Mayhem Film Festival Reviews - Day 3
TERRESTRIAL
Day 3 kicked off with the exceptionally dark horror-comedy TERRESTRIAL, from Writer-Director Steven Pink, which examines the question. Just how far would you go to impress your friends?
A group of former college friends are invited to spend a weekend at the house of their friend Allan (Jermaine Fowler), who has become a successful sci-fi author.
The group are surprised to find him living in a large mansion in an extremely affluent area of the Hollywood hills. But something seems off from the start, as he is clearly hiding something.
As the weekend goes on, much to their alarm, his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and they begin to suspect that he might not be the successful author that he claims to be. But if he is a fraud, then how did he afford such a large house? Which is where things take a very dark turn...
Probably best described as a "comedy of errors" as Allan goes to increasingly ridiculous, and downright disturbing, lengths to maintain a facade of normalcy, this was hilariously great fun and a cracking start to Day 3.
A group of former college friends are invited to spend a weekend at the house of their friend Allan (Jermaine Fowler), who has become a successful sci-fi author.
The group are surprised to find him living in a large mansion in an extremely affluent area of the Hollywood hills. But something seems off from the start, as he is clearly hiding something.
As the weekend goes on, much to their alarm, his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and they begin to suspect that he might not be the successful author that he claims to be. But if he is a fraud, then how did he afford such a large house? Which is where things take a very dark turn...
Probably best described as a "comedy of errors" as Allan goes to increasingly ridiculous, and downright disturbing, lengths to maintain a facade of normalcy, this was hilariously great fun and a cracking start to Day 3.
Director Steven Pink had previously written the comedy thriller Grosse Point Blank [1997] and also previously directed the Hot Tub Time Machine films, but this is way darker than any of those, despite the comedy.
View the Trailer on YouTube.
GAUA (AKA The Night)
The Second film of Day 3 was Spanish folk horror GAUA, from Director Paul Urkijo Alijo, an anthology film of sorts, about witchcraft in a small rural town in Medieval Spain
Kattalin is a young girl, who decides to flee from her controlling husband, who she has never loved. Taking off into the night, she comes across 3 old washerwomen who basically spend their evenings drinking wine and gossiping.
There she hears about 3 mysterious tales of misfortune that have befallen the local townsfolk, which may well be linked to witchcraft. But she finds that she is strangely connected in some way to each tale.
A very dark, gothic tale, this was very much a slow-burn horror which should appeal to fans of folk horror.
View the Trailer on YouTube.
Kattalin is a young girl, who decides to flee from her controlling husband, who she has never loved. Taking off into the night, she comes across 3 old washerwomen who basically spend their evenings drinking wine and gossiping.
There she hears about 3 mysterious tales of misfortune that have befallen the local townsfolk, which may well be linked to witchcraft. But she finds that she is strangely connected in some way to each tale.
A very dark, gothic tale, this was very much a slow-burn horror which should appeal to fans of folk horror.
View the Trailer on YouTube.
GHOST IN THE CELL
The third film of Day 3 was another one of my favourite films of the festival, the Indonesian Horror-Comedy GHOST IN THE CELL from Joko Anwar (The Forbidden Door, TV's Nightmares and Daydreams).
A journalist, who was framed and wrongly convicted, is sent to prison after writing an article about the governments involvement in illegal mining operations.
There, he finds himself the target of one of the jail's toughest criminal gangs, who have been paid to silence him. But before they can do anything, several of them die very gruesome deaths, in extremely unusual circumstances, with their bodies strung up to form grotesque works of art.
It seems whatever is killing them, is targetting the criminals with the most “negative auras”. But when other prisoners start similarly dieing off, the rest of the inmates find themselves having to band together to work out what's doing this and how to stop it.
Boasting some spectacular gore and outrageous, slapstick humour (particularly when the prisoners start turning to interpretive dance to try and restore their positivity), this was terrific fun and was well received by the audience.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
I'll also briefly mention that the day concluded with a screening of John Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS [1994], which was shown in tribute to the recently deceased Sam Neill, who plays the lead character. But I'll not review that here, as you should all be familiar with this film. Not being a fan of this myself, I decided to head off to the nearby Pit and Pendulum Pub for a few beers, before heading back to the hotel to prepare for Day 4.
A journalist, who was framed and wrongly convicted, is sent to prison after writing an article about the governments involvement in illegal mining operations.
There, he finds himself the target of one of the jail's toughest criminal gangs, who have been paid to silence him. But before they can do anything, several of them die very gruesome deaths, in extremely unusual circumstances, with their bodies strung up to form grotesque works of art.
It seems whatever is killing them, is targetting the criminals with the most “negative auras”. But when other prisoners start similarly dieing off, the rest of the inmates find themselves having to band together to work out what's doing this and how to stop it.
Boasting some spectacular gore and outrageous, slapstick humour (particularly when the prisoners start turning to interpretive dance to try and restore their positivity), this was terrific fun and was well received by the audience.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
I'll also briefly mention that the day concluded with a screening of John Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS [1994], which was shown in tribute to the recently deceased Sam Neill, who plays the lead character. But I'll not review that here, as you should all be familiar with this film. Not being a fan of this myself, I decided to head off to the nearby Pit and Pendulum Pub for a few beers, before heading back to the hotel to prepare for Day 4.
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