Mayhem Film Festival – Day 3 Reviews

Day 3 of Mayhem was another mixed bag, which went as follows...

THE LAST VIDEO STORE (2023) Dir – Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford.

First up, was this fun filled homage to the glory days of VHS. Set in the present day, a young girl comes to return some video tapes that her father had rented out from Canada's last remaining video store.

Amongst them though is a very bizarre tape, that the proprietor doesn't recognise. But upon playing it, discovers it is in fact the “Video-Nomicon”. A VHS version of the Necronomicon, which has the power to bring the characters from the films in his shop to life (you can see where this is leading).

Trapped inside the store, they subsequently find themselves having to battle space aliens, masked killers and even action movie characters from the films in the video shop. And only the proprietors in depth knowledge of cheesy B-movies will give them any chance of surviving.

Extremely silly, the film rips on numerous old B-movies, along with the likes of the Friday the 13^th films and action stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, which were all huge draws on home video in the 80s and 90s.

Personally I loved it and the audience certainly enjoyed it too, which itself plays like a cheesy B-movie and was terrific fun.

View the Trailer on YouTube. 

It's worth noting that the chap who plays the proprietor, Kevin Martin, actually owns a DVD store in Canada and the film is based on an earlier short film in which he also starred.

If you're below a certain age, you might not get all the jokes or nostalgic references. But if you love cheesy old B-movies, definitely check this one out.

 

STEPPENWOLF (2024) Dir - Adilkhan Yerzhanov

The second film of the day was a radical shift in tone from the previous film, being what was arguably the bleakest of the entire festival. Set in a remote region of Kazakhstan, a civil war has erupted between the locals and the corrupt authorities, who are in the pocket of the local crime lord.

With the local police headquarters just having been wiped out, a young woman with learning difficulties stumbles into the chaos, wanting to report that her son has gone missing. A sole survivor of the Police Station massacre, a corrupt detective named Brayuk, agrees to help her, believing her son was abducted by child traffickers.

Travelling through the war torn countryside, his methods of extracting information from local criminals are brutal, but effective. However, as the film progresses, we get the impression that he has his own reasons for wanting to find this crime boss and rescuing her son is the least of them.

A very, very bleak film, extremely violent and not for those of a sensitive nature. This sort of film isn't exactly my cup of tea, being far too grim even for me, but it certainly captivated my attention and was well received by the audience.

View the Trailer on YouTube.

The director has also made a number of other films about the gritty side of life in the remote areas of his home country, so if you have a penchant for that sort of thing, you may wish to check them out too.

 

SHORT FILM SHOWCASE #1

Mayhem had their annual short films section next, but unfortunately wasn't present for all of these. However, I will give a mention to some of the more memorable ones I did see.

We Joined A Cult - Dir. Chris McInroy, US, 4m10
A comic story about two friends who just wanted to play kickball, but end up signing up with weird religious sect who can kill people telepathically (its as weird as it sounds and bloody funny).

Transylvanie - Dir. Rodrigue Huart, France, 15m, with English subtitles
A 10-year-old girl living in a block of flats in a quiet town is shunned by the other kids, for being odd, as she's convinced she's a vampire. But could there actually be something in her belief? An interesting French language film with a surprise twist.

Make Me a Pizza - Dir. Talia Shea Levin, US, 12m25
A parody of 70s porn films, in which a bored housewife offers herself to the delivery guy in exchange for free pizza. But he's not having any of it. He just wants paying his $29.99. A hilarious spoof that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “food porn”

These were just my favourites of the shorts that I managed to see, for the full list of short films that screened click HERE.

 

INTERSTATE (2024) Dir - Jean Luc Herbulot

There definitely seemed to be a theme with gritty crime-thrillers this year (and indeed, French language films) as the next feature film of the day was the French/Belgian thriller Interstate.

A hitman (played by the aptly cast French rapper and actor JoeyStarr) decides to quit the mob, following the death of his previous boss, and start a new life with his girlfriend (played by Asia Argento).

However, on his way he picks up a hitch hiker, a young student named Virgil (Joaquim Fossi) who is stuck out in the middle of nowhere. But as their journey continues, it seems this young lad isn't who he appears to be and his former boss and the police are going to be the least of his worries.

A very engaging supernatural horror-thriller, that plays like a cross between The Hitcher and A History of Violence. Boasting some great action scenes and some truly gripping moments, as he tries to stay one step ahead of the authorities and his former associates, as this character constantly toys with him

View the trailer on YouTube

 If you enjoyed The Hitcher, you should love this.

 

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (1991) Dir – Wes Craven

The days screenings concluded with the 1991 Wes Craven shocker “The People Under the Stairs”. For those who are unfamiliar, a 12 year old black lad, nicknamed “Fool”, gets involved with a couple of criminals that are attempting to burgle their wealthy landlords, in retaliation for evicting them.

Unfortunately, when the occupants arrive home early, young fool finds himself trapped alone inside the house at the mercy of the psychotic couple, who proceed to set their pet Rottweiler on him and chase him round with a Desert Eagle handgun.

Retreating inside the house's labyrinth of crawlspaces and wall cavities, he makes a shocking discovery. Not only do they have a young “daughter” kept as a virtual prisoner inside the house, but there's something very nasty in the cellar.

The film kind of plays like a psychotic version of “Home Alone”, except the burglar is trying to fight off the home owners. As young Fool has to dodge booby traps, killer dogs and the shotgun toting “father”, who likes running around in full bondage gear.

A really fun film, full of slapstick violence. I remember actually seeing this at the cinema when it was first released, and finding it hilariously funny. Needless to say, the Mayhem audience found it similarly hilarious and it's certainly lost none of its charm over the years.

View the Trailer on YouTube.

If you haven't seen this post “Elm Street” horror from Wes Craven, you really should check it out. Even if only for seeing a young Ving Rhames in an early role, who plays one of the gang members.

 

And that concluded the days viewings, so with that it was back to the hotel again to prepare for Day 4.

For more information on the festival and other special events throughout the year, visit the Official Website at: https://www.mayhemfilmfestival.com/

Also visit their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Also checkout http://www.broadway.org.uk/