Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

News and discussion about FrightFest's annual trip north of the border
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Forest
Some effective sequences and jump scares in this one, albeit the latter are often well signposted, while the tale itself feels overly familiar.
Spoiler:
However, the guessing game of the motives of the male lead help keep the story interesting.
Some of the twists at the end can be seen coming due to earlier plot / dialogue points. Overall not bad, but not groundbreaking either. 7 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Hexecutioners
I liked the offbeat quirkiness of this one, even if it didn't always make sense. I also liked some of the imagery and humour, but ultimately I felt it didn't hang together that well and more could have been made of the opportunities available. 6.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Anguish
A tough one to score as it is a hard film to love in some ways due to the weighty themes and the slow-burning pace of the first two-thirds of the movie, but personally I enjoyed the depth and serious tone.
Spoiler:
For a moment I thought it was going to go down the route of a full-on Linda Blair-style exorcism, but given the proliferation of such films at the moment I'm glad it eschewed that direction - indeed I liked the ending where there was no easy, happy solution.
Supposedly based on a true story - if there is such a case it would be good to learn more about it. 8 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Pandemic
I nearly skipped this one as I suffer from motion sickness and I can't play FPS video games as a result, but I'm glad I didn't as it is a pretty good viral outbreak action film and I just about coped with the first-person sequences.

The edgy interplay between the main characters helped keep things ticking along between the action scenes, although it was sometimes difficult to tell what was going on, but perhaps that was partly the point to reflect the confusion of combat. 7.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Mind's Eye
An entertaining throwback to the 1980's, even if it was set between 1990-91. On the negative side the plot was pretty basic and didn't add a lot to what
Spoiler:
Scanners
did all those years ago. On the positive side the story and characters were interesting enough, with a suitably villainous nemesis in a 1980's kind of way, as well as some well-executed setpieces. One I'll watch again. 8 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Patchwork
Funny, engaging and with some suitably schlocky and gory scenes.
Spoiler:
I mentally groaned when the 3 characters patched together had an internal debate for the first time, but this mechanism actually worked quite effectively and helped establish both the characters and the character of the film itself. Also, Owlcat was an inspired creation and maybe will get her own film one day?


8 /10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Wave
A Norwegian disaster movie is possibly an odd choice for Frightfest, but this was a solid enough inclusion, with a human story anchoring the action sequences. Only quibble was that the wave took a long time in coming and swiftly receded, but this was possibly due to budget constraints. Nevertheless, has more depth and hence is better than the average Hollywood disaster flick. 7.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Southbound
An anthology in the vein of the V/H/S franchise. I really liked this one and I thought the stories worked well together. My favourite segment was probably The Accident, but I also liked the creatures from the opening tale and hopefully we'll see more of these again. 8.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

I skipped SPL2, so no review for this one sorry, as I needed time for a break, leg stretch, food etc. Maybe I'm getting old, but would have preferred to have moved one of the films to the Friday, with Friday starting around 11.30am, meaning that Saturday could have had a later start, earlier finish and more of a break for food etc. Did anyone see SPL2 who is happy to share their thoughts?
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Other Side Of The Door
The latest spin on
Spoiler:
The Monkey's Paw
hence not terribly original, but certainly not terrible either. Sarah Wayne Callies makes for an engaging lead, while the Indian setting makes for an interesting and unusual backdrop. I'm keen to see Johannes Roberts' next feature as his films tend to be well made and this one was no different with some effectively suspenseful scenes. 7.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Baskin
I had been looking forward to this one ever since I saw the short at Frightfest a few years ago, so perhaps I had unrealistically high hopes going into this, while the film went off on different tangents to what I had been expecting. I normally like weird films and there's plenty here to enjoy, but I left feeling a little unsatisfied, albeit this was probably due to my own expectations. One to watch again and reassess. 7.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

Martyrs
Probably best not to read this review if you haven't seen the original as this may spoil it for you.

The detractors are correct in saying that this remake lacks the rawness, brutality, originality, tension and classic skinned victim scene of Laugier's masterpiece, but the story is powerful enough to make an impact still. There are some tweaks to the plot, some of which work better than others and there is less mystery this time around as the scheming of the shadowy organisation is spelt out for western audiences.

If you disregard the classic original then this remake is a very good effort on its own merits.

I'd still love to know what is whispered at the end - I wonder if Laugier himself had his own idea of what was said or if it was always meant to be a mystery to which even he doesn't know the answer? 8 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
Alex J
Braaaains!
Braaaains!
Posts: 700
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:30 pm
Location: The Back Of The Beyond

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Alex J »

The Devil's Candy
This starts off with a pretty absurd tone, but don't let that put you off as it gets progressively darker as the film goes on. Despite being the late showing this maintained my interest, with likeable characters (and some deliberately not so likeable!) and humour offsetting some of the more disturbing elements of the plot.

I would like to see more of this film's universe - a sequel anyone?

Also, did anyone else find that Zooey seemed to look younger as the film went on? Not sure if this was due to the sequence of filming or whether that's what looking scared does?

8/ 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
User avatar
Stephen with ph
Running Zombie
Running Zombie
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:48 pm
Location: The garden of England

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Stephen with ph »

Alex J wrote:Martyrs
Probably best not to read this review if you haven't seen the original as this may spoil it for you.

The detractors are correct in saying that this remake lacks the rawness, brutality, originality, tension and classic skinned victim scene of Laugier's masterpiece, but the story is powerful enough to make an impact still. There are some tweaks to the plot, some of which work better than others and there is less mystery this time around as the scheming of the shadowy organisation is spelt out for western audiences.

If you disregard the classic original then this remake is a very good effort on its own merits.

I'd still love to know what is whispered at the end - I wonder if Laugier himself had his own idea of what was said or if it was always meant to be a mystery to which even he doesn't know the answer? 8 / 10
Better than you might expect under the circumstances but, ultimately, a remake that didn't need to be made - although it does serve to remind you how good the original is.
User avatar
Stephen with ph
Running Zombie
Running Zombie
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:48 pm
Location: The garden of England

Re: Frightfest Glasgow 2016 Reviews

Post by Stephen with ph »

Alex J wrote:The Other Side Of The Door
The latest spin on
Spoiler:
The Monkey's Paw
hence not terribly original, but certainly not terrible either. Sarah Wayne Callies makes for an engaging lead, while the Indian setting makes for an interesting and unusual backdrop. I'm keen to see Johannes Roberts' next feature as his films tend to be well made and this one was no different with some effectively suspenseful scenes. 7.5 / 10
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one: as the director explained beforehand, it harks back to the days when Stephen king was any good, with an unfamiliar subcontinental setting to provide an unsettling sense of cultural dislocation.
Post Reply