Frightfest 2017: Friday 25 August

With the Festival returning to the West End, we did select a few more films this year but
decided against a full pass.
Our viewing opened with 'The Glass Coffin', a Spanish 'closed room' drama with a difference.
The heroine is first seen getting into a limousine to go to a gala where she is to receive an
award.   However, she soon discovers that the vehicle doors are locked and the windows have
become opaque.   A distorted voice tells her she is to obey whatever commands she is given;
when she refuses, the chauffeur goes into the limousine and beats her briefly.   As she then
slowly complies with the increasingly demeaning commands she finds out the name of her
captor and his reason for his actions.   An interesting two-hander with a fine performance
from Paola Bontempi holding the film together.
'Fashionista' features a plain heroine who runs a vintage dress shop with her husband.   She
suspects he is having an affair with one of their staff, which he is and she seeks revenge by
herself committing adultery.   The programme calls this 'a hypnotic and bracing exploration
of identity, body image and transformation' with a nod to DePalma which makes me think
we must have seen a diffrent film as this was, to put it bluntly, utter tosh badly acted.
'68 Kill' takes us into the world of trailer trash with Annalynne McCord in an over-the-top
performance as the girlfriend of a quiet sewage worker.   She talks him into robbing the
safe of her current sugar daddy but this goes wrong, they are then themselves robbed by
some of the local layabouts after which mayhem occurs.   Morally reprehensible and a
little hard to believe, the film is a delightful romp in the lower reaches of Louisiana life.