Review of Bram Stoker International Film Festival
 | "Seaside skincrawling Horror Film Festival" by Nina Romain for remotegoat on 03/11/09 |  |
Words: Nina Romain
Pictures: Rick Senley*
Gorehounds were in their element at Whitby's Bram Stoker International Film Festival, where they watched over 40 horror films in 4 days, saw a macabre cabaret and questioned horror directors from all over the world. Anyone jonesing for vampires, desperate for the zed-word or keen to watch something entitled "Back Alley Butcher" then this is where you needed to be this October (subs: 16-19 October).
The small Yorkshire town of Whitby, where Stoker based parts of his 1897 classic Dracula, is ideal for a Horror fest, and the fans dressed up for the opening night's macabre cabaret. This featured some spirited burlesque from Velvet Boutique, in particular the shimmery and skillful fire-eater Red Sarah.
After this, it was time to settle down to some serious horrorwatching until 2am; one of the most memorable films was "Orlok 3D", (director: Keith Carter/FW Murnau) a newly restored version of Nosferatu. This never-before-seen print adapted from Stoker's Dracula, shortly after its 1922 premiere, became the subject of a bitter lawsuit. The 1920s black and white flickery film, complete with skipped frames, contrasted strongly with background music that is firmly 21st century and the film has been edited in a modern style - an interesting idea to mix different styles.
"Nightlife", directed by Timothy Sanderson, was a very enjoyable vampire comedy in mock-doc style, concerning two rival US gangs, one of vampires and one of hunters, each attempting to kill each other. The hunters, lead shambolically by chief slacker Ricky, were 20somethings who were probably what the Lost Boys' vamp-slaying Frog Brothers ended up as. They wage war against the party-animal vampires, who live fairly similar lives with a succession of McJobs (night shift only, of course). Worth seeing just for the "Where's….Ricky?" line alone, this is funny, smart and still quite chilling - a rare (bloodstained) beast among horror flicks these days.
"Blood on the Highway" (directed by Barak Epstein and Blair Rowan) was another vampire comedy, but despite an entertaining vamps-vs-hillbillies showdown, was bogged down with too many rednecks-are-stupid gags. The protagonists were so loud mouthed and irritating you ended up on the vampires' side. Another interesting film was "George's Intervention" (dir: JT Seaton), another zom-com with a group of friends gather to "intervene" and prevent the titular character overcome his zombie urges. Of course this leads to limb-chomping and mayhem, and despite a few good lines about calling the Zombie Helpline for useful advice on how to kill the undead, suffered from undead-speed pacing.
"Damned by Dawn" (dir: Brett Anstey) was a straightforward Australian shocker, with a family trapped in an Amityville-style massive house, unsurprisingly in the middle of a forest. The family find deceased Granny's diaries, helpfully illustrated by those impressively-artistic drawings frequently found in horror movies. Do the undead have more creative powers than the living? The diaries indicate that a banshee is after them - despite it not being set in Ireland, home of the Banshee - so naturally they decide to charge into the forest at midnight without a second's thought (or ammo, or a torch that works). The pace never lets up for a moment, leading to a lot of screaming, running and being pursued by banshees, but little in the way of character development or humour, both essential in horror films. Watch out for the unintentionally-hilarious moment where the heroine gets her foot clamped by a beartrap, but immediately wallops it off with a stone and runs off with hardly a limp. Despite some strong female characters and some chilling moments, this was too much of a Sam Raimi homage to display much originality.
Another strong short was "Kirksdale" (dir: Ryan R. Spindell) set in a nightmarish hospital-cum-slaughterhouse, almost completely silent and very disturbing, with a good 21st century Frankenstein update. A less successful short was "Back Alley Butcher" which was unimaginative, with gore simply for the sake of gore - and if you are going to invent a killer unoriginal enough to wear a mask, make sure (s)he has an interesting backstory.
During the Q&A on the final day, directors and writers gave advice on how to break into the industry, funding and finance, and working both in front of and behind the camera. Stoker would have been proud of the amount of excellent films played to the faithful in his holiday town - here's looking forward to next year's gorefest!
| Event Venues & Times | |
| finished | Whitby Pavillion Theatre | West Cliff, Whitby, YO21 3EN |
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