And I’m not alone. Horror movies are some of the most successful films that come out nowadays, and with the addition of loads of great horror TV shows as well – it’s hard to escape the scares.
Halloween is on the horizon and so HOME are bringing back their Filmfear horror movie festival with some absolute classics alongside a load of brand new flicks.
From Friday 26th October until Wednesday 31st October HOME and Film4 will be bringing 6 days of horror, extreme cinema, cult favourites and special guests including a couple of classics from John Carpenter and a bat-shit crazy ‘Mandy’ with a particularly manic Nic Cage in full rage mode.
The festival will also feature appearances and Q&A sessions with Matthew Holness who makes his film-making debut with Possum, as well as actor-writer-comedian Toby Hadoke, who has scripted an adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s The Road.
Here’s what’s on…
Border (Gräns)
Friday 26th October, 8.30pm
A customs official with a super-sensitive sense of smell is drawn into a conspiracy that turns out to have a bizarre folkloric twist. Based on a story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, theauthor of Let the Right One In, this genuinely surprising Scandi thriller blends fantasy, romance and horror to end up as something entirely unique.
Listening event: Nigel Kneale’s The Road + Q&A
Saturday 27th October, 2.30pm
Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough star as a philosopher and scientist investigating ghostly outbreaks in a country wood in 1768. Nigel Kneale’s legendary lost 1963 TV play has been adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Toby Hadoke. This special listening event will be followed by a Q&A with actor, writer and comedian Toby Hadoke.
One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o tomeru na!)
Saturday 27th October, 6.30pm
Beginning with an almost 40-minute single-take set piece that sets the tone for what’s to come, this cult sensation from Japan is a zippy, silly meta-comedy that’s stuffed with great, self-referential gags about making low-budget horror movies. The physical humour is perfectly applied to the zombie action, but it’s the development of the character comedy across the film’s three distinct acts that really helps deliver the crowd-pleasing climax.
Mandy
Saturday 27th October, 8.20pm
A wild and grandiose story of love, revenge and the supernatural, Panos Cosmatos’ follow-up to Beyond the Black Rainbow at times feels like a cinematic sculpture rather than just an out-there, blood-soaked Nicolas Cage movie – though it’s very much the latter too. Cage goes crazy when love of his life Andrea Riseborough is spirited away by a dark-magic cult, and the film itself goes right along with him.
They Live!
Sunday 28th October, 4pm
Conspiracy theory sci-fi from John Carpenter that’s a firm fan favourite thanks to its mix of goofy B-movie stylings and subversive satire. Aliens move amongst us using subliminal imagery to control our minds. Luckily for humanity, wrestler-turned-actor ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper can literally see through their sinister plans with his x-ray specs and he takes the fight to them in a more physical fashion. They Live also features one of cinema’s all-time great brawls – a real bare-knuckle showstopper – and, of course, another memorable John Carpenter score.
Let the Corpses Tan (Laissez bronzer les cadavres)
Sunday 28th October, 6.20pm
The directors of Giallo tributes Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears return with a ferocious take on Euro Westerns and the Italian ‘Poliziotteschi’ genre. A remote artist’s hilltop hideaway is the setting for an all-guns-blazing stand-off between crooks and cops in this violently beautiful work of art, a film in which infinite care has been lavished on every single extreme second.
Assassination Nation
Monday 29th October, 6.10pm
A clique of high school girlfriends find their lives exposed when a stranger starts revealing their online secrets to the world, forcing them to take no prisoners in an attempt to calm the storm of scandal. The biting black comedy and violent action is a blast, but there’s also a strong horror vibe to this tale of societal breakdown.
Videoman (Videomannen)
Monday 29th October, 8.40pm
One of the stand-out discoveries at August’s FrightFest, this mystery-thriller will strike a chord with anyone who’s ever collected VHSs, DVDs or any form of physical media. It’s also a treat for retro horror fans, as it follows the travails of a videotape obsessive who gets his hands on a rare item that could solve all his problems. However, his carefully ordered existence (and tape archive) is threatened when the Giallo-style plots of his favourite films intrude into his everyday life. All of a sudden, not rewinding a tape doesn’t seem like such a heinous crime after all.
Possum + Q&A
Tuesday 30th October, 6.20pm
Harris is on magnificently twisted form as Philip, a troubled children’s puppeteer battling surreal secrets from his past and Possum, the hideous hand puppet he keeps in a black leather case. Philip finds escaping the will of Possum is as hard as dealing with his demons. Event: Guests will be joined by director Matthew Holness for a Q&A following this screening.
The Fog
Tuesday 30th October, 8.40pm
Looking to continue the terror but in a different style, John Carpenter followed up his smash-hit Halloween with this effectively spooky ghost story evocatively set in a California coastal town. One hundred years after the sinking of a ship in local waters a mysterious fog rolls in, bringing with it strange events and spectral figures. A roll-call of genre favourites – Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh and Adrienne Barbeau attempt to solve the mystery, with Carpenter providing a supernatural atmosphere and a spinetingling score.
St. Agatha
Wednesday 31st October, 6.30pm
An atmospheric chiller from director Darren Lynn Bousman, veteran of the Saw franchise (II, III and IV). A young pregnant woman, desperate to keep her identity secret, identifies a rural convent as a safe place to have her baby. However, this sinister story goes to some very dark places as the domineering Mother Superior’s gruesome plans are slowly revealed.
The Evil Dead
Wednesday 31st October, 8.40pm
A horror classic returns to the big-screen for Halloween, with cult leading-man Bruce Campbell fighting the eternal evil laying siege to his cabin in the woods. Stephen King dubbed this ‘the ultimate experience in gruelling terror’ back in the early 80s and, although it’s since been reappraised by some as a horror-comedy, King’s initial take still stands – despite some slapstick gore, director Sam Raimi’s remarkable debut is relentless, ferocious and unapologetic nightmare fuel.
For tickets, head to the HOME website.
