Frightfest Glasgow, the contenders

Oh it’s Frightfest time again and the fingers are ready to dial dial dial when the tickets go on sale!!  Luckily my support group is egging me on but only because they want me to get their tickets Bastards.

So what’s on offer this year? Taken directly from the FF Website

7.00 – FRIDAY 26TH FEBRUARY – FROZEN (18) Directed by Adam Green. Starring Kevin Zegers, Kane Hodder, Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Adam Johnson, Ed Ackerman, Rileah Vanderbilt, Chris York and Peder Melhuse. USA 2010, 90 min.

UK PREMIERE – Darkness is your only friend! Shady antiques dealer, Jacob (HELLRAISER star Doug Bradley) moves his heavily pregnant young wife Rachel and stepdaughter Lauren from a previous marriage into a remote farmstead. Apart from the constant bickering of the two women, what should be a peaceful retreat from where to sell on the near priceless obsidian Mesopotamian mirror he has just acquired, turns out to be anything but a quiet place in the country. For unbeknownst to him, battle lines have been drawn across his new property, and a century old grudge is about to be brought to the fore between Phelan, a mysterious cowboy figure, and Lilith, a hellish entity harbouring the shadowy forces of evil. And neither of them seem to care who gets hurt in the process! UMBRAGE is an offbeat contemporary horror-western from debut feature director Drew Cullingham, screening at FrightFest as a first-look premiere.

Director Adam Green will be joining us to introduce his film and answer questions after the screening.

Um Ian? That’s the blurb for the dreadful UMBRAGE so Frozen is about 3 friends who get left on a ski lift when a resort shuts down for the weekend… it’s cold, freezing cold and they can’t stay up there all weekend, they won’t make it so they must take the bull by the horns and save themselves.  It’s a long way down though.

This one? I’m looking forward to, in fact it’s what made the festival for me, this is the icing on the cake and I think the following films are going to have a lot to live up to.

9.30 – FRIDAY 26TH FEBRUARY – 2001 MANIACS: FIELD OF SCREAMS (18) Directed by Tim Sullivan. Starring Bill Moseley, Lin Shaye, Christa Campbell, Kevin “Ogre” Ogilvie, Ahmed Best and Trevor Wright. USA, 2010, 90 min. Film Web site Tim Sullivan’s site

WORLD PREMIERE – “If they kill you, they will come”!  Authorities have shut down the ‘detour’ ensnaring unsuspecting Northerners, so those Pleasant Valley cannibals are heading west in search of new blood. Unfortunately for two beautiful heiresses, and crew of their reality series ‘Road Rascals’, the human meat freaks are about to become more than just ratings killers. Bill (Devil’s Rejects) Moseley steps in as Mayor George W. Buckman in the anarchic sequel returning director Tim Sullivan promises the Glasgow world premiere audience is “Filled with sexiness, bloodiness and politically incorrectness. If the original didn’t secure me a warm spot in Hell, this one sure will!”

Writer/Director Tim Sullivan will be joining us to introduce his film and answer questions after the screening.

PROBLEM… I Hated the first film in the series and obviously so did Robert Englund as he doesn’t appear to be on the cast list above.  Uh oh not a good sign but it obviously sold enough to warrant a sequel.  SHAME!

11.40 – FRIDAY 26TH FEBRUARY – STAG NIGHT (18) Directed by Peter A. Dowling. Starring Vinessa Shaw, Breckin Meyer, Kip Pardue, Scott Adkins, Karl Geary, Sarah Barrand and Rachel Oliva. USA 2009, 84 min.

UK PREMIERE – Mind the doors! Three New Yorkers out on a Stag Night hit on two hotties on the subway. Getting pepper-sprayed for their actions, in the ensuing confusion, they all accidentally get off at the wrong station – an abandoned stop that’s been closed since the 1970s. Stranded, they make their way down the subway tunnel to find an exit – and witness some homeless men brutally killing a guard. Realising they are sharing the dank warren with a cannibal clan of primitive subway dwellers, their frantic escape from the deranged murderers is just the beginning of a very bloody and terrifying night.

Director Peter A. Dowling will be joining us to introduce his film and answer questions after the screening.

Seems like a nice little nod to CREEP so why not set something in a US Subway, they’re creepy places when you’re all on your own and there’s not a soul around.  However when that only soul is a cannibal, you’re going to run until you can run no more… Quite looking forward to this one just from the description.  As per usual I won’t be viewing the trailers before frightfest so going in blind…

2.00 – SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN (18) Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Florinda Bolkan, Stanley Baker, Jean Sorel and Leo Genn . It/Fr/Sp, 1971, 110 min.

WORLD PREMIERE – RESTORED VERSION- Where do dark dreams end and repulsive reality begin? Find out in the re-mastered, restored and never-before-seen fully uncut version of Italian gore-meister Lucio Fulci’s hippy, trippy 1971 giallo classic. Did rich socialite Carol Hammond (gialli goddess Florinda Bolkan) kill her nymphomaniac neighbour during a depraved orgy of LSD-induced sadistic sex? Or is she just being framed by her philandering husband? Swinging London decadence, scandalous blackmail, neurotic visions and gory throat slashing all wrapped up in one of Ennio Morricone’s finest scores. Quirky touches of Fulci fantasy horror make this stylish psycho thriller a quintessential masterpiece of the giallo genre.

Urrr… I don’t think I want to see this one. I’m not a fan of Itallian horror, the only one I have enjoyed is SUSPIRIA but I think that was down to all the pretty colours.  No Italian horror has tickled me since, it’s all been French and Korean.  I’ll keep an open mind though, there’s bound to be boobies!

4.15 – SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – AMER (BITTER) (18) Directed by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani . Starring Bianca Maria D’Amato, Cassandra Forêt and Charlotte Eugène Guibeaud. Horror. Fr, 90 minutes.

UK PREMIERE – Gialli fans will not want to miss co-directors Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s immaculately executed and flawless valentine to the 70s thriller genre popularized by Dario Argento and Mario Bava. Recreating the motifs, clichés and visual codes from the vintage Italian back catalogue (including A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Suspiria and Deep Red), the Belgian duo unfold a virtually dialogue free tale of frightening obsession, sexual sensation and stunning black-gloved murder. Scored to recycled Italian soundtrack selections in the Tarantino tradition, the hypnotic and ethereal allure of the classic gialli lives again in this boldly imaginative cult phenomenon.

Special guests Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani will introduce the UK premiere of Amer.

Now Alan Jones gives this one five stars but then again he compared a really dull film at last years frightfest to Pan’s Labyrinth… it was so off the mark that I can’t actually remember which film it was.  Was it that shit one starring Noel Clarke? Dark something?

Fingers crossed it’ll surprise me… otherwise Phil over at Chris and Phil Present is gonna KILL ME!!

7.00 – SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – [REC] 2 (18) Directed by Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza. Starring Manuela Velasco, Leticia Dolera, Ferran Terraza, Juli Fabregas, Pep Molina, Oscar Zafra and Alejandro Casaseca. Sp, 2009, 85 min.

UK PREMIERE - FrightFest welcomed co-directors Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza to Glasgow for the UK premiere of their smash hit [REC]. So it’s only fitting we premiere [REC] 2 too, their real-time sequel taking off the moment its predecessor ends. With TV presenter Manuela Velasco being dragged away into the night vision darkness signalling the adrenalin to keep on pumping while canny satanic thrills ramp up the shockudrama even more. Another non-stop ride of frenetic camerawork, jolting scares and pulse-pounding suspense, be amazed and surprised where the talented Spanish duo take their horrific virus borne through blood and saliva next.

FINALLY!! I first saw REC when it premiered in Glasgow at Frightfest and now the sequel gets it’s UK Premiere with Frightfest again, took it’s time though since most festivals pimped it out last year.  IN the Immortal words of Baby Spice and her #1 Classic “What took you so long?” I mean COME ON, I’ve been waiting for you… ever since the final act of the original film, I have been waiting…

Now, the wait is over!

9.00 – SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – SPLICE (18) Directed by Vincenzo Natali. Starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac, David Hewlett and Brandon McGibbon. USA 2009, 100 min.

UK PREMIERE - From Vincenzo Natali, director of Cube and Cypher, and visionary producer Guillermo del Toro, comes a new kind of monster movie. Rebellious scientists Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named ‘Dren’ the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators. But then that bond turns deadly in a Frankenstein fable for the modern era showcasing stunning special effects and startling fantasy imagery

Director Vincenzo Natali will be joining us to introduce his film and answer questions after the screening.

Frightfest, after last years luke warm festival, you really are spoiling us this time around! We first got a look at SPLICE back in August and I totally expected this one to show up at the Main Frightfest event in august but we have truly been spoiled with this one… Ian may even get a hug for not showing ZOMBIE WOMEN OF SATAN 2 (Worry not, it DOESN’T Exist, thank the lord).  The clip shat me up in August, although I managed to hide it well… it was just very tense, or that’s how it felt…

11.30 – SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – REYKJAVIK WHALE WATCHING MASSACRE (18) Directed by Julius Kemp. Starring Gunnar Hansen, Miranda Hennesy, Nae, Pihla Viitala and Terrence Anderson. Iceland, 2009, 90 min.

UK PREMIERE – You don’t have to go to Texas for a brutal massacre. Try cold Icelandic waters instead. That’s where a group of tourists embark on a sightseeing trip aboard a whaling vessel with none other than Captain Gunnar (Leatherface) Hansen himself. It’s when the ship breaks down the terror starts because the day-trippers come under attack from a crew of deranged Fishbillies hellbent on mayhem and slaughter. Let the bloody sea battle begin in director Julius Kemp’s horror comedy hybrid with a strong surreal flavour, the first exploitation film ever made by the Icelandic Film Industry.

This title concerns me, I’m sure no real whales were harmed in the making of this film but it concerns me that a cute animal is gonna get mullered in this one.  Please say it ain’t so!!

I’ll be there and I’ll be doing a write up for Chris & Phil present… HUZZAH!!! They really love me… I’m getting out of the shed!!