It was a grim start to the day: outside Leicester Square’s Empire Cinema, it was very grey and wet, and inside wasn’t much better. The word is bleak, thanks to the first few films screened for FrighFest’s second day. Events would eventually take a turn for the better however, as a few good men came to make the save: Tucker, Dale, and some fellow supposedly made of glass. You may know him as THN favourite and horror fanatic Andy Nyman.
But first thing’s first unfortunately…
ROGUE RIVER
Director: Jourdan McLure
Cast: Michelle Page, Bill Moseley, Lucinda Jenney
Synopsis: When Mara (Michelle Page) takes her father’s ashes to Rogue River and someone tows her car, she is forced to accept a lift from friendly local Jon. She soon finds herself at Jon and his wife Lea’s house, where they invite her to stay. But it’s only a matter of time before Jon and Lea reveal their true nature, and Mara is suddenly trapped as part of their bizarre family…
Horror Highlights? Part I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, part THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, ROGUE RIVER manages to get under the skin to some extent, largely through some inventive violence and torture (that’s a phrase seldom used outside of horror fandom). Also on hand are a number of horrific plot points; themes of family values are very much at the film’s core, and it revels in providing several sickening twists around this. This is all aided by Lucinda Jenny’s unsettling turn as Lea: with her chemotherapy-ravaged scalp, violent outbursts, and incontinence, the character excels as the psycho matriarch.
Gory Gash? It lacks the charm of the blackly-comic MUM AND DAD, its 2008 British equivalent. It is also prone to familiar conventions (the doomed sheriff making door-to-door enquiries) and clumsy plotting (whilst attempting escape, Mara has time to leaf through some old photographs for a quick lesson on the villains’ backstory), all of which suggests there may not have been enough credible story to pad out the recycled concept.
Overall? ROGUE RIVER manages to finish with a bang (or should that be stab?), and delivers a satisfying and grisly conclusion. Which is rather fitting after the ordeal Jon and Lea have put Mara through… it’s rare that one wishes a violent and brutal assault on a cancer sufferer, but after the events of the final act, that’s exactly what will happen.
THE HOLDING
Director: Susan Jacobson
Starring: Vincent Regan, Kierston Wareing, David Bradley, Terry Stone
Synopsis: After her husband ‘disappears’, Cassie (Wareing) is left to run her Yorkshire farm with her two daughters. Struggling to make ends meet, Cassie has to resist pressure to sell off her home. But then Aden (Regan) arrives, an old friend of her husband’s, and fills the dad-shaped gap in the family. But is Aden who he says he is? And is he a raging effing psycho?
Horror Highlights? THE HOLDING begins relatively well, especially the development of Cassie’s main problem: she is in a desperate fix but too proud or arrogant to accept help. The setting is also conceived effectively as an isolated spot, where cross-eyed bearded men gather in bushes with Rabbits’ corpses and loaded shotguns. And Vincent Regan’s performance in the first half of the film is also noteworthy: he is extremely likable and charming, shame about the second half…
Gory Gash? Either Regan hasn’t got the acting chops to pull off Aden’s descent into psychotics, or there’s something fundamentally wrong with the character on paper. Our guess is probably both. The character is quarter Travis Bickle, quarter DEAD MAN’S SHOES and half a poor EASTENDERS villain. Cassie’s Bible wielding 9-year old daughter also grates, and her dialogue clunky and borderline laughable as spouts irrelevant religious nonsense throughout the story.
Overall? A promising start that soon descends into a clichéd and predictable disappointment. Although there are a few cow murders, so at least the ‘sisters doing it for themselves’ will be good for a barbecue once they bump off the maniac.
URBAN EXPLORER
Director: Andy Fetscher
Starring: Klaus Stiglmeier, Nathalie Kelley, Max Riemelt, Nick Eversman
Synoposis: When four young thrill-seekers go exploring in the tunnels beneath Berlin, their guide falls victim to a horrific accident. Though lost and alone in the disused Nazi chambers, an unusual man by the name of Armin comes to their rescue (the eerie Stiglmeier). But is he to be trusted? Or might he the product of the Nazi experiments for which the chambers are famed? Or just a full-on mentalist?
Horror Highlights? There is a very dark comedic element beneath the film, though only once the disturbed Armin arrives on the scene. Humorous highlights include him torturing Nathalie Kelley by way of blowing up a plastic bag and rubbing it around her face a bit (and judging by her reaction, he my as well have been sawing her limbs off), and popping a rather fetching ladies’ wig onto one victim before the disemboweling begins.
Gory Gash: The idea of exploring hidden dangerous Nazi hideouts is about as appealing as A) returning to a spot where you’ve witnessed someone dumping bodies or B) popping back to pull the killer’s mask off though he’s not definitely dead or C) any other number of horror clichés. As a result the plausibility of URBAN EXPLORER is strained from the off. Additionally, this is nothing we haven’t seen before; in fact, the first and last acts mimic THE DESCENT so much it’s hard to overlook (plus the HOSTEL-lite middle act).
Overall? One for the gorehounds and horror completists only, but if that is your thing, there’s plenty to keep you amused. Anyone after something a bit more progressive will have to look elsewhere. Plus, the screening was botched as it had no subtitles, so what appeared to be an artistic decision to increase tension and mystery turned out to be an almighty balls up.
Tucker & Dale Vs Evil
Director: Eli Craig
Starring: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss
Synopsis: When a group of frat kids go camping in the mountains, a series of mishaps lead them to believe that hillbillies Tucker and Dale (Labine and Tudyk) have kidnapped and tortured one of their number, Allison (Bowden). The empty-headed Tucker and Dale are confused when the kids try to fight back, mostly with gruesome and hilarious consequences.
Horror Highlights: Pure laughs and gore from start to finish, with the most inventive deaths this side of a FINAL DESTINATION brainstorm meeting (into the wood-chipper with you, son). The whole thing is carried by fine comic performances from Labine and Tudyk, as well a suitably sinister turn from Moss as supremist frat-boy Chad.
Gory Gash: There is very little to dislike about TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL. Sure, its plot and conclusion may be as predictable as they come, but viewers won’t be interested in a cerebral dissection of narrative, they’ll be interested in a whole manner of skewerings, decapitations, and wayward limbs.
Overall? The self-referential horror has been done to death, and by this point breaking and bending the rules is something of a convention in itself. But that is easily overlooked here, because TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL is pure and honest fun (if the words ‘pure’ and ‘honest’ can be used in conjunction with a film as violent and blood-soaked as this).
Other horror highlights from FrightFest day 2?
Why, of course… THE GLASS MAN absolutely blowing the audience away, and a following Q&A with cast and crew… (for our full review of the film, click here)…. URBAN EXPLORER director Andy Fetscher recommending an audience shouldn’t ‘sound so retarded’ during the the Q&A session (that Euro humour really doesn’t travel)… your man from THN wandering Leicester Square in search of a decent and reasonably priced meal, only to find himself back at the cinema having spent all his pennies on THREE burgers… during THE HOLDING cast and crew Q&A, the query ‘does anyone have any questions’ being met with steely silence… then an audience member taking the plunge only to direct a question to an actor who wasn’t even there… standing near both Andy Nyman and Neil Marshall in the hope that we’d look like mates… and, last but not least, the next installment of the short John Carpenter remakes, this time Sean Hogan’s re-imagining of THE THING, in which a ‘thing’ in human form tied two people to chairs and tested their blood until he could establish which one of them was a villainous ‘homosapien’… more on FrightFest tomorrow…!
