Frightfest Halloween Special

Last Saturday I went to the Frightfest Halloween all night horror movie marathon at the Empire Leicester Square. It started at 6.00pm Saturday evening and the last film of the night was scheduled to start at 6.00am Sunday morning. We were in it for the long haul! As it happened technical difficulties prevented two of the films from being shown and they moved the last film of the night up to fifth place. Which was absolutely fine by my flatmate and I because by this time we were flagging and the last film, the Finnish film Rare Exports, was the main reason for wanting to go. In the end we skipped an earlier film to get some food so we ended up seeing four films, all of which are apparently going to be released in the New Year, so here’s a quick rundown of the night.

CONFESSIONS.

First up was a Japanese film called Confessions. A teacher, whose daughter died, comes into her class and announces that the verdict of accidental death was incorrect and that her daughter’s death was in fact murder. Not only that but the killers are two of her pupils. This was all I knew going in to the film and I thought that was a cracking premise. What ends up happening is that the film becomes a series of confessions, first the teacher, then one of the boys, then a friend etc etc. It’s a tough film to describe as it sounds like a variation of the Rashoman type, “multiple perspectives on the truth” type of film which isn’t really the case. Each of the person’s stories reveals a little more of the main plot and one or two concern themselves with subplots. In the end the film is less a horror film and more of a revenge thriller as the teacher exacts punishment on those responsible for her daughter’s death.

Confessions wasn’t terrible, it was very well made, stylishly shot and edited, but it didn’t really amount to very much for me. There are good moments, funny moments too, and, as with much of Japanese cinema, you never really trust the tone to remain consistent. The actual revenge as it plays out is quite convoluted and at well over two hours, my patience ended up being stretched. It was an okay start to the night as I was up for whatever was to come and it certainly got us in the mood for the remaining screenings As a film in itself it’s just about worth a look but I certainly won’t return to it.

ALTITUDE

Fucking hell…

The guys running the night introduced it by saying there would be a mixture of light and dark. Altitude was meant to represent the light and I assume its inclusion in the programme was tongue in cheek. The problem was that, while there were a few “so bad it’s genius” moments, they were too few to push the film as a whole into that territory. Also, dreadful acting aside, those moments mainly occurred in the last half hour making the first fifty minutes (the film was mercifully short) pretty much interminable.

A group of teeth-wrenchingly grating American kids (the jock, the sensitive one blah blah blah) charter a plane to fly to a rock concert. The pilot doesn’t look old enough to drive a car never mind fly a plane, but assuming she is of legal age to command a plane, I wouldn’t trust her to choose my McDonalds let alone fly me anywhere. Anyway our vacuous heroes take off and hit rough weather. Weather that is so rough in fact that, in one truly hilarious sequence, it necessitates one of the group being tied to a rope and hung outside the plane so as to manually fix the wing, or some shit. Seeing a young man hung from the back of a moving plane at 15,000 feet is pretty amazing. Anyway it’s during this sequence that they catch their first glimpse of the monster in the sky. That’s right folks, the monster in the sky. Shall I just tell you where this is all going? Yeah what the hell, skip if you’re afraid of spoilers. But really don’t be afraid of spoilers.

One of the group is a comic book nerd. He has a comic with him that is all about… are you ready… A MONSTER IN THE SKY!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!! What is happening is that his fears manifest in the real world and he uses comics for inspiration as to what form they should take. It’s creature from the Id stuff but really terrible. He is in love with the pilot but she doesn’t love him and he’s afraid of… well, that I think. The climax comes when everyone else is dead and it’s just the two of them in the plane and they figure all this out. The clouds are jet black, they haven’t seen the ground in hours, there’s a MONSTER IN THE SKY!!! And then she leans over and kisses him! And the clouds vanish and the monster disappears because he’s not afraid anymore!!! Genius. But then, he realises that… SHE DIDN’T MEAN THE KISS!!!!! And the sky blackens and the clouds return and, oh my God, there’s the MONSTER IN THE SKY!!!! This time the monster reaches out one of its tentacles and pulls the pilot out of the plane!! But she manages to grab the window and hang on for dear life. Now, clinging to the front of a plane, with A 500 foot tentacle wrapped around her, she proceeds to deliver a speech about how he can’t be afraid anymore and how he must face his fears if he is to have a life!!! It’s absolutely inspired in all kinds of ways and almost, almost, makes the film worth watching. But not quite. There’s also some rubbish about a childhood incident that comes back on itself…YAAAAAWN.

Altitude is rubbish. Even with a MONSTER IN THE SKY!!!

THE SILENT HOUSE

This was one of the films I was really looking forward to seeing. It went down really well at Cannes, a fortune was spent on acquiring it and it’s set to receive a large distribution next year. It’s a haunted house movie from Uruguay but its main selling point is that it was shot in one continuous take on a digital camera. At 79 minutes long, this is an incredible feat and it adds massive amounts of tension as it becomes a real time film and you feel completely trapped with the protagonist in this creepy as hell abandoned house.

I SO want to give the film a glowing review. This is everything I love in horror films, things happening off camera, sounds from elsewhere in the house, psychological scares, little girl ghosts… it’s all there! When the film is good it’s absolutely brilliant, incredibly effective, tense, creepy and downright scary. But it frustratingly drops the ball in a way I won’t reveal so as not to influence expectations. It’s such a shame because this could have been one of the great horror films and at points it is. But as much if not more than the horror, I remember the disappointments. Interestingly, the crowd didn’t really seem into it. And I overheard many people walk out saying they had seen it all before and it was nothing new. With a film like this though, it’s less about originality necessarily and more about the execution and the one take approach, far from being a gimmick, adds a level of horror that is really palpable. From a technical perspective it is also incredibly impressive but that never overshadows the atmosphere and tone. Also, there are many genuinely creepy and unnerving moments outside of the one take approach hat linger in the memory. It’s a massive, massive shame that it just can’t sustain the level it often reaches for its whole running time.

RARE EXPORTS

What a weird little film! This was one that really could have gone either way judging from the trailer. But I’m really happy to report that it’s a lot of fun. An entrepreneur uses an excavation crew to blast a hole in a Finnish mountain in search of Santa Claus. Yep, Santa. But this isn’t our benevolent, Coca Cola Santa. This is weird, creepy Santa who kidnaps children and puts them in a giant sack for God knows what kinds of nefarious purposes.

I’m actually not going to say too much about Rare Exports because it really is well worth seeing as fresh as possible. The script takes the concept and pushes it to create many great little moments. The setting is fantastic, the acting excellent and perhaps most importantly, the tone of the film is absolutely spot on. It could have completely trivialised its concept but instead manages to be fun, funny, warm and take the idea seriously enough so that we laugh with it rather than at it and are genuinely affected by its unnerving, creepy moments. It’s never downright scary as such, creepy and unnerving are the best words to use. Though those moments of that old man glaring at our little protagonist really do unsettle. This is a genuine original and, like the other films screened, will apparently receive a general release so do go see it.

And that was Frightfest! A lot of fun and a couple of good films thrown in for good measure.

MONSTER IN THE SKY!!!!!!