Exclusive Frightfest Blog – Part 2
Friday, August 8th, 2008
Here it is, the second part of Alan Jones’ exclusive blog for DVD Monthly about the greatest Horror film festival in the world, which returns to London’s West End this August Bank Holiday weekend…
The Film4 FrightFest Olympics are under starter’s orders. It’s now just over a week before our five-day horror marathon begins. Stamina is required to withstand the high body count of everything between the side-splitting (literally!) laughs in Tokyo Gore Police and the stunning shock value of Martyrs. Veterans of the event will have already been in training; ensuring they can get to and from the Subway stand on the corner of Leicester Square in plenty of time during the programme breaks. Or else they don’t eat: it’s as simple as that!
But in these funny games the only protests allowed will be over the lack of sleep. The only pollution will be sweat in the air if it’s a hot August Bank Holiday Weekend – 2007 was cool in comparison to most. And the only human rights contravened will be those if a film hasn’t turned up and we’re forced to play Sing-along-a Mamma Mia! Last year P2 got lost in transit and we had to play Teeth unannounced. Frankly that turned out to be a very good thing.
We’ve learned from past experience to have a few back-up titles just in case of a similar occurrence. But everything so far has gone according to plan and we’re not expecting any issues in this department. Just as well really as there’s too much else to worry about. Our printed programme is now available all over the West End so that’s one headache less. Our next is making sure our special lap top carrier designed canvas goodie bags (for all weekend and day pass holders) will be brimming over with sought-after freebies. Our begging letters to every DVD label and major studio to empty out their T-shirt cupboards have been sent. We usually get a good response and any extras are great for rewarding those asking interesting questions during our post-screening Q&A director sessions.
Another aspect to Film4 FrightFest our audience really loves is the surprises we hit them with when they least expect it. Many of the directors we personally know have movies out next year and are more than happy to cut an exclusive promo for us and will turn up to introduce it with any star talent they can muster. Our audience is their key demographic and in the past our early previews of Shaun of the Dead, 28 Weeks Later and The Cottage met with wild success and important early Internet buzz. This year we have three world premiere promos for highly anticipated 2009 releases to delight the crowd. No clues, except on one day lesbians will crawl!
Two years ago one of our star guests was Starsky and Hutch icon David Soul. We showed his movie Puritan. It turned out our screening coincided with his birthday and so we got the entire audience to sign a huge greetings card and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. He was touched and really taken aback. This year, another of our guests has her birthday on the same day we screen Autopsy, the medical slasher she wrote with her partner/director Adam Gierasch. Jace Anderson and Adam have become close friends of mine due to them writing Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears. Some of you may know I have followed Argento’s career since Day One and wrote the book ‘Profondo Argento’. (It’s now out of print so that isn’t a shameless plug, although I am updating it for publication again soon) So I’m pulling out all the stops on August 24 to make sure she gets a similar celebration.
Jace and Adam are just two of the guests we invited to attend. Other directors include Steven Goldman (Trailer Park of Terror), Paddy Breathnach (Freakdog), Gregg Bishop (Dance of the Dead), Joey Evans (Bubba’s Chili Parlor), Stacey Edmonds and Doug Turner (I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer), James Watkins (Eden Lake) Johnny Kevorkian (The Disappeared), Steven Sheil (Mum & Dad) Kerry Anne Mullaney (The Dead Outside) and Frank Henenlotter (Bad Biology). Plus any of their available stars, screenwriters, crew, composers and producers. Others attending will be Neil Marshall (The Descent), Adam Green (Hatchet) and Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2) who always do and we love having them around. Adam and Joe have promised us a surprise of their own and we can’t wait to find out what that is.
As always the paparazzi will be buzzing around and Empire and Zone Horror vlogs pointing their cameras at anyone who moves. And because we aren’t competing with the Edinburgh Film Festival this year, we’ll have a lot of name critics in the audience alongside Kim Newman, our beloved die-hard attendee.
I’ve had to bow out of the final preparations mainly because that pesky thing known as my day job means I can’t be around until our Eden Lake kick-off on August 21st. I’m under contract to complete work on The Descent 2 and Salvage, a horror thriller made for the Liverpool City of Culture celebrations. Plus I have to be on location with Dorian Gray, starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth, and in Birmingham to cover the zombie schoolboy chiller Tormented. Will I make it to our opening night party? I rarely have in the past due to having to be in ten places at the same time to ensure things go smoothly. And chasing after canapés is not a good look for organizers of the UK’s biggest, brightest and, dare I say best, horror fantasy festival.
Alan Jones
To read the first instalment in Alan’s blog, click here.
For more info on Frightfest, head over to www.frightfest.co.uk.
