FrightFest

Raw and powerful stuff - a great opening to the festival and back to the roots of starting with a British film!

I thought it was excellent. Really struck that chord of nervousness at the beginning where your not sure if you should challenge someone when they are acting rudely (where they are on the beach and the kids are shouting, swearing and that horrid dog is barking and the crud music is blaring)....not knowing if you will just get a load of abuse or get punched for your efforts!

And the blade to the mouth scene.... JESUS! Totally gross.....a theme which made me cringe and seemed to run through the whole festival this year. (like penises getting removed last year!)

MaxRenn wrote:I hated this movie. It's well made and very well acted, but I had a fundamental problem with its message which I thought was reactionary middle-class toss. I'm sure the Daily Mail will hate it, like they hate every genre film, but really it's one of their editorials come to bloody life.

Same for me, I found it a shameless shot for easy tabloid sensationalism. There's a couple of well shot nasty scenes in there, and a convincing bad lead in Jack O'Connell, but it's a bit irritating in its simplicistic and coward approach to the social themes.

Enjoyed the tension, the setting and the characters. She was intriguing if annoying, he was a tad flat though. The hoodies were great.

Understand peoples reactions in the negative...but...all in all, as a horror movie rather than a social commentary, this was a great starter!!!

And sod the Daily Mail, let's not even acknowledge it..it might go away!

I dont know if I am seeing things, but I am quite positive they took the A40 at Paddington towards Oxford and then as it grew dark they were on the A1 9 miles from Harrow???

This film turned out to be better than I was expecting ... and far grimer!! The young cast was very good, especailly Jack O'Connell. I so wished the others would stand up to him and refuse to do what he wanted, but they didnt have the courage, and I suppose when you see the final scenes play out you realise why really. Very chilling. That final scene involving the father was horrific to me.

Was great to get Jack's autograph at the end! I said to him I had half expected his character to have a quiet smirk to himself in the mirror during the films final moment, and he told me they had filmed a couple of different ways, inc him smiling, but didnt go for it in the end! Great young actor!!

Tragedygirl wrote:Was great to get Jack's autograph at the end! I said to him I had half expected his character to have a quiet smirk to himself in the mirror during the films final moment, and he told me they had filmed a couple of different ways, inc him smiling, but didnt go for it in the end! Great young actor!!

He did though, didn't he? He looks troubled at first, then looks smug after putting the sunglasses on.

Nah not quite ... i was expecting it in away, thats why i know he didnt. He looked uber smug though, and I suppose the director thought that was a better way to leave it.

I really enjoyed this film. Thought it was a excellent kick start to the festival. Some great acting from all concerned. Obviously topical. Thought it was a great ending. Bleak and a very unsettling example of keeping it in the family.

There was a point the film when the girl covered in mud gazes at her reflection. I thought she would be turning into female Rambo

This is a great example of what the British film industry can do. Hoorah to that!

Thought the acting by all the kids - especially Jack - was superb and never doubted it for a moment. Although it may grow on me over time, wasn't keen on the ending though... having had the shakeup that was obvious on him of seeing his friends get killed (and having killed one of his friends himself) the realisation to Jack's character that he could a) take on adults like his father who slapped him about and b) have the greatest power of all by control, especially controlling the situation at that point, should have led him to be more active there - especially when his father hit him. Would have been much more fitting from my perspective to have seen him go nuts and take apart his father, freeing the other men from that peer pressure and ripping the rose tinted specs from the women...

I really liked this one, it was much more brutal and chilling than I'd expected... really made me think what I'd do if I was ever in the same situation which I thought is such a scary set up - we can all relate to the character's situation.

It was the spike through the foot that got me... ouch!

Beautifully shot too, the film looked fantastic. I hope it does well and doesn't get The Daily Mail on its case...

I liked it, loved the ending which seemed to place all the blame on the parents.

I hated this movie. It's well made and very well acted, but I had a fundamental problem with its message which I thought was reactionary middle-class toss. I'm sure the Daily Mail will hate it, like they hate every genre film, but really it's one of their editorials come to bloody life.

I don't really get this arguement unless you are also offended by 'country folk' who often appear in horror films and are hardly ever fairly represented -Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Calviere etc etc But then alot of horror is reactionary - it plays on our fears and prejudices.

jonbly notes that chuckles' first line is a quote from MaxRenn's post on page 1.

chuckles wrote:I don't really get this arguement unless you are also offended by 'country folk' who often appear in horror films and are hardly ever fairly represented -Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Calviere etc etc But then alot of horror is reactionary - it plays on our fears and prejudices.

I'd have an issue with any film that protrayed an entire class, creed and ethnic group in such a uniform way (I don't like the way Borat seems to find it acceptable to do this the eastern europeans either). Chainsaw (haven't seen Calveire yet) does not do this, like Mum & Dad it presents an insular family group who are clearly abnormal. A film like Deliverance does something similar (and has a strong level of subtext). Eden Lake's only clear message (as I saw it) was that once you are outside a major urban centre it's the wild west. Did it play on fears, certainly. But did it also feed prejudice?

You're right, a lot of horror is reactionery. A lot of everything is reactionary.

Anyway that's my opinion.