Mayhem Horror Film Festival 2014 (Part 3): Day 4

Day 4: Sunday 2nd November

The final day of the festival started with a Sci-Fi flick and an absolutely amazing one at that!

Predestination stars Ethan Hawk as a time-travelling Temporal Agent on his final assignment. He must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time.

There's not much more I can say about the plot that won't give away the many and very clever twists throughout the film. The movie is simply mind bending and blowing, with a couple of massive "WTF!" moments.

On top of that, the performance from Sarah Snook is outstanding, along with some fantastic cinematography. There's no over the top SFX and it keeps the time travel theme rather simple which only adds to the brilliance of the film.

I can not recommend this movie enough for fans of Sci-Fi thrillers. This will leave you speechless your brain melted with delight.

Predestination gets 5 Stars

Check out the trailer...

Next up was ABC's of Death 2.

The was only a handful of segments that stood out in the first anthology so I was apprehensive going into this. I was however looking forward to seeing Jen and Sylvia Soska's contribution, as I loved their work.

I'm not going into every segment in this post, but what I will say that as a whole this anthology sequel is better than the first film and well worth watching as all involved has cranked up the gore, fun and disturbing intensity.

The Twisted Twins didn't disappoint with their "T is for Torture Porn" segment which stars Tristan Risk and Astron6's Conor Sweeney.

Robert Morgan's "D is for Deloused" was also great and he was also a special guest at the festival that day.

ABC's of Death 2 gets 3 and a half Stars

Check out the trailer and below that is a Q&A with director Robert Morgan...

Here I am with Director Robert Morgan

Next that followed was another hilarious and clever comedy horror from New Zealand.

What We Do in the Shadows was absolutely hilarious from start to finish. Much in the same vain as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), the movie is presented as a mockumentary.

We follow the lives of four house mates that are all vampires as they go about their daily, or I should say, nightly business.

There's so many nods to great vampire characters and films throughout the movie and there's even a few werewolves that fit into the story nicely.

It's not just filled with obvious slapstick comedy, but it also has some very clever and cool moments that only a seasoned vampire fan and / or horror fan will recognised.

This was one of the highlights of the weekend.

What We Do in the Shadows gets 5 Stars

Here's the trailer...

What came next was a very special experience. The 1955 silent film Daughter of Horror (Dementia Cut) was shown with a live score played by Nottingham's own 5 piece band, the 8mm Orchestra.

"As the narrator invites us to explore the horrors of an insane mind, a young woman wakes from a nightmare in a cheap hotel room. We follow her through the skid-row night and encounters with an abusive husband; a wino; a pimp and the rich man he panders for; a flashback to her traumatic childhood; violence; pursuit through dark streets; dementia. Filmed in film-noir style throughout; only the narrator speaks."

The vivid imagery is pleasing to the eye and was equalled by the amazing live performance from the 8mm Orchestra. If you haven't experienced anything like this then I recommend it. Hopefully they will be playing again in 2015.

As a whole experience, this gets 5 Stars

Check out the original trailer...

A few shots before and after the 8mm Orchestra performance

After a short break for "The Flinterrogation" which is the hardest horror quiz who'll ever take part in that took place in the Broadway Cafe Bar, Mayhem showed the last film of the festival.

Monsters: Dark Continent, sequel to 2010's Monsters, takes place ten years on from the events of Monsters, and the 'Infected Zones' have now spread worldwide. In the Middle East a new insurgency has begun. At the same time there has also been a proliferation of Monsters in that region. The Army decide to draft in more numbers to help deal with this insurgency.

What starts out as a war film / creature feature, becomes more of a story about a small group of soldiers and how they deal with what's going on. As the film progresses, so do the emotional state of the characters.

Although not the best film of the festival by any stretch, with the excellent performances from the main cast which provided the strong emotional content to the film and some beautiful cinematography, this sequel was extremely enjoyable.

Monsters: Dark Continent gets 3 Stars

Check out the trailer below and again, another Q&A with cast members Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Sam Keeley, Johnny Harris (This Is England '86/88, The Last Days on Mars) and film editor Richard Graham.

From left to right: Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Me, Joe Dempsie

I was actually pretty star struck with meeting Joe Dempsie as I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan! He plays Gendry, the "bastard" son of Robert Baratheon.

So that was the end of the 2014 Mayhem Horror Film Festival and an amazing weekend. Keep your eyes out for part 4 which looks at "10 Years of Mayhem."