Celebrating its 10th Edition with a four-day fest instead of the usual three, Celluloid Screams took up its usual residence at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield with some bold programming choices in its varied slate of films, the showcasing of a hilarious new TV series and an after party which literally refused to quit. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind all the way back to Day One which featured two eagerly anticipated movies...
MANDY
Lumberjack Red (Nicolas Cage) is living the quiet life in the wilderness with his bookish, rock chick partner Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) when their idyll is shattered by the arrival of a crazed hippie cult led by the creepy Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). Suffice to say some very bad things happen, leading Red down a path of bloody, surreal vengeance...
Re-tooling the revenge flick as a vivid, trippy, retina-scorching nightmare, Panos Cosmatos' debut feature will no doubt alienate as many as it impresses. The deliberately slow build of a first half gives way to a gore-splattered, unfettered riot of a second as Cage takes on LSD-addled bikers from Hell and eventually the cult itself.
It would be easy to focus on Nic going full Cage here but that would be to detract from what is essentially a, ahem, knowing (sorry) and enjoyable performance. Riseborough is, as always, terrific as the bookish, rock chick title character and although Roache's villain has shades of the pantomime baddie he also manages to unnerve and disturb, his performance matching perfectly with the quite frankly batshit crazy things going on here.
The film also looks beautiful, full of wonderfully conceived visions of tranquillity and purgatory. It seems something of a cliché to call this an assault on the senses but that's exactly what it is and some viewers may not stay the distance because of the unrelenting visual and auditory pounding it dishes out. This is an immersive, impressive headf**k, it's off-kilter off the scale and I loved it to bits.
HALLOWEEN
Retconning the Halloween tale so that the story picks up 40 years on from the events of the original movie, Michael Myers escapes during a patient transfer between psychiatric facilities and, after bumping off a few unfortunates who happen to cross his path, he dons the Shatner mask once more and heads back to Haddonfield to confront old foe Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis - I'm pretty sure you didn't need me to point this out).
So, as one of the most anticipated horror sequels for some time, does the 2018 incarnation of Halloween measure up? Well, yes and no. There are some lovely touches, such as the use of the classic theme and a smattering of neatly deployed, pleasing callbacks to the original. Even the opening titles are smart as the pumpkin is quite literally resurrected.
The suspense is competently cranked up too, resisting the temptation to throw in too many fake jump scares (although there are a couple just to keep you on your toes). Michael Myers is a scary enough character to generate tension just by the fact that he's lurking in the background somewhere and the makers of H2018 know this.
The kills are plentiful and surprisingly brutal but this isn't an enterprise which wallows in its gore. It earns its 18 certificate, don't get me wrong, but it isn't a movie which is keen to rub its viewers faces in bloodied viscera and the on- and off-screen murders are balanced rather well.
Unsurprisingly, Jamie Lee Curtis is great and the movie lights up whenever she's on screen. Even a few tired character developments - including the fact that Laurie Strode is now something of a recluse and also has an alcohol problem - don't get in the way as much as they could because Curtis has the presence and the skill as an actress to transcend all of that. It's testament to her performance that, when she's sidelined for a while - to allow new characters to be woven in the plot - you can't wait for her to show up again.
Where the film is less successful is in its introduction of those new characters such as Laurie's daughter Karen, played by Judy Greer. This isn't Greer's fault at all - she's saddled with an underwritten character whose chief role is to be exasperated at the "survive at all costs" mentality of Laurie. There's also a "new Loomis" played by Haluk Bilginer who's actually referred to as "the new Loomis" and who provides the film with an especially clunky left-turn towards the end.
Halloween 2018 isn't the train wreck I feared it would be, nor is it the game changer it could have been. Let's face it, it would have had to go some in order to better Carpenter's landmark of the genre but it's an efficient, enjoyable follow-up that's likely to satisfy a large proportion of horror fans. It's also some way better than most of the sequels (which now exist in a parallel universe as a result of this follow-up).
Retconning the Halloween tale so that the story picks up 40 years on from the events of the original movie, Michael Myers escapes during a patient transfer between psychiatric facilities and, after bumping off a few unfortunates who happen to cross his path, he dons the Shatner mask once more and heads back to Haddonfield to confront old foe Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis - I'm pretty sure you didn't need me to point this out).
So, as one of the most anticipated horror sequels for some time, does the 2018 incarnation of Halloween measure up? Well, yes and no. There are some lovely touches, such as the use of the classic theme and a smattering of neatly deployed, pleasing callbacks to the original. Even the opening titles are smart as the pumpkin is quite literally resurrected.
The suspense is competently cranked up too, resisting the temptation to throw in too many fake jump scares (although there are a couple just to keep you on your toes). Michael Myers is a scary enough character to generate tension just by the fact that he's lurking in the background somewhere and the makers of H2018 know this.
The kills are plentiful and surprisingly brutal but this isn't an enterprise which wallows in its gore. It earns its 18 certificate, don't get me wrong, but it isn't a movie which is keen to rub its viewers faces in bloodied viscera and the on- and off-screen murders are balanced rather well.
Unsurprisingly, Jamie Lee Curtis is great and the movie lights up whenever she's on screen. Even a few tired character developments - including the fact that Laurie Strode is now something of a recluse and also has an alcohol problem - don't get in the way as much as they could because Curtis has the presence and the skill as an actress to transcend all of that. It's testament to her performance that, when she's sidelined for a while - to allow new characters to be woven in the plot - you can't wait for her to show up again.
Where the film is less successful is in its introduction of those new characters such as Laurie's daughter Karen, played by Judy Greer. This isn't Greer's fault at all - she's saddled with an underwritten character whose chief role is to be exasperated at the "survive at all costs" mentality of Laurie. There's also a "new Loomis" played by Haluk Bilginer who's actually referred to as "the new Loomis" and who provides the film with an especially clunky left-turn towards the end.
Halloween 2018 isn't the train wreck I feared it would be, nor is it the game changer it could have been. Let's face it, it would have had to go some in order to better Carpenter's landmark of the genre but it's an efficient, enjoyable follow-up that's likely to satisfy a large proportion of horror fans. It's also some way better than most of the sequels (which now exist in a parallel universe as a result of this follow-up).
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