By Stephanie Scaife
If you missed the first part of Steph’s FrightFest 2014 report, click here; otherwise, read on…
Life After Beth had received some fairly lacklustre reviews in the mainstream press so I went in with low expectations, only to find myself pleasantly surprised. Dane DeHaan stars as Zach, a young man who has recently lost his girlfriend Beth (Aubrey Plaza) after she suffered a snake bite whilst out hiking. Much to the surprise of Zach and Beth’s parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon) Beth shows up a few days later seemingly with no memory of having died. Initially Zach is thrilled to have Beth back, but as her condition worsens and other people around town start to behave strangely it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems and Beth may have been better off staying dead after all. This is the first feature from Jeff Baena (writer of I Heart Huckabees) and I found it to be incredibly sweet, funny and original; three words you can’t often use to describe a zombie film. DeHaan and Plaza are both excellent and give the film real emotional depth as well as genuine belly laughs in what could easily have been a mumblecore Shaun of the Dead rip-off, but instead easily manages to create its own slowburning end of the world narrative that focuses on human relationships and not the causes or widespread effects.
One of my most anticipated films of FrightFest this year was The Babadook, the feature debut from Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent. I hadn’t heard a single bad word about this film in the run up to the screening and it certainly lived up to my expectations. Essie Davis gives a powerhouse performance as Amelia, a widow and single parent to Sam (Noah Wiseman) a six year old boy with behavioural problems and an over active imagination. One day a mysterious picture book called Mister Babadook appears in Sam’s room. Insisting that he be read the book at bedtime, Sam becomes traumatised by the spooky story and Amelia is forced to hide the book away. Sam becomes increasingly obsessed with the Babadook and as his behaviour worsens so does Amelia’s fragile mental state. Part Repulsion and part The Innocents, The Babadook uses child-in-peril ghost story conventions combined with Amelia’s hysteria to create an ambiguous narrative that leaves you questioning what is real and what is merely imagined by the central duo. Clearly made on a shoe-string but with some ingenious special effects, a single location and a dedicated performance from Davis, this is one of the creepiest and best horror films of the year and it finished off the strongest day of the festival nicely. I’m very keen to see what Kent does next.
Sunday started off slow but strong with Faults, the feature film debut from Riley Stearns (husband to leading lady Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Ansel (Leland Orser) is an expert on mind control and although his career is flagging after a fatal misstep on his short-lived TV show he is recruited by a desperate couple to deprogram their daughter Claire (Winstead) who has been brainwashed by a mysterious cult known only as Faults. Like many of the strongest films at FrightFest this year this is a slowburning two-hander with a single location made by a first time director. What I liked about Faults was that I had no idea where it was going and right up to the end it continued to take me by surprise. Orser gives a great performance as the flawed and distinctly unlikeable Ansel, a very unusual leading man who is none the less compelling even opposite the very charismatic Winstead. I don’t want to spoil what happens but Faults is an extremely tense thriller and if you remain patient the pay off is well worth it.
Among the Living proved to be one of the biggest disappointments of the weekend for me. Having been a fan of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s brutal Inside I’d hoped that the perfunctory but ultimately uninspiring Livid was merely a blip. My hopes were quickly dashed however, as Among the Living was flawed, patchy and at times extremely infuriating. The initial premise was strong, as three teenage troublemakers break up for summer vacation and quickly get themselves into some mischief; a nostalgic and sun bleached coming-of-age tale along the lines of Stand By Me meets The Funhouse. Midway through however it takes a turn for the worse and became little more than a by the numbers slasher flick where you’re left pondering the plot holes more than actually being concerned for the characters or their wellbeing. What I found most frustrating was that from the start we are set up to be invested in these three boys, but two of them become irrelevant halfway through as the focus turns to Victor (Théo Fernandez) and his family. It was bit like, well it doesn’t matter that you cared about these two characters because now you have to focus on some new ones instead, and not only that but they will behave in a completely preposterous manner throughout (why leave your sleeping children alone in their rooms when there is a killer on the loose in the house?!) I also found the film to be curiously violence-free at times with most of the deaths occurring off screen. Very disappointing indeed.
Luckily The Samurai was much better; a completely bonkers German film about a mysterious man in a dress wielding a samurai sword and wreaking havoc on a small unsuspecting town. Part new queer cinema, part fairytale, this was one of the most visually striking and unforgettable films of the festival this year. Jakob (Michel Diercks) is a young police officer who has a quiet life making models and playing cards with his grandmother… that is until a wolf starts preying on the town and he receives a mysterious package that he is asked to deliver to a remote house in the woods. The titular samurai is played with relish by Pit Bukowski, his smeared lipstick, scraggly bleach blonde hair and white dress eerily reminiscent of a young Courtney Love, whose mischief is both to the annoyance and envy of straight laced Jakob. The Samurai is a film to be experienced and appreciated as looking for much narrative cohesion would be a mistake; it’s a beautiful allegorical film that will undoubtedly gain mixed reactions, but I thoroughly enjoyed the irreverence of it.
The first ever Venezuelan horror film comes in the shape of The House at the End of Time and it was certainly a valiant effort; although hindered by some poorly translated subtitles and having the look of a TV soap opera, this was a spooky and well paced thriller that twists and turns towards an unexpected conclusion. There is a very strong central performance from one-time Miss Venezuela winner Ruddy Rodriguez as Dulce, a mother who battles against a mysterious force to protect her two young children. This was definitely a grower for me; initially I wasn’t too fussed but the more I thought about it the more I appreciated it. I always enjoy experiencing new films from different cultures that have unfamiliar aesthetics and a fresh approach to an otherwise tried and tested genre.
Next up was Alleluia from Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz (Calvaire), which presents a new take on the infamous story of The Lonely Hearts Killers (serial killers Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck) which has already had numerous film adaptations, including most famously The Honeymoon Killers (1969). Almodovar regular Lola Dueñas stars as Gloria, a lonely single mother who starts internet dating and meets the charming Michel (Laurent Lucas). All isn’t as it seems though and Gloria quickly comes to realise that he is a con-artist who uses women for money. Instead of telling him to take a hike, Gloria decides to join Michel and by posing as his sister they start to work together. Alleluia reminded me very much of Haneke; each frame oozes grimness and desperation whilst the pitch black humour plays it very close to the bone. Dueñas is fantastically unhinged and gives a brave performance that sees her go from being an extremely sympathetic character to a terrible monster of a woman ravaged by jealousy and greed. Alleluia is not an easy watch, it’s bleak and offers little relief from these terrible characters, but it is also a fascinating and rewarding oddity that proves Calvaire wasn’t just a one off. I’m hoping to see a lot more from Du Welz in the future.
Unfortunately it was downhill from there on Monday with the diabolically awful Aussie horror Lemon Tree Passage which was incredibly muddled, poorly written and badly acted. There was a hint of an interesting premise near the start, but this was all thrown to one side as the plot became more convoluted and the accents even more indecipherable. I was really none the wiser as to what had happened by the end of the film and frankly I was glad when it was over. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse with Xmoor where more bad accents and a confused plot led to me leaving after half an hour, so I really can’t comment on whether it got any better or not (although I’m assuming not). I mean, I understand why filmmakers want to have American characters in their films, but either find some actors with native accents or at least some that can convincingly pull them off, otherwise it’s just distracting.
Having not been a fan of the previous two (with the exception of the Safe Haven segment) V/H/S: Viral was not something I was particularly looking forward to, and as it would turn out, with good reason. It feels rushed and shoddily put together with a wrap-around story that makes absolutely no sense. The first segment, Dante the Great, was a little like an episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, only not as good. Parallel Monsters was a clever idea about a scientist who discovers a parallel dimension where everything initially seems the same, except the fact that Satanism appears to be the norm, along with mutant genitalia… however it never quite lived up to its initial bizzaro prmise despite being the strongest of the three. Last was Bonestorm, which mostly just made me feel like I was playing a really easy videogame that involved killing zombies with skateboards. According to IMDb there was a fourth segment called Gorgeous Vortex, which was conspicuously missing from the cut we were shown. I can only assume that the appalling padding provided by the wrap-around segment was drawn out to accommodate this gap. I’d be interested to see if this version is the one that gets released.
The Signal was a strange choice for the closing film; a PG-13 rated sci-fi thriller that plays very much like an episode of The Twilight Zone aimed at a YA audience. I found myself enjoying it though, despite a lack of coherency. The Signal is at its strongest during the first half where we are introduced to two computer whizz MIT students Nic (Brenton Thwaites) and Jonah (Beau Knapp) as they drive the former’s girlfriend Haley (Olivia Cooke) to college across the country. They find themselves being targeted by a mysterious hacker known only as Nomad and decide to track the signal to find out who he is and why he’s monitoring them. The relationships between these three characters are played out well, you believe in them and care about them. The mysterious Nomad is also a creepy curiosity, hacking into their webcams and traffic cameras… however once they find the mysterious shack in the woods and investigate what’s going on, The Signal plays its hand too early and becomes a far less subtle affair. Nic awakens to find himself quarantined in a mysterious underground facility and monitored by Dr. Damon (Laurence Fishburne); hell bent on escape, he gets a lot more than he bargained for when finally surfacing above ground. The Signal is a very attractive film with an endearing young cast and an interesting idea in there somewhere, however the filmmaker’s agenda to wow the audience with special effects and WTF moments slightly undermines the second half. Still, having said that this is a fairly enjoyable film, especially after what I was subjected to earlier that day being so poor, and you could do a lot worse if you fancied an entertaining sci-fi romp to tide you over one evening.
So, that’s it for another year. As always FrightFest has been a mixed bag and there were a few teething problems with the new venue, however there were some real gems this year (and only a couple of true stinkers). My main complaint would be that the Discovery screen films were not repeated, as they have been in previous years, so it made it very difficult to see all of the films I wanted to see. As usual there have been some noticeable themes present and I’m happy to report that this year it was strong female characters: from Honeymoon to Housebound to The Babadook to Faults there have been a lot of great performances and also well rounded, believable, central female characters, which is truly great to see, especially in genre cinema. Strong debuts from first time features were also represented heavily in the line-up and I’m very much hoping for more of the same next year.
My Top Five Films of FrightFest 2014:
1. Honeymoon
2. Alleluia
3. Starry Eyes
4. The Samurai
5. The Babadook
Special mentions: Life After Beth, Housebound, Faults and The Guest.