Mayhem Film Festival Report 2018 - Day 4

Sunday was the fourth and final day of Mayhem, a sad day, but then all good things must come to an end.

INUYASHIKI

The day got off to a cracking start with the UK premiere of Shinsuke Satoh's absolutely bonkers Japanese action/superhero film "Inuyashiki". In which a downtrodden middle-aged buisiness man, Inuyashiki Ichirou, who is berated by everyone, including his family and co-workers, becomes an unlikely superhero, after being abducted by aliens, who give him an "upgrade".

After being dumped back on earth he finds he's no longer the man he used to be, having been transformed into some sort of android. And now possess all manner of high tech gadgetry and weaponry hidden under his skin. But whilst he choses to use his powers for good, it seems someone else who was also taken and transformed on that same night, seeks only to use his powers for his own ends and when the police try and stop him a series of violent battles ensue and only Inuyashiki seems to be the one who can stop him.

Based on the popular Japanese comics of the same name, this was a wonderfully wacky film, and is typical of the sort of movie only the Japanese can get away with. There were some great action scenes and wonderfully dark humour (wouldn't everyone like the ability to take out internet trolls?). This was definetely one of the best films of the day and a great way to start the festival.

View the trailer on YouTube. 

THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL

The next movie of the day, "The Field Guide to Evil", sadly proved to be my least favourite film of the day. This was one of those anthology films, produced by the people behind "The ABC's of Death" and featured a series of 8 short tales based on various mythologies from around the world, each by a different director.

Now I can't remember where each one was set exactly, 6 of the tales were from Europe, one was from the US and another from India. Which all seemed to be about various unfortunate folk falling foul of some strange supernatural being from that countries folklore. Whose reason for being there is never explained and the ending to pretty much all the segments ended rather ambiguously, with the viewer left to make his own mind up as to what really happened.

Myself and many other festival goers that day just seemed  bemused and distinctly underwhelmed by it all. As the segments just seemed to lack any real point. 

The 8 short segments were as follows.

"The Sinful Women of Höllfall" (Austria)
“Al Karisi” (Turkey)
"The Kindler and The Virgin" (Poland)
"The Melon Heads" (USA)
"What Ever Happened to Panagas the Pagan?" Greece)
"Palace of Horrors" (India)
"A Nocturnal Breath" (Germany)
"The Cobblers Lot" (Hungary)

Personally, I think the title of the last segment summed up the film as a whole, because I thought it was just a "load of old cobblers". But that's just my opinion of course.

Visit the official Facebook page. 

THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW

Third film of the day proved to be another one of my favourites, director Andy Mitton's chiller The Witch in the Window, which sees a handyman having his estranged son stay with him for the weekend whilst he fixes up an old house. Only to discover there's a reason he picked it up so cheaply.

The longer they stay there the more they begin to realise that something is definitely not right and there's a reason the building has been vacant for so long and the locals don't go near the place, as it seems the house's previous occupant may not have actually left....

A genuinely creepy haunted house film, with a few modern day twists. This was another festival crowd pleaser, which boasted a number of scenes that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

I believe this one is being screened on Shudder UK later this month, so if you're a subscriber. be sure to check it out.

View the trailer on YouTube.

Following  this, it was time for the Mayhem Festivals annual quiz "The Flinterogation" in the cafe bar, hosted by David Flint (our team failed to win). Then it was back to the films.

THE NIGHTSHIFTER 

An interesting horror film from Brazil, in which a nightshift worker at the local morgue is able to communicate with the dead bodies that pass through his autopsy room and pass messages onto their loved ones. Which keeps him rather busy, given the high levels of gang violence in the city.

But when he discovers his wife is having an affair with a guy who runs the local cafe, he uses information from the various gang members he's autopsied to frame the cafe owner for the death of a local gang leader. But it seems you should be careful what you do with the secrets of the dead and a veangeful spirit is now after him and his family.

Directed by Denison Romalho, whilst I liked the idea of being able to communicate with the dead, and using the info they give to your advantage. I wasn't so keen on how the film  shifts direction, following the botched gang hit, and essentially becomes a rehash of "Drag Me to hell". It would have been much better if the film continued to focus on him using the info he got from the dead to play people off against each other.

So whilst I enjoyed this, I felt it wasn't as good as it could have been.

View the trailer on YouTube. 

WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE

The final film of the festival, Colin Minahan's "What Keeps You Alive" was a film I had mixed feelings about. The plot basically revolves around a young female couple, who go away to a remote woodland cabin to celebrate their anniversary.

But it seems one of the girl's isn't all she appears, and once it becomes clear to her partner the REAL reason she wanted them to go to this cabin in the middle of nowehere, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

An interesting idea, but starts off way to slowly. It then takes an interesting twist, when we see a different side to one of the characters and the pace quickens. But then things slow down again and the plot quickly began to feel "padded". 

Plus there were a lot of very stupid plot holes, which just seemed to make no sense, although the film did somewhat redeem itself with the very final twist right at the very end.

So overall I would say I was 50/50 on this one.

Visit the official WebsiteVisit the official Facebook page
View the trailer on YouTube.

And that concluded the Mayhem Film Festival for another year. 

 I must say a huge thanks to Chris Cooke and Steve Sheil for organising this, and Melissa Gueneau for sorting out my press pass and of course the entire staff of the Broadway Cinema Nottingham for hosting this.

The Mayhem festival runs each October, at the Broadway Cinema - Nottingham.

For more info visit 

http://www.mayhemfilmfestival.com
https://www.facebook.com/mayhemfilmfestival/
https://twitter.com/mayhem_festival