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"I always do an all-night horror marathon on Saturdays where we start at seven and go until five in the morning." --- Quentin Tarantino ::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

57th SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL HORRORSPECTIVE

May 26th 2010 01:04
The Killer Inside Me Casey Affleck
I’m very excited about the nightmares included in this year’s Sydney Film Festival programme! The Festival opens Wednesday June 2nd and runs until Monday June 14th. Not only is there a thematic category called “Freak Me Out”, but there’s also a retrospective of cult classic vampire movies, "Immortal Seduction", plus assorted other dark and wicked treats. I’m like a boy in a toy store at Christmas time!

The Loved Ones Robin McLeavy
“Gross. Scream. Cult. Schlock.” spurts the tagline for the Freak Me Out section of the Festival. Amongst the selection are three Aussie debut features guaranteed to pack a punch; Red Hill is a fusion of Western and cop thriller that tilts its hat to the suspense of Carpenter and the excesses of Tarantino. The Loved Ones is a blackly comic, gruesome and insane nightmare that channels The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) via Carrie (1976). Caught Inside is terrifying Dead Calm (1989) territory that echoes the recent kickass Donkey Punch (2008).
Possesed
The Hong Kong Dream Home is all about cutthroat real estate with much hacking all around, The Disappearance of Alice Creed is a UK crime thriller with serious overtones of horror and twisted allegiances a la Shallow Grave (1994). Possessed, from South Korea, deals with religious madness, spiritual dysfunction and a dark social commentary underpinned with shock and gore. The Temptation of St. Tony is a monochromatic allegorical Estonian odyssey with a perverse mix of Bergmanesque and Lynchian elements that makes for a unique nightmare.
Black Sunday Barbara Steele
The mini-programme, Immortal Seduction – The Vampire Movie, promises to be the Festival piece-de-resistance. A timely throwback to when vampire movies relied on thick atmosphere, cult of personality, and cool prosthetics. Horror has been on the up and up over the past ten years, with vampirism particularly popular of late, especially with the teen-angst twaddle of the Twilight series. It’s great that the SFF has embraced the Darkness with such fetid fervor this year with 35mm prints to boot!
Dance of the Vampires Roman Polanski
Near Dark Bill Paxton
The question this retrospective begs; is there a more perfect movie monster than the vampire? “Dead, but alive, terrifying, but seductive, unspeakable, yet irresistible.” Well, the comments on my debate battle (vampires vs. werewolves) have a thing or two to say in that area, but that’s another kettle of congealing blood. The dark vamp delights on the big screen are Mario Bava’s seminal, bewitching Black Sunday (1960), a rare, complete director’s cut of Roman Polanski’s brilliant Dance of the Vampires (1967, which was butchered by Hollywood and re-titled The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck), the strange and sensual Euro gem Daughters of Darkness (1971), Bela Legosi in the original Universal production Dracula (1931), Guy Maddin’s avant garde ballet Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary (2002), Dracula AD 1972 (1972), the Hammer production set in glam-rock London, complete with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and buxom Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Munro, the HK comedic craziness of Mr. Vampire (1985), Kathryn Bigelow’s excellently visceral and moody romance Near Dark (1987), with Lance Henrikson leading a gang of nomadic vampires (including a young Bill Paxton) prowling the southwest, and the Australian schlock, Thirst (1979), which has hammy David Hemmings fronting a cult of blood-lovers and the woman caught in the middle.

Nosferatu Max Schreck
And, last but not least, the silent German Expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu – Symphony of Horror (1922), accompanied by a live scored performance from Darth Vegas, and additional sound effects engineered by Miss Death. What a treat indeed to see these all projected on the silver screen!

Other screenings in the Festival worth noting are the Chinese war atrocity City of Life and Death, which recounts the infamous and horrific six-week Nanjing Massacre during 1937-38, The Game of Death from France, a controversial documentary centred around a ruse that revealed a recreation of the infamous Milgram experiments (obedience via electric shock treatment) of the 1960s, and Inferno, director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s ill-fated descent into the hallucinogenic depiction of jealous madness that he never completed (of which 94 precious minutes do exist!).
The Killer Inside Me Jessica Alba
British maverick director Michael Winterbottom unleashes his latest, The Killer Inside Me, with Casey Affleck as a small-town psycho cop, and Jessica Alba as one of his doomed lovers, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Restrepo, a disturbing documentary focusing on a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan and the inherent mesh of violence, and The Sentimental Engine Slayer from the US, which promises to be one of the Festival’s more unique outings favouring intense Catholic guilt, sexual intrigue and disorder, and a streak of nihilistic intent, coloured in psychedelic strokes.
The Sentimental Engine Slayer

For the complete SFF programme and all other information visit the official website or pick up a free catalogue from around the city.

And watch this dark space for previews and reviews!

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18 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

May 26th 2010 01:15


Film & TV on DVD
Nice line up for this year....dammit your going to get to see The Killer Inside Me before I do....just did a post on it today.

Comment by Matt Shea

May 26th 2010 01:24
Great round-up, Bryn. Wish I was down south for some of this!

Comment by Tracie.kj

May 26th 2010 03:45
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on The Loved ones! I found the way they created living zombified humans interseting.

Comment by Bryn

May 26th 2010 05:17


Horrorphile
Not a sure thing I get to see The Killer Inside Me, I think it may clash with work.

Matt, SFF is great, but I envy the MIFF!

Tracie, I saw a preview of The Loved Ones last week, and really enjoyed it. I'll be posting a review in the next day or so. Where did you see it?

Comment by David O'Connell

May 26th 2010 05:37


20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
My first impression from looking at the entire SIFF schedule last week was that it seems a little thin in terms of big name directors though I'm sure there's a lot more quality there than meets the eye.

Hoping MIFF will have many more standouts. Certainly we have a much more beefed up line-up, but the trend overseas has been worrying. Many of the reviews coming out of Cannes that I've read are suggesting it was one of the weakest on record. Berlin earlier in the year was roundly bagged as well.

Possessed looks like a winner, look forward to your review of that Bryn.

Comment by Bryn

May 26th 2010 06:59


Horrorphile
David,
The SFF is always a lot thinner than the MIFF in terms of actual movies, but I like that there isn't always the same big name directors with their latest movie. Certainly I always see movies included in the MIFF that I wished had been in the SFF, but I think that might have something to do with the timing of each festival in relation to overseas festivals, availability of titles, and distribution deals, yadda yadda yadda.
I think big festivals, in particular Sundance and Cannes, have broadened their criteria for inclusion to the point of allowing far more mediocrity into the picture.
As I said, I'm very excited about the number of movies in this year's SFF that I want to see that won't necessarily get a theatrical release later on.

Comment by Tracie.kj

May 26th 2010 09:15
Hey Bryn,
Dylan is working on the Australian launch so I was able to watch the preview DVD with him.

Comment by Bryn

May 27th 2010 00:20


Horrorphile
Ahhh, Tracie! I didn't realise it was that Tracie. Cool. Yeah, I can see how you'd get a kick out of the movie. You sick girl!

Comment by richardk

June 2nd 2010 06:36
Hi Bryn,
Richard Kuipers here. I curated the "Immorrtal Seduction" vampire retrospective for SFF. Thanks for the great wrap of the programme, I'm really proud of it! I just checked the 35mm print of "Dracula AD 1972". I was told by everyone there was no print in existence but I managed to track one down in the cobwebbed vault at Warner Bros. London office. It looks great, with deep rich colours and hardly a scratch on it! Also great news is that we'll be having a Q A with legendary Ozploitation producer Tony Ginnane after the screening of "Thirst" on Sat. June 12 at the Opera House. Tony's a superb raconteur and he's worth the price of admission alone. I'll be introducing all the screenings and hope to see and meet lots of horror hounds at the Festival. Cheers, Richard

Comment by Bryn

June 2nd 2010 23:13


Horrorphile
Hi Richard, wonderful to have you drop me a line! I'm an acquaintance of a mate of yours Dali.
I'm very envious of your position in curating the vampire mini-programme, something I'd love to get into myself. Perhaps a short Q&A with you following the festival for my site might be in order. I could forward you a few questions about vampire movies, festivals, curating, etc. Anyway, I look forward to meeting you in person and sucking, er, chewing your ear ... ahem!

Comment by richardk

June 2nd 2010 23:28
Hi Bryn,
yep, sure, I'm happy to answer some questions. Come and say hello at any of the screenings if you can make it.
Cheers, Richard

Comment by Bryn

June 2nd 2010 23:43


Horrorphile
I'll be at Near Dark tonight and Dracula, Black Sunday and Nosferatu on Saturday!

Comment by richardk

June 2nd 2010 23:49
Near Dark looks like it could be getting a big crowd! OK, come up and say hello after the screening at any of those.Cheers, RK

Comment by Bryn

June 2nd 2010 23:55


Horrorphile
Yeah, sold out. Is it a 35mm of Near Dark?

Comment by richardk

June 3rd 2010 00:01
yep, 35mm. The only non-film print in the retro is "Thirst" as there is no 355m print of that in existence. But we're showing a superb DigiBeta master. I looked at it on the big screen and it's spot-on and only trained eyes would know it's not celluloid. Otherwise I would not have shown it.

Comment by Bryn

June 3rd 2010 00:20


Horrorphile
Sounds great Richard! I can't wait to see the Dance of the Vampires director's cut! I didn't know that was even available!!

Comment by richardk

June 3rd 2010 00:28
yeah, it's great news. I found that one at the British Film Institute ... It was released in Europe as DOTV before having 25 mins cut out and retitled for the US as TFVK. OK, gotta get back to my crypt now, good to chat - see you at the pics.

Comment by George Reis

June 15th 2010 16:03
Richard,
I am a film festival organizer from the United States. Could you please, please get in touch with me in regards to DRACULA A.D. 1972? My e-mail is reisgeorge@aol.com.

Thanks,
George

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