Film4 FrightFest 2010 Review - Monday
The final day of horror gave us The Dead, Red, White & Blue and The Last Exorcism.
There was a cute theme running through this year's star Q&As - all the directors seemed to try and outdo each other with their tales of onset near-death experiences.
The Dead's Howard J. Ford and Jon Ford took the biscuit though, as before and after their superb zombie flick, they banged on about death and disease ad nauseam. Did they want a medal? To be fair, their tales of malaria, trigger happy police and genuine cannibals put Eli Roth's gatecrashing alligator to shame...
The former advert directors took their love of Dawn Of The Dead and set an authentically canon zombie movie in the wilds of Africa. A slow-burning road trip, its fantastically gruesome spells of terror are filmed in harsh sunlight, making the most of the striking landscape. There's something missing from their hero Romero's work though, and that's the despair that I sadistically enjoy about a zombie apocalypse. The Ford brothers amusingly responded to an audience member's question about why the lead hero wasn't African with suitably corporate avoidance, and the way the pair commanded their Q&A was remarkably at odds with the humility of Monsters' Gareth Edwards or F's endearingly terrified Johannes Roberts.
Red White & Blue is the latest from The Living And The Dead's Simon Rumley, and for a long time, you wonder what the painfully intense drama is doing at FrightFest. An unrelenting story of futile revenge, it offers no hope whatsoever. It threatens to lead its intertwining story of tragic consequences down a predictable route, but Rumley never goes there. It veers dangerously close to misogyny at times though, not helped by Rumley's disgraceful remark afterwards, made without irony, about "using a vagina as a weapon". Star Noah Taylor was there, back to his normal quirky self after playing very much against type as a war veteran with dark secrets. The real hero was Amanda Fuller, whose brave and vulnerable performance was one of the best of the festival (up there with Robin McLeavy's top psycho). Despite some utterly horrific moments towards the end that brought Martyrs-style flashbacks (I honestly nearly threw up and my hands were shaking for ages afterwards), it left a bitter taste in the mouth. Very hard to love, but fascinating and uncompromising.
The festival ended on a high with the gloriously brilliant The Last Exorcism. The exuberant Eli Roth was there with his producer's hat on, joined by director Daniel Stamm and stars Ashley Bell, Patrick Fabian and Iris Bahr, rapidly creating a fun atmosphere after the harrowing film before it. Eli expressed his joy at being present for his first audience screening of the film, claiming he had saved it especially for us after being absent from the festival for the last couple of years. He wouldn't have been disappointed, as the mock-documentary is hugely entertaining and genuinely scary, despite what the jaded US audience have to say. There couldn't have been a better feel-good ending to an amazing weekend. Can't wait for next year, where I'll be there 24/7 if necessary.
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