Grimmfest final day

 Final day was yesterday.  It's taken till now to almost recover.

First up was Dead Dicks

This sounds like a knockabout comedy with its joky title and that tag line. There are some laughs in it, that can't be denied. The opening half hour is really quite funny and strange. Richard has discovered that every time he kills hismelf he is reborn in his bedroom through a giant vagina/butthole that has appeared from nowhere on his wall.

However, from a personal perspective, suicide is a very raw nerve with me because of events earlier this year so this film, however well made and acted it is - and it certainly is both well made and well acted.  As a result I was quite upset in all the wrong ways by this film - the ending  in particular seems to suggest that Richard's suicide is actually a good thing and will set his sister free to live her own life. I know I wasn't the only person who picked up on that vibe from conversations with other festival-goers later on.

Next up was a this little slice of surburban horror. A young woman moves into what eems to be a dream apartment complex. Unfortunately, as there always is in these situations, there's a darkness at the heart of this community.
It features good solid performances and some real shocks in among the melodrama. At least the assisted suicide in this one is portrayed as part of the darkness and therefore not a good thing.A nice Bodysnatchers meets urban gothic feel to this one. An easy 4/5


Next up - not strictly speaking a horror film, though it uses aspects of the horror genre.  It starts with a child cycling through the woods and mysteriously flying off his bike.  In the house belonging to the lead detective in the boy's subsequent disappearance, which is close by, strange tthings are happening. It appears to be the work of a poltergeist, or is the teenage son just playing up? Or is there more going on?

About halfway through the film switches tracks and rewinds brilliantly. We then see the key events of the first half all over again, but from fresh eyes. This totally changes our perspectives as we realise what's really happening.

The cleverest and most twisty turny film of the weekend.

 Then came Harpoon. Three friends on a boat to try out the new spear gun two of them have given the other as an early birthday present. What could possibly go wrong?

In the very capable hands of writer/director Rob Grant (Frenemies(Mon Ami) - and Fake Blood) anything that can do does, and with great prejudice. The boat breaks down leaving them adrift in the Atlantic with no supplies. Secrets that should best stay hidden come to the fore and nastiness of many varieties from sarcasm to psychological torment to flat out vioelnce ensues.

The story twists and turns nicely and a good sense of schadenfreude is built. Rob Grant gets better with every film. I hope he continues to make many more.
Easy 4.5/10

Penultimate movie - the Soska twins' remake of Rabid.  The original of this by Cronenburg is the stuff of legend.  If you haven't seen it, you really should.  It's one of DC's best early films and boasts some great performances.

This is a very diffrent film although it has many many easter eggs and name drops etc to the career of Mr Cronenburg.  It feels more like DC than the Soskas to be honest - which is probably a good thing - to be more honest.

It follows the plot of the original to a large extent, but set in the fashion world so they can incorporate some modern day satire and bitchiness into the mix. It's not as good as the orignal. There are screamingly large plot holes. I suspect there was some budget slashing went on somewhere because it does seem to lack the big set pieces hat come as standard for this type of film. We're told the contagion is widespread but we only ever see a few victims in the hospital. there's no sense of scale of the emergency.  In fact a fashion show is allowed to go ahead in the middle of this allegedly locked down and infested city.  Still an entertaining enough effort 3.5/5

Then there was a half hour short called Loom. It looked pretty enough - but the story of two city types heading out to the country for some outdoors excitement and meetig unfriendly locals is fairly pedestrian and held zero surprises after the first glimpse of fangs. A decent throwback to 80s monter movies.

And finally we had Little monsters - a feel-good zombie comedy following a typical waster character who's joined his 5 year old  nephew's school day trip to a local theme park to try to cop ff with the teacher. Instead, the army labs next door lose some specimens and they find themselves holed up and surrounded by flesh eating monsters.

Good hearted and funny.  It will probably be a bigger hit than I personally think it deserves to be. Enjoyable but fairly forgettable 3.5/5






So Hoghlights of the festiva after a day to let it all settle - Extra Ordinary, Why Don't you Just Die and either Every Time I die or I see you for my top three films.

Least favourite - Artik and Dead Dicks.