The Green Inferno

Director: Eli Roth

 

There’s nothing like a nice gory cannibal film to get you going on a Friday morning at frightfest. Well actually there wasn’t that much gore to be had in all fairness. Eli Roth’s fourth feature length film as director sees him drop a host of college students into a Peruvian rainforest on a quest to help an endangered tribe against a corrupt construction company. Young charismatic woman Justine finds herself roped into the action and unfortunately lured as bait against the company.

 

All goes to plan and as far as the students know they’ve won the battle. Enjoying their success on the journey back their plane takes an unfortunate turn and crashes into the jungle. The survivor’s find themselves captured by the very tribe they went there to protect and they just happen to be a clan of rather hungry cannibals.

 

The film builds nicely and the swooping shots of the beautiful rainforest are breath-taking. The characters are well developed and you can tell there’s a decent script here but unfortunately the film tends to suffer from, well a lack of blood and guts to be quite honest.

 

This is not what you expect from a master of horror like Eli Roth. There is one scene half way through where the excitement finally kicks in and we know we are back in a Hostel type scenario, but then it never quite reaches that level again. Instead the tension peters out along with the survivors and it all just becomes a little boring. Not to mention the disappointing third act that sees the director making a very obvious underlying message about human rights and the economy that makes it all seem rather egotistical.

 

To hand it to the film there are some decent scenes where we are on the edge of our seats and it is indeed quite uncomfortable at times. However this just isn’t really enough coming from the man who bought us such horror delights as Cabin Fever and Hostel. Personally I think his early career far exceeds anything he has been involved with of late. The film does look good and is well acted but perhaps this is one director who simply peaked too early?

 

R2.5/5

 

 

Preservation

Director: Christopher Denham

 

As other people were gearing up for sci-fi Shockwave Darkside 3D in the main screen, I chose to wander downstairs for my first discovery film Preservation. The atmosphere was in full swing and the frightfest family were nice and comfortable on what was already day two. I had high hopes for Preservation and usually when that happens I get let down. This was partly the case for this film.

 

Highly influenced by films like Eden Lake this film sees couple Wit and Mike go for a long weekend camping with Mike’s brother, ex-marine Sean Neary. What starts out as getaway for hunting and other nature outlets soon turns into a game of cat and mouse as a group of strangers wearing masks (once again!) start to pester them. Beginning with stealing their tents and eventually transcending into something much more sinister it soon appears that these people wills top at nothing until they’ve had their sick fun.

 

It’s clear from the get go where this film is going to go and any real fans of the genre should be able to pick up on this. However the acting is decent and the film does have an eerie atmosphere at times. The characters are sympathetic and endearing so it’s even more frustrating when we are once again faced with scenarios where they don’t fight back. There’s only so many times you can watch a victim hit the villain and then not check to see if they’re dead. Have horror films of the last thirty years not taught us anything?

 

It’s a shame because there is real potential in this film and Wren Schmidt is particularly superb as the only female character, with a lot of weight on her soldiers. The music is atmospheric and director Christopher Denham who began as an actor in the likes of Argo, does show promise in his work, he’s just not quite there with this one.

 

R3/5

 

 

Late Phases

Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano

 

Next up came in the form of one of my top five of the festival. Original and surprising in just about every way, Late Phases excelled on so many levels. Not your average horror outing, the film tells the story of grumpy War Veteran Ambrose McKinley (played excellently by Jim Mickle regular Nick Damici) who moves into a retirement community in Crescent Bay. This was once a pleasant and peaceful town but as soon as McKinley moves in, it appears to be anything but.

 

Mysterious attacks of a rather grizzly nature start taking place and one by one the town’s residents start being picked off one by one. It’s McKinley’s hands on, fearless persona that Crescent Bay needs if they are to fight this monster. So get yourself ready for a gripping, exciting and refreshing creature feature for that’s exactly what this delivers.

 

By far the most original take on the werewolf genre in years, Late Phases draws you in from the start. Engineered perfectly with Nick Damici’s chiselled performance, playing a character you can’t help but love, this will shock and surprise you at all the right moments. Bloody and graphic at times it doesn’t over play on this side of things and there’s as much story as there is substance here, with a well written script shining through.

 

Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s direction is simple but effective; there is no CGI here, all good old fashioned make-up and prosthetics and the creature transformation is nothing short of realistic. These all contribute to a well-rounded, visually pleasing and engaging take on the genre and one that landed in many people’s top five of the weekend.

 

R4/5

 

 

The Canal

Director: Ivan Kavanagh

 

The second of my discovery screen outings saw me make a rather controversial decision to miss Dead Snow 2: Red VS. Dead (to many people’s horror) and replace it with Ivan Kavanagh’s creepy ghost story The Canal. Also making it into my top five list of the festival, this eerie tale absorbed me from start to finish and at times proved rather scary. Film archivist David Williams (Rupert Evans) and his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) move into an old-fashioned yet stunning house by a tranquil canal with their young son. Everything seems too good to be true until David discovers that the house has a ghastly past; it was privy to a murder back in the 20th century.

 

Then, in a Sinister like fashion David uncovers some news footage of the events that took place and it starts to consume him. To add to the mix he discovers that his wife is having an affair and gradually he begins a downward spiral into madness and disillusion when he believes this supernatural entity is harbouring in his home.

 

With enough twists and turns to keep you guessing beyond the credits rolling, The Canal inhibits parts of the genre while retaining an original quality of its own. Rupert Evans is superb as the central character and projects David’s gradual insanity well; while also giving us a glimmer of hope, that it might not all be in his head. Callum Heath is fantastic as David’s little boy Billy, who has to be one of the cutest child actors of late and a great little performer too. Kavanagh’s direction is bleak and eerie and the gloomy colour filters help build the dark atmosphere that surrounds the ghostly tale. Kavanagh manages to bring the ghost genre back to its roots but go beyond the many found footage features of late and instead deliver something truly terrifying as one man’s insanity, but the real question is: is it real?

 

R4/5

 

 

The Last Showing

Director: Phil Hawkins

 

It was time to get back in the main screen for a Q and A guest treat. Freddy Krueger himself, horror icon Robert Englund had flown over with co-stars Finn Jones and Emily Berrington and director Phil Hawkins to promote the premier of The Last Showing. The crowd were in awe as the star took to the stage and we waited patiently through the film to get a very memorable Q and A afterwards. Englund plays veteran cinema projectionist Stuart Lloyd, a dedicated worker who has been reduced to selling popcorn and snacks. When he is fired from his job by a manager less than half his age, Stuart decides to make a horror movie of his own and use unfortunate Martin and Allie as his main stars.

 

The young victims have come to the cinema on a date to watch none other than Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes Part II but what they in fact experience is a night of torment and fear as they venture deeper into their own nightmare. The film’s concept is cool and somewhat original and to begin with it looks like it could be quite exciting. It’s a shame, then, that after about twenty minutes it is quite clear just where this is going to go and from then on the surprises fall few and far between. The acting is decent, with young hot talent Finn Jones and Emily Berrington proving they can tackle the genre well and not fall into the endless pit of irritating, unsympathetic adolescents that we all tire of.

 

Robert Englund is of course impressive as Stuart, tapping into his unhealthy obsession but unfortunately it’s still so easy to see Freddy Krueger when he steps on screen. What the film is lacking mainly here is gore and any real kind of slasher element because for it to be a slasher film there has to be a few shocking deaths and there just aren’t here. The direction falls victim to some awful and unnecessary slow-motion that makes it look even more amateur. The film has its moments and Englund gets to deliver some memorable one liners but this just isn’t enough to save a film with a poor script and a rather boring execution. The Q and A afterwards made up for it slightly as Englund came across really well and all the cast were entertaining. Phil Hawkins is one of the most charismatic directors I’ve ever seen and the entire experience was enjoyable. In short, great interview, not such a great film but all part of the fun!

 

R2/5

 

 

Housebound

Director: Gerard Johnstone

 

Our final film for day two came in the form of New Zealand comedy chiller Housebound. This was a great hit for many members of the audience but unfortunately I had encountered a bad case of exhaustion at this point in the evening and have to embarrassingly admit that I fell asleep half way through! But what I did see of the film was gory, funny and amusing, definitely one for me to chase up and watch again. It follows young woman Kylie Bucknell who is placed on home detention and is forced to remain in her home until she serves the sentence. Armed with an ankle tag and with only her irritating and overbearing mother Miriam who believes the house is haunted, to keep her company Kylie starts to lose the will to live. However, it’s not before long that she too starts to convince herself that the house does harbour some sort of supernatural presence. Creaky floorboards and strange whispers follow until mother and daughter discover something truly dark and terrifying in their house.

 

The film doesn’t take itself seriously and that is why it proved to be such a hit during the festival, most people had nothing bad to say about it. With plenty of blood-splattered scenes of guts and gore and featuring a rather unlikely pair at the forefront of it all, Housebound just has that extra quality. It does what it sets out to do: give us an entertaining horror thrill ride, one to keep us awake (most of us) in the late night Friday slot. Despite waking up and wondering where certain characters had come from and how they got there, I still enjoyed what I saw and could tell that this had been enjoyed by most! Frightful, fearsome fun in more ways than one.