Film Event: Film4 Fright Fest 2014

This week I was fortunate enough to go to the 2014 Film4 Fright Fest for the first time and safe to say, it did not disappoint. Spread over five days, seven screens in London's Leicester Square, FrightFest is the ultimate horror event for gore fans from all over the country.

With a whole host of established and up-and-coming directors and celebrity guest appearances, there's something for everyone as we are invited to experience everything from sci-fi, the supernatural, dark comedies to the just damn right weird. So here is the first (of two) instalments and a little break down of my time, as a newbie, at Fright Fest. You can read my full reviews using the link below. 

Sadly, I couldn't see every film at the festival but I did manage to see all the main screen productions as planned and a few smaller ones from the Discovery and Horror Channel Screens. So here are my mini-reviews from some of the highlights...

The Green Inferno (Eli Roth, 2013) **½.

Kicking starting off the Festival was The Green Inferno in the main screen. Borrowing it's DNA almost entirely from Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980) is Eli Roth's most recent creation in which follows a group of student activists from New York who venture in to Amazon to save a village of natives. However, once fulfilling their good deed, their returning flight crashes in to the vast green landscape and they are captured by the very natives they are trying to protect and they become victims of the cannibalistic tribe.

Overall, whilst The Green Inferno is nothing original, with basic horror genre conventions, it is a well directed and reasonably well executed horror with a message to the people that I feel privileged to have seen before it was pulled from screens. The Green Inferno gets a Sophie star rating of 3 out of 5 stars. You can read my full review of the movie here >> The Green Inferno Review<< I'd love to know what you think.

Housebound (Gerard Johnston, 2014) ***½.

Housebound is a New Zealand born, horror-comedy with a twist. Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O'Reilly) is forced to return to her childhood home when the court places her under eight months home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live with her mother - Miriam (Rima Te Wiata), a well-intentioned yet nutty blabbermouth who's convinced that the house is haunted.  Having dismissed Miriam's superstitions, Kylie fills her time watching trash television and eating junk food but It's not before long that she becomes privy to disturbances in the house and begins to wonder if the house is possessed by a hostile spirit who is not so pleased with her new living arrangement.

By far the best film of the day, Housebound is both witty and hilarious and manages to be utterly spin-chilling at the same time. Fantastically written characters and screenplay that will leave you guessing. Whilst it's sadly not likely to rock the big box offices as an independent kiwi film, it's certainly worthy of a watch and gets a Sophie star rating of 3 and a half stars. The film has already been turning heads and worn several awards for it's screenplay. I urge you all to give it a watch if you get the chance and I'd love to hear what you think! You can see my full review here >>Housebound Full Review<<  

That's it for my first instalment following my first time at the Film4 Fright Fest. I would love to hear if you guys got a chance to go too and see some films I may have missed out on and hope you get to check out some of the films I reviewed for it. Let me hear your thoughts and leave some comments below.

Peace out horror fans,