The HORRORTHON!

Cactus Col

From their website www.horrorthon.com

The Horrorthon Festival takes place 25th - 29th October 2007.
The final confirmed programme will be published soon - this is an advance listing:

30 DAYS OF NIGHT, DEAD SILENCE, FRIDAY THE 13th : THE FINAL CHAPTER, MOTEL HELL, DRIFTWOOD (Q&A with Director Tim Sullivan) BOTCHED, ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES, GAMERZ, END OF THE LINE, THE TRIPPER, PREDATOR (20th anniversary), ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, BLOODY BIRTHDAY, SUMMER SCARS, MASTERS OF HORROR 2 Joe Dante's THE SCREWFLY SOLUTION & Stuart Gordon's THE BLACK CAT, DRACULA (1958), SURPRISE FILM, STUCK, FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY, TEETH, SKINWALKERS, HOOD OF HORROR, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, PLANET TERROR



It's looking good ... had a great time the last couple of years at it

lodgepole

There's a few in there that will be worth seeing...

However, a few choices have annoyed me slightly. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which will presumably be the Monday night film, is not a horror film. It's a very worthy film to present theatrically, but come on... The same goes for Predator although at least that's a thriller of sorts...

For Your Height Only... There's a trailer for this film on youtube if you're so inclined. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be a projected DVD of a film that, also, has nothing to do with horror. There's only so far you can push an audience when it comes to paying full price for a ****ty film. The final movie on Saturday night used to be amazing, remember Emmanuelle and the Last Cannibals? At a horror festival we'll sit through a badly made film just to laugh at it, but make it a horror film... I'm not paying to watch that.

More Masters of Horror. They saved the festival last year, but it's still a bit of a rip off. Bring it back to a two day festival with one horror premiere on Friday night and maybe you won't need to fill out the time with a TV show.

30 Days of Night and Planet Terror are pretty big films to get, so fair play to them on that one, although I wasn't much of a fan of Planet Terror.

And if the surprise film has a ****ing wrestler in it again, there'll be hell to pay.

MarkHall

I've enjoyed the last few I've gone to.
But as always it Clashes with Gealcon.
Might just do the Friday and monday night.

djkeogh

There are a few good titles there that I'll be looking forward to seeing. I only got to 2 flicks last year but had a great time at them both. Looking to take in up to 6 from this list this year. I do agree with Lodgepole and was surprised to see more Sci Fi on the list and while I'm not complaining about a big screen outing for Predator or Close Encounters they don't really fit the theme of the Festival.

senordingdong

So eh...where does this take palce?

djkeogh

It's on in the IFI in Temple bar over the Halloween Bank Holiday weekend

senordingdong

I see.
Sounds cool.
What's the story with tickets, does the whole thing have to be pre-booked and what not?

Otis Driftwood

There are little or no movies on the programme that I have any interest in viewing.
They are hardly horror movies.
Just look at the cinema wasteland or BUTFF line up and this one pales in comparison.
At least last year there was Demons and the year before cannibal holocaust.
Total genre classics.
What is there this year?
Friday the 13th part who bloddy cares.
Sorry for ranting in my first ever reply.
Had to get it off my chest.

Creature

Predator on the big screen eh? So how does one purchase tickets to this? Are they likely to be expensive/hard to get?

lodgepole

senordingdong wrote:

I see.
Sounds cool.
What's the story with tickets, does the whole thing have to be pre-booked and what not?

You can get a weekend pass that covers one, two or three days and there's generally a premiere with a q&a on the Friday night which has tickets sold seperately. The surprise film is always a fast seller so if you want to take the chance, go nuts, but it hasn't been a good film in a very long time (The Others was the last decent one). If you buy individual tickets, they'll be standard IFI price, so not cheap. Getting the day passes basically makes the crap films free, so it's worth it in that regard. There will be some real turkeys in there... It's become increasingly common to have projected DVDs at the festival which I think is a travesty, particularly given their history of tracking down prints of unavailable films (Krug & Company aka Last House on the Left being a prime example). I'm going to be choosing very carefully this year, as even the atmosphere of doing full days has disapeared. The introductions get shorter, the crowd interaction, the competitions... As a festival it's gone very downhill in the last couple of years.

Creature

So if I just wanted to see two films (Predator and maybe 30 Days of Night) then buying individual tickets would be the best option? Also what sort of prices can I expect (never been to the IFI)?

lodgepole

Creature wrote:

So if I just wanted to see two films (Predator and maybe 30 Days of Night) then buying individual tickets would be the best option? Also what sort of prices can I expect (never been to the IFI)?

About a tenner a pop, you'll need to pick up the two tickets and a day membership for the IFI.

Quinnsey

I used to enjoy the interaction in the past but I just found it very forced and inappropriate at the few screening I went to last year, particularly with one smartass trying to show everyone how hard and cool he was by hooting away when a small child gets run over in Pet Semetary. I can understand laughing at unintentionally funny scenes in bad movies but this was just uncalled for.

It’s seems like a large proportion of the audience is now made up of people who really don’t have any interest in watching the films but just want to get pissed beforehand in the pub and then compete to see who can make the biggest ass out of themselves. I’d love to see Predator on the big screen (good chance that might be a print) but I’m already dreading having to listen to the predictable guffaws from the hip audience members who have to let us know that they are too cool to take the film seriously.

And paying €10 to watch a DVD (complete with someone navigating through the menus) which is being shown on a projector with dead pixels just isn’t worth it anymore if you ask me.

Shame really.

Decuc500

I noticed when I saw The Dark at the Horrorthon a few years ago there were a lot of people sniggering and laughing at the movie. Ok, it's not a great film but these 'I'm too cool for this movie' idiots really annoy me. It's a horror movie and it's a bit silly, what were they expecting?

I'm looking forward to All The Boys Love Mandy Lane this year.

senordingdong

Ok, it sounds bollocks now.

StarryBud

So Predator and Close Encounters might just be a projected DVD?! Eff that. Anyway we can find out for sure what's going to be actual celluloid?

lodgepole

StarryBud wrote: »

So Predator and Close Encounters might just be a projected DVD?! Eff that. Anyway we can find out for sure what's going to be actual celluloid?

Neither of them will be, both are 35mm prints as far as I know. If you go to the IFI listings for the festival it has the format printed in each individual film description.

bryan philips

Some great stuff here. Really looking forward to Hammer Horror Dracula and 30 Days Of Night.

NunianVonFuch

Anyone fancy a guess on what the surprise film will be? I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's going to be something good whatever it is. Last year's was god awful with Kane's See No Evil (which was remade this year with Rob Zombie's Halloween ) but before that we had Terry Gilliam's The Brother's Grimm and The Machinist.
So we're due.
Kind of surprised by all the moaning about the quality of the films, seems no one is talking about the new films, just that there isn't any good oldies. I'm leaving out Friday but I will be going to the following:

Thurs: 30 Days of Night
Sat: End of the Line & All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Sun: Masters of Horror & Surprise Film
Mon: Driftwood & Planet Terror

I'd go to more but I can't take more than 2 films a day, the other years proved that! Here's some review links:

The Tripper DreadCentral
End of the Line DreadCentral
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Bloody-Disgusting
Teeth Bloody-Disgusting
Driftwood Bloody-Disgusting & DreadCentral

Running Bing

Decuc500 wrote: »

I noticed when I saw The Dark at the Horrorthon a few years ago there were a lot of people sniggering and laughing at the movie. Ok, it's not a great film but these 'I'm too cool for this movie' idiots really annoy me. It's a horror movie and it's a bit silly, what were they expecting?

I'm looking forward to All The Boys Love Mandy Lane this year.

believe me its not just films like this. I attend a film class and whenever the lecturer shows a clip of a film pre 1990 the audience is in hysterics:rolleyes:



Apparently Casablanca and Rear Window are comedy masterpieces I just havent got:mad:

Running Bing

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Anyone fancy a guess on what the surprise film will be? I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's going to be something good whatever it is. Last year's was god awful with Kane's See No Evil (which was remade this year with Rob Zombie's Halloween ) but before that we had Terry Gilliam's The Brother's Grimm and The Machinist.
So we're due.
Kind of surprised by all the moaning about the quality of the films, seems no one is talking about the new films, just that there isn't any good oldies. I'm leaving out Friday but I will be going to the following:

Thurs: 30 Days of Night
Sat: End of the Line & All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Sun: Masters of Horror & Surprise Film
Mon: Driftwood & Planet Terror

I'd go to more but I can't take more than 2 films a day, the other years proved that! Here's some review links:

The Tripper DreadCentral
End of the Line DreadCentral
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Bloody-Disgusting
Teeth Bloody-Disgusting
Driftwood Bloody-Disgusting & DreadCentral

My money is either the orphanage or mother of tears and if it is one of them I will be over the moon.


Also I have booked a few tickets online, do I just need to bring the email confirmation along to get my tickets?

monkeyfudge

Babybing wrote: »

Also I have booked a few tickets online, do I just need to bring the email confirmation along to get my tickets?

I believe there is a machine that you swipe your credit card into.

Running Bing

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I believe there is a machine that you swipe your credit card into.

Ahh OK monkeyfudge. Considering I do that all the time in liffey Valley I dont know why that didnt dawn on me:o

monkeyfudge

The IFI doesn't charge a credit card booking fee either... which is pretty neat.

NunianVonFuch

Babybing wrote: »

My money is either the orphanage or mother of tears and if it is one of them I will be over the moon.

Either of those would be brilliant, but I don't think they've had a foreign film as a surprise film before. I'd say it's something closer to the norm.

Running Bing

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Either of those would be brilliant, but I don't think they've had a foreign film as a surprise film before. I'd say it's something closer to the norm.

I hope Im right. Thats the only reason I bought the tickets:p

NunianVonFuch

Hatchet! That's what I reckon the surprise film will be.

monkeyfudge

I went to see Dead Silence last night.

The film was pure formula... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the whole affair wasn't terribly interesting... You may find it scary if you've perhaps never seen a horror movie before.

It's nicely shot though, with a lot of colour correction going on so the whole thing is washed out to the point of looking almost black and white.

Tusky

Ive posted this in a separate thread as well.

I saw this at the Horrorthon last night at the IFI and I absolutely LOVED it. One of the best horror movies I have seen in a long time. The guy introduced it as 'The Thing with vampires' which got me excited as its one of my favorite movies. The setting and the tension are definitely similar to The Thing but thats where the similarities end. Actually thats not true, I also thought the opening shot was quite similar to The Thing and may have been an intended nod.

The basic premise is excellent. A town that sees not sunlight for a 30 day period each year and is largely cut off from the rest of the world. Most people head south, but some remain. The town gets attacked by vampires and the townspeople struggle to survive for the 30 days of night.

Expect a very tense, violent, gory, scary and visually impressive horror movie. The vampires themselves are the best I have seen, hands down. They are disgusting, vicious, evil creatures with absolutely no remorse or conscience about what they are doing.

The film is based on a graphic novel and it is evident throughout in the story and the visuals in a similar, although not as dramatic way as Sin City & 300. For this reason I think it may get criticized by certain people (as Sin City & 300 did) for being overly violent, over the top and not as tight storyline wise as it may have been if it didn't have to follow the comic.

If you wanted to, you could easily poke holes in the storyline. For example, it doesn't feel like its set over a month. It feels like everything happens in one or two nights. There are other criticisms in that vain, however, people who pick holes in the storyline of comic book movies annoy me.

There are tonnes of great set pieces and some disgustingly violent fights with the vampires.

The vampire kid, the guy in that machinery vehicle, the vampire tangled in the swing, the many decapitations...etc

. Now that I think of it, the film itself is fairly action packed. I have a feeling there will be people who will give out about the ending but I really liked it. All I will say is that its over the top & very 'comic book'...in a good way.

If you like gory horror movies and can suspend your disbelief in regards to loose ends with the storyline, you will love this.

5/5

NunianVonFuch

Went to see 30 days of night yesterday and I agree with Tusky. Brilliant film loved the ending and one thing you don't mention is how good the acting is. I'd almost go as far as saying it's a powerful film.
On a side note what's with the gorehounds? Everytime anything gory happened 2 guys in different parts of the theatre go "YeeeaOOO!!!" and start clapping. Grand if its a cheeseball crappy movie with gratuitous gore, but this was no House of the Dead.
5/5

Otis Driftwood

Im a total gore hound but that is just retarded.
Its people like that that give gorehounds a bad name.
I would bet those 2 guys are the kind of people that would go out and buy an american pie boxset and whoop it up every time a pair of boobs appeared on screen.
Off topic but I HATE american pie and all its clones.

Decuc500

I think it's great when people applaud during a film, reacting to what happened on the screen. I saw 30 Days of Night last night as well and I thought the scene with the vampire kid was inspired and deserved a round of applause.

NunianVonFuch

Decuc500 wrote: »

I think it's great when people applaud during a film, reacting to what happened on the screen. I saw 30 Days of Night last night as well and I thought the scene with the vampire kid was inspired and deserved a round of applause.

Yes it's great when it happens but the only parts which garnered an applause were the gory parts, no applause for

the execution off camera which was brilliantly done but plenty for Billy's decapitation.

Maybe I'm being a bit overly picky but if I was watching a classic horror film (which this will go down as for me) for the first time, like say John Carpenter's The Thing and no one from the movie was present to receive the applause, I wouldn't be clapping and cheering at the operation table scene as that would completely remove any sense of fear and atmosphere the movie had created.

Although having said all that it's all infinitely better than the giggling and talking packs of girls you sometimes get in the multiplexes at horror movies.

Tusky

I agree about the acting, very impressive. The execution scene was very well done alright. My favourite scene was near the start though -

When the vampire jumps on top of the car and starts banging on the roof, I thought it looked excellent

.

I also loved

The scene in which the vampires are trying to topple the car

. The guy who plays the head vampire is one scary bastard. I really enjoyed the fact that you could hear a pin drop in the IFI, it was completely quiet...apart from the outbursts of clapping.

Running Bing

What a let down:( I guessed the orphanage or mother of tears.....my god I could not have been more wrong. The surprise film was a film called "Shrooms".

It was pretty bad...I wouldnt say absolutely terrible or without merit but it is a bit of a letdown when you are psyched for a surprise film and you get some generic cliched horror film that 99.99999% of the audience would have no desire to go and see otherwise.:rolleyes:

The premise is pretty interesting(if unoriginal) but the execution was absolutely amateur. It seemed to be an exercise in how many horror cliches you could fit into 80 minutes. The location/set-up was a perfect opportunity to create a great atmosphere but this was completely ignored for cheap scares, in the form of loud noises, every two minutes which get tiresome after the first three times.

The film is all over the place at times and adds absolutely nothing new or innovative to the genre(in itself not a bad thing if the film is well executed....this one isnt.)

The "twist"(used in the loosest possible sense of the word) is painfully obvious from very early on and the characters are so stupid and lacking in logic you cant wait for them all to die.


On the plus side I did find it quite entertaining despite all its shortcomings. The locations were nice and the house was very creepy. It was also a good premise, the two yokels were a funny addition and you have to love the talking cow.


This is the first time I have gone to the surprise film...but after this and recent films shown I cant see myself rushing back again.

NunianVonFuch

Babybing wrote: »

This is the first time I have gone to the surprise film...but after this and recent films shown I cant see myself rushing back again.

After this and See No Evil last year I'll be giving it a miss next year. It has been selling out each year so maybe they decided not to "waste" a good film on it.
Good call on Shrooms, I'd agree with all you said but I'd like to add that the yokels (Don Wycherley from Batchelor's Walk and Sean McGinley) were absolutely hilarious!

There were so many plotholes in the movie I won't even bother going into them and also the lead was the spit of Kirsten Dunst. Spent a good while debating if they were related, then just settled on a good oogle instead.

djkeogh

Shrooms was a bit of a disappointment. It all came about when the In Association with the Irish Film Board came up. There was a definite groan throughout the audience. I was felt the disappointment wash over me as well. It had some decent points but it's just mish mash of so many other ideas. The twist has been done before and to better effect. The ghosties or look like they are straight out of asian horror.

The two Yokels were great though. Hats off to them for that.

It was an OK film but had it not been the surprise film I'm pretty sure I'd never see it otherwise

Running Bing

djkeogh wrote: »

Shrooms was a bit of a disappointment. It all came about when the In Association with the Irish Film Board came up. There was a definite groan throughout the audience. I was felt the disappointment wash over me as well. It had some decent points but it's just mish mash of so many other ideas. The twist has been done before and to better effect. The ghosties or look like they are straight out of asian horror.

The two Yokels were great though. Hats off to them for that.

It was an OK film but had it not been the surprise film I'm pretty sure I'd never see it otherwise

Yep there was great excitement and a real buzz beforehand but when the film came on you could just feel the disapointment in the theatre.


There were a good few very interesting prospects that could have been shown(Diary of the dead, the mist, mother of tears, the orphanage),,,,this just felt like taking the piss.


They know that the surpirse film will sell out and they know they would never sell out a theatre for shrooms otherwise. I reckon people should start bycotting it until they get their act together.....it seems to be getting worse by the year.

Adrift

Good festival this year, some of the comments on here are totally accurate others are a little harsh.


As regards the DVD's shown that is usually for the Z movies they show late at night, i.e. Attack of the beast creatures - you can hardly expect them to find a print of that. I quite like that they show this sort of rubbish at the end of the day, for people who have been in to see 4/5 films it's nice to be able to watch something that you don't have to take too seriously. Also there is no way Close Encounters or Predator would be shown on DVD, we got to see these movies in fully restored prints.


As regards gorehounds and other immature punters, there were not as many as previous years, however it still is very annoying. For example, during the showing of Teeth, one such comedian shouted out "Don't do it" during one particularly tense seen, it was funny and he got a few laughs from the audience, however this was his cue (and indeed a few others) to repeat the gag at every available oppertunity :rolleyes:

The hard as nails brigade are equally as infuriating for reasons which have been pointed out already.

The surprise film is an abolute con, I have enjoyed 2 out of the seven which I have attended, every year I hope it will be something great only to be let down. I really feel the organisers lowball the audience with this one. Anyone remember Below? Brothers Grimm? See No Evil? This years entry was beyond terrible, one punter summed up Shrooms during a scene where the screen faded to black and he said out loud "Roll Credits, Roll Credits, Roll Credits"

On the plus side there was a geat selection of New Movies this year Stuck, Teeth, 30 Days of Night, Planet Terror, Botched & Hood of Horror all impressed and it was nice to see some of the older movies like Friday the 13th 4 and Motel Hell on the big screen.

Cactus Col

Really enjoyed the festival this year. Yes Shrooms probably wasn't the greatest film ever, a bit too generic. If the director hadn't been there for Botched I'd imagine that would've made the perfect surprise film. I actually didn't mind shrooms though.

The only real disappointments from this year I would say were Gamerz, All The Boys Love Mandy LAne, and The Psychic. Gamerz just wasn't a horror movie in any way!
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane was dissapointing because there was quite a bit of hype surrounding it. It was a bit too obvious, and nowhere near as clever as it wanted to be.

I fell asleep during the psychic, but so did a good few in the cinema (so I'm told).... should've gone to see fright night instead.



I'm in two minds about people laughing or yelling stuff out during films. During the late night cheapos I expect it, during the early classics (friday 13th and predator) it's okay, but gets a bit annoying with some of the forced laughter. The crowd interaction is a bit much, and I thought not appropriate in some cases (say during the end of joshua), but great fun during other films.

Hasn't "Don't Do It!" been a running joke at the horrorthon for a couple of years?

The nipples on that lil fella in For Your Height Only were fairly freaky though.

I'd say Teeth was probably the film of the festival, but Botched, Planet Terror, 30 Days, The Tripper, and Stuck were all highlights.

Thundercracker

Pissed I missed this, in Edinburgh until tonight, have been here for a week and apparently missed so much. Thankfully though, I can go to see 30 Days of Night this weekend

faceman

had i seen this thread before posting my one below, i would have posted here instead.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055174578

see my above post on the Exorcist. The Horrorthon was very well run, shame they didnt get original prints tho.