FFW day 3
First film was Let's Scare Jessica to Death, a bit of a slow burner with a mostly hysterical main character but it had some OK passages. The magenta print probably didn't help.
Next up was C.H.U.D., a fun radioactive monster film with an underhanded political message but mostly fun, well paced and really enjoyable. Cheesy fun, perfect for an early Sunday afternoon, one of the highlights of today for me.
Then, the "British Horror Revival" collection of shorts. These were divided among two filmmakers, Ashley Thorpe (who randomly happens to sit at our table right now) and Rob Nevitt.
The former showed three films (or, 2 and a half, as the second died during the screening), Hammer influenced mixed media animations. Really interesting stuff.
Nevitt's work was more conventional film work, with one being shot on one Super 8 cartridge without any post editing of a brutal picnic and the last one, Mortified being a kid's party gone horribly wrong.
The final Hammer film today was Countess Dracula in which the seminal (and luscious) Ingrid Pitt played Elizabeth Bathory. It was the first time I'd seen it and I really liked it. It wasn't as cheesy as the others but genuinely moving in places and well done, too.
Having no time to go out for dinner (and it was still raining heavily), I just had some meatballs at the bar before heading into the screen for the last time for Herbert West: Re-Animator which turned out to be the most complete and uncut version I've seen (a print sourced from the US). It made for a highly entertaining and thrilling conclusion to another awesome Fantastic Films Weekend.
Really sad that it's all over again but it was good to hang out with people I only get to see once a year. Let's hope they'll find a way to keep it alive because it's quite unique.
Next up was C.H.U.D., a fun radioactive monster film with an underhanded political message but mostly fun, well paced and really enjoyable. Cheesy fun, perfect for an early Sunday afternoon, one of the highlights of today for me.
Then, the "British Horror Revival" collection of shorts. These were divided among two filmmakers, Ashley Thorpe (who randomly happens to sit at our table right now) and Rob Nevitt.
The former showed three films (or, 2 and a half, as the second died during the screening), Hammer influenced mixed media animations. Really interesting stuff.
Nevitt's work was more conventional film work, with one being shot on one Super 8 cartridge without any post editing of a brutal picnic and the last one, Mortified being a kid's party gone horribly wrong.
The final Hammer film today was Countess Dracula in which the seminal (and luscious) Ingrid Pitt played Elizabeth Bathory. It was the first time I'd seen it and I really liked it. It wasn't as cheesy as the others but genuinely moving in places and well done, too.
Having no time to go out for dinner (and it was still raining heavily), I just had some meatballs at the bar before heading into the screen for the last time for Herbert West: Re-Animator which turned out to be the most complete and uncut version I've seen (a print sourced from the US). It made for a highly entertaining and thrilling conclusion to another awesome Fantastic Films Weekend.
Really sad that it's all over again but it was good to hang out with people I only get to see once a year. Let's hope they'll find a way to keep it alive because it's quite unique.