Odessa File in 1976. Hopes were high then - but they were soon dashed. Writer / director Stuart Urban bravely stepped up to the mic to introduce the film and probably later wished he hadn't bothered. This tedious, overlong and pretentious farrago won few friends among a crowd now suddenly [and inexplicably] deprived of its air conditioning! Revelation is more of a religious fantasy than a horror film, which wouldn't have been so bad if it either made sense or actually had a decent story to tell - rehashing bits and pieces from The Omen films, the Book of Revelations and Raiders of the Lost Ark didn't really cut it I'm afraid. Throughout, the confusing, globe-trotting, generation-spanning storyline is explained to us via mini-lectures unconvincingly delivered by the cast in great gobs of exposition. One can't fault its ambitions but the execution sadly did match the grand visions of all those involved. What the hell were actors of the caliber of Terence Stamp and Udo Kier [who is simply embarrassing here] were doing in this nonsense? Urban told us in his introduction that this was Revelation's world premiere - on the basis of what we saw tonight, it might well end up it's only theatrical showing. If this is what the future of British horror is going to be, we're in big trouble. Thankfully, there was more wit, imagination and energy on display in Anil Rao's 5 minute short The Window [made, the director told us from the stage, for just £120!] than in the whole of the multi-million dollar Revelation. This haunting and distressing tale of two children being subjected to a never explained but clearly monstrous experiment is testament to what can be done with no money, a Mini DV camera and bags of imagination. On the strength of this - which was commissioned by no less than Luc Besson - Rao should be a talent to watch, especially if, as he suggested, it might inspire Besson to finance his debut feature. The Window was popular with a raucous crowd [Rao seemed to have bought along just about everyone he knew!] who had gathered for the final film of the evening. I must confess that my first instinct was to give Kiss of the Dragon a miss - it was the only anomaly in the programme, a non-horror kung fu action flick that, at first sight, seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. But I'm a sucker for a good chop socky epic and it's always good to see the excellent Jet Li in action so, based on the enthusiastic word from co-organiser Paul McEvoy and Neil Palmer, his partner in London's leading movie shop, The Cinema Store, I [reluctantly] decided to round out the day and give it a go. I'm glad I did. Though it certainly wasn't horror, it was perhaps the highlight of the evening, a non-stop action fest with Li on top form. Director Chris Nahon keeps things moving along at a breathless pace, though, like so many western directors turning their hand to martial arts movies, he gets in too close and cuts too quickly to allow Li to really show off his best moves. Only in the jaw dropping sequence wherein Li takes on a whole gym full of French police armed with nightsticks do we get the long, sweeping medium shot camera set-ups that show off Li's fast and fluid fighting style perfectly. Kiss of the Dragon was a breath of fresh air after the bitter disappointment of Revelation and, by default, was the best film of the day. It's Parisian locations give it a freshness missing from so many contemporary action films and if, at times, it resembles Leon [Luc Besson co-wrote and produced Kiss], well that's no bad thing. A cracking end to the first night's entertainment. And so, just after one in the morning, Frightfesters trooped out of the Prince Charles cinema after their first day. It's been a mixed bag so far, but the big guns are due to be unveiled tomorrow - Argento's Nonhosonno receiving it's UK premiere, likewise Cubbyhouse, an intriguing sounding offering from Australia and perhaps the most anticipated film of the day [for me at least], Guillermo del Toro's ghost story The Devil's Backbone. Oh and Scary Movie 2 as well, but then you can't have everything. And on top of all that, during one of the breaks Paul McEvoy had hinted to me about some of the little extras to come, including trailers and previews for some of next year's most highly anticipated genre movies. But all that's
for tomorrow. For now, it's 3:30 in the morning, a bath and bed beckons and
in ten hours, we start all over again!
|
||||||||