Yay, Horrorthon kicks off this weekend running from Thursday October 27th to Monday Oct 31st at the IFI in Dublin - another year, another bunch of films I'd like to see but probably won't actually get to this weekend.. but such is the curse of parenthood which ethically, morally, and let's be fair legally prevents me from bringing my 7 year old to see the likes of "Chillerama" and "The Wicker Tree". Oh well. So the line up is the usual mixed bag of goodies and complete shit this year, and I'm not sure how much I'll actually get to but so far the "The Exterminator/Maniac Cop" late night double bill on Friday and "The Theatre Bizarre" are the only two I'm definitely making it to;, though the two films I mentioned a few lines ago are the two I really wanted to see as well. A quick glance over the listing which you can see here yields other potential goodies in the form of a screening of "Blow Out", "Cathnafolla","The Divide", "Snowtown" (which I may talk about on here next week anyhow) and "The Hunt" and of course the traditional "Trailer Trash" instalment on the Monday. I'd make an educated guess that "Human Centipede 2" stands a good chance of being the mystery film on Sunday this year, but that could be wishful thinking. I'd been thinking it might be "The Woman", but that came out on DVD this week here, so it's unlikely. I'm probably wrong with both guesses either way, and it'll probably end up being that remake of "The Woman in Black" with Harry Potter in it, or "Hellraiser 6" or summat equally naff. Whatever. Horrorthon is always good fun regardless of what films are shown, and the organisers always get props from Destroyed Human for doing it every year..long may they continue.
One film that's showing on Friday that I know I won't make it to unfortunately, because I'd like to see it on a big screen, is Adam Wingard's " A Horrible Way to Die". It's not exactly one that's been setting tongues wagging whenever I've gotten into conversations with anyone about Horrorthon recently, but it's one hopefully people will take a risk on seeing. I've seen it twice now already and very much enjoyed it, though its' slow pacing and subtlety might not be to everyone's tastes.
"A Horrible Way To Die" is basically more of a thriller than a straight up horror movie first of all, which possibly explains why the IFI booklet goes on about it supposedly bringing a "mumblecore" approach to horror - a pretty terrible description as far as I'm concerned which makes it sound like some badly shot improv bullshit, which it very clearly isn't. The fact that there's more of a focus on themes of betrayal and failed relationships at work than a concern for how high the body count is doesn't automatically make it a better or more valid movie than any of the others showing this week in the way using the term "mumblecore" suggests (nor, luckily, does it make it more pretentious). It just makes it a different kind of movie.
The basic plot synopsis runs thusly: girl who is coming to terms with the fact that her ex boyfriend was a serial killer, who she turned in to the police on discovering some of his handiwork, is in a 12 step programme. After a couple of meeting, she begins a new relationship with another participant in the same group she has been attending. Meanwhile, her boyfriend has escaped from prison and is making his way back to her. I'll say no more other than as you might imagine their paths inevitably intersect with explosive consequences. I can't really say more without ruining the various twists in the film. But basically the movie switches between how the two situations develop sympathetically, and as we see her and her new beau become closer with time, we also see how desperate her ex is to get to her. Both stories play out slowly but with an increasing sense of hope (hers) and anxiety (his) which contrasts nicely so that while you know eventually something bad is going to happen you've been drawn into everything enough for it to have a real impact.
Sure, so far so stereotypical American Indie Flick you're probably thinking, but there are plenty of horrible moments and some well timed gory bits if that's what you're looking for that will make it very obvious that this isn't just "Before Sunset" with a serial killer running around in the background. And certainly the latter section of the film is the point where it moves squarely into official "this is a horror movie" territory with a pretty solid payoff. It's a bleak film - not as much as, say. Simon Rumsley's recent "Red White & Blue" (a film I saw around the same time and seriously cannot recommend enough.. I might come back to this at a later stage) with whom I feel it sort of shares the idea of doomed romance and the nightmarish fallout of such a thing, but the fact that it has a slightly more emotional core to it than the usual horror film means there's a tension something like "Zombie Undead" or whatever isn't going to give you this weekend. That's what makes it worthwhile, that's what made me want to watch it a second time, and that's why I'll probably watch it again. It's a story invested with horror aspects rather than a splatfest hanging on a barebones premise. I kind of think if this was showing independent of a horror festival, it would reach an audience who normally might not go to see a horror-based movie like this.
Incidentally, I've seen two other Adam Wingard films I can recommend, but both were completely different: "Homesick" is more of a sick pleasure, being more of a straight ahead (if odd) gorefest compared to the other one of his I've seen "Pop Skull", which is more of a ..well, it's more of a surreal arthouse drama about slackers and drugs (though it s a lot better than that sounds, trust me). His next one, "You're Next" is apparently a traditional big budget home invasion horror movie which seems like a different thing again than " AHWD", so I'm interested to see what he does with that. It has apparently been picked up by Lionsgate recently for distribution, so I expect it'll be hitting the big cinema chains shortly.
Holy shit..come to think of it..what if "You're Next" is the secret film this year?
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