The day got of to a bad start as I missed the first film, Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, due to unforeseen technical difficulties getting to London (the details would make it sound like the plot from a horror film but it was no where near that exciting). So my planned three films for the day were cut down to just two – Botched and WAZ.
Botched was a British comedy horror (with a touch of heist movie thrown in) from first time director Kit Ryan. It delivered the requisite amount of gore and a few laughs as well. Some wavering Russian accents (Sean Pertwee as a Russian mob boss) didn’t detract too much from the fun and this was a pleasant enough timewaster, if nothing really special. Special would come later in the day.
Planning to skip the Uwe Boll double-bill if favour of seeking out a zombie mask for tomorrow’s zombie walk I headed off for Forbidden Planet. At 6pm I returned to Leicester Square, my search unsuccessful, and decided I might as well go and see Seed.
Uwe Boll introduced the film and won me over with his comment about Hostel. Decrying Tarantino’s hype about it being the most extreme horror in years , he described it as American Pie in Eastern Europe (I think I may have started the applause for that one). With Seed he set at to make a film that really was the most unrelenting, nihilistic and downright nasty film we’ve seen in years. He succeeded. Two people walked out during the screening, no big thing at an ordinary showing but for a packed audience of dedicated horror fans it was a real achievement. The film was short of plot (executed killer gets buried alive after the electric chair fails to kill him, digs his way out and sets about killing those responsible)but it’s not about plot, it’s making a statement about mans inhumanity to man and killer Max Seed says everything that needs to be said without uttering a word. A gory death is usually met with applause by the FrightFest crowd but when Seed kills a woman with a hammer the smattering of applause died out quickly. This wasn’t the fun gore of Wrong Turn 2, this was something different. Even with some dodgy CGI towards the end of the sequence this was still the most unsettling and, yes, extreme thing I’ve seen in years.
Boll did a Q&A after the film where he got ranted at by a member of the crowd (swiftly shouted down by the audience) and complained that he’s unfairly treated by IMDb, something that the rating for Seed backs up. He was an enthusiastic talker, a genuine horror fan and I did something after the film that if you’d told me I’d be doing at the start of the festival I wouldn’t have believed you, I stood in line for his autograph and shook his hand. My Boll I salute you for providing the biggest surprise of the festival.
Seed wasn’t the best film of the day though, that was WAZ. Dark, disturbing and emotionally affecting (I had a tear in my eye by the end) this had much in common with Se7en (rookie cop partnered with seasoned vet looking for a serial killer) but it was much more than just a cheap knock-off. Melissa George was great as great as the young cop but it was Stellan Skarsgard and Selma Blair who walk off with the acting honours. Skarsgard has never been better (and that’s saying something) and Blair gives the performance of her life. It’s a film that’s stayed with me long after the credits and even now, writing this the next day, I’m a little chocked up by it. Film of the day unquestionably.
Before WAZ we were treated to some exclusive footage from The Cottage, the new film from the director of London to Brighton. The film looks like it could be a winner in a similar comedy/horror vein to Severance. Lets just hope they didn’t show all the best bits.
I decided to avoid Skinwalkers. I’d seen the cut version and didn’t feel that another 20 minutes was going to turn a turkey into a swan.
Only one day to go, a real marathon, with all five films worth watching. Wish me luck.
You missed the grindhouse featurette that preceded Skinwalkers too. It was really quite good!
Thanks for leaving your comments on my journal — difference of opinion is what makes horseracing I’m told. I agree that Day Watch was something of a disappointment, but I really liked Sword Bearer. I’ve reviewed another four today and hope to finish Monday’s by tomorrow. No I didn’t see Mandy Lane — I was feeling very weary by that time on Friday and wimped out.
When you say grindhouse featurette was it on grindhouse films or on the film Grindhouse? Either way I’m sorry I missed it.
Do you (or anyone else) know what cut of Skinwalkers was shown? They didn’t seem certain that it was the uncut version earlier in the day. No one I spoke to bothered to stay for the film. Not that 20 minutes was going to make any difference to this Underworld wannabe.
how does the hammer death in seed rate alongside ireverrsibles fire extiguisher death ?????