Don't Know Jack Première

Brit micro budget horror Don't Know Jack (click link for original post and trailer) will be showing on Thursday 29th July at the Kino open mike night (see www.kinolondon.com for full details). The photo is of star Sophia Disgrace.

Frightfest E-zine now live as from a week ago (oops)

This one got lost amongst all the spam in my inbox...

Going live from the 16th July, FrightFest launches its keenly-anticipated bi-monthly E-zine with an in-depth interview (video & text) with the director of A SERBIAN FILM - possibly the most controversial film of the year. Spasojevic reveals the real reasons he made the film so divisive.

There are also candid interviews with scare-meister Eli Roth and the GHOST STORIES fear-team Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson.

Plus there’s plenty more – trailers, podcasts, gossip, reviews and…whatever happened to COLIN director Marc Price?

Editor Ian Rattray commented: “After celebrating 10 years as the nation’s No.1 Horror & Fantasy festival we felt it was the right time to launch such a venture. I'm very proud of what we’ve all achieved so far. May it long continue”.

For your free copy (live from Friday) go to:
http://www.frightfest.co.uk/frightfestezineg.html

Save Bray Studios! Plans up tomorrow

Iconic home of Hammer films Bray studios is set for demolition, and the plans for what could replace it will go up tomorrow. Full details here, as sent to me by Robert Simpson, the guy behind the Facebook campaign to save them:

Subject: Studio plans Exhibition - 27 July 2010
Dear all,

Thank you all so much for your continued support for the Save Bray campaign. A special thanks to all of you bloggers who have been scribbling away and helping to spread the word. Please continue to do so, and feel free to post a link to your blog entries on the wall for the group.

Curiously, I haven't seen a single voice in praise of the plans to demolish Bray Studios yet... I would be very surprised if there isn't at least one representative of the management keeping an eye on this group - so why even they haven't posted yet is beyond me. Please, engage, interact, discuss... explain why Bray has to be pulled down... if you can?

There is a distinct lack of information in the public domain about the plans, and word has reached me that much information is being held back in the local area, so it is vital this campaign is taken to as wide an audience as possible. If you run a website, blog, or are in the media industry and would like to cover the story, please do so. I have prepared a summary document for news editors which I have started to distribute too, though ultimately what spin you choose to take is up to you. I'll post a revised version of the facts as we know them on http://www.facebook.com/l/fa649VCqVt-e239xrwy2Vgd2SjA;www.savebraystudios.com later today. It may serve as a useful reminder of what the group is about.

I've been approached by another party interested in taking over the studio as a going concern, so unless this is what the current management are secretly hoping would happen, plans are very foolish indeed.

I'd be interested to know if any of you have actually been able to make contact with the Bray management recently. Everyone I have spoken to so far has only got as far as security, who claim to know nothing.

Next Tuesday between 3 and 8pm, Bray Studios have advertised a public exhibition of their plans in the studio. I would encourage every one of you that can to make it to the studio complex. Reports I'm getting suggest the leaflet has had very little distribution and they may not have expected details to leak to us. So if we can, lets descend en masse. I'm planning to travel across the UK for the exhibition and to get the picture first hand.

If you want to wear appropriately themed clothing, then please do. It would be good if we can get the media interest in this, and you may help to create a picture opportunity. Bring signs and banners if you must. I'm going as open-mindedly as possible, and would genuinely like to engage with the developers. Non-aggressively. Politely. In the spirit we should all adopt.

I've already heard from a few people who are making international trips in support of this. Thank you to them and everyone else.

This is a matter of national heritage and importance, so please do make the effort.

Meanwhile, if you are a member of the press please do get in touch. BBC Radio Berkshire covered the story yesterday in their breakfast show with Andrew Peach, and some of the local press are following it up. We'd like national and international coverage too. Rue Morgue should be featuring the campaign in the newest issue...

Oh, and you might like to take a note of some of the stories getting posted on the group wall. Memories of employees of the company, links to blogs, and my latest find - a declaration from 1999 that Bray would be safe until 2014 at the earliest... Ha!

Hopefully see some of you on Tuesday. The battle is just getting started I think...

Robert

Catch catch the horror taxi, I fell in love with a video nasty...

Now, if you, like me, enjoy the dubious delights of the so-called "video nasties", that bunch of variable horror films the government saw fit to lump together as a "type of film" back in the early 80s, then you might enjoy this... a new documentary about the whole sorry phenomenon. I mean, have you ever seen any of these things? There are a couple of genuinely horrible ones I grant you, but in the main they're as schlocky and daft as any other horror film. Bizarre. And it seems that half of them ended up on the list just because they had the word "Don't" in the title. What a shame they didn't see fit to ban "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead", or... erm, some other shit film with the word "Don't" in the title. Anyway, here's some info...

Keep repeating, it's only a movie....
Christopher Smith & Andy Nyman both feature is first teaser trailer of VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE
Jake West's doc to be screened at Film4 FrightFest and then released as part of VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE, a 3-disc box set out on Oct 11.

Making The Dead (ooh, sounds a bit like "Waking The Dead", ah, please yourselves)

Must be the week for sneak previews of Brit films that don't look very British... anyhoo, here's a little documentary that's just been released about how Brit brothers Howard and Jonathan Ford had a completely crap time shooting their Africa based zombie movie The Dead.

Monsters trailer

This is the trailer for low budget monster pic Monsters, directed by Brit Gareth Edwards (didn't he used to play rugby?) and apparently a proper UK film, although the trailer doesn't do anything to suggest this.
It does look rather good, though, in a Cloverfield-y kind of way...

Let Me In... rather fab poster

You know, when I first heard about the "new" "Hammer" film Let Me In I was cynical... but the new poster, as unveiled at Comic Con and featured on the Dread Central website, might have done something to assuage that view, being, as it is, rather fab.
How great would it be if this Hammer business turns out to be rather good, and everyone can forget about Beyond The Rave?

Sometimes, BHF references crop up in the strangest places...

Now, we all know of my deep and abiding love for Dead Of Night, the 1940s black and white shocker about a bunch of people trying to outscare each other with their tales of the supernatural. Sometimes I think I'm banging a lone drum, then you read a review of new film Inception which mentions the film... in the Bangkok Post, of all things.
Truly this is a very small world these days.
The Post is talking about dreams in films and says this:

Going back in time, the dream premise of the 1945 British horror anthology film Dead of Night feels as untenable as that of Inception until the end when its frame story explodes into a bona fide Expressionist nightmare.

Too true, too true...

Lemon entry, my dear readers

The hype over the new BBC Sherlock Holmes show appears to have reached as far as the west coast of the good ol' US of A, with the California Chronicle doing a little article about the previous encumbents, including one Christopher Lee and one Peter Cushing.
But whither A Study In Terror? Eh? Eh?

I have to say that here at BHF towers we're reasonably excited about the new Holmes (well, as excited as we ever get about modern television). Sherlock Holmes! Written by Stephen "Doctor Who" Moffat and Mark "League Of Gentlemen" Gatiss! Starring potential Doctor Who Benedict Cumberbatch! How can it fail? Oh yeah, it's got interminable tosser Martin Freeman in it. Still, you can't have everything. Come back Jude Law, all is forgiven.

Stabilizer showing at Filmbar - flyer

Here's the flyer promoting that film wot I told you about last week - not Brit horror, but I will promote any endeavours run by people who love The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue, so there.

Further to that bring back horror to the telly post...

Just realised that I didn't exactly give a great deal of detail in the post t'other day about bringing back those old horror double bills to terrestrial telly. You can find out more about this laudable (if unlikely) campaign on their Facebook page here. Funnily enough, I noticed that after I'd publicised their little campaign on Saturday, there was Dr Terror's House Of Horrors in the listings. So they do still get an airing, occasionally (usually with a certain amount of ironic timing as well, by the look of it).

British horror back from the dead! Again! Yawn.

Methinks there's going to be a lot more of this in the coming months, as Hammer cranks up its publicity machine and lazy hacks continue to bang a drum which for some reason starts with 28 Days Later and Dog Soldiers from blummin years ago, and makes out that they are part of a resurgence in British horror now. How does that work, exactly?

Radcliffe the next Cush?

Apparently, everyone's favourite boy wizard (it says here) Harry Potter, or to use his proper monicker, Daniel Radcliffe, has been snapped up by Hammer to star in their forthcoming production of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black.
So, there you go. As news goes, it's hardly astounding (actor to be in film shock), but it's definitely news, of that there's no doubt.
And you wouldn't believe how much of him I saw when I Googled his name (unless, of course, you Google it yourself). Blimey, at his age I wouldn't have let anyone see me in my undies, let alone "tackle out".

Get classic horror back on the Beeb

Sultry BHF website fan and genre star Emily Booth has lent her voice to a web campaign to get old filums back on the box. And let's face it, there has been a bit of a lack of them over recent years, when you think about it.
You can sign up here...

New site now launched... no problems noticed (so far)

So, there y'go. Goodbye bubbly old site, hello feature-packed (but bubble-light) new one. Let me know what you think...

Main site being updated... please bear with us

I'm updating the main site at the mo and it could take a while, it being quite a hefty old bird. If the pages look a bit tonto, it should all sort itself out in a few minutes. If it doesn't, here's a picture of Maddy Smith to calm you down...

There there... you feel better already, don't you?

Ah, Euro trash. That's "Euro trash", not "Eurotrash" that old excuse to see fat naked Germans on the telly

The Grauniad has today published a little featurette on two favourites of mine - Lizard In A Woman's Skin and The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue. Neither are technically Brit horrors, but both were filmed in Blighty so they almost qualify...
But whither Deviation? Eh? Eh?
You can read the article here.

Psychomania special edition DVD on the horizon

We all know it, we all love it. That's a given. But it might FINALLY be the time to give up that treasured DVD-R you burned off BBC2 all those years ago (no? Just me then) cos finally, Psychomania is getting the proper "Special Edition" treatment.
Not sure if this'll be a Region 1 or 2 thing (I'm thinking Region 1, with a Region 2 release later on) but it's not a moment too soon. Undead bikers on the rampage in the Home Counties, you've got to think it's the greatest.
Here's the official details:

The grooviest zombie biker movie of them all is being exhumed and, after years of shoddy bootlegs and sub-par presentations, is getting the Special Edition treatment from Severin. Psychomania stars Beryl Reed (Beast in the Cellar) and, in his last performance, George Sanders (Village of the Damned), who perfect a formula to return from the grave via some sort of satanic toad worship. Said formula is then used by young Tommy and his biker gang, The Living Dead, who, after offing themselves in a variety of creative ways, free-wheel back from the dead to wreak havoc on a small English town.

This uber-black British horror-comedy (which has one of the greatest and most original soundtracks of its era) was a staple of late night TV for years but has never been seen like this thanks to a stunning new high definition transfer. Recent interviews were shot in London with stars Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Denis Gilmore, Roy Holder, and Rocky Taylor while soundtrack composer John Cameron (Kes, Jack The Ripper) and ‘Riding Free’ crooner Harvey Andrews not only reminisced but treated us to renditions of their otherworldly work on the film. Also on the extras slate is an intro from Fangoria editor-in-chief Chris Alexander.

This will be yet another amazing Severin restoration that any fan of 70s horror should not be without.

Now THAT'S a woman

The fabulous Filmbar70 are holding another screening, following the success of Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue. It's not a Brit horror, but on the plus side they did send me a link to the above, which is their tribute to the rather wonderful Edwige Fenech.
You can find out more about lovely Edwige, and see their tribute to star of vaguely British horror Living Dead... Ray Lovelock, on their YouTube channel.
Ah, Edwige...

Ahem. Aaaaaaaanyway, the next film being shown at the Filmbar will be The Stabilizer, which I doubt is a film about some bloke attaching extra wheels to his Raleigh Chopper so he can learn to ride it (although it would be fun if it was). It's happening on the evening of July 21 at Roxy Bar & Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, London Bridge.

Facebook a-go-go

The BHF site has its own Facebook page now at http://www.facebook.com/pages/British-Horror-Films/122020271176253. Just thought I'd let you know...

Film4 Frightfest announces festival of frights

Ah, Film4. That rather wonderful thing that gives us a bit of cutting edge cinema and then bungs a load of rare delights onto our Freeview boxes in the middle of a weekday afternoon. Gotta love 'em. And they also do the Fright Fest, a London based festival which is now 11 years old. Here's the gen...

Controversy, carnage, cannibalism, cutting-edge chills and a clutch of classy special guests await the thousands of fans who will descend on the Empire Cinema in London’s Leicester Square for the annual Film4 FrightFest, now in its eleventh horrifying year.



FrightFest has a tight grip on your fear…

From Thurs 26 August to Monday 30 August the UK’s top event for horror fans will unveil 36 films in two screens. Empire 1 will house the main event while ‘FrightFest Discovery’ will play in Empire 4. There are a record-breaking fourteen countries represented across five continents and there are nine world premieres and a record twenty UK or European premieres.

This year there are eight British films in the main programme (another record) including MONSTERS, Gareth Edwards’ sensational post-Apocalyptic debut, The Ford Brothers’ Cannes-hyped African Zombie flick THE DEAD and Johannes Roberts F – in which a school gets a lesson in horror! Other home-grown titles are DEAD CERT (East-End gangsters meet Eastern European vampires), ISLE OF DOGS (nasty gangland horror), Paul Andrew Williams’ harrowing CHERRY TREE LANE and werewolf thriller 13HRS. Plus, Jake West will be presenting his in-depth documentary VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE, which will be followed by a Q & A panel discussion.

The Q & A with director Srdjan Spasojevic should be rather lively as FrightFest is screening the UK premiere of his hot button movie, A SERBIAN FILM. Not far behind in the controversy stakes is the unrated remake of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, which will receive its European premiere. Other high-voltage shockers include Simon Rumley’s harrowing psycho-sexual drama RED WHITE & BLUE, the taut horror western RED HILL (with ‘True Blood’ star Ryan Kwanten), the visceral pulse-setter PRIMAL, Robert Lieberman’s twisty thriller THE TORTURED, and stylishly sick Aussie pic THE LOVED ONES.

There’s plenty of bodies on the menu in WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, acclaimed at Cannes as “the Mexican ‘Let The Right One In’” and meal-times get the Gallic touch in Franck Richard’s dark debut feature THE PACK. There’s a body-count of a different kind in KABOOM, as the ‘Mysterious Skin’, director Gregg Araki serves up a wildly sexy and surreal experience.

2010 sees the welcome return of high-calibre Asian fare and three to savour are DREAM HOME, (‘Friday 13th’ meets ‘Location, Location, Location’ Hong Kong style), the beguiling BEDEVILLED, from new South Korean kid on the block Jang Cheol-soo and the high-kicking, splatter-fest, ALIEN VS NINJA.

This year, in partnership with Total Film Magazine, the festival celebrates the career of a living legend – our first ‘Total Icon’ - TOBE HOOPER. As well as showing Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE we will be unveiling his rarely seen, restored and re-mastered 1969 debut EGGSHELLS. In the UK for the first time in 18 years, Hooper will be interviewed on stage by Jamie Graham, deputy editor of Total Film Magazine.

As previously announced Adam Green’s HATCHET II will open the festival and Daniel Stamm’s THE LAST EXORCISM will bring the curtain down. Adam will be attending alongside the main cast – Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder & Tony Todd. Daniel will be attending, alongside producer Eli Roth, Other directors & talent currently confirmed to attend include: Simon Rumley, Johannes Roberts, Gareth Edwards, Tammi Sutton, Jake West, Joe Lynch, Howard T Ford, David Blyth, Srdjan Spasojevic, Paul Andrew Williams, Andy Nyman, Barbara Nedeljakova, Craig Fairbrass, Steven Berkoff, Martin Kemp, Gary Kemp, Isabella Calthorpe, Gemma Atkinson, James Nesbitt, Karen Gillan, Billy Murray, Bruno Forzani & Helene Cattet.

FrightFest Discovery is back by popular demand, where nine new films will be screening including the European premiere of controversial Kiwi-shocker WOUND, directed by David Blyth. There are also UK premieres for serial-killer-themed CHRISTOPHER ROTH directed by ‘Switchblade Romance’ cinematographer Maxime Alexandre, supernatural cult shocker FINALE and OUTCAST, a gripping nomadic tale starring James Nesbitt. There is also the chance to see the artful masterpiece AMER - especially selected for those who were unable to see it at FrightFest Glasgow earlier this year.

Finally, welcome to ANDY NYMAN’S QUIZ FROM HELL, hosted by DEAD SET & GHOST STORIES actor Andy Nyman. This is a chance to pit your wits in a mind-bending and inter-active test of horror knowledge. But if that doesn’t appeal, don’t worry. There’s plenty else going on - special guest appearances, Q & A’s, sneak previews, an international short film showcase (to be announced shortly), signings, competition prizes and give-aways – all of which goes to make up the unique experience that fans across the world have come and made their own.

Alan Jones, joint director of FrightFest comments: "The Film4 FrightFest line-up  this year is stronger, pioneering and more relevant to our core followers than ever before. With the Hollywood mindset focused on safe bets and creative bankruptcy, we've gone back to the roots of what true horror fantasy should be about - exploring daring ideas with innovation using new conjugations of shock from new exciting talent.  There's something for everyone in Film4 FrightFest 2010, if you dare to look".

Julia Wrigley, Head of Film4 Channel, said: “We are delighted to once again be the headline sponsor, and we are also looking forward to our ‘FrightFest’ season on the channel, with a great line-up of past festival favourites, genre classics and premieres”.

To book tickets call 08 714 714 714 or go online to: www.empirecinemas.co.uk

Festival passes: £150 Day Passes: From £24-£50 Single tickets: £11

For full programme & timetable log onto www.frightfest.co.uk

Hammer's next one... hmm, not very Hammerish...

I'm sure it's going to be very good, given the source material and the talent involved, but the much-trumpeted next release connected with Hammer doesn't seem very, well, Hammerish.
Let Me In is the British language remake of the Euro shocker Let The Right One In. It's American, with an American director and an American setting. The trailer does say Hammer at the beginning, but that's about it. Hardly Curse Of Frankenstein, but then again, I dunno what I was expecting. It's got to be better than Beyond The Rave, anyway.

New BHF "harks back to good old days of Hammer etc" (oh-oh)

New Brit chiller Psychosis is being marketed as a new film which harks back to them old psycho dramas Hammer did in the 60s. Hmm. Not sure the world is ready for any more of those. Anyway, here's the blurb...

Psychosis is a new British horror flick that harks back to the glorious era of Hammer and Amicus productions. Released in the UK on 19th July on DVD and Blu-ray, it stars Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel alumni, Charisma Carpenter, Paul Sculfor, Ricci Harnett and Justin Hawkins.

Carpenter plays an American crime novelist retreating to an isolated country manor with her husband, David (Paul Sculfor). Once there, she intends to settle down and finish her latest book, but things take a turn for the sinister and she finds herself in the middle of some peculiar goings-on. Filled with frights, freaks and unfolding weirdness. Psychosis is a journey into a nightmare from which there might be no return.

Guardian points out "new wave" of Brit horrors

The Guardian has published a longish feature on the latest resurgence of the British Horror Film, mentioning Dog Soldiers, 28 Days Later and Shaun Of The Dead (yawn) but going on to flag a fair few new 'uns.
You can read it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jun/10/horror-films-british-realism-gritty

Black Death... another triumph for Smith?

Well, the critics are having a look at Black Death, the latest BHF from Christopher Smith, who brought us the repellent Creep, the actually-quite-funny Severance and the rather brilliant Triangle. Smith is carving out a name for himself as a bit of a Brit horror auteur... long may he continue, I say. Here's a review which likens Black Death to Witchfinder General and even (gasp) Ingmar Bergman...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/7818948/Black-Death-film-review.html
And while we're on the subject, when did El Beanio start looking so old?