'Zombie Women of Satan' is complete and utter rubbish, one of the worst films ever shown at Frightfest.
'The House of the Devil' has a student going to babysit in a creepy old house out in the country - what she is really there for
is to be sacrificed during a lunar eclipse that evening. Well photographed and acted with the iconic Mary Woronow making an unexpected return to the screen, this has much to commend it. Better than many big budget films, this kept one interested right to the end.
'Case 39' is an evil child film with Renee Zellwegger in the lead which may be why I found it not at all involving or that well done. What had happened and what was going to happen was obvious from the start and actimg by numbers did not help.
'Heartless' directed by Philip Ridley was the final film of the weekend for us as we decided against seeing 'The Descenr: Part
Two'. A young man disfigured by a birthmark is cured by a mystic who is really one of the manifestations of the Devil. While the film is trying to draw parallels between the violence of contemporary society in deprived areas and, presumably, the lack of faith that is there, the film left me wondering whether the fuss that the director's return to films had created was really justified. Not a patch on 'The Passion of Darkly Noon'.
To summarise my thoughts on the five days, I would say that the overall standard this year is somewhat lower than in the past. Whether this is a function of age, familiarity, satiation or declining standards I do not know. "Millenium' is every bit
as good as anything shown previously though less spectacular than some; 'Trick 'R Treat'. 'Hierro', 'Dead Snow' and 'Pontypool' are as good in their individual ways as many earlier offerings and I should possibly include 'Triangle' and 'The House of the Devil' here as well though the former has dminished in my eyes with the passing of time. The bad films were
probably no worse than those of earlier years though one's tolerance levels do vary - and this is where satiation comes in -
I am sure my reactions early on tend to be more favourable than those towards the end of the weekend though showing
'Case 39' on the first night, for example, would not alter my opinion.
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1 comment:
I think House of the Devil was too derivative to make an impression; the cast was the only interesting bit. However I thought that Case 39 had much to commend it despite the lead role for the chipmunk.
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