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FRIGHTFEST 2023: DAY THREE (SUNDAY)
Written by Ryan Holloway
Sunday and the sun is shining on a new day full of promise…but the darkness beckons! Today we were treated to Liz Hurley beating off rats (not like that you animal), feral kids in the desert, immigration, and Nic Cage being all Nic Cagey. Four screens, 19 films. Buckle up.
Starting as always with the main screen we kicked off with The Piper from director Anthony Waller. Liz Hurley plays Liz Haines a teacher who moves with her daughter to Germany. All seems well but, uh oh, the Pied Piper is real and begins to give Liz’s daughter nightmarish visions. Then there’s CG rats, something about bloody fingers and a race to stop Mia being taken. Hurley’s acting style is best described as someone who walks into a room and forgot what they went in there for.
The Seeding was next up, getting its European Premiere. A hiker gets stuck with a mysterious woman in a desert canyon with no way out and feral kids taunting from above. After many attempts to escape he inexplicably decides to sleep with the woman and what ensues is then a nightmarish story leading to a horrific ending. Slow burn but worth it.
Directed by Sébastien Drouin and starring Downton Abbey’s Allen Leach, Cold Meat is set almost entirely in a car, creating a claustrophobic treat. To say too much is to spoil it but seek it out. Raging Grace is a socio-political piece told through a horror lens. It folllows Joy, an undocumented Filipino immigrant and her daughter. Joy gets a job taking care of a terminally ill old man, what’s worse is her daughter is super annoying. Things aren’t what they seem however and it soon kicks into gear when the truth of her employer's intentions come to the surface.
The world premiere of Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow closes the main screen. It chronicles the true story of Cliff Twemlow, an ex Nightclub bouncer, novelist, composer, singer, screenwriter, producer and actor, what a show off, who shot his own feature films, creating a name for himself in Manchester. It’s fun but not very bloody..
The Discovery One screen enjoyed quite a day. The UK Premiere of [REC] Terror Without Pause, the documentary that analyses the film's success. It’s very interesting and great to see the creators reminisce about a film so beloved by horror fans. Next up… Enter the Clones of Bruce, a documentary that looks at the many ‘Bruceploitation’ movies that exploded onto the scene after the untimely death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. The Blue Rose, directed by and starring George Baron is inspired by David Lynch and is every bit as surreal as Lynch’s work. People were very excited about this one and it delivered.
Sympathy for the Devil is pretty out there but then again it stars Nicholas Cage. Whether you like Cage ironically or literally he shines in this as a mysterious man who takes Joel Kinnamen’s character captive at gunpoint while the latter is on his way to hospital where his wife has gone into labour. It’s slick and a much needed dose of fun.
Discovery Screen Two opened with the international premiere of Kim’s Video, a film about a video store run by Yongman Kim for 20 years in Brooklyn. This doc is a quest to find the collection of around 55,000 titles. The Black Mass is a true-crime thriller based in Florida in 1978 and the harrowing story of a serial killer. Then there’s the 1980 classic Alligator! We all know there are alligators in the sewers and this film is proof of it! It’s fun, silly and strangely engaging. Love it.
Finally we have T Blockers from director Alice Maio Mackey. It’s a trans horror that centres on some ancient parasites that thrive on hatred. They take hosts from a small town and the only person that can stop them is a young trans filmmaker. Can she stop the horror, and hatred, from spreading?
Discovery Screen Three replayed Friday's line up of The Weird Kidz, The Knocking, The Ghost Station and Eight Eyes, giving fans another chance to check out those little gems.
Sunday could be summed up as being a slow burning day but satisfying none the less.
One day left! No you’re crying!
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