Fresh and Blood at Film4 Frightfest 2010

18 July 2010

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Alan Jones is an internationally renowned critic, journalist and broadcaster who has specialised in the horror fantasy genre for over 30 years. He is a co-director of FrightFest, the UK’s biggest genre festival, and is the author of the bestselling ‘Rough Guide to Horror Movies’ and more. He is currently writing a book about the life and work of his friend Guillermo del Toro.

Strange how it all works out. We usually start programming Film4 FrightFest in earnest during the first quadrant of the year. By that time we’ve trawled the Toronto, Austin, Fantasporto and Sitges genre strands for anything of note and put those titles on our short list. The absolutely brilliant Australian shocker The Loved Ones, the hugely controversial A Serbian Film and Simon Rumley’s astonishing Red, White & Blue are three such examples. Then there are the unknown movies that simply get submitted for consideration via our website. This year they included Johannes Roberts’ classroom chiller F and Howard and Jon Ford’s vibrantly visual The Dead. Our final decisions are crystallized throughout the whole Cannes Film Festival blitz and that’s where we snagged Gareth Edward’s amazing Monsters, Gregg Araki’s seductive Kaboom, the girl meets ghoul extravaganza The Pack, the property nightmare Dream Home and our closing night attraction The Last Exorcism. What with other bits and pieces exclusively offered along the way (Hatchet II, Primal, Dead Cert, Wound and Christopher Roth), the line-up came together like a dream.

It was then we realised we didn’t have one single Hollywood movie. In the past we’ve shown the Death Race/Mirrors type of studio picture because we felt it was good to snapshot the genre, our unwavering mission statement. To provide FrightFesters with a good all-round view of what’s happening out there in Horror Fantasy Land. Only this year, what’s hip and truly happening out there has nothing to do with a Hollywood system so mired in redundant remakes and creatively bankrupt mass appeal concepts. OK, so we are showing the I Spit On Your Grave remake, an exception to the rule because we didn’t expect it to be that good. It features a death scene we know will be voted one of FrightFest’s best too (clues: eyes, fishhooks, crows!).

So without even trying to avoid ordinary Hollywood horror product, we had assembled a highly cutting edge, independent based programme of intriguing must-sees that have generated fan buzz over the past six months. Like Isle of Dogs, Alien vs. Ninja and Red Hill. Now I know more than anyone that not everyone is going to like everything. And the moment I say I Spit On Your Grave is the best remake ever, some will not agree. But that’s the beauty of FrightFest, everyone’s opinion matters, and it’s the reason we get so much support from UK distributors because they gauge and construct their marketing around it. One movie I know will take everyone by surprise is director Jang Cheol-soo’ South Korean offering Bedevilled. Other festival curators whose opinions I value told us to check it out, describing it as ‘Lars von Trier meets Sam Raimi’. How could we resist? Yet it turned out to be so much more and I know this movie will prove a real eye-opener for our audience. Last year we showcased two unknown films that went on to huge worldwide success, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Human Centipede.

And if you want to find out what next year’s hits are, look no further than us this late August Bank Holiday weekend.

Tickets for Film4 Frightfest 2010 are released from 31 July 2010

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