FrightFest

The Halloween event is usually weaker than FrightFest proper, and when I saw the schedule of six USA films I expected the worst. However it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable day. The excellent Swallow will excite a bit of debate, Trick was more so-bad-it's-good than actually good... but only t...

It was the only Discovery film I saw, and I had to buy a ticket. It's about a group of journalism students whose work on a university project leads them to a remote village. Deciding to stay overnight is, needless to say, a bad idea. There's nothing massively original about it, the characters do wha...

Bliss
Ready or Not
A Good Woman Is Hard To Find
Knives and Skin
Come to Daddy
Why Don't You Just Die!

Yeah that's six. Close enough. It was a good year, there were only two or three films I didn't care for.

It works while you're watching it, but the plot relies on so many unlikely coincidences and people being in the right place at exactly the right time... and I'm not sure various characters' motivations and actions make much sense. Certainly not bad or boring but I felt like I was having the wool pul...

I started out thinking it was just utter incompetent nonsense - like Reborn with Barbara Crampton last Halloween - so I wasn't really paying attention. It took a while to realise that it's really rather funny and clever. I'd like to see it again.

Given the restricted locations, it's all about the performances. Eddie Marsan is reliably good, Richard Brake is a menacing but surprisingly complex presence. It's let down by Ivana Baquero, with her weird American accent, playing an unsympathetic character who isn't just manic but appears to have m...

This was the film I most wanted to avoid, but the alternatives in the Discovery screens didn't look much better and I couldn't be bothered faffing about trying to get tickets. As it turned out, I thought it was... perfectly tolerable. There's a sufficiently coherent plot and a couple of amusing char...

I think there were one or two moments of peril too many. And how many times did we need reminding that yes, she could swim and yes, she could hold her breath under water? Nevertheless, very well made and entertaining. Certainly better than what I was expecting, i.e. Bait (2012) with an alligator ins...

Yes, glad to see them back, I never really understood why they were dropped last year. I enjoyed the Q&As after Daniel Isn't Real and Mary (although I didn't like the latter film). That said, I wouldn't want them with every film. Sometimes it's nice when there are no guests and you've got time to ea...

Then it spoils everything with a cartoonish villain and the silliest plot turns I've seen all year, basically contradicting its tone. (seriously? the kid randomly screaming "Tito" while the bad guy looking for him is casually around?) Agreed that Edward Hogg was a bit too David Tennant as the main ...

It was OK, but it never felt like the story was really building up to anything much. The ease with which the virus spread was very inconsistent. And some of the major characters - good and bad - were killed off in a rather offhand manner. I didn't go in with massive expectations, but after all the f...

Row K of the Arrow Screen was cool enough to require an extra layer of clothing so I brought a hoody every day. Didn't mind at all, much better than being too hot.

I wasn't looking forward to this but during the little animated sequence at the beginning I thought well, maybe it'll be OK. That was a false dawn. Totally incoherent rubbish. Endless exposition which only makes things more confusing. Things constantly being trapped in little boxes then let out agai...

Rubbish Amityville Horror on a boat. It couldn't have been more cliched. I was a bit annoyed that Gary Oldman got not only top, but pre-title billing, I hope that wasn't at his insistence. He pretty much phoned in his performance and any redeeming features of the film were down to Emily Mortimer. Th...

Another film driven by a great central performance from the lead actress. There were several of those this weekend. A bit of Get Out, a lot of You're Next... I was wanting Samara Weaving's character to do a bit more ass-kicking in the middle part of the film (after the hints that she was a fairly to...