Mayhem Horror Festival Report – Day 1

Last night (October 15th) was the opening night of the annual “Mayhem Horror Festival” at the Broadway cinema in Nottingham. The first of 4 nights of horror, sci-fi and exploitation films, which I had the pleasure of attending.

 

 

The fun kicked off at 7pm with a screening of “Emelie” (2015) from music video director Michael Thelin, making his first foray into the horror genre with this extremely warped tale of bad babysitting.

A young family hire a babysitter at short notice, after being recommended by one of their friends. But, no sooner are they out the door, we quickly see another side to young “Anna” (Sarah Bolger – TV’s “The Tudor’s”) and as the evening goes on, we see her behaviour getting progressively erratic, in this cautionary tale of making sure you vet your babysitters properly, before heading out for the evening.

This was certainly a very bold film to open with, not to mention bizarre and disturbing one, which seemed to keep the audience gripped throughout and had them cheering at the end.

 

This was followed by the documentary “Future Shock : The Story of 2000 AD” (2015), which was a bit of a change of pace to the other films being screened that evening. Directed by Paul Goodwin, the film charts the rise, near fall and rise again of Britain’s longest running sci-fi/horror comic featuring Judge Dredd.

Many former and present artists, writers and editors are interviewed, providing many amusing and interesting tales of what went on behind the scenes. Including how 2000AD took off, how the much maligned Stallone Judge Dredd film actually helped keep the comic afloat during a turbulent period and how the comic has managed to endure over the years.

Pat Mills, one of the comic’s founders, provides some of the more entertaining stories and the film also gives an interesting insight as to how the earlier writers and artists went on to give a darker edge to many of the classic American comics from DC and Marvel and influenced a number of Hollywood directors.

Director Paul Goodwin, producer Sean Hogan and 2000 AD artist Matt ‘D’Israeli’ Brooker attended the screening and came on stage afterwards for a Q&A session. Footage of which will be appearing on my YouTube channel shortly.

 

The evening closed with the film “Rabid Dogs” [AKA “Enrages”] (2015), a remake of the “lost” Mario Bava classic from director Eric Hannezo, who makes his feature film debut with this.

Following the basic plot of the original, this film transplants the action to France, in which a group of bank robbers pull off a daring heist, only to get corned by the cops. So are forced to take hostages and keep switching cars to try and throw them off.

The film starts with a bang, as they try to evade the police, then continues to ramp up the tension as, of course, nothing goes to plan for them And it seems one of their hostages may not be the innocent victim he appears.

Overall a very gripping thriller and a worthy remake of Bava’s original.

After that it was time to head back to the hotel and prepare for day two.

The Mayhem Horror festival is on between 15-18 October, at the Broadway cinema, Nottingham. For more info visit… http://www.broadway.org.uk/mayhem