Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Easyl's horrible month

By a lucky series of coincidences, the period from the 28th of October - 26th of November has suddenly become packed with a whole lot of horror movies, all on the big screen, that I just absolutely must see.

It all started last Saturday at the Arnolfini with a screening of Nosferatu: A symphony of terror, the 1922 silent vampire movie, complete with live orchestra accompaniment. Next up was a visit to Cineformation at the Watershed, where Christopher Smith, the director of Creep and Severance discussed his movies, along with a couple of local short film-makers. I've not seen either of these movies, but after seeing the clips that Smith showed, 'the operation' and 'the beartrap', I'm keen, and will see them soon.

Next up is the Compass of Horror International Film Festival, a mix of horror films from around the world, with Rampo Noir from Japan, Ginger Snaps from Canada, End of the Wicked from Nigeria, and the British film Dust Devil. These films were selected by four different contributors to Film International, and these critics and the directors of the films will be there to discuss the films and the genre in general. I am well excited.

And from the highbrow, intellectual musings of Compass, I move on to the lowbrow dodgefest that is Bloodbath at the Cube from the 24th to the 26th of November. A three day marathon of feature films and shorts from extreme horror to extreme sci-fi to extreme exploitation. I sure am a sucker for anything with the word extreme in it.

So, as I'm pretty sure every one of the (possibly) 20+ horror films I'll be watching were made for considerably less than $10 million they get the Easyl stamp of approval and therefore I'm going to attempt the improbable and write a review for every single one. Wish me luck.

If you are anywhere other than Bristol, U.K., most of these movies won't be coming to a cinema near you, but hopefully I can find a few gems to bring to your attention. Then you can keep an eye out for them in your local video store bargain bin.

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