Horrorthon (23-27 October)

Decuc500

I'm not surprised Let The Right One In has been dropped. They're always announcing films for this event weeks before and then not securing them. Very shoddy. At least they're showing Childs Play :rolleyes:

Mr. Fancypants

Bah, was looking forward to let the right one in a lot. Seems its being shown at every other festival so maybe it will be the surprise film, although that is probably wishful thinking.

Running Bing

Cant believe nobody has mentioned Martyrs:eek:


Its supposed to be unbelievable. Definately the highlight of the festival for me.....problem is I wont be able to make it on the Sunday night:( I was so looking forward to that.


Whats the chance of it getting an Irish release after Horrorthon?

Tusky

Disappointed the DOTD is on at 2:45 in the afternoon. It should be one of the evening movies.

Martyrs looks interesting.

spooky donkey

yes that 2:45 time is putting me off also. IM really having to juggle my time for that weekend as it is.

djkeogh

2.45 time slot is horrible for Dawn of the Dead. Surely it should be up there in place of Jaws 2. I'd love to see Evil Dead 2 with an audience on the big screen but I'll be away. Gonna miss a good few that I would otherwise have defo been interested in seeing.

NunianVonFuch

djkeogh wrote: »

2.45 time slot is horrible for Dawn of the Dead. Surely it should be up there in place of Jaws 2. I'd love to see Evil Dead 2 with an audience on the big screen but I'll be away.

Evil Dead 2 is on at a far worse slot though - 3.45 on a working Friday??? At least Dawn is on the Bank Holiday Monday.

Glad they picked up a ticket for the Midnight Meat Train. I'll be boarding that carriage for sure, the story was great!

spooky donkey

well I had big plans to go see a lot of these movies but as things turn out I cant make it now for most of the weekend.
But at least I did get my tickets for Quarntine tomorrow night so Ill get a feel for what horrorthon is all about.
Perhaps next year thinks will work out better for me time wise.

Cactus Col

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Evil Dead 2 is on at a far worse slot though - 3.45 on a working Friday??? At least Dawn is on the Bank Holiday Monday.

Glad they picked up a ticket for the Midnight Meat Train. I'll be boarding that carriage for sure, the story was great!

well, they have to make the early slots somewhat appealing ... otherwise there'd be no point in getting full day passes!

ciaran76

Babybing wrote: »

Cant believe nobody has mentioned Martyrs:eek:


Its supposed to be unbelievable. Definately the highlight of the festival for me.....problem is I wont be able to make it on the Sunday night:( I was so looking forward to that.


Whats the chance of it getting an Irish release after Horrorthon?

Well what did you think of Martyrs because my head was fried at the end.

Inglorious

Anyone know what the surprise film was?
I'll be very upset if it turned out to be Let The Right One In...

Sanjuro

Martyrs was unbelievable. I'm really in two minds about it. One part of me admires just how far the filmmakers went in order to assault the audience. For those who enjoy the Saw franchise (and god almight, Saw sucks), I'd really like to sit them down and see if they can take it. I'd like to see their reaction when that genre is taken to it's inevitable extreme.

The other part of me wonders what exactly was the point in going THAT far. The concept, while interesting, didn't really work as a payoff for what happened in the film.

I wont watch the film again soon. Despite wanting to get a firm grip on my feelings on it. It's a very very difficult film to sit through. Thankfully, there was none of that elaborate death crap that goes along with these types of films. However, the volume and brutality of the proceedings was just a little too much. Which, I guess, was the point. Along with Not Quite Hollywood (for VASTLY different reasons), it's the highlight of the Horrorthon. I wont go tomorrow as I've seen and own Jaws II and Dawn of the Dead, and have little interest in the rest. But it's a highlight for dubious reasons. What's for sure is, it got everyone talking about it. Like it or loathe it, it's certainly a film to talk about.

*The surprise film was Surveillance. And it was dross.

NunianVonFuch

ciaran76 wrote: »

Well what did you think of Martyrs because my head was fried at the end.

Martyrs, martyrs, martyrs. For me, my mate and my gf it was the most horrifying film any of us have ever seen. We were talking about it all the way home, then we went out and had a few drinks and still talked about it. Then we went home and I had nightmares about it (never happened with any film before). The next day we met up for the surprise film STILL talking about martyrs. Eventually we came to the conclusion that its a masterpiece. It deserves an audience and hopefully this film will be remembered for many years to come. Honestly its kind of ruined horror films in general, as nothing I've ever seen can compare to it. We were so relieved when Survellience turned out to be more of a thriller than anything else! It wasn't too bad, had good and bad parts. Overall worth seeing. French Stewart was great!

Also at the end of Dracula his death-pose? Martyr!!!

lodgepole

I'd love somebody who enjoyed (wrong word) Martyrs to explain to me what it was they enjoyed about it. Probably spoilers below.

I found the concept interesting, from the home invasion element at the start to the reasoning of group for kidnapping in the first place*, but the execution was offensive. I have no issue with extreme cinema but the film was gratuitous. On top of that it really didn't seem to know what it was... A Funny Games style comment on how horrible movies have become? A piece of Saw-esque shock entertainment? Those two films are polar opposites but the ideals they each represent were present in Martyrs. I'm struggling to find any value in the film, which is a shame because talented people made it and starred in it.

I'm glad I watched it, certainly, but I won't watch it again.

Here's a documentary where a load of people complain about how the film should have been rated 16's in France instead of fixing the system so that an 18's rated film can get a general release. The one guy who suggests that goes on to wonder what was actually so violent about the film anyway. If ever there was an argument for a strict ratings (not censorship) system, this was it.

* though

when they revealed the crazy dungeon at the end with beautifully prepared hatches and monitors I was pulled right out of it... A home made Fritzl-hole would have been a touch more appropriate and realistic.

columok

I really enjoyed Martyrs. I recall a quote by some one or other (about cinema in the 70s) about how it felt like you were sitting in the dark giving your 90 minutes of attention to a madman and you were never sure what would happen next. To me, this is how horror should feel. Cinema to me shouldn't necessarily be comfortable. I don't necessarily want affirmation. Often a punch in the guts can be as valuable and memorable. For example I really loved Irreversible (in particular how the beginning frames a really beautiful poignant ending).

A big problem though was the pacing. I had no idea that the third act was coming so it felt like an ending stretched out for 30 minutes. To be honest everything after the interview with the mademoiselle felt tacked on. I felt a bit of Return of the King syndrome. Made me glad i didn't watch the trailer though. Must do that more often.

The one guy who suggests that goes on to wonder what was actually so violent about the film anyway.

I agree with him. There was nothing so violent about that film that it should be censored or R18ed in France. I think anyone over 16 should be able to see anything. Old enough to kill or father/mother a child...

* though when they revealed the crazy dungeon at the end with beautifully prepared hatches and monitors I was pulled right out of it... A home made Fritzl-hole would have been a touch more appropriate and realistic.

You might wanna spoiler that dude.

Surely that was the equivalent to a temple to these people or at least an altar. I enjoyed the premise actually. The modernised church. I was glad it wasn't too hamfisted in terms of christian imagery.

lodgepole

I definitely agree that the film shouldn't be censored, I don't believe it. But a robust ratings system should be in place where adult films should be allowed to enter the market place without stigma attached to them. While I would have disagreed with myself when I was aged 16 I do think that 18 is a reasonable age limit to put on some films and this is a good example. It was incredibly violent both in on screen gore and general tone, and it's the combination of the two that really take a film close to an 18 certificate for me.

Horror should definitely be uncomfortable and I welcome that, I love extreme cinema. A friend put it best in his review of the film saying that a film that goes to those lengths has to have a hell of a pay off and Martyrs didn't have one. It was relentless, and effective in that regard, but the story didn't justify the hardship. If anything the film makers were too talented and put too much depth into something that was actually a relatively empty genre film (with a novel concept).

I didn't dislike the dungeon as an idea, I disliked just how elaborate it was. There's a suspension of disbelief in films like this but as soon as they went down and it looked like an Intel factory it lost an element of realism which had been important to the rest of the film... Imaginary razor blade wielding friends non-withstanding...

That said, here we are discussing it in depth when i'm sure should both be working or studying, so I guess they did something right.

NunianVonFuch

columok wrote: »

Often a punch in the guts can be as valuable and memorable. ]

Couldn't agree more. When we were discussing it after that was probably the most horrifying part. The times where she takes a punch or two in the gut were a lot more effective than anything in most other horror films.

On the censorship aspect, it actually wasn't that overly violent. I mean there is the

shotgun blasts and the skin removal, but they're no worse than most other horror films.

IMO The censorship debate is there because you feel each and every blow throughout, its the power of the film more than any gore on display.
Best film of the Horrorthon this year for me, and probably the best I've ever seen.

Oh I had to laugh - in the queue for Midnight Meat Train last night 2 girls were talking about the films they'd seen so far. One of them was lamenting missing Martyrs because it was a "very intelligent horror film." :pac: She then went onto say she "nearly got sick during Hostel. By the end I was white and had a lump in my throat." Anyone else want to setup a camera in front of her while she watches Martyrs in a Clockwork Orange style setup?

columok

Good points.

A friend put it best in his review of the film saying that a film that goes to those lengths has to have a hell of a pay off and Martyrs didn't have one.

I maintain that it suffered from being two films essentially lumped together. The second one being very unstructured. (the repeated fade to blacks got old tbh). I agree that it lacked a pay off but I don't think this is connected to the quantity of gore- more good storytelling. As previously mentioned Irreversible for me hits the spot because of an amazing ending.

It's a film in my eyes that succeeds in spite of it's deficiencies of pacing and storytelling largely because of the intensity of the cinematic experience.

Running Bing

Well for me Martyrs was very disappointing.It started off well and I felt it could really go somewhere interesting but by the end the whole thing just felt gratuitous, pointless and (perhaps worst of all) unoriginal.

The inner demon of the girl was a nice touch but I dont know if it fit well for me and it felt tacked on. In essence what this felt like to me is somebody sitting down and thinking "I am going to do an extreme film, now how can I fit a story around it". Not saying thats what happened but thats what it felt like to me and I feel that is putting the cart before the horse. At times the film veered a little too far into Hostel territory for my liking and I agree with Aidan that the super underground torture facility contributed to this.


Technically it was a very well made film, no question about that, but it just left me cold and I did not find it anywhere near as affecting as I felt I would have.


I thought the overall concept was interesting but at the same time for me it was flawed. The mademoiselle shows examples of people in the state they desire....one is the women who stole a chicken, another is the man in the car crash. Now if it could be achieved in a short space of time in both these cases what was the need for such elaborate torture and such long periods of time? I just dont think it worked the way it needed to, to justify the level of brutality shown.

By the end I just felt it was a case of Saw/Hostel in arthouse clothing.

Cactus Col

I thought martyr's was okay. It really was pretty intense stuff at times. However, during the second half of the film I did suspect that there was a bit of Funny Games going on.

The amount of time Anna spent being tortured is a bit fuzzy, but it was obviously shorter than the other girls. So I didn't see the logic in keeping girls locked up and tortured for so long when it seemed like they weren't going to transcend it all and become a "martyr". For such an organisation it seemed like a large waste of resources.

So that took me out of the film. I can see how people would like it a lot more than I did.

The only film I wasn't a fan of was Mindflesh. Pretty much every other film had something going for it.

"Timecrimes" was a very nice little film, and I'd say that was my highlight.

I thought "The Disappeared" and "Mum and Dad" were nice surprises too. "Midnight Meat Train" I dozed off a couple of times during .... so can't say it was fantastic.

Decuc500

There was quite a bit of laughing during Time Crimes. I don't know, some people obviously found it unintentionally hilarious. I don't really understand people going to a film in a horror festival and laughing at the film. It's a time travelling/sci fi movie, you're supposed to just sit back and go with the flow, even if it doesn't make sense.

I was disappointed with Surveillance. It started off well and I enjoyed it's quirkiness but it descended into the usual sadistic, pointless horror movie that get released all the time now. In particular the last 'kill' left me feeling depressed and angry that I had sat through 90 minutes to have the film bludgeon the audience like that.

The best film I saw over the weekend was The Hunger.

Cactus Col

Unfortunately I missed the hunger ...

yeah, there was a good bit of laughter going on during some films. The late night ones (night of the lepus / impossible kid) are generally silly, so you expect the laughter and you go along with it. However, some people seem to go to all the films with the same attitude, and it can be pretty annoying. I know there was one girl two seats down from me during dawn of the dead who was particularily annoying.

I thought Surveillance was alright, better than shrooms. I don't think anybody would've expected that film, and there were some good performances.

azezil

23 films later, my brain has well and truly melted, but it was worth it

Lovvveeed Martyrs. For me it was by far the best movie I saw. The Hunger was probably the worst ¬_¬

Running Bing

Decuc500 wrote: »

There was quite a bit of laughing during Time Crimes. I don't know, some people obviously found it unintentionally hilarious. I don't really understand people going to a film in a horror festival and laughing at the film. It's a time travelling/sci fi movie, you're supposed to just sit back and go with the flow, even if it doesn't make sense.

I was disappointed with Surveillance. It started off well and I enjoyed it's quirkiness but it descended into the usual sadistic, pointless horror movie that get released all the time now. In particular the last 'kill' left me feeling depressed and angry that I had sat through 90 minutes to have the film bludgeon the audience like that.

The best film I saw over the weekend was The Hunger.

I dont understand this....its a major pet peeve of mine.


There were a number of people laughing at numerous points during Martyrs. Really? Whats fvcking funny?

The part where the camera pans out and

we see the girl has been skinned

got a big laugh from a number of people behind me. Yes fvcking hilarious....so was the part with

all the cars arriving and the part where the mademoiselle shot herself

. Some other moments brought laughter

involving the girl with the metal plate nailed to her head.

Ruins a film for me....completely takes you out of it. I know its a festival, your there to enjoy it and I have no problem with people enjoying themselves and having a bit of a laugh but Martyrs was not the film to do it. Usually inappropriate laughter annoys me but t be honest, during this film it quite frankly repulsed me.

NunianVonFuch

Babybing wrote: »

The part where the camera pans out and Spoiler: we see the girl has been skinned got a big laugh from a number of people behind me. Yes fvcking hilarious....so was the part with Spoiler: all the cars arriving and the part where the mademoiselle shot herself. Some other moments brought laughter Spoiler: involving the girl with the metal plate nailed to her head.

Ruins a film for me....completely takes you out of it. I know its a festival, your there to enjoy it and I have no problem with people enjoying themselves and having a bit of a laugh but Martyrs was not the film to do it. Usually inappropriate laughter annoys me but t be honest, during this film it quite frankly repulsed me.

I guess I was lucky, didn't hear any laughter from where I was. Nervous, twitchy laughter I can deal with, but a big hearty belly laugh at those points, surely not???

Still by people's reactions at the end and the general silence in the lobby afterwards I think for the most part people saw it in the right frame of mind.

Decuc500 wrote:

I was disappointed with Surveillance. It started off well and I enjoyed it's quirkiness but it descended into the usual sadistic, pointless horror movie that get released all the time now. In particular the last 'kill' left me feeling depressed and angry that I had sat through 90 minutes to have the film bludgeon the audience like that.

Surely you sat through the first 30 minutes just waiting with baited breath for French Steward's appearance? He made the film! The last 30 or so were all downhill after that. "You settled didn't you?" Brilliant!

lodgepole

In fairness most of the laughter is generally from the back of the room and coming straight from Ed and his cohorts...

azezil wrote: »

Lovvveeed Martyrs. For me it was by far the best movie I saw.

Care to elaborate on that? Like I said earlier, i'm interested to know what people who enjoyed the movie thought of it.

Fun Guy

aidanpower wrote: »

In fairness most of the laughter is generally from the back of the room and coming straight from Ed and his cohorts...


Care to elaborate on that? Like I said earlier, i'm interested to know what people who enjoyed the movie thought of it.

Me and lads call it the horrorthon laugh. People laugh at stupid things at the festival.

azezil

aidanpower wrote: »

In fairness most of the laughter is generally from the back of the room and coming straight from Ed and his cohorts...


Care to elaborate on that? Like I said earlier, i'm interested to know what people who enjoyed the movie thought of it.

For me it had everything I like about horror movies:
creepy psycho killer girl demon thing, people being torchered, lots of blood, grotesque violence, people being mutilated, beatings, spike lee style camera angles bringing one right into the action, then throw in some bit of a story to explain why it's all happening at the end, happy days!

fergisimo

So what was the surprise film?