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DEAD BY DAWN
24 – 27 April, 2008
Thursday 24
T + Guests
EATER + ITSY BITSY + THE DESCENDENT + OUTPOS
2315 – 0150
Friday 25
1200 – 1530
SUSPIRIA + INFERNO
1550 – 1625
WHAT YOU MAKE IT Short film programme, Part 1
2000 – 2200
THE ANGEL + FIVE ACROSS THE EYES + Guests
2230 – 2255
Lone Sausage presents DR TRAN and GRANDPA
2315 – 0150
THE DEMONOLOGY OF DESIRE + DEATH NOTE
Saturday 26
1300 – 1500
BUTCHER’S HILL + SUICIDE CLUB
1600 – 1815
CUTTING EDGE Short Film Competition 1900 – 2130
BITTEN + THE MIST
2215 – 2300
WHAT YOU MAKE IT Short film programme, Part 2
All-Nighter:
RD + Guests SPIDER + WAT A WONDERFUL DAY + THE VANGUA
HYPERACTIVE INGREDIENTS + MACHINE GIRL
INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS
0000 – 0210
0230 – 0420
0445 – 0645
0645 – 0730
Breakfast break
0730 – 0905
SENSELESS
0920 – 1100
WIZARD OF GORE
Sunday 27
1530 – 1715
MOTHER OF TEARS
1800 – 1940
LAPSUS + PHANTASM
2015 – 2200
MOMENT DE GLOIRE + STUCK
2245 – 2315
-deprived idiocy
Competition announcements, give-aways, general sleep
2315 – 0130
I LOVE YOU + DOOMSDAY + Guests
Some times may be subject to slight change
ts of the festival until 3am
Filmhouse has a late licence for all four nigh
Welcome to Dead by Dawn 2008.
I tried making a list and it went something like this…demonic children, sharks, clowns, monsters, possessed houses (also cars,
sheds, hair, TVs), evil nuns, genetic mutations, unstable rural types, unstable city types, toxic infections, cannibals, angry
ghosts, zombies, vampires and at least one Indian burial ground.
I may have missed one or two but the point is, there are a limited number of horror stories and the job of Dead by Dawn
as a discovery festival is to find the film-makers and films that make the familiar feel fresh, reinvigorated and profoundly
unsettling.
Dead by Dawn exists not only to showcase potential and vibrant emerging talent, but also to provide the widest possible
range of what can be described as horror, to indulge in occasional reminders about past cinematic glories and to give dozens of
gorgeous, twisted short films a chance to reach their audience.
I hope you have a great festival!
James
Adèle
James McKenzie
Chief Operations Officer, Filmhouse
Adèle Hartley
Festival Director
We’d like to thank all our sponsors and affiliates for their support
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USA / 2007 / 97 mins
Director: Jeremy Kasten
Producers: Christopher Duddy,
Glenn W. Garland, Daniel Gold,
Dan Griffiths
Writer: Zach Chassler
Music: Steve Porcaro
DoP: Christopher Duddy
Editor: Jeremy Kasten
F/X: Jason Collins, Brie Ford,
Elvis Jones
Cast: Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips,
Crispin Glover, Jeffrey Combs,
Joshua John Miller, Brad Dourif,
Garz Chan, Tim Chiou,
Kenneth Moskow, Amina Munster,
Cricket Suicide, Flux Suicide,
Nixon Suicide, Bob Rusch, Joe Bucaro III
Night after night, Montag the
Magnificent takes the stage, choosing
a volunteer from the audience to
assist him with his Grand Guignolstyled illusions. After they are
eviscerated, beheaded, or otherwise
horribly dispatched, the volunteers
miraculously get up and return to their
seats, a bit dazed, often naked, but
fine. As the publisher of the alternative
newspaper the Cacophony Gazette,
Edmund Bigelow regularly delves into
the darker corners of the Los Angeles
nightlife, so when he notices that
Montag’s volunteers keep turning up
dead the day after their performance,
he starts investigating. But sometimes
when you ask the right questions, the
answers you get seem all wrong, and
soon Edmund is spiraling down the
rabbit hole into his own obsessions
and madness.
Director Jeremy Kasten recasts
Herschell Gordon Lewis’ cult
classic as a gleefully gory murder
mystery and wickedly funny satire
on the underground art scene. With
a hallucinogenic eye, Kasten and
cinematographer Christopher Duddy
so manipulate their view of Los
Angeles’ seedier side it’s difficult to
know whether to believe your eyes
or not.
Starring Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips,
Brad Dourif, a barely recognizable
Jeffrey Combs, and everyone’s favorite
alt pin-ups, the Suicide Girls, Wizard
of Gore is bound to be a
cult favorite, especially
with the devilishly
theatrical performance
of Crispin Glover as
Montag, resplendent
in his white tuxedo —
even when it’s covered
in blood.
Review by Doug Jones
for the Los Angeles Film
Festival
Japan / 2008 / 96 mins
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Producers: Yoshinori Chiba,
Yôko Hayama, Satoshi Nakamura
Writer: Noboru Iguchi
Music: Takashi Nakagawa
DoP: Yasutaka Nagano
Editor: Kenji Tanabe
FX: Tsuyoshi Kazuno
Cast: Asami, Honoka, Yûya Ishikawa,
Ryôsuke Kawamura, Noriko Kijima,
Kentarô Kishi, Nobuhiro Nishihara, Ryôji
Okamoto, Kentarô Shimazu, Tarô Suwa,
Demo Tanaka, Erika Terajima, Hiroko
Yashiki, Minase Yashiro
‘What Robert Rodriguez can do, we can
do better,’ director Noboru Iguchi must
have thought. And although we won’t
easily forget one-legged Cherry Darling
from Planet Terror, this Japanese
director outdoes Rodriguez in the
over-the-top department. Machine Girl
is pure low-budget pulp, getting the
maximum effect from the fascination
with Japanese schoolgirls in uniform
and very large machine guns. The
machine girl herself is called Ami, and
l
r
i
G
e
n
Machi
she’s seeking revenge for the murder of
her little brother. The boy was thrown
out of a window by the youngest
offspring of a renowned Yakuza family,
after which Ami single-handedly opens
the attack on the crime clan. That may
have been a bit overambitious, because
the hot-headed student is easily
defeated at her first attempt and loses
her left arm in the process. Fortunately,
Ami manages to escape and her friend
Miki, a garage owner, equips her with
a quick-firing prosthesis. With a huge
machine gun where her lower arm used
to be, and Miki at her side, Ami is
ready for the final confrontation. Who
cares about a few blood stains on her
sailor suit?
The film takes a while to get started,
but it’s all worth it in the end. With
teen idol Minase Yashiro in the lead
and supporting roles for porn actresses
Asami and Honoka, Machine Girl
culminates in an absurdist bloodbath.
The efforts of special effects-creator
Yoshihiro Nishimura wouldn’t go down
too well in Hollywood, but you won’t
hear us complain. Who else is going to
bring back the flying guillotine?
Thanks to Barend de Voogd for his review
CUTTING EDGE SHORTS
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
Criticized
Jane has left the big city behind in search of a more peaceful, country
life. On her way to a house viewing her car breaks down but the locals
are determined to help her find her dream home and insist on driving her
to the remote location.
A prominent film critic writes a scathing review of a new horror film and
is abducted by the film’s director who was clearly not ready to send his
art out into the public domain. The critic, it seems, is entitled to his
opinion, so long as it’s favourable.
USA / 2006 / 20 mins
USA / 2007 / 18 mins
Director: John Faust
Director: Richard Gale
Hollow
ONE MORE TIME
9 year old Josh has a loving mother, a nice home and a stepfather who
cares. In fact, there isn’t much he has to worry about at all…until he is
blamed for opening the red door which had always remained locked.
Every night Ethan is ripped from sleep to find himself in an abandoned
shack with someone different chained to a chair. He has five minutes
to free that person or they’re killed. It seems like things can’t get any
worse, but this is a horror film,
so that’s never true…
USA / 2007 / 9 mins
Director: Paul Bickel
USA / 2007 / 6 mins
Director: Jesse Grce
PEEKERS
THE GIRLS
An elderly man tries to convince his neighbour to investigate a strange
phenomenon. But it’s getting tiresome. This is hardly the first time
he’s asked and every time it’s turned out to be nothing. Still, there’s
something to be said for being a
good neighbour…
A father returns home from work to find his two young daughters playing
in the garden. Despite his tiredness, he agrees to play a little while but
soon finds himself outwitted by the girls. As dusk begins to fall the mood
begins to darken. Sometimes
games just aren’t fun.
USA / 2007 / 9 mins
UK / 2007 / 10 mins
Director: Mark Steensland
Director: Sebastian Godwin
Metamorphosis
The Election
It’s a beautiful day and a young couple lie in an idyllic field in the shade
of a tree. There are lots of people who like to watch their partner sleep,
wondering what they dream of. But how much can you really tell about a
person when they are asleep?
Norway / 2007 / 4 mins
On the eve of the most important election of their career, a horrible
event forces John and Abby to make a difficult decision. They are under
so much pressure to remain in the race that a solution must be found.
The answer, while distasteful,
seems to solve their problem.
Director: Geir Hansteen Jörgensen
USA / 2007 / 8 mins
Director: Padraig Reynolds
Side Effect
THE WAKE
Lauren is an attractive, over-achieving young woman and the new
babysitter for the friendly, upper-middle-class couple, the Allen’s. With
the trusted Lauren in charge of their adorable children, the couple head
out for the night.
In this ‘American southern gothic’ folk tale, a boy is tied to a table for
days at the mercy of a mysterious woman. A bell is rigged to his ropes so
he can’t move without alerting her.
USA / 2008 / 14 mins
Director: Matt Byrne
Director: Liz Adams
USA / 2006 / 19 mins
UK / 2008 / 105 mins
Director: Neil Marshall
Producers: Benedict Carver, Steven Paul
Writer: Neil Marshall
DoP: Sam McCurdy
Editors: Andrew MacRitchie, Neil Marshall
F/X: Kevin Adcock, Axelle Carolyn, Paul Hyett,
Kristyan Mallett
Cast: Caryn Peterson, Adeola Ariyo, Emma Cleasby,
Christine Tomlinson, Vernon Willemse, Paul Hyett,
Daniel Read, Karl Thaning, Stephen Hughes,
Jason Cope, Ryan Kruger, Nathan Wheatley
From legendary horror writer/director Neil Marshall (The
Descent and Dog Soldiers) comes the action-packed thriller
DOOMSDAY. Full of kick-ass action, explosive stunts and
buckets of gore, DOOMSDAY heralds the dawning of a new
dark age. Set in Scotland and amidst a ghoulish terrain of
corpse-strewn cities, this ‘aftermath’ thriller takes a bizarre
and brutal look into a near future where our very existence is
threatened by a horrific virus.
2008: Within days of outbreak, the horrific ‘Reaper Virus’
has infected millions in Scotland. The British government
declares Scotland a ‘hot zone’ and quarantines the entire
country to contain the ‘Reaper’s’ spread. Imprisoned by
military blockades, Scotland is sealed off from the rest of the
world, and left to die…
2035: The ‘Reaper Virus’ has resurfaced – this time in
London. Faced with apocalypse, the Prime Minister
(Alexander Siddig, 24) and the true power behind his office,
Michael Canaris (David O’Hara, The Departed), summon
police chief Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins, Hollywoodland),
to reveal satellite images of survivors in the streets of
Glasgow. Nelson assembles a crack team of specialists
to retrieve ‘the cure’. Led by feisty female major, Eden
Sinclair (Rhona Mitra, Shooter), the team venture into a
forgotten Scotland….where they discover the true horror
of the Reaper’s legacy and two warring tribes, ruled by Dr.
Kane (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange) and his
estranged son, Sol (Craig Conway, The Descent).
Neil Marshall’s debut feature (as both writer and director),
Dog Soldiers (2002), became a cult hit in both the UK
& US after a wealth of positive reviews. His second,
groundbreaking feature came in the form of The Descent
(2005), the underground horror film which went on to win a
Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, two British Independent
Film Awards (for Best Director and Best Editor) and the
Empire Award for Best Horror Film. DOOMSDAY is Neil’s
much anticipated third feature.
Rogue Pictures and Intrepid Pictures present DOOMSDAY
– a Crystal Sky Pictures production, in association with Scion
Films which will be released by Universal Pictures in the UK
on May 9 2008.
We are delighted to welcome back festival favourite,
director Neil Marshall, who will host a Q&A after the
screening, followed by a signing session in the bar.
SUSPIRIA
After the success of Deep Red in
1975, Dario Argento considered
adapting the work of H.P. Lovecraft.
Among the themes Lovecraft
obsessively proposed was a pantheon
of awesomely powerful ancient beings,
whose practise of the black arts had
banished them to an outer darkness,
from which they continually strove
to return; occasionally succeeding
to cause madness, mutation and
havoc in Man and the material world.
Perhaps because it required too
great a devotion to another artist’s
inventions, Argento decided against
working from Lovecraft, but he
didn’t entirely abandon the train of
thought. Still drawn to the uncanny,
he turned instead to his partner Daria
Nicolodi’s stories of her grandmother’s
experiences at a finishing school with
occult connections.
The result was Suspiria. It was a
totally new experience, and even the
mainstream critics had to admit it: “a
deliberately overblown bit of Gothic
ghoulishness that makes other tales of
terror look anaemic” opined Alexander
Walker. Thunderous in volume,
grotesque and yet beautiful, and
soaked in outrageous washes of pure
primary colour, it’s an unforgettable
piece of cinema. Telling a story of the
supernatural, of witches and malefic
influence, it shows Argento shaking
free from the threads of logic and
reason altogether, and unconditionally
embracing the mystical beliefs of
Nicolodi, herself a practitioner of
witchcraft. The simple story tells
of the experience of Suzy Banyon, a
pretty young dance student who enrols
at a sinister Bavarian Dance Academy
and discovers that the staff are actually
a secret coven of witches, under the
reign of the terrifyingly powerful ‘Black
Queen’, Helena Markos.
Suspiria drops its audience straight
into the heart of a storm, literally and
figuratively, a maelstrom of sound and
visual excess. The opening sequence,
designed by Argento with the utmost
confidence, transports us effortlessly
into a violent, hyperkinetic new world,
with only the briefest of ‘once upon a
time...’ preludes. Suspiria incorporates
music as a key element, in conjunction
with colour, and in a more general way
Argento approaches the composition
of his film as a musician would.
Music, of all the arts, is perhaps the
most intangible, its effect most often
likened to magic, to the casting of a
spell. The flawless melding of sound
and image in the major set-pieces
of Suspiria is probably the film’s
greatest innovation. Argento aims for
a synaesthetic sensation, obsessively
plastering light and sound into a
malevolently pulsating whole. Such a
powerful musical presence goes well
beyond anything previously attempted
in the horror genre and provides a
definitive stamp to this period of the
director’s creativity.
Review by Stephen Thrower, from the FAB
Press book Art of Darkness: The Cinema of
Dario Argento.
The print of Suspiria was loaned to the
festival by the National Media Museum/
Fantastic Films Weekend (Bradford)
Italy / 1977 / 92 mins
Director: Dario Argento
Producer: Claudio Argento
Writers: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi
Music: Dario Argento, Goblin
DoP: Luciano Tovoli
Editor: Franco Fraticelli
F/X: Germano Natali
Cast: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini,
Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Barbara
Magnolfi, Susanna Javicoli, Eva Axén,
Rudolf Schündler, Udo Kier, Alida Valli,
Joan Bennett, Margherita Horowitz
Inferno is a special, entirely one-ofa-kind film whose power over me
grows and grows with each awe-struck
revisit. There are countless moments
in the film that connect me to a sense
of wonder and dread that I can only
really associate with my childhood.
In other words, it makes me feel like
a frightened child, and as such, it is
nothing short of exhilarating.
It is an aria of seemingly disconnected
yet oddly fused fragments of
subconscious triggers and pure,
atmospheric dread. There are moments
in the film, where Emerson’s music
crescendos with camera movements
and cuts, that get me emotional
beyond expression, and this is achieved
almost purely through abstraction. Very
few films harness that sort of power
(David Lynch’s Lost Highway is
the only recent example that
comes to mind).
While it might not have benefited
from the stunning - and now sadly,
obsolete - three strip Technicolor dye
transfer stock that Suspiria was shot
on, I think it’s inarguable that Inferno’s
lighting schemes are equally, if not
surpassingly, startling and creative, not
to mention mind numbingly beautiful.
Inferno’s cinematographer Romano
Albani (who later lensed Phenomena)
is every bit as innovative as Suspiria’s
Luciano Tovoli. I would even go so
far as to say that Inferno is one of the
most beautifully lit films I’ve ever
seen, with incredible configurations of
deep blues, ambers and reds pulling
painterly patterns across spectacular
Infe
sets and locations in a manner
which I’ve never seen replicated.
On a screen it is almost paralyzingly
beautiful, and seeing it projected was
without a doubt one of the strongest
experiences I’ve ever had in a cinema.
It is nothing short of breathtaking and
totally, absolutely inspirational. It is
fascinating to observe the many ways in
which Argento incorporates the film’s
principal colour schemes of blue, red
and amber into aspects of ‘rational’
light sources. For example, lightning
flashes in deep red bursts, and the
police car’s lights at Sara’s apartment
flush Mark’s face with deep blue hues
- as do the lights of the fire trucks at
the film’s close. These richly saturated
colours are first introduced in intensely
supernatural atmospheres, but before
long, they become ubiquitous, cleverly
reinforcing Suspiria’s theme that
“magic is everywhere”.
The Third Mother is the final film
in Argento’s trilogy known as The
Three Mothers. The trilogy is loosely
based on characters from “Levana
and Our Ladies of Sorrow”, a section
of Thomas de Quincey’s Suspiria de
Profundis. The prose poem outlines
the existence of three women that are
the personification of sorrow: Mater
Lachrimarum. Breaking the seal
heralds the return of the beautiful
yet malefic sorceress’ powers, and the
world is plunged into chaos. A wave of
suicides and crime sweeps over Italy’s
capital as witches congregate to pay
homage to their reborn queen. Sarah
must eventually discover her latent
supernatural powers with the help of
Mother of Tears
Review by Mitch Davis, from the FAB Press
book Art of Darkness: The Cinema of
Dario Argento.
Italy / 1980 / 107 mins
Director: Dario Argento
Producer: Claudio Argento
Screenplay: Dario Argento
Music: Keith Emerson
DoP: Romano Albani
Editor: Franco Fraticelli
F/X: Germvano Natali
Cast: Leigh McCloskey,
Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria
Nicolodi, Sacha Pitoeff, Alida Valli,
Veronica Lazar, Gabriele Lavia, Feodor
Chaliapin, Leopoldo Mastelloni, Ania
Pieroni
rno
Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum, and
Mater Tenebrarum. Argento and Daria
Nicolodi recast de Quincey’s Three
Sorrows as three malevolent witches
who rule the world with tears, sighs,
and shadows. When released in 1977
the first film, Suspiria introduced the
major stylistic elements of the series,
including the bold use of primary
colors and elaborate setpieces for
each murder. The sequel, Inferno,
developed the overarching plot
continuities concerning the three
central witches when released in 1980.
And in Mother of Tears: The Third
Mother, Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento)
- an American studying art restoration
at the Museum of Ancient Art in
Rome - examines an urn found at an
ancient, decrepit grave near Viterbo.
Bound within are the relics of a witch
known as the Mother of Tears, Mater
her deceased mother (Daria Nicolodi)
and confront Lachrimarum at the
opulent Palazzo Varelli.
From the Mother of Tears Wikipedia entry
Italy / 2007 / 98 mins
Director: Dario Argento
Producers: Claudio Argento, Dario
Argento, Giulia Marletta
Writers: Jace Anderson, Dario Argento,
Walter Fasano, Adam Gierasch, Simona
Simonetti
DoP: Frederic Fasano
Editors: Walter Fasano
Music: Claudio Simonetti
F/X: Sergio Stivaletti
Cast: Asia Argento, Cristian Solimeno,
Adam James, Moran Atias, Valeria
Cavalli, Philippe Leroy, Daria Nicolodi,
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Udo Kier,
Robert Madison, Jun Ichikawa, Tommaso
Banfi, Paolo Stella, Clive Riche
Thanks to Optimum Home Entertainment
When they come as thrilling as Don Siegel’s 1956 classic, “Invasion of the Body
Snatchers”, it seems ludicrous to attempt a remake. Yet director Philip Kaufman did just
that in 1978, and produced a film every bit as chilling.
WD Richter updates and relocates Jack Finney’s original story to San Fransisco, where
health inspector Donald Sutherland is the shoulder that colleague Brooke Adams cries
on. Her boyfriend Art Hindle has suddenly become very emotionally detached from
both her and the world around him. Sutherland enlists the help of his psychiatric buddy
Leonard Nimoy, who is only too happy to try and explain the problem.
What he is less able to resolve is the bizarre spidery webs and pink flowers that have
descended over the city, and people claiming that their partners and family have been
have been replaced with soulless look-a-likes. He puts it down to a “hallucinatory flu
going round”, but Sutherland begins to suspect otherwise.
The signs are all there, courtesy of Kaufman, who weaves an increasingly sinister
cityscape through prowling camerawork and a highly effective stereo score. Sutherland
delivers a performance that conveys beautifully the terrifying realisation that he is one of
a diminishing group yet to be overwhelmed by an alien force that bears the faces of the
loved and trusted.
Review by Almar Haflidason for BBCi Films
USA / 1978 / 115 mins
Director: Philip Kaufman
b H. Solo
Producer: Robert
Screenplay: W.D. Richter based on the novel
by Jack Finney
Music: Denny Zeitlin
DoP: Michael Chapman
Editor: Douglas Stewart
FX: Russ Hessey, Dell Rheaume
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams,
d
Jeff Goldblum,
Veronica Cartwright, Leonard
Nimoy, Art Hindle, Lelia Goldoni, Kevin
McCarthy, Don Siegel, Tom Luddy, Stan
Ritchie, David Fisher
That’s the definition given to the title of this 1979 horror masterpiece, and to that
I’d like to add: One hell of a scary film. Speaking as a horror fan, I have to make this
confession -- I am jaded. It takes a lot to frighten me, and I can name the few films
that have done so by counting on one hand. Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm is on that
small list and with good reason.
There is just some otherworldly magic associated with this set of films. Some type
of captured and bottled lightning that keeps the viewer locked in place during even
the weakest entries of the franchise. The world of Phantasm is a universe in and
of itself, painted with rich characters and a disturbing premise that asks the ever
thought-provoking question - What happens to us when we die? If you listen to The
Tall Man, we don’t go to Heaven. We go to him.
Death is a subject that has frightened and compelled us all for years. It can be
USA / 1979 / 88 mins
Director: Don Coscarelli
Producers: D.A. Coscarelli, Paul Pepperman
Writer: Don Coscarelli
Music: Fred Myrow, Malcolm Seagrave
DoP: Don Coscarelli
Editor: Don Coscarelli
Cast: Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury,
Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester, Terrie Kalbus,
Ken Jones, Susan Harper, Lynn Eastman,
David Arntzen, Ralph Richmond, Bill Cone,
Laura Mann, Mary Ellen Shaw, Myrtle Scotton,
Angus Scrimm
argued that mankind’s greatest fear is death itself. That’s one of the keys to this
series’ success! Phantasm not only explores that phobia but shoves it right down our
throats. To further make things interesting, the Phantasm tales (beginning of course
with this one) are told in a blurry fashion, meaning there is no line separating our
reality from that of The Tall Man’s. As a result, the film experience ends up feeling
as surreal as an out-of-body experience. Coscarelli makes a point of not spoonfeeding us this pound of flesh, so a lot is left up to the audience in terms of what
they think is really happening. The world of Phantasm is vast in its mystery and rife
with fan speculation. I’m sure people will be talking about it for many years to come.
From a review by Uncle Creepy for Dread Central
I don’t know how many indie films
you may have watched in your time
as a horror fan, but there’s a moment,
usually in the first ten minutes, when
you know if what you’re about to
spend the next 80 minutes of your
life with is worth the oxygen and lack
of movement on your part, or if you
should consider heading to the gym
instead.
As soon as Five Across the Eyes (which
just might be the coolest title ever)
opened, I had the “oh my God, this
is shot on DV” moment of terror and
feared the worst. Then that 10-minute
mark hit and I realized I was in the
hands of a couple of directors who had
a very clear idea of what they wanted
to do, and though it might take a while
for them to get there, when it dawned
on me that they had a plan, I was in for
the ride.
Five Across the Eyes is the story of
five girls on their way home from a
high school football game who decide
to take a detour to try and get home
quicker. As is always the
case in horror movies,
this is a terrible idea. As
it gets later and they get
more and more lost, they
eventually stop and ask
for directions. On the way
out of the parking lot,
they accidentally hit another person’s
car but instead of sticking around to
apologize just take off and hope no
one notices.
At first it all seems all right, like maybe
they actually got away with it, but as is
also always the case in horror movies,
they most definitely did not. And
really, when you come down to it, they
couldn’t have planned to hit a more
psychopathic person’s car if they aimed
for Michael Myers himself because
their lives become a living hell for the
next 75 minutes.
That timing is important because, for
all intents and purposes, Five Across
the Eyes is a “real time” movie. Just
how they did it I’m not sure, since
most of it takes place inside the
van while it’s actually moving, but
somehow they have two
cameras capturing all the
action from start to finish,
with very few edits and none
that show any passage of
time. Because of this you’re
stuck with five teenage girls
as they go from a normal,
understandable level of annoyance
(they are teenagers, after all) to a
panic-inducing frenzy when they
realize just how bad of a mistake they
made by hitting that other car.
It’s a hard movie to watch for two
reasons; the problem is if you
experience one you won’t likely
experience the other. You will either
have an issue with the violence that
goes down, both implied and otherwise
(and once it’s up and running, it gets
pretty damn vicious) or the simple fact
that these five girls are freaking out,
yelling, screaming or pleading
for their lives for the bulk of
the film’s run time.
So if all the screaming annoys
you (as, admittedly, it did
me), the violence will only
add to it since you know it’s
going to give them another reason
to freak out for 30 minutes. If you’re
freaked out by the violence, the kinetic
nature of the pacing in Five Across the
Eyes will likely make it even worse,
giving the girls’ inability to deal with
their situation in a calm manner (and
who could blame them?) even more
poignancy.
Points need to be given to these girls,
too. Like I said, for the most part
there’s very little editing so who knows
how long it actually took them to film
this. Given that, these five girls, all of
who actually look like the age they’re
supposed to be, do a commendable
job of keeping their reactions realistic.
Throughout the film, as things get
worse and worse, they go through a
wide range of emotions and you really
get the sense that this is causing some
major long-term issues.
Five Across the Eyes isn’t
perfect, but it is a very strong
debut for a couple of guys from
Tennessee, and I’m interested
to see what they could do with
more of a budget since they
managed pretty well on what
had to have been a miniscule spending
account for this flick. If you’re all right
with girls screaming for 90 minutes,
escalating violence, and barely a second
of time to catch your breath, you’ll dig
FAtE, too.
Thanks to Johnny Butane at Dread Central
for the review.
We are delighted to
welcome co-directors
Greg Swinson and Ryan
Thiessen and lead actress
Sandra Paduch to the
festival.
USA / 2006 / 95 mins
Directors: Greg Swinson, Ryan Thiessen
Producers: Rick Stroud,
Greg Swinson, Ryan Thiessen
Screenplay: Greg Swinson
Music: Shannon McDowell,
David Risdahl
DoP: Ryan Thiessen
Editor: Ryan Thiessen
F/X: Greg Swinson, Ryan Thiessen
Cast: Jennifer Barnett, Angela Brunda,
Veronica Garcia, Danielle Lilley,
Sandra Paduch, Mia Yi, Dave Jarnigan
WHAT YOU MAKE IT
SHORT FILMS
COLGADOS
MAQUINA
Paula comes home from the supermarket to find her boyfriend,
A young woman’s life is filled with confusion but one day she
Luis, in an odd position. Paula unpacks her shopping and
discovers her new nature and while it is a little surprising, it
explains that they must soon go up to the roof to help search for
helps her to finally achieve harmony and inner peace.
their elderly neighbour’s cat.
Spain / 2006 / 16 mins
Luis doesn’t want to go.
Director: Gabe Ibáñez
He’s busy.
Spain / 2007 / 13 mins
Director: Manolo Vazquez
GUILT
KARAOKE SHOW
A young man finds himself being pressured by his family to
At the age of 14, animation director Karl Tebbe wanted to dance
donate his heart to his dying mama. Their relationship hasn’t
like the best dancer alive. But you either have rhythm in your
always been perfect, but with his girlfriend, two very persuasive
blood or you don’t. Now 22 years later, stop-motion-animation
Yiddish aunts and the medical
has allowed him to finally fulfil
staff all insisting it’s the right
his lifelong dream.
thing, what’s a guy to do?
Germany / 2007 / 5 mins
USA / 2006 / 15 mins
Director: Karl Tebbe
Director: Bill Oliver
EGGS
UNIVERS PARALITS
The rolling green hills of rural Ireland are not as innocent as they
Eugène, lying in his bed, waits for his wife to come out of the
seem. Lurking in those fields are the church’s secret weapon,
bathroom. But then he turns over and finds himself next to one
unseen and patient, waiting for the right moment to emerge and
of his old girlfriends who talks to him about getting married, as if
convert the wicked.
they were still together.
Ireland / 2005 / 3 mins
France / 2007 / 6 mins
Director: James Cotter
Director: Tommaso Volpi
PUPPET
THE END IS NIGHT
A young man makes a sock puppet, surely the most innocent of
While erecting fence-posts one day, a farmer discovers an ancient
objects, not knowing the abuse it will soon inflict. Through an
amulet with extraordinary power….the kind of power that could
escalating series of tortures, the possessed puppet takes on the
warp a mind, drive him to the brink of insanity, tempt a mere
embodiment of fear, chaos and
mortal to interfere. So he goes
wilful self-destruction.
right ahead and does what any of
When socks go bad!
us would do…
USA / 2006 / 7 mins
Ireland / 2007 / 4 mins
Director: Patrick Smith
Director: James Cotter
UK / 2007 / 89 mins
Director: Matthew Hope
Producers: Robert Henry Craft,
Steve Dann, Anthony Delany,
Harry F. Rushton
Writer: Matthew Hope
Music: Mark Delany
DoP: David Byrne
Editors: Simon Adams, Larry Trybec
F/X: Phil Anderson, Robbie Drake
Cast: Ray Bullock Jr, Emma Choy,
Karen Admiraal, Steve Weston,
Bahi Ghubril, Farhan Khan,
Jack Bailey, Christopher Hatherall,
Martin Hobbs, Shiv Grewal
THE VANGUARD
2015 – the world is in chaos – the last
known oil fields have been vanquished,
over-opulation has reached critical
levels and mankind is about to become
a thing of the past.
hunter-gatherer – the Biosyns are the
enemy and must be fought in order to
preserve his very existence. Max has
forged a life without human contact
and every day is a battle to stay alive.
Out of this apocalyptic nightmare,
an entity known only as The
Corporation devises a course of action
to cull the human race and initialise a
depopulation programme. But in a last
ditch attempt to save mankind, the
scientists tasked with this act revolt
and crate a drug that reduces humans
to a primitive ape-like state. These
regressive creatures are known as
Biosyns. With their sight reduced to
virtual blindness, the Biosyns rely on
scent and sound to hunt and to survive.
And then the Biosyns begin to evolve
– learning first to communicate then
banding together, their vision slowly
returning – and now they’re coming
for Max.
But for Max – a young man cast
adrift into the wilderness to live as a
Unbeknownst to Max, the Corporation
has despatched a group of genetically
engineered soldiers – known as
Trackers – to hunt down and kill him,
fearing he may have more power than
is safe for them.
When one of the Trackers finally
locates Max – at the climax of a brutal
fight with a group of Biosyns – Max’s
first instinct
is to kill him,
but something
stops him. As
rudimentary
trust is
established,
the Tracker
reassesses
his original
mission and his
own survival chances, and persuades
Max that he must give up his rural
stronghold and head South.
With rumours rife of a resistance,
it is not long before Max’s isolated
existence is infiltrated further and new,
dreadful truths are revealed.
We are delighted to welcome
director Matthew Hope and star Ray
Bullock Jnr to the festival.
Horror, first and foremost, deals
with cautionary tales and with the
current state of the world (thanks
to the lunatic in the oval office) it’s
high time we had a film deal with
that age old theme: vulgar displays
of power. Thankfully Death Note is
here to fill the void courtesy of master
filmmaker Shusuke (Gamera trilogy)
Kaneko. Having stumbled with the
disappointing Azumi 2, Kaneko-san
jumps back on track with the first
installment in his adaptation of the
popular manga, which has been split
into two volumes a la Kill Bill.
The story revolves around Light
(Fujiwara), a young law student
disgusted with society’s criminals
and the lenient justice system. One
evening, all his wishes are granted
when he happens across a notebook
dropped by the God of Death. The
owner of this “Death Note” can kill
someone simply by writing their name
in the book and, through proper rules
of conduct, even use it to manipulate
the events surrounding that person’s
demise. Viewing himself as a moral
avenger, Light assumes the identity
of “Kira” and begins to punish known
criminals on a global scale.
Light/Kira eventually becomes the
latest controversial media sensation,
attracting an equal amount of
supporters and critics. Teaming
up with the Ryuuk, the God
of Death himself (a winged
vaudevillian demon that’s a
cross between The Joker and
Sid Vicious) Light is quickly
corrupted by his newfound
power and begins to use it against the
opposition. As the body count rises,
authorities are approached by the
mysterious “L” (Ken’ichi Matsuyama)
a bizarre
hyper-intelligent detective with a task
force hellbent on discovering Kira’s
real identity.
Death Note is a total departure from
the usual J-horror fare of recent years.
Gone are all traces of long-haired
spirits and curses as well as the
traditional uber-serious dread tone.
At the same time, Kaneko doesn’t
take the easy route and resort to
Final Destination level slice n’ dice
(most of the deaths occur via heart
attack, the book’s main method of
dispatch). Rather the focus is on the
tense cat-and-mouse game between
two eccentric characters and the script
packs in enough twists and intrigue to
fill ten movies. This is an epic pulsepounding mystery with dark fantasy
overtones, and to be honest, there’s
nothing else quite like it. Leave it to
Japan to show us that horror can be
used for something other than remakes
and dead-teen flicks.
After taking the moral high road as
Battle Royale’s doe-eyed protagonist,
Fujiwara makes the perfect leap to
cold-blooded killer in a dense multilayered performance. The supporting
cast is equally solid across the
board, but it’s Matsuyama’s “L” who
completely runs away with this movie.
Acting almost entirely through his
unusual looks and body language, he’s
one of the most lovable oddballs to
ever grace the screen. As for the demon
Ryuuk, he looks exactly like what he is;
a low-grade CGI character. Thankfully,
his performance is so animated, it’s
easy to forget that fact and embrace
him as a vital part of the cast.
Death Note is an engaging and
stunningly original horror-fantasy with
enough thrills and brains to make one
salivate for the next installment.
From a review by Andrew Kasch for
Dread Central
Death Note currently on selected
cinema release. Due on DVD/Blu Ray
Special Edition in July.
Japan / 2006 / 126 mins
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Producers: Toyoharu Fukuda,
Takahiro Kobashi, Takahiro Sato
Screenplay: Tetsuya Oishi based on the
comic by Tsugumi Ôba & Takeshi Obata
Music: Kenji Kawai
DoP: Hiroshi Takase
Editor: Yousuke Yafune
FX: Kikuo Notomi
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara,
Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Asaka Seto,
Shigeki Hosokawa, Erika Toda,
Shunji Fujimura, Takeshi Kaga,
Yu Kashii, Shido Nakamura
© 2006 Death Note Film Partners
Film Shown courtesy of 4Digital Media / NTV /
Death Note Film Partners.
OUTPOST
But behind the bullshit and bravado
of tough men posturing with guns lies
a truer portrait. They were all men
who once fought for a cause and now
do so to pay the bills, bar tabs and the
alimony of lives which once
had purpose.
Outpost is a darkly atmospheric and
vicious supernatural horror that follows
a group of world-weary mercenaries lain
siege by a ghostly legion of the undead.
When we first meet DC he is in a bar
in an unidentified nation ravaged by
civil war and he is negotiating with
Hunt, an engineer who has apparently
been retained to survey for mineral
wealth in the area,
Hunt wants DC – a jaded ex-Royal
Marine turned soldier of fortune – and
a team of his choosing to provide a
secure escort o a remote forest locale
that Hunt has been commissioned to
investigate.
With the finances settled, the team
DC assembles are a rag-tag bunch of
six mercenaries. Although they are
largely strangers (only DC and his
occasional right-hand man, a tough,
potentially psychotic American called
Prior (Richard Brake), have worked
together before) they have all served
as professional soldiers and sold their
skills in conflicts across the globe.
Led by DC, they make their way into
the forest to secure Hunt’s
prized location; a place, until
now, viewed only from satellite
photographs and after a long
cautious walk through harsh
landscape, bordered on all sides
by hostile, opposing forces, they
arrive at Hunt’s coordinates.
And it’s clearly not a site survey
for minerals. What they find is
a barren outpost offering little
more than a flagpole and an
underground hatch in a rough
clearing in the trees.
Further investigation reveals an
underground bunker complex;
the long abandoned remains
of a medical facility and a
containment chamber. Before
they can begin to piece together
the clues, they fall almost
immediately under fire from an
unseen enemy out in the woods.
Outpost is a horror movie that mutates
several genres to provide its impact.
The scares come through suspense
built on atmosphere and lighting rather
than relying on effects or prosthetics;
employing the brutal no-nonsense
techniques that made the genre
classics of the late seventies and early
eighties so powerful.
Outpost adapts the aesthetics
of modern combat films to create
characters who would be more at home
in Unforgiven or The Wild Bunch than
your typical horror movie. These men
are not scared of the dark or anything
in it. But their growing realization of
just how impotent they are in the face
of this seemingly unstoppable enemy
forces them to confront the fact that in
many ways they are the mirror image of
the creatures they’re fighting.
We are delighted to welcome director
Steve Barker to Dead by Dawn
UK / 2007 / 90 mins
Director: Steve Barker
Producers: Arabella Page Croft,
Kieran Parker
Writer: Rae Brunton
Music: James Brett
DoP: Gavin Struthers
Editor: Alastair Reid
FX: Hybrid Enterprises
Cast: Ray Stevenson, Julian Wadham,
Richard Brake, Paul Blair, Brett Fancy,
Enoch Frost, Julian Rivett,
Michael Smiley, Johnny Meres,
Xuki Robeli, Scott Peden, Mark Smith,
Charlie Jeffrey, Graeme Temple
Suicide Club
Japan / 2002 / 99 mins
Director: Sion Sono
Producers: SirLaosson Dara,
Masaya Kawamata, Junichi Tanaka,
Toshiie Tomida, Seiji Yoshida
Writer: Sion Sono
Music: Tomoki Hasegawa
Dop: Kazuto Sato
Editor: Masahiro Onaga
F/X: Yoshihiro Nishimura
Cast: Ryo Ishibashi, Akaji Maro,
Masatoshi Nagase, Saya Hagiwara,
Hideo Sako, Takashi Nomura,
Tamao Satô, Mai Hosho, Yoko Kamon,
Rolly, Kimiko Yo
Newspaper headlines are howling
about a rash of suicides. 54 college
students have thrown themselves
under subway cars and more bodies are
piling up all over Tokyo and beyond.
And after each suicide, a gruesome
discovery is made. The situation
defies explanation. Something is afoot
in the shadows, but what?
The investigation is entrusted to two
police officers. To them, the key to
this enigma lies with the youth. As
they ask themselves how, why and
most importantly when and where
these suicides will take place next,
the phone rings and an angelic young
voice, strangely knowledgeable for its
age, thickens the intrigue. At the same
time, a hot new pop hit is released by
the country’s latest sensation Dessert,
a syrupy pair of 10 year old girls. Is
there some connection?
Engagingly cryptic, Suicide Club
will sink its hooks into many a film
fan, while putting all the recent,
substandard Ring clones from Asia and
elsewhere in their place. It positions
itself exactly between the films of
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Kairo) for his
complex existentialist reflections, and
those of Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer,
Visitor Q) for his deranged excesses of
rebellious provocation.
Recognizing that this movie matches
the talents of those two is one thing.
How far the film’s unflinching cynicism
goes above and beyond either of those
film-makers’ works is something
that has to be seen to be believed.
It’s equally a biting black comedy,
an excessively graphic horror film,
a musical (check out the incredible
scene with the goth-punk band singing
about dying like Joan of Arc in a Robert
Bresson film), a thriller in the style of
Hypnosis and a deeply moving work
along the lines of The Virgin Suicides
(the director is also a published
poet). It deals eloquently with the
growing problem of suicide in Japan,
a frequent subject for film-makers
from that country. What’s surprising
is how it bypasses the socio-economic
angle and dives into a more intimate,
philosophical approach
Review by Julien Fonfrede for FantAsia
Dead by Dawn would like to thank the Great
Britain Sasakawa Foundation for their generous
assistance in making this screening possible.
Inspired by a real-life incident so
bizarre it’s already been referenced
in a ‘Law & Order’ episode, Stuck is
ingeniously nasty and often shockingly
funny as it incrementally worsens a
very bad situation, then provides a
potent payoff with the forced feeding
of just desserts.
Working from a crafty script by
John Strysik, Gordon establishes
a heightened-reality tone of bleak
hilarity early on while introducing two
lead characters: Tom (Stephen Rea),
a sad-eyed schlump who has lost his
job to downsizing; and Brandi (Mena
Suvari), a dedicated retirement-home
caregiver who devotes far too much of
her downtime to partying, drinking
and drugging.
After enduring a long day of
frustrations and humiliations – he’s
kicked out of his apartment, then
brushed off by a state employment
office clerk – Tom thinks he’s hit
rock bottom when he’s reduced to
spending the night on a park bench.
Unfortunately, he winds up in the
wrong place at the wrong time just as
Brandi puts pedal to the metal.
Brandi is understandably upset when
Tom’s broken body flies through her
windshield. Still, she has sufficient
presence of mind to drive home,
stow her car in her garage – even as a
semiconscious, sporadically moaning
Tom remains stuck in place – and,
come morning, take a cab to work.
She’s really bummed out by what has
happened, but she knows that spilling
the beans about her hit-and-run
accident might dampen her possible
promotion.
So Brandi asks Rashid (Russell
Hornsby), her drug-dealing boyfriend,
to dispose of the inconvenient body.
But there’s a complication: the body
isn’t quite dead. Indeed, the longer he
remains trapped in the windshield,
the more time Tom has to gather
strength for the slow and painful
process of escape.
Given Gordon’s notoriety as the cultfave auteur of Re-animator (1985)
and From Beyond (1986), it shouldn’t
be surprising that Stuck includes a
few quease-inducing scenes of messy
mayhem and seriocomic suffering. But
the movie is more unsettling – and
most hilarious – when the violence
is emotional, not physical, as Brandi
gradually reveals the full measure of
her sociopathic selfishness.
Gordon and Strysik advance their
mordantly outrageous yet perversely
logical narrative through the steady
accumulation of unlucky breaks,
impulsive decisions and ironic twists.
Up to a point, audiences may actually
view the increasingly frantic Brandi as
deserving of at least some sympathy.
Once that point is past, however, Stuck
kicks into overdrive, propelled by the
giddy exhilaration always ignited when
filmmakers more or less announce that
all bets are off.
Suvari is fearlessly effective as she
charts Brandi’s devolution from
distraught screw-up to unhinged harpy,
making each step in the transformation
seem at once unexpected and
inevitable. She offers excellent
counterpoint to Rea, whose pitchperfect performance suggests that the
best hope for a loser is to be placed in
a situation where you have absolutely
nothing left to lose. Hornsby earns his
own share of laughs by playing toughtalking Rashid as no match for toughertalking women.
Canada/USA/UK / 2007 / 94 mins
Director: Stuart Gordon
Producers: Jay Firestone, Ken Gord,
Robert Katz
Screenplay: John Strysik
Music: Bobby Johnston
DoP: Denis Maloney
Editor: Andy Horvitch
F/X: Laird McMurray, Mike Measimer,
Sylvie Mazerolle
Cast: Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea,
Russell Hornsby, Rukiya Bernard,
John Dartt, Mauricio Hoyos,
Patrick McKenna
senseless
Elliot Gast was cruising on the road
to success, until he became violently
overturned by a group of political
extremists and brutally tortured for
acts he wasn’t even aware he had
committed. Now, as his torment is
streamed across the net as the most
graphic and disturbing reality show
yet, Elliott has nothing left but the
will to fight back against the evils
and try to plead to the masses as they
safely watch from the other side of
their computer screens. In this intense
thriller where desperation and pain
become the new currency,
we expose a raw view of
commercialism, capitalism,
and the American Dream
according to the new order
of radical extremists.
UK / 2008 / 87 mins
Director: Simon Hynd
Producers: Micky McPherson,
Nigel Thomas
Screenplay: Simon Hynd based on
the novel by Stona Fitch
DoP: Trevor Brooker
Editors: Bill Gill
Music: Iain Cook
F/X: Robbie Drake, Meg Speirs,
Perry Costello
Cast: Jason Behr, Emma Catherwood,
Joe Ferrara, Sean O’Kane, Jacques
Kerr, Toby Marlow, Helen Mallon
My thanks to all those without whom…
To all the EFFFF Bunnies - FTP ITB. United We Stand!
Adam Lowe, Alan Simpson, Alicia Reginato, Allan Macraild, Andrew Kirkham, Andy Lobban, Andy Waller, Anthony Timpson, Arabella Page Croft, Arna Marie Bersaas, Audra
Jacombs, Audrey Delaney, Áurea Ribeiro, Axelle Marshall, Ben Friedman, Bernard Tourre, Bill Oliver, Breehn Burns, Brian Baglow, Brian Block, Caitlin Robertson, Carey Williams,
Carla Alonzo, Chris Ferrise, Chris Rice, Claire Mendez, Clare Dundrow, Colin Fair, Colin McDermott, Craig Docherty, Dan Griffiths, Dave Alexander, Dave Barclay, David Boyd,
David May, Derek Horne, Diane Henderson, Dries Phlypo, Eduardo Panizzo, Edward Murphy, Eleanor McKeown, Eva de Moor, Fionnuala Watters, Freddy Bozzo, Fumiko Nagata,
Gareth Lowrie, Grant Cunningham, Greg Swinson, Harry Guerro, Harvey Fenton, Helen Mullane, Hubi Liel, Jack Stevenson, James Cotter, James McKenzie, James Rice, Jan
Doense, Jason Noto, Jayne Fortescue, Jean Luc Addams, Jean-Marc Cambier, Jennifer Chen, Jennifer Hall, Jenny Leask, Jesse Grce, John-Paul Burgess, Johannes Von Mallinckrodt,
John Carchietta, John Faust, John Norris, John Treadgold, Johnny Butane, Joseph Alberti, Josh Booth, Jovanka Vuckovic, Juan Pablo Zaramella, Junko Takekawa, Karl Tebbe, Kevin
Barrett, Kier-la Janisse, Kieran Parker, Kristine Estorninos, Lara Matthews, Laura Dickens, Laura Vogel, Linda Hunt, Liz Adams, Louis Savy, Manolo Vazquez, Marco Pecota,
Marjorie Bendeck, Mark Steensland, Matt Smith, Matthew Hope, Mayumi Nagumo, Michael Rothstein, Micky McPherson, Mike Modro, Mitch Davis, Morvern Cunningham,
Morven Richardson, Myassa Kerrad, Mylene Bradfield, Nami Sugai, Nash Edgerton, Nayana Sen, Neil Marshall, Nick Chaffaut, Nick Ligonis, Nik Jardine, Niven Govinden, Noelle
Vaccese, Pamela Rodi, Patrick Smith, Paul Bickel, Paul Hough, Peter Cowan, Phil Ilson, Ray Bullock Jnr, Richard Gale, Richard Moore, Rick Yankowski, Robert Glickert, Rod White,
Rodrigo Gudino, Rory Kindersley, Rusty Nails, Ryan Thiessen, Sarah Drummond, Scott McKinnon, Sebastian Godwin, Seth McAnespie, Simon Hynd, Sophie Garrett, Steve Barker,
Theresa Valtin, Tim League, Tommaso Volpi, Tony di Paolo, Tony Earnshaw, Travis Stevens, Trevor Piecham, Tristan Versluis, Txema Muñoz, Uncle Creepy, Victor Bonacore,
Virginia Newcomb, Wendy Wolverton, Yucca Seki, Yutaka Morohashi.
We’d like to thank the following distributors and sales agents for their assistance in putting this year’s programme together:
Anchor Bay Home Entertainment Ltd, Black Camel Pictures, Content Films International, Criterion Pictures, Fox UK, Fox USA, High Fliers Films, Imagination Worldwide,
Kadokawa Pictures, Lions Gate, Media 8 Entertainment, Media Blasters Releasing, Momentum Pictures, Myriad Pictures, National Media Museum/Fantastic Films Weekend,
Nippon Television Network Corporation, Opera Film, Optimum Releasing, Plum Films, Revolver Entertainment,
Rigel Entertainment, Sick-O-Scope, Silk Purse Enterprises, Universal Pictures International, Vertigo Films,
Thanks also to all the Front of House and Bar staff at Filmhouse and you, for making the effort to be here and to anyone I’ve missed out – your help and support does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
Legal Notice
Dead by Dawn is a festival owned and run by Adèle Hartley. All rights reserved. Dead by Dawn is proud to be running in association with Filmhouse this year. All contents of
this programme were correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of going to press. We can accept no responsibility for changes to timetabling nor for inaccuracies due to
circumstances beyond our control. The logos, photographs and reviews throughout this programme are copyright of their original owner and our use of them does not constitute
a challenge to that ownership.
The Mist feels like the definitive
Stephen King film, which probably
comes as no surprise considering
director Frank Darabont is responsible
for the best adaptations in the author’s
30+ year history. The novella has stood
out as one of King’s most celebrated
works and has cried out for a movie
version, but it’s faced a long road to the
screen. Thankfully, it was worth the
wait. The Mist is a modern day horror
classic in the spirit of movies like
Jaws, The Thing, and more recently,
The Host.
Following a violent thunderstorm,
artist David Drayton (Thomas
Jane) and his son find themselves
in a world of trouble when a bizarre
supernatural mist floods their small
Maine town. Taking shelter in the local
supermarket, the townsfolk discover
the fog conceals vicious Lovecraftian
monsters and try to formulate a survival
plan. But what lurks outside is nothing
compared to what rages inside the
minds of men. Mrs Carmody (Marcia
Gay Harden), an Old Testament
religious nut, views the threat as God’s
wrath and takes it upon herself to
convert followers into her own warped
doomsday cult. As fear gives way to
distrust, allegiances are drawn between
the panicky survivors and David finds
himself going to extreme lengths to
protect his son.
The Mist is a classy pic that works on
all levels: As a minimalist suspense
thriller, a creature feature, and most of
all, a dark character drama. Normally
when A-list talent collides with the
horror genre the results can be pretty
dismal (Dreamcatcher, anyone?) but
Darabont, a veteran horror writer and
all-around genre geek, has a perfect
understanding of the material (and
even throws in several homages for diehard King fans). This is the rarest of
films; an atmospheric thrill ride that’s
both scary and smart. Darabont never
goes for the cheap shocks and builds
the terror through mood and anxiety.
And like all great monster flicks, The
Mist is more focused on the humans
than the beasts, weaving an intense
character study on how people face fear
in a completely hopeless situation.
The ensemble cast, comprised of
several King-movie veterans, turn in
solid performances across the board.
Just as in Shawshank, Darabont finds
a way for you to connect with every
character on some level, no matter
how small their roles are. In particular,
Thomas Jane gets his chance to shine
in his tortured hero role, while Toby
Jones easily takes the crowd favorite
as Ollie, the geeky take-charge store
manager. But it’s Harden who steals
the show, winning the Captain Rhodes
Award as a villain you will hate with
every fiber of your being. Imagine
Carrie’s mom cranked up on speed, and
even though Darbont humanizes the
character, it doesn’t make her any less
frightening.
The creatures themselves are almost
entirely CG but they’re some of the
most memorable movie monsters to
run amok thanks to the design talents
of KNB and artist Bernie Wrightson.
Aside from one or two shoddy digital
effects during the first attack scene,
the CaféFX work looks remarkable
in spite of the budget, and Darabont
wisely keeps the creatures hidden for
most of the running time. The dread
relies more on your imagination, with
brilliant sound design and a sparing use
of music that builds the tension right
from the very first frame. Rest assured
though, Darabont still has some fun
with several gooey set-pieces that are
guaranteed to make your skin crawl.
THE MIST
There is one element of The Mist that
will be a source of major controversy:
The ending. Without giving anything
away, Darabont expands on King’s
ambiguous finale and delivers an
emotional gut punch so shocking it’s
a wonder it ever escaped through the
studio system. It may very well be
the ballsiest ending in horror cinema,
and mainstream audiences and King
purists will no doubt be screaming for
Darabont’s blood when the credits roll.
Heated arguments will rage over the
point of the new ending, but it’s far
more dramatically satisfying, keeping
in line with the tone and themes of
the film. Detractors will hate it simply
because it’s too effective and that’s
the brilliance of The Mist – it divides
those who want cheap escapist thrills
from those who like their horror with
real heart, brains, and courage.
Review by Andrew Kasch for Dread Central
USA / 2007 / 126 mins
Director: Frank Darabont
Producers: Frank Darabont,
Anna Garduno, Liz Glotzer,
Denise M. Huth, Randi Richmond
Screenplay: Frank Darabont, based on
the novella by Stephen King
Music: Mark Isham
DoP: Ronn Schmidt
Editor: Hunter M. Via
F/X: Howard Berger, Gregory Nicotero,
Andy Schoneberg,
Bernie Wrightson, Ray Brown
Cast: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden,
Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher,
Toby Jones, William Sadler,
Jeffrey DeMunn, Frances Sternhagen,
Nathan Gamble, Alexa Davalos,
Chris Owen, Sam Witwer,
Robert C. Treveiler, David Jensen,
Melissa McBride, Andy Stahl,
Buck Taylor, Brandon O’Dell,
Jackson Hurst
MAIN SHORTS
BITTEN
EATER
Authorities have ordered all citizens of a small rural village to stay indoors
and avoid any contact. But one night a young woman is pursued by
an armed man but she manages to take refuge with a couple on their
isolated farm. The farmer steps
outside to face the would-be
attacker, but he doesn’t get quite
the reception he’s expecting.
To make ends meet, rookie cop Bannerman works the gruelling night
shift for the NYPD. On this particular night, the senior officers are
abuzz with rumours about a new prisoner held in the upper floor jail cell:
Mellor, a notorious serial killer with
a habit of eating his victims.
USA / 2007 / 18 mins
Director: The Duffer Brothers
France / 2007 / 14 mins
Director: David Morley
BUTCHER’S HILL
ITSY BITSY
It’s the middle of the 17th Century and a brother and sister are hiding
in the garden of an isolated cottage in rural New England. When they
investigate the kitchen, they gorge themselves on the tempting cakes
covering the table. It seems too
good to be true.
David is in the kitchen holding the engagement ring he plans to give
to his girlfriend. But he’s freaking out. Marriage is definitely the most
frightening thing in David’s life. Well, it was, right up until the point
that something with eight legs
came in from the cold.
UK/USA / 2007 / 9 mins
USA / 2006 / 9 mins
Directors: Rory Kindersley, Jason Noto
Director: David May
Hyperactive Ingredients
Moment de Gloire
A mischievous young boy mixes drinks out of random household items
ranging from mayonnaise to laundry detergent. He experiments with
three different drinks and forcibly tests them on the nearest available
subjects with varying results.
There’s a reason why these things
say ‘keep out of the reach of
children’.
Sam is ready to do anything in order to achieve worldwide fame... and
he has got a very good plan. Really, what could possibly go wrong? And
unless you crave winning a Darwin Award (which is slightly incompatible
with staying alive), do not try this at
home!
USA / 2006 / 4 mins
Belgium / 2006 / 8 mins
Director: Hendrik Moonen
Director: Trevor Piecham
LAPSUS
SPIDER
Juan Pablo Zaramello is an Argentinian animator whose El Desafio a la
Muerte – about a guru who could blend and reanimate himself - screened
at Dead by Dawn 2006. Now, a curious nun ventures into the dark side
only to be punished in a variety of
inventive ways.
It’s a bad day for Jack and Jill. He did something wrong and she’s mad
at him. She thinks he’s immature. He thinks of a way to apologise. All
Jill wants is a little sincerity but she’s with a man who doesn’t really ‘do’
sincerity.
Argentina / 2007 / 4 mins
Director: Nash Edgerton
Director: Juan Pablo Zaramella
Australia / 2007 / 9 mins
THE DESCENDENT
Wat a Wonderful Day
Two hitmen park in a dark lane and make their way to the given address.
Creeping through the quiet house they soon come face to face with their
target and find he is so much more than he seems. This job may not be
quite so straightforward.
A cute bunny lies on a hillside, enjoying the sunshine. The flowers are
pretty, fluffy clouds float by, a tree is beautiful, a little worm pops up to
say hello. It’s all just so idyllic. It makes the bunny feel so good.
So very, very good.
USA / 2006 / 16 mins
Canada / 2005 / 3 mins
Director: Robert Glickert
Director: Philip Eddolls
Dr. Tran
Beyond Grandpa I & II
Here Comes Dr. Tran opens upon a small 5-year old boy, presumably with the last name Tran, eating an apple in what appears to be a hut in an Eastern
tropical locale, possibly Vietnam. Suddenly, a voice, who is unseen, begins to deliver a bombastic movie trailer-style monologue praising the boy as the
greatest action hero the world has ever known-- an action hero whom the narrator calls “Dr. Tran.” The small boy, initially confused, grows increasingly
aggravated with the intruding voice and repeatedly expresses that he is neither a doctor nor an action hero and asks the voice to leave.
The voice doesn’t leave. It gets weirder. But not nearly as weird as it gets during Dr Tran’s Quiet Log Time.
These yummy little adventures of Dr Tran are accompanied by Beyond Grandpa and Super Beyond Grandpa II Turbo,
which are hard to describe without spoiling the joy of watching grown men get away with filthy, puerile, bodily-fluidobsessed animation and calling it a real job. I am so jealous.
These cartoons are not technically horror (ok, they’re not even remotely horror) but they are freaky, cruel, crass and
disgusting, and that’s good enough for me. Enjoy :)
Here Comes Dr Tran / Dr Tran’s Quiet Log Time
Beyond Grandpa I & II
USA / 2003 / 8 mins
USA / 1998 / 4 mins
Directors: Breehn Burns, Jason Johnson
Director: Breehn Burns
THE ANGEL
The Demonology of Desire
In the bowels of an old, decrepit hospital, young Ting comforts her
dying grandmother. Her wildest fears are realised as Death enters the
room. Ting cannot bear to lose her beloved granny, but is it really the old
woman’s time to go? All may
not be lost.
Rue Morgue founding editor Rod Gudino’s new short is about a woman
with a very unusual need. Late one night, Ramona makes a powerful
wish, setting in motion a bizarre chain of events. As Fantasia Fest had it,
this is a “brave, provocative, blackly
comic and deeply perverse film”.
USA / 2007 / 8 mins
Canada / 2007 / 23 mins
Director: Paul Hough
Director: Rodrigo Gudiño
I lOVE YOU
A man sits at a table his thoughts meditated, a focused state with his
body about to run on instinct driven by the passion for love. The love
for his women. The kind of love that would make him tear at his chest,
desperate to expose and present his
trophy of love. This ritual should
turn your stomach with love.
UK / 2008 / 6 mins
Director: Tristan Versluis
D B D
ad 2 0 0 8
1 9 / 4 / 0 8
0 0 : 1 7
P ag e
1
In a Kicking-Bishop-Brennan-Up-The-Arse
stylee, we want to know who you most want
to kick up the arse and why (in no more than
25 words, please!) and the best one will win a
prosthetic leg from The Vanguard. The form
is in your goodie bag and the suggestion box
is on our desk.