Week 3 – January 28th – Feb 5th.

Well, fellow-festers, I hope you had a pleasant and busy week. I’ve spent most of time between watching movies and tracking new movies to watch. Caught ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street’ twice (once on Monday, once on Wednesday), enjoyed it thoroughly despite some unforgivable flaws: it also made me go back to the 1982 recording of the musical with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett and George Hearn as Sweeney Todd. From what I hear, it has just been remastered and released in the U.S.A. and so if you get a chance to purchase it, do! It is simply a stunning staging of the play and Lansbury is amazing in it – if your only memory of her is of ‘Murder, She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher than this will shock you!

We might as well get started – first bit of news Frightfest friend Christian Alvart. The word on the street is that the casting has finally begun on his new sci-fi film Pandorum which concerns a young crewmember who wakes up from his hyper sleep chamber to discover he’s all alone in the massive ship. Going towards the bridge he searches for others and answers as to what happened. As a funny coincidence the film is being produced by Constantin Film and Impact Pictures (Paul W. S. Anderson). A second Event Horizon perhaps? I only hope that whatever the film is like, it’ll be as good as his stunning Antikorper.

Next up is some good news for Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. Apparently this little-known flick managed to secure a very good distribution deal at Slamdance Film Festival recently and though there is no word on a U.K. release yet, rest assured that we will get to see the film sometime in the future as it was Anchor Bay Entertainment who was behind the deal. The plot of Jack Brooks: Monsters Slayer concerns Trevor Matthews as the eponymous hero: a plumber with a lot of pent-up aggression. At a young age, having seen his family murdered; he learns to channel his anger when an ancient force surfaces and a local professor begins transforming into something evil. You can watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejwdhipRQJU

I don’t know about you but Shutter was one of my favourites of 2005. Although cursed with an average plot, this Thai horror flick knew how to pile on the scares and also sported one of the most intense endings ever. So it was with trepidation that I approached the idea of Fox remaking it. Well the wait is nearly over and soon we’ll be able to find out how this 2008 flick starring Rachael Taylor, Maya Hazen and Joshua Jackson will fare against the brilliant original. You can watch the full theatrical trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VryEHnctPm8

Although over here we are still waiting to see The Mist at the cinemas, over the ocean our American friends have just released the details of the DVD. Coming out on March 25th, it is not the distinct load of extras that is eyebrow raising but the inclusion of the B&W version of the film as Darabont intended it. I don’t know about you but that brings to my mind the beauty of watching Chan Wook-Park’s Sympathy For Lady Vengeance in the fade-to-black-and-white version and raises my excitement to a new crazed height. You can watch the trailer for The Mist here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP-MHO_M6ik

Next up is The Ruins, a new horror film concerning four American friends on vacation in Cancún who find themselves lost in the jungle after being persuaded by a German tourist to join his search for his missing brother. Based on a best-seller, the film reminded me of a combination of Touristas and Welcome to the Jungle. Although not released in the U.S.A. or U.K. until April, you can glance at the teaser trailer online now: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLZcTAcxoo

Finally this week, the upcoming horror portmanteau picture Trick ‘R Treat. This title was shown at the Ain’t It Cool News’s Buttnumbathon festival this year and early reviews have been very favourable. I remain dubious since we haven’t had a good portmanteau pic since the heyday of Amicus stuff. But I wait to be swayed. The plot itself is about four stories which are interwoven stories concerning the usual horror elements. You can watch the trailer right here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=S8lOnFPb5hg&feature=related

Well that’s another week from me, your faithful servant. Hopefully next week I’ll have even better sights to show you.

Until then I remain;

Your faithful servant.

Evrim ‘The Duke’ Ersoy

P.s.: Couldn’t let go without sneaking in one from recently seen list. A lost classic (I use the word very generously here), ‘Effects’ is a must for anyone who is interested in weird cinema. The film itself does not succeed in conveying its’ mind-bending tale entirely, however the premise is handled with enough skill to warrant a watch. The film is a tale of a film within a film within…well that would be telling. It also has a small role by Mr. Make-Up himself, Tom Savini as a grotesque and piggish actor/biker/roughhand/general irritant. What’s more impressive is that it has not been since 1980 when the distributor went bankrupt and never released the film. It has not been issued on DVD and you can get more information here: http://www.amazon.com/Effects-Joseph-Pilato/dp/B000B9E2KE/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1201615463&sr=8-1

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