My boyfriend and I went to a horror festival this weekend in Manchester (http://grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/). We haven't been to it before, we discovered it through an Internet search looking for local festivals.
We couldn't attend the whole thing, because it started on Thursday and being a bit of a distance from us we decided to choose which movies we wanted to see.
First up was a short, Lola (Grandmother) a Spanish animated movie about a movie...quite funny, if a little predictable.
The main was By Day and By Night (http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/by-day-and-by-night/trailer). This was a Spanish Sc-fi movie filmed on a small budget apparently, although that didn't show too much. It had a very retro-feel to it, some of the costumes were very Blake's Seven for example, but it was all very classy.
Basically it was the future where we had polluted the world so badly we were all living in a large Metropolis. This had got overcrowded, so they had implemented a shift system where half the population lived at night and were forcibly unconscious during the day, and the other half were awake during the daylight. Overall neither of us was bored watching the movie, although it has to be said that not a lot happened. There were a lot of arty, long shots of...not a lot. So it was good, but lacked something. I didn't come out of it feeling satisfied.There was a remarkable feature right at the start of the movie, some kind of concrete structure which was pretty amazing! No idea where that was...
We gave this one a 3/5.
The next movie was after a break as neither of us fancied Halloween 3.
We went into Manchester in the pouring rain and had some lunch before returning to watch Some Guy who Kills People, a comedy horror that was actually very funny ad well as being gory! It was about a guy who was bullied at school (something I could relate too, see
Hangman!), has been in a mental institution, and now lives with his mother. He has a soul-destroying job in an ice cream shop, but dreams of being an artist, drawing constantly in his spare time. The people who bullied him of course still torment him, until they start to die... We both loved this film, it had enough gore to be good horror, but enough gags to be good. I especially loved the Sheriff and his side-kick, they were rather Naked Gun. Seriously worth the money! We both gave this 5/5.
Next up was The Woman. This film is already notorious because of the Sundance Festival where several journalists walked out, and one reportedly said the film should be burnt. The story is a hunter finds a woman in the woods who is completely wild, takes her home, and tries to civilise her. Unfortunately this brings to the surface family issues... I think it's fair to say this film is completely sick. The family she is brought into are 'normal' on the surface, but completely scarred under the surface. Some abuses are hinted at, but never shown. I don't really want to say too much, except that we both really enjoyed it. Sick, yes, but fun. The ending started to throw up some surprises, just when you think you have the measure of the film...all very strange. Oh, and the finger-biting. Oh yeah, the finger-biting! 5/5
We left it there for Saturday. We both wanted to see other films, but they were on too late, and we needed our beauty sleep...
Sunday was a late start, we got to Manchester for four to watch The Divide as we had seen The Dead at an earlier festival. This is a post-apocalyptic movie of survivors trapped together in a cellar. Tensions build as the food starts to run out... it has Michael Biehn in it (Terminator, Aliens) who I had a major crush on as a kid, but haven't seen too much of since. Overall the movie was pretty good, it covered all the lovely baser instincts of human nature as we battle to survive, and distract ourselves from the situations we are in. The part that really didn't work for me was when they got invaded (I'll leave the description there rather than spoil too much!). It didn't fit in with the movie or add anything, except ensuring they were trapped in the cellar. Well a simple roof fall would have done that... I enjoyed it more than my boyfriend who gave it a 3/5, I went for 4/5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJCxT2d5hzk
The final movie was The Theatre Bizarre. This was a series of short stories hung together by a very loose thread of a theatre show. There was no connection between the stage and the tales, an the stage 'story' was pretty predictable.The stories were:
Mother of Toads: Lovecraftian tale of tourists being curious and something to a warty end...
I Love You: Love gone wrong.
Wet Dreams: With Tom Savini: another love gone very wrong. Watch out for the breakfast...
The Accident: Not at all horror story with one gory scene. I kept waiting for the child to sprout tentacles. It was basically a mother trying to explain to her child about death. No great revelations.
Vision Stains: A girl gets to see other lives through injecting the vitreous fluid from the eyeballs of the dying...and a foetus. How the hell she knew she was getting eyeball juice I'll never know. Ultimately pointless.
Sweets: Very odd, you really wonder where it's going right to the end. Bit disgusting as it involves lots of gluttony with whipped cream, gross!
Overall the first half is better than the second. There was a theme of women 'being in control' to the slobbering and generally helpless men one way or another, so the whole thing appears to be a kind of feminism gone wrong campaign film. We both decided this was a 3/5.
Overall the festival was well planned, and great fun. They did a raffle at each movie (we didn't win), but needed a microphone (or to shut off the credits) so we could hear what they were saying. There was enough time between films to dash to get a drink from Starbucks, and the cinema was clean and newish. The films were well chosen, and had a decent range. We can't wait to go back next year, and will consider taking a long weekend so we can enjoy more of the brilliant films!
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