30th July 2010

As excitement builds and the August Bank Holiday rapidly approaches, we now know what lucky Frightfesters will be watching in the darkened halls of the Empire Leicester Square. With Aussie horror more than well presented I thought I’d look at the Festival scene here in Oz this year and preview some of the films you’ll be watching soon.

First off the ranks we had Sydney’s A Night of Horror just after Easter. The week-long horror festival included screenings that many Frightfesters will be familiar with THE DESCENT 2 was screened with Neil Marshal’s original in a subterranean double-bill, Tom Shankland’s THE CHILDREN made parents squirm and Christopher Smith’s Triangle closed the fest. The controversial HOUSE OF FLESH MANNIQUINS starring Italian actor Domiziano Arcangeli caused walkouts galore with its sickening fusion of hard-core porn and bloody body-horror proving too much for many. The Australian contingent included THE HORSEMAN, DAMNED BY DAWN and DARK LURKING. Funnily enough, the 2009 festival included the world premiere of John Michael Elfers' FINALE, screening at this years Frightfest.

This year’s Sydney Film Festival featured a healthy splattering of horrors from all around the globe. The Australian premiere of Patrick Hughes’ RED HILL welcomed almost the entire cast up on stage with the director and proved a festival favourite with the packed crowd. The high-octane mix of Wild West sensibilities and horror thills, combined with bloody violence and the stunning outback cinematography worked wonders with the low budget.

The audience was suitably freaked out by Sean Byrne’s THE LOVED ONES. Forget complaining about the ‘show it all’ trailer, you may think you’ve seen everything but this wicked PRETTY IN PINK meets WOLF CREEK is the best Australian horror film since Mick Taylor terrorised the outback. Xavier Samuel, fresh from TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE and Robin McLeavy turn the tables in a deliciously macabre twist on tried and tested horror formulas. I was lucky enough to interview Sean for Empire Australasia and he’s a splendid chap so hopefully he’ll be making the trip to London to see you all.

CAUGHT INSIDE also received its world premiere at Sydney. Described by the director Adam Blaiklock as what happened on Billy Zane’s boat before DEAD CALM it’s a beautifully shot nautical nightmare with a suitably bonkers performance by Ben Oxenbould as the unhinged surfer bad guy. The fest also screened THE DISAPPEARANCE, the Korean ghost chiller POSSESSION and the blood-splattered DREAM HOME which is sure to make Frightfesters think twice about entering the housing market.

SFF also screened a fabulous season of Vampire movies in a season called Immortal Seduction. It may have been a shallow attempt to get some of those Tween dollars but any excuse to see some of the films on the big screen had to be taken. Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY, Polanski’s uncut DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, NOSFERATU with full orchestra, the awesome hopping undead of MR VAMPIRE, the Bowie goth posturing of THE HUNGER and the swinging grooviness of DRACULA AD 1972 were among the bloodsucking delights screened over the fest.

The Melbourne International Film Festival is happening right now and is headlined by a season of Joe Dante films introduced by the great man himself. All his films, from a super rare screening of his debut feature, the 1968 four hour epic THE MOVIE ORGY through to his new film THE HOLE, in 3D no less, will be shown (with THE HOWLING being the only shocking omission) Dante will also be in discussion at an audience Q&A and I’ll be heading down to Melbourne next week to interview the director.

MIFF is also setting up a drive-in for a couple of grindhouse nights of sex, violence and midgets. The first night features Mark Hartley’s follow up to NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD…MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED, a doco about Filipino exploitation cinema, check out their facebook page for the awesome trailer. The film will be screened with for Y’UR HEIGHT ONLY starring the diminutive dynamo Weng Weng, The second night is the Australia premiere of Romero’s SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD screened with the British chiller DOWN TERRACE.

The festival is also screening Gareth Edwards’ MONSTER and Vincenzo Natali’s SPLICE. They were also planning to screen Bruce LaBruce’s gay zombie porn film L.A. ZOMBIE but the powers that be, well the Australian Classification Board, have refused the film a certificate so the film has been pulled. The last time MIFF got into this kind of trouble was Larry Clark’s KEN PARK. The program gleefully promised an anti-hero who is convinced he is an alien zombie sent to earth to use his special gift to shag the dead back to life. The program promises plenty of wound shagging and more penises than you can shake a stick at exclaiming that the film contains scenes that will offend. I wonder what the censors took offence to there!

Be lucky

Dave.

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