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The Horror! The Horror! - 6th of October 2009

As festival season arrives in London what with Raindance happening right now and London film Festival following in a week or so , I thought it best to dedicate a blog to some genre films you can catch at both these festivals.

I just came back from a screening of ‘Storage’ an Australian thriller in the vein of ‘Horsemen’ or ‘Acolytes’ and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it – so I thought on the off chance that any Festers are looking for something to do in the weeks leading up to the all-nighter, here’s Evrim’s handy genre picks. This week Raindance.

Raindance:

This year Raindance once again has some strong titles from Australia – last year it was Acolytes and this year it’s Storage, The Dinner Party and Directors Cut.

Out of the three, Directors Cut is the only out and out horror film a director who refuses to relinquish his dream even as cast and crew drop dead around him. The film seems to be a mixture of horror and comedy and has been compared to ‘Shaun Of The Dead’.

You can watch a trailer here:

For the more serious minded among you, The Dinner Party could be an interesting experience. This dark thriller from Canberra, Australia focuses on Laura Cox’s Angela who plots an evening to remember where the invited guests of her soiree are not guaranteed to leave the table alive.  Shot on a budget of $200,000, the film manages to create an absorbing yet menacing atmosphere.

You can watch a trailer here

There’s also an interesting looking slasher film, home-grown to boot, in the form of ‘Resurrecting the Streetwalker- directed by Ozgur Uyanik. The film focuses on an ambitious young filmmaker discovers an abandoned and incomplete horror movie from the 1980s and decides to finish it only to realise too late what a big mistake this decision might be. Unfortunately there are no trailers for this film at the moment.

‘Exam’ which played Edinburgh this year is also showing at Raindance. Described as ‘Big Brother’ meets ‘The Apprentice’ via ‘Hostel’ the film has garnered many positive reviews and could be well-worth investing the time in.

‘Down Terrace’ is a British gangster film that has been well received at Fantastic Fest this year – in fact the film won the ‘Next Wave Best Feature’ award. The plot concerns Bill and Karl are fresh out of jail for an unspecified crime but they’re no less obsessed with figuring out who snitched on them in the first place. Meanwhile Karl’s partner seems like your average housewife but there’s something about her that suggests she may have had a hand in it. It soon becomes evident that this ordinary terraced house is packed to the rafters with gangsters.

Raindance is also doing a retrospective screening of ‘Blair Witch Project’ for those of you out there that missed the chance to see it on a big screen the first time round. As probably everyone in the world knows now the film is about In three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary in October 1994. ‘Blair Witch Project’ is the footage that was found a year later.

There’s also a Patricia Highsmith adaptation starring Paddy Considine for all of you fans out there. Titled ‘The Cry Of The Owl’ the film is about a young woman who becomes inexplicably attracted to a man who is stalking her. When her boyfriend goes missing, the stalker is the immediate suspect, until a game of jealousy and betrayal turns deadly. 

I can also heartily recommend taking a peek at the Japanese section as there’s a very strong selection of women directors from Japan this year including ‘Lily Festival’ and ‘Mime-mime’ which has been described as the most important event to happen to Japanese independent cinema since the 1970’s.

And finally , for all of you like minded noir lovers , make sure you do not miss Attilla Gigor’s debut ‘The Investigator’ . A beautifully shot, darkly comic and very-well written detective film, this pays tribute to all the trappings of the genre whilst slowly turning all the conventions on its’ head.

For all the screening times look on

So that’s Raindance’ covered. Next week, I’ll be back with a little guide to London Film Festival.

Until the next time...

Evrim Ersoy.