Frightfest 2010: Day 5

The last day of the marathon opened with a documentary 'Video Nasties: Moral Panic Censorship and Videotape' directed by
Jake West which did, at times, seem very familiar though this was its world premiere. I suppose there are, talking heads apart, a limited number of clips that can be shown - and several of them appeared more than once during the hour of this film. Interesting but rather old hat.
'After.Life' has Liam Neeson as a funeral director, Christina Ricci as a frequently naked body who may or may not be dead and
Justin Long as a suffering fiance (again). Agnieska Wojtowisz-Vosloo directs this stylishly filmed effort which was not that
scary but it was quite effective.
'Bedevilled', a Korean film directed by Jang Cheol-soo, tells of a young female banker who is sent on leave and goes to the island of Moodo where she has a property left her by her grandparents. Her one-timefriend there is the only young woman on the island and is treated as a sexual toy by the men and a slave by the women. Though shocked by this, the banker will not get involved as she had not done so over the years by ignoring the many letters her friend had sent her. The death of
her daughter turns the island girl crazy which leads to an extended and very bloody denouement. Good(ish)
'Red White and Blue' directed by Simon Rumley has Noah Taylor as a veteran of the Iraq war who befriends a slut who has started work at the same plant. Despite her promiscuity both at work and elsewhere, he forms an attachment to her which
ends abruptly when one of her night-time liaisons goes wrong. He proceeds to take revenge for her death before riding off
into the sunset. So What!
Danial Sramm's 'The Last Exorcism' was the closing film which, true to form, started a good 30 minutes late so the ending was
missed. A mock documentary about a Southern Baptist preacher who has followed his father by performing exorcisms which
are all faked, exposing this being the reason for the documentary. The twist is that his last one which is to form the centre of the documentary turns out to be one of genuine possession..... at which point we made our excuses and left.
To summarise the weekend fairly is not easy - even though these reviews are nearer the event than those of last year, there is a definite blurring of memory - and one or two complete or near-complete lapses. As I said a year ago, the earlier films have
tended to be the better remembered and reviewd though this is not completely so. There was nothing this year that stood out though there were several that, one way or another, might bear a second viewing. Firstly, a few words on the rationale for choosing the Discovery Screen over the main one. The quiz, the Hooper interview and re-run of 'The Hills Have Eyes' were natural gaps in the main arena with British films 'Isle of Dogs' and 'Cherry Tree Lane' adding to the time available. As well as the late night films, the missed films were "Burning Bright' and 'Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island' on the Discovery Screen and 'Red Hill', 'Damned by Dawn', 'The Tortured' and 'The Dead' on the main screen. The films seen ranged
from some goodish ones - 'The Clinic','F', '13 Hrs','The Pack' and 'Monsters'- through some oddities - 'Amer' and 'After.Life' - to some that were anything but good - 'Eggshells', 'We Are What We Are', and others. Nothing stood out in the way that last
year's 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and the previous year's 'Let the Right One In' did and I amnot sure that some of those
I did like will remain so in a year or two's time. However, all in all a worthwhile experience but next year I think it will pay to
spend money on hotel accommdation and cut back on the travelling.