IFI Horrorthon 2014

Arkaron

Starting tonight as well, with the 'Lost After Dark' slasher, starring Robert Patrick!

BrokenHero

Gun Woman is in Screen 3. Dammit. I hate Screen 3.

George White

The Editor was brilliant. I got embarrassed though when my mam rang me in the cinema.

johnny_ultimate

I would easily call The Editor one of the worst films I've seen in a long, long time. And that's accounting for the fact it's 'bad' on purpose. But it goes well, well beyond being just that to be being genuinely, irredeemably terrible. The comic timing is way, way off, where even the potentially good ideas and gags fall flat. It meanders through a non-sensical plot, spending crazy amounts of time on scenes that do not even remotely deserve it. It's a very amateurish pastiche of giallo-stylings, and most of the time I was wondering why I wasn't rewatching or equivalent Berberian Sound Studio.

I know these Aston 6 guys are well liked for making purposely cheesy, OTT and silly films, but The Editor to me was utterly desperate - thin ideas that would just about sustain a short film stretched to miserable feature film length that wore out its welcome very early.

jaykhunter

George White wrote: »

The Editor was brilliant.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I would easily call The Editor one of the worst films I've seen in a long, long time.

Our film forum in a nutshell! What I really want to know is if anyone saw Gun Woman and what they thought?

Arkaron

I saw Lost After Dark at the same time Gun Woman was being screened.

The film was quite weak, imo, as the director seemed to be unsure whether he was filming a satirical take on the slasher genre, or if he was making a serious horror film. Very dramatic settings and actions (sometimes recalling classic horror murders) can be seen throughout the feature, but a number of 'meta' comedic moments break the tonality and create this imbalance. It even goes as far as faking the loss of one of the film's reel to cut out a scene that would have been much needed to add to the drama.

Robert Patrick is, however and despite his very limited role, hilarious as a Vietnam veteran who basically thinks he's still at war and delivers bad ass one liners every time he's on screen.

Some of the genre's conventions are turned upside down (like the fate of the 'virtuous' girl), but ultimately, the characters cannot restrain from acting like morons and split up in small groups.

In the end, it's a low budget slasher with elements of satire, but nothing really memorable.

BrokenHero

jaykhunter wrote: »

Our film forum in a nutshell! What I really want to know is if anyone saw Gun Woman and what they thought?

I was at Gun Women. A little Gem for a film.

Would love to see it on a bigger screen though.

For a movie with such a low budget, some of the special effects were class.

Granted, some were not but they had most likely run out of money when shooting those scenes.

Similar situation with the fights scenes. Some were jaw dropping and others would make you snicker.. but sure that just gave it a little charm.

Really liked it.

Cross between Kill Bill, Remo Williams, Death Wish and a Japanese Porn flick.

ps3lover

George White wrote: »

The Editor was brilliant. I got embarrassed though when my mam rang me in the cinema.

Shouldn't your phone be switched off during movies? You don't want to fuel the wrath of Darko do you?

jaykhunter

Caught Basket Case, Truth or Dare and House of 100 Eyes last night.

Basket Case is a cult light-hearted monster/horror from 1982, and was a lot of fun to watch (it's my first time). Very cheap but very charming. Director/Writer Frank Hellenlotter was very humble and talked about being sad that NYC isn't seedy any more and is "Disney-fied" family friendly. Wrote up a longer review & recounting of the Q&A in the horror forum.

Truth or Dare is a torture porn film from Jessica Cameron. The film is pretty much entirely shot in one small basement which makes is aesthetically boring after a bit. Clever use of doing a gore film on a limited budget. In the Q&A she said the crazed fan was inspired by auditioning actors who'd get quite close to her and want to know why they didn't get the part. There's not much to like about the characters or the story and it's a bit annoying that they don't even try to escape, I didn't enjoy it. Avoid. Her pitch for a sequel (Truth or Dare in an Insane Asylum) was interesting though.

House of 100 Eyes is about a married couple looking to lure/murder 3 people in one night in their house, shot via surveillance/hidden cameras & a hand-held. Most of the film is spent coaxing their victims into making home made porn. Even if the characters aren't much it kept me interested the entire way through and the dynamic switches up late in the film which was fun. The idea of the film is solid and Ed (the husband) is the star of the show. Making fun of Crystal (How can you manage to be fat? You're homeless!) was darkly hilarious. A decent watch.

nyarlothothep

I thought Haxan was really good. For a film from 1922 the fx holds up really well. The lighting was really atmospheric, the set design and cinematography was quite evocative. It was like watching a dream due to the silent aspect of it. The live musical accompainment was well judged too, it was like a bit redolent of Black Sabbath at times. The most awesome thing about it is that for a 1920s film it was unusually progressive, basically depicting the Church as the real monsters of the film and then in a rather remarkable finish, stating that even in the modern world (of the 1920s) people still believe in their own discourses, this time with respect to class divisions (an asylum for the poor insane, a ward/hospital for the rich). I thought that was really different as normally with stuff from that era and the nineteenth century you get a fairly unquestioning acceptance of dominant ideologies. Also there was definite element of humour throughout the film, subtle but clever and very self aware. So for me Haxan has been the highlight as it was just so unique and it holds up really well.

The Hellraisers are of course excellent films, I really like the late 80s aesthetic and colour tones/lighting, also the mixture of fantasy and horror, their almost dark fantasy films. Basketcase is a classic, it really evoked the oppressive grittiness of late 70s/early 80s New York.

nyarlothothep

Oh yeah, The Light of Day was a very good film. However, I would have liked to have seen Richie's magnum opus in all its glory though that would have gone against the theme of the film! In any case it was a seriously impressive film given the budget, it had really good characters and performances and some very funny scenes. It would be cool if it was released online or on dvd.