Last week, I made my annual pilgrimage to Nottingham for the Mayhem Film Festival, for Four days of Horror, Cult, Sci-Fi and general weird films.
GRIND
Day 1 kicked off with a screening of the darkly humoured American horror GRIND, from writers and co-directors Ed Dougherty and Brea Grant.
A tale of several interconnected stories, revolving around a group of downtrodden blue collar workers, that are struggling to make ends meet in the various menial jobs they do.
The first tale, takes a swipe at the way warehouse workers are treated at large "internet shopping" companies. Before segwaying into the awful things that delivery drivers have to do, just to get by in the gig economy and how internet influencers get duped into these multi-level marketting scams. The film also pokes fun at the way social media companies treat their employees and lastly, there's a tale mocking the treatment of workers at a certain large coffee chain...
I really enjoyed this film as it deals with the serious issues facing ordinary workers, but does so in such an abstract and offbeat way, with stories resembling supernatural thrillers, slasher films and even "Saw" type scenarios, it stays lighthearted and doesn't get all "preachy". As it also mocks the ludicrous behaviour of so-called "activists", who like to think they're "fighting corporate greed", when all they're really doing is making themselves look foolish.
Not to be confused with the 2025 film of the same name, if you've ever worked in a bad job for an awful boss, I'm sure you'll empathise with the characters. Horror icon Barbara Crampton also makes a welcome appearance in a guest role, appearing in one of the segments and the wraparound story.
I couldn't find a trailer online, but here's a clip from YouTube
A tale of several interconnected stories, revolving around a group of downtrodden blue collar workers, that are struggling to make ends meet in the various menial jobs they do.
The first tale, takes a swipe at the way warehouse workers are treated at large "internet shopping" companies. Before segwaying into the awful things that delivery drivers have to do, just to get by in the gig economy and how internet influencers get duped into these multi-level marketting scams. The film also pokes fun at the way social media companies treat their employees and lastly, there's a tale mocking the treatment of workers at a certain large coffee chain...
I really enjoyed this film as it deals with the serious issues facing ordinary workers, but does so in such an abstract and offbeat way, with stories resembling supernatural thrillers, slasher films and even "Saw" type scenarios, it stays lighthearted and doesn't get all "preachy". As it also mocks the ludicrous behaviour of so-called "activists", who like to think they're "fighting corporate greed", when all they're really doing is making themselves look foolish.
Not to be confused with the 2025 film of the same name, if you've ever worked in a bad job for an awful boss, I'm sure you'll empathise with the characters. Horror icon Barbara Crampton also makes a welcome appearance in a guest role, appearing in one of the segments and the wraparound story.
I couldn't find a trailer online, but here's a clip from YouTube
NO WAY DOWN (AKA Kraken)
The second and final film of the opening night actually proved to be one of my favourites of the entire festival, which was the gritty, urban French horror NO WAY DOWN.
Set in a suburb of Paris, the disappearance of a police officer in an area of derelict tower blocks has brought the police out in force on the estate. Which has been severely hampering the activities of one of the local crime bosses.
Believing it to be the work of squatters in one of the empty tower blocks, not least because a security guard also went missing there, he sends a couple of his enforcers to see if anyone's in there and turf them out under the cover of darkness .
However, they're followed in by a nosey internet vlogger, that wants to film inside the tower block for his social media channels, and then he's followed inside by a couple of female friends, that are trying to get him out.
But, it seems someone, or something, nasty is indeed inhabiting one of the blocks and they all find themselves in a bloody battle for survival amongst the labyrinth of corridors and empty rooms.
Filmed in French language, with English subs, this is a film that will certainly make urban explorers think twice before going inside any derelict builders and I'd describe this as a sort-of cross between Reservoir Dogs and The Toolbox Murders. There's some bloody brutal kills in this, that will certainly make you wince and some brutal action scenes that make this compelling viewing.
The film was originally called "Kraken", but this was changed for its international release, presumably to avoid confusion with the Norwegian sci-fi horror of the same name. Definitely one to watch when it becomes available. Just look out for the scene with the fridge (which I won't spoil for you).
View the trailer on YouTube.
And that was it for Day 1, so it was back to the hotel to prepare for Day 2
Set in a suburb of Paris, the disappearance of a police officer in an area of derelict tower blocks has brought the police out in force on the estate. Which has been severely hampering the activities of one of the local crime bosses.
Believing it to be the work of squatters in one of the empty tower blocks, not least because a security guard also went missing there, he sends a couple of his enforcers to see if anyone's in there and turf them out under the cover of darkness .
However, they're followed in by a nosey internet vlogger, that wants to film inside the tower block for his social media channels, and then he's followed inside by a couple of female friends, that are trying to get him out.
But, it seems someone, or something, nasty is indeed inhabiting one of the blocks and they all find themselves in a bloody battle for survival amongst the labyrinth of corridors and empty rooms.
Filmed in French language, with English subs, this is a film that will certainly make urban explorers think twice before going inside any derelict builders and I'd describe this as a sort-of cross between Reservoir Dogs and The Toolbox Murders. There's some bloody brutal kills in this, that will certainly make you wince and some brutal action scenes that make this compelling viewing.
The film was originally called "Kraken", but this was changed for its international release, presumably to avoid confusion with the Norwegian sci-fi horror of the same name. Definitely one to watch when it becomes available. Just look out for the scene with the fridge (which I won't spoil for you).
View the trailer on YouTube.
And that was it for Day 1, so it was back to the hotel to prepare for Day 2
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