Frightfest 2005

As I posted on the Boards, there have been no reviews for the last few days as I have been attending much of the above festival of horror and fantasy films.  This is the sixth year it has been held over the August bank holiday weekend (before that it was a July week-end strand at the National Film Theatre).  I have been to them all and have over the years seen some very memorable pictures, some of which have had a release here, some of which have gone straight to DVD and a few of which have fallen under the floorboards. The festival was previously held at the Prince Charles Cinema but moved this year to the Odeon West End in Leicester Square which has a much larger auditorium.  And it was full!!! -- mainly with youngish men of between 20 and 30 with the occasional fuchsia-haired girl-friend.  Goodness know what they made of an old biddy like me and my equally wrinkly partner.

Over the four days one could have viewed 23 features plus various shorts and  trailers. I did not choose to see everything since I do like eating, sleeping and seeing daylight occasionally.  Over the next few days I hope to review some of the highlights to whet your appetites.  Three of the films I will not be reviewing fall into my category of Amateur Night at the Oasis.  These films were "Dead Meat" (2005) which was billed as the first Irish zombie thriller (and the last I hope), "The Roost" (2005) an American debut effort with vampire bats (which also seemed to turn their victims to zombies), and "The Collingswood Story" (2002) which had a clever framing device of all of the characters speaking through webcams.  Where they all fell down in my estimation is that at some stage they  featured a totally black screen for long periods with only sound effects.  This is inexcusable enough when watching a movie on TV but a mark of sheer amateurism on the big screen.