FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Host

www.thehost.co.kr


Dir: Bong Joon-ho


Cast: Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hei-bong, Park Hae-il, Baeand Du-na


Everyone panics

fish beast swallows his daughter

let's go rescue her


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

www.behindthemaskthemovie.com


Dir: Scott Glosserman


Cast: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson


Film crew follow him

as he explains tricks of trade

you know he'll sit up


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Puritan

www.puritanthemovie.com


Dir: Hadi Hajaig


Cast: Nick Moran, Georgina Rylance, David Soul, Ralph Brown


Other chap from Lock, Stock

travels in fourth dimension

I get all confused


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - H6: Diary Of A Serial Killer

www.diarioasesino.com


Dir: Martin Garrido Baron


Cast: Fernando Acaso, Angel Alarcon, Raquel Arenas, Ruperto Ares


Wants to cleanse whore's soul

tied to table in room six

then gets the chainsaw


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Day 3 - Sunday

Broken (l-r): Abbey Stirling, Eric Colvin, Nadja Brand, Simon Boyes and Adam Mason with Paul McEvoy

One of the best things about FrightFest 2006 is the way the forum community has developed and expanded, so whether outside the OWE or up in the bar there's always a group of like-minded souls ready to swap opinions and stories. On Sunday we arrived at the cinema early as I needed to find Kim and lend her some books which she'd been seeking for her degree course. After a quick chat with the Broken team it was inside for their introduction, preceded by another entertaining short, Snatching Time. Whilst it's no masterpiece, Broken is a huge leap forward from Adam's early work and is quite an achievement considering its tiny £10,000 budget. I spent some time talking to Simon and Eric up in the bar and various proud parents until Alan Jones caught me and asked why I wasn't in watching The Living And The Dead. I really wasn't feeling confident about this one but as I'd only missed a couple of minutes I thought I may as well give it a try. In fact it turned out to be one of the highlights of the festival; a completely different kind of horror which many - myself included - found very difficult to watch.

Simon Rumley and Kate Fahy with Alan Jones

Director Simon Rumley and lead actress Kate Fahy took to the stage afterwards for a Q&A with Alan Jones where they received much praise for their work - I also spotted Jonathan Pryce in the audience lending his support. James had texted me to say he was in town to catch Severance with his sister so I spent the next break meeting him for a coffee. Next up was In The Place Of The Dead, the latest short film from FrightFest favourite David McGillvray whose banter with Alan Jones had us all in stitches. French chiller Them was a tense affair and should play well when Metrodome release it here in the UK next January - we all had to fill in questionnaires giving feedback after the screening.

Guillermo Del Toro meets his fans

Guillermo Del Toro was seated by the Cinema Store stall during the next break ready to meet his fans and sign an array of cards, posters and DVD sleeves. Very affable, talkative and enthusiastic - as indeed he was at the Hellboy signing two years ago - he proved to be a big favourite with the FrightFesters.

Simon Boswell with Alan Jones

Before the next film there was a special appearance by composer Simon Boswell (who did the legendary Hardware score, amongst many others) who talked about his new album Close Your Eyes which mixes music from his soundtracks with newly recorded vocals - and we also got to see his first music video from the album, directed by Richard Stanley which featured the sight of Dario Argento doing a spot of rapping! Fascinating stuff and welcome surprise to the day's packed programme. After another dose of Trailer Trash, including such gems as Abby, Home For The Intimate Ghosts and Vampire Kids, it was straight into Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story, the boring cinematic account of the real life case of the German cannibal who advertised for a willing victim on the internet.

Edgar Wright with Paul McEvoy

The FrightFest team had some more surprises up their collective sleeves before the next film. First NZ director Chris Graham turned up to talk about his forthcoming horror film The Ferryman, and then Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead) took to the stage to introduce two trailers for Hot Fuzz which of course got a great reception. The Lost was one of Mike's tips for the weekend and didn't disappoint, a brutal little film based on the novel by Jack Ketchum bolstered by some terrific performances and a stellar soundtrack. With all the extra guests and surprises which had been squeezed in to Grim Sunday, it was no surprise that the timetable was running late by this stage. Just time for a quick dash to Subway and then back for the midnight screening of Sheitan, a wacky French horror starring a grinning Vincent Cassell which had 'cult movie' written all over it. Bonkers from the first minute I loved every moment! A fantastic finale to a bumper-packed day of entertainment.

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Sheitan

www.lesheitan.com


Dir: Kim Chapiron


Cast: Vincent Cassell, Olivier Bartelemy, Roxane Mesquida, Nico Le Phat Tan


Visit her village

goat farmer and doll maker

Cassell's gone bonkers


soulmining rating: *****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Lost

www.thelostmovie.net


Dir: Chris Sivertson


Cast: Marc Senter, Shay Astar, Alex Frost, Robin Sydney


Crushed cans in his shoes

he'll flip out and kill again

while flies keep buzzing


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story

www.senator.de


Dir: Martin Weisz


Cast: Keri Russell, Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber, Rainier Meissner


German cannibal

seeks willing victim online

based on true story


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Them

www.ils-lefilm.com


Dir: David Moreau & Xavier Palud


Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen



French couple at home

suffer invasion by them

who or what are they?


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Living And The Dead

www.simonrumley.com


Dir: Simon Rumley


Cast: Leo Bill, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Kate Fahy, Sarah Ball


Trigger's stately home

his son is mentally ill

harrowing to watch


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Broken

www.brandmason.co.uk


Dir: Adam Mason & Simon Boyes


Cast: Nadja Brand, Eric Colvin, Abbey Stirling, Megan Van Kerro


Girl wakes in coffin

he keeps her chained up for days

what a nasty man


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Day 2 - Saturday

Billy O'Brien with Paul McEvoy

I'd forgotten to set my alarm, so we were late getting up on Saturday, and late getting into central London to meet some of the others for breakfast. This was then compounded by sluggish service at the pub, which meant we completely missed the introduction to Isolation from director Billy O'Brien. Luckily he returned after the screening - which was great, imagine Alien with cows - for a short Q&A with Paul McEvoy and then we were free to collect our FrightFest goodie bags which this year included a couple of DVDs, a Lady Vengeance t-shirt, a Them stress ball, the featured short Deadly Tantrum on DVD, The Wicker Man matchbook and a few other assorted bits and pieces.

I'd already taken the decision to skip Earthlings: Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water (a documentary about Klingons) long before the weekend started, so instead had arrangements to go for a meal with about a dozen other FrightFesters in order to celebrate Lauren's birthday (left). Preceding the formulaic The Marsh was the Cut! Competition Showcase, the ten best short films submitted for this two minute horror film competition with Robert Tapert, Lloyd Kaufman and FrightFest's own Alan Jones making up the panel of judges. The standard of entries was pretty high but the deserved winner was Aloysha Saari's Kasting, a dark satire on the audition process, and a special mention should also go to Jahari's A Very Grimm Fairytale for its jet-black humour which was another popular finalist with the audience. Director Jordan Barker appeared afterwards for a short Q&A with Alan Jones although sadly Gabrielle Anwar was unable to attend as she was reportedly suffering from laryngitis. After discussing the merits of The Wicker Man remake in the bar with Christopher Fowler and Graham Humphreys it was back into the auditorium for this year's devilish FrightFest quiz, a chorus of Happy Birthday for Lauren who'd been dragged on stage by Ian Rattray, and then See No Evil starring WWE wrestler Kane. After a few year's sabbatical Ian's Trailer Trash made a welcome return to this year's FrightFest programme, with his first selection of trailers including such gems as Karate vs. Tiger and Island Of The Fishmen - which ironically the Eat My Brains guys had just watched recently as part of their latest Zombie Club double feature! Adrift was up next with director Hans Horn going AWOL (possibly for the best judging by the muted reaction from the FrightFest audience) although I much preferred it to Open Water, despite the repeated stupidity of the main characters. The next scheduled short was a no show so instead we had a bonus dose of Trailer Trash, this time featuring the enticing Gwendoline (causing the Cinema Store stall to sell out of all of its DVD copies) and a trippy teaser for The Exorcist. Despite many laughs from the trailer selection, the hilarity unfortunately didn't extend to the final film of the day, Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror which was a major disappointment, particularly coming in the coveted midnight slot which Monster Man and 2001 Maniacs had filled so triumphantly in previous years. And so to the madness of the night bus and home to prepare for 'Grim Sunday'.

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror

www.myspace.com/hoodofhorror


Dir: Stacy Title


Cast: Snoop Dogg, Ernie Hudson, Danny Trejo, Pooch Hall


Three tales from the hood

artist becomes own painting

should have shot this dog


soulmining rating: *

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Adrift

www.adriftmovie.co.uk


Dir: Hans Horn


Cast: Susan May Pratt, Richard Speight Jr, Niklaus Lange, Ali Hillis


Open water too

six f*ckwits jump off the yacht

forget the ladder


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - See No Evil

www.seenoevilthemovie.com


Dir: Gregory Dark


Cast: Kane, Christina Vidal, Michael J. Pagan, Steven Vidler


Clean up old hotel

big bald wrestler lives upstairs

pokes out their eyeballs


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Marsh

www.jordanbarker.com


Dir: Jordan Barker


Cast: Gabrielle Anwar, Justin Louis, Forest Whitaker, Joe Dinicol


Writer sees some ghosts

her tight white top distracts me

world's loudest movie


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Isolation

www.isolationthefilm.com


Dir: Billy O'Brien


Cast: John Lynch, Essie Davis, Sean Harris, Marcel Iures


Barnyard alien

cows go mad on Irish farm

who wants a burger?


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Day 1 - Friday

I wasn't overly fussed about catching the day's Hammer films retrospective which was perhaps just as well when I awoke after the Severance party with the hangover from hell. That was The Hound Of The Baskervilles wiped out right there. After a much needed fry-up with Steve we managed to get ourselves to the Odeon West End in time for Countess Dracula but I was still feeling very hungover so instead spent the duration of the film sat in the centre of Leicester Square talking to an elderly lady from Oregon while nursing a large bottle of water. After posing for Rachael so she could take some pictures of my Snakes On A Plane t-shirt I met up with a number of FrightFest regulars who were also planning to skip Twins Of Evil so joined them for a bite to eat in the aptly named Crypt café adjacent to Trafalgar Square. I was still feeling queasy but thankfully Dolores took pity on me and was on hand with a stash of tablets to get me through the evening. Back outside the cinema I caught up with the EMB guys who were also feeling the worse for wear. Mike (top left) was doing good business trading his original FrightFest-approved GIVES YOU THE WILLIES! t-shirts which he'd designed especially for this year's event.

Alan Jones with Guillermo Del Toro

Guillermo Del Toro received a rapturous welcome as he took to the stage to introduce Pan's Labyrinth, the first public showing since its Cannes screening received a twenty minute standing ovation. Guillermo was joined by producer Alfonso Cuaron (director of the forthcoming Children Of Men) who explained his working relationship with the director. As the lights dimmed we got our first treat of the weekend - a FrightFest trailer put together by sponsors Zone Horror which faithfully recreated an old seventies Charley Says public information film. In this hilarious clip Charley and the young boy are playing in the park when the Grim Reaper approaches and invites the boy to FrightFest. The boy is about to go with him when Charley stops him with his usual miaow... and so the boy and the Grim Reaper tie Charley to a tree and chop off his head. Honestly, this was hands down the funniest thing I saw all weekend! This was followed by trailers for Saw III and The Wicker Man, the latter of which was greeted with a chorus of boos and a loud cry of "sacrilege" from the guy sitting along the row from me. Pan's Labyrinth was simply amazing, the best film I've seen all year - part fantasy, part civilwar drama - it was a magical experience. Guillermo then returned for a lively Q&A with Alan Jones after the screening in which he talked about working with the various actors and how he's relying on our word of mouth to help market the film in November.

Adam Green with Alan Jones

After a short break it was the turn of director Adam Green to take to the stage to introduce Hatchet which was a real old school comedy/horror. He returned for a Q&A directly afterwards and then Mike and I caught up with him for a quick chat in the foyer, before going back into the auditorium for the first short film of the festival - a fairly routine zombie piece entitled Gasoline Blood. Final film of the night was Frostbite, a Swedish vampire flick which featured some talking dogs. A great start to the weekend!

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Frostbite

www.frostbiten.se


Dir: Anders Banke


Cast: Petra Neilsen, Grete Havnseskold, Emma Aberg, Jonas Karlstrom


It's Swedish vampires

take pills have bloody party

now dogs are talking


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Hatchet

www.hatchetmovie.com


Dir: Adam Green


Cast: Joel Moore, Tamara Feldman, Mercedes McNab, Kane Hodder


Bored of Mardi Gras

boat breaks down in haunted swamp

meet ghost with large axe


soulmining rating: ***