Now in it's 11th year, Mayhem Horror Film Festival had a slight change in date (you can blame the release date of Spectre for that!). But that didn't matter as the line-up and guests are always impressive and the atmosphere is always welcoming. Here's what happened on Thursday night...
Day 1: Thursday 15th October
The film that kicked off the festival was Emelie...
After their regular babysitter can't make it, the Thompson family turn to the highly recommended Anna to supervise the children while they go out to celebrate their anniversary.
Sound simple enough? Well, it wasn't. Fuck my ass, what a way suitably fucked up way to start the proceedings!
Sarah Bolger stars as Anna, or is it Emelie?! She gives a outstandingly creepy, yet subtle, performance as the babysitter from, erm, well, somewhere very strange and messed up. The trio of child actors, Carly Adams (Sally), Joshua Rush (Jacob) and Thomas Bair (Christopher) are fantastic in their roles baring in mind how young they all are.
Both direction and script are strong and what that delivers on the screen is disturbing and unsettling in absolute bucket loads!
Emelie gsts 4 Stars |
Up next was the documentary Future Shock - The Story of 2000AD... "A long overdue documentary that tells the story of 2000AD, the unsung cult hero of the comics industry" with special guests Paul Goodwin, producer Sean Hogan and 2000AD writer and artist D’Israeli (Matt Brooker)...
I for one was looking forward to this as 2000AD was the only comic I ever really read as a kid. The documentary itself was well made. Learning how the comic came about and is still going strong today despite all the ups and downs over the years from various people that have worked and still work on the comic was extremely interesting. The interviews are very frank, open and honest. I highly recommend this to fans of 2000AD! A link to pre-order the DVD can be found further down the page.
Here's D’Israeli and I after he signed my copy of Leviathan.
The DVD is now available to pre-order on Amazon HERE. Check out the trailer...
The last film of the evening was a French remake of Mario Bava's Rabid Dogs...
"After a bank job goes badly wrong, three desperate criminals take a young woman and a father and child hostage, which is the beginning of a frantic and violent road trip that not all of them will survive."
Éric Hannezo makes his directional debut with this tense and violent thriller with a twist.
Solid acting from all the cast and a great script gives this French film the edge over a lot of modern English language thrillers.
Standout performances come by way of Guillaume Gouix and Lambert Wilson.
Rabid Dogs gets 4 Stars |
Check out the trailer below...
It was an absolutely perfect way to start Mayhem! Look out for Part 2 soon...