The tenth annual Horrorthon, held at the Irish Film Institute from 25th to 29th October was the strongest yet, with a diverse and intelligently chosen line-up programmed by Ed King, Michael Griffin and Conor McMahon. Certainly, attendance seemed to be up on last year, with many of the more popular features selling out hours in advance, and even the traditionally less busy screenings (such as those held last thing at night and first thing in the afternoon) generally being very well attended. In all, twenty-seven films were screened over the five days of the festival, which began on the Thursday evening with a showing of the new vampire movie Thirty Days of Night (an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name) and the only Irish cinema screening of Saw director James Wan’s latest effort, evil ventriloquist’s dummy movie Dead Silence. Briefly, and in no particular order, here are some of the festival’s highlights.
Gamerz (Robbie Fraser, 2005)
Though not a horror film, the Glasgow-set Gamerz was nevertheless an amiable, affectionate homage to the insular, competitive world of the RPG (roleplaying game) and those who play them in which a likeable young cast did their best to overcome an obviously limited budget and just about succeeded. It also taught us that the Scottish for ‘skanger’ is ‘ned’, which is bound to come in useful one of these days.
Botched (Kit Ryan, 2007)
Although it starts off like a low-budget rip-off of early Guy Ritchie, home-grown movie Botched actually turned out to be something quite different: an energetic, genuinely funny, and gleefully bizarre splatter movie along the lines of Severance which deserves to do well both at the box-office and on DVD release. B-Movie stalwart Stephen Dorff stars as a thief ordered to undertake one more heist by his mob-boss employer Sean Pertwee who finds more than he bargains for in an exclusive Moscow apartment block which contains the deranged descendants of Ivan the Terrible. Yes, it’s all very silly and over the top, and the largely Irish cast (which includes Bronagh Gallagher and Hugh O’Connor) inevitably sport terrible Russian accents, but the film is nevertheless mostly entertaining and quite funny, and knows not to take itself too seriously. The effects are pretty good too, although the film does (perhaps intentionally) feature the fakest-looking rat I’ve ever seen on the big screen.
well-dressed children are evil. This was also the only time I’ve heard an audience cheer because the small child onscreen has been brutally punched in the face.
End of the Line (Maurice Devereaux, 2006)
Low-budget Canadian movie End of the Line begins with a fantastic premise – the followers of a deranged cult leader simultaneously begin to exterminate non-believers once the signal to begin Judgement day is sent – and for much of its running time is a fairly taut, exciting film. It does however fall apart completely in the last ten minutes or so, and one can’t help but feel that something went very wrong in the editing room: a crucial subplot (which deals with the reason why the cult members are so susceptible to the demands of their leader) appears to have been removed entirely, and the conclusion is very muddled indeed.
Predator (John McTiernan, 1987)
“If it bleeds, we can kill it!” What more can one say about the deliriously over-the-top 1987 action/horror flick except to note that, unbelievably, two of the cast (Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger) would later become US Governors and director John McTiernan has recently been sentenced to jail for perjury?
Shrooms (Paddy Breathnach, 2007)
Whilst it was great to have an Irish film as this year’s surprise screening, it was clear within the first ten minutes that the derivative, dull Shrooms was going to disappoint. It suffered first of all from the fact that it was actually the second film of the weekend in which a van load of bland American teenagers travelled into the woods, took drugs, had bad trips and were picked off by a mysterious killer: David Arquette’s cheesy but enjoyable Trippers (shown on Saturday) had almost exactly the same basic premise, albeit without the Irish setting and with rather more energy. There were some initially interesting elements here, such as the (woefully unfulfilled) suggestion that some particularly pertinent local horrors (abusive clergy, brutal reform schools) would come into play, occasional flashes of stoner wit (as in the talking cow scene), and some serviceable special effects, but this will definitely not be the break-out hit that Irish horror cinema so sorely needs, and the ‘shocking’ final twist has already been better employed elsewhere – most notably in the nasty French horror hit Haute Tension a few years back. Unfortunately, this was one of the biggest disappointments of the weekend and indeed I have yet to encounter anyone who actually liked Shrooms, which in itself bodes ill for its box-office prospects. Those interested in horror films in which fungi play a prominent part would be much better off watching the 1963 Japanese classic Matango: Attack of the Mushroon People instead…
Stuck (Stuart Gordon, 2007)
This was actually the second effort by Reanimator director and long-time Horrorthon favourite Gordon in this year’s festival: the first was “The Black Cat” a Masters of Horror episode which featured a barnstorming turn from his regular collaborator Jeffrey Coombs as a deranged Edgar Allan Poe. Loosely based upon a real-life incident, Stuck stars Stephen Rea as a sad-sack loser whose already bleak existence becomes even more excruciating when he’s mown down by a monstrously self-obsessed young woman (Mena Suvari) who leaves him trapped in her windshield rather than risk getting arrested for drunk driving. It’s rather more naturalistic than some might have expected from Gordon – Rea’s trip to the job centre at the beginning of the film is notably bleak, and we get some sense early on of the pressures that help Suvari’s character make the choices that she does – but there’s still plenty of gore on display, and Rea’s unbearably painful predicament will arouse winces of sympathy in even the most hardened viewer. Whilst it may well have been more effective with a leaner running time – perhaps as another episode of Masters of Horror – this is still a taut, compelling film anchored by two excellent leading performances, and along with his forthcoming film, the David Mamet-scripted Edmond, it suggests that Gordon remains someone to watch with interest.
Bernice M. Murphy
Joshua (George Ratliff, 2007)
One of the best horror films of the weekend, and indeed, of the year, Joshua is probably the finest ‘evil child’ film since The Omen (the original, not the flaccid remake). It’s a riveting, intelligent, and at times, morbidly funny psychological thriller in which the arrival of a new baby tears an affluent New York family apart. The horror here lies in the subtle hints that Ratliff doles out to the audience as to the true nature of his disturbed young protagonist: is precocious ten-year old Joshua merely a troubled young boy struggling to adjust to the new arrival, or is he something entirely more sinister? The performances by Vera Farminga and, especially, Sam Rockwell, as Joshua’s increasingly unhinged parents are excellent, as is that of young Jacob Kogan, whose eerie composure and perfect posture only reinforced my long-held suspicion that unusually well-mannered,
