80sfear.com – gore, horror and sleaze from the 80s
July 6, 2010 by

Frightfest 2010 preview

OK, so I’ve had some time to digest the line-up for this year’s Frightfest in London this August and I’ve managed to secure my weekend ticket! As ever, it’s an interesting line-up consisting of a wide range of movies from those I’ve been looking forward to based on their notoriety (A Serbian Movie) to interesting-sounding movies I’ve never heard of before (Burning Bright, Bedevilled) and everything in between.

The usual Frightfest routine seems to be here. First, we have a première to open the weekend (actually 3 as all the movies on the Thursday are world premières!) and a première to close. We also have weird and wonderful Asian and Aussie movies for the midnight screenings and a few special surprises including the return of the movie quiz.

The discovery screen returns again from last year, providing some movies that would not otherwise have been shown. I like the line-up here a little more than last year, although I’ve already seen 2 of the movies listed (Amer and Fanboys) but the scheduling looks a bit more in line with the main screen so I won’t have to miss too much if I decide to go in.

We also see the return of a feature from last year – a classic movie on the big screen. Actually, this time it’s a bigger event than last year’s An American Werewolf In London screening with a full 7 hours (including breaks) dedicated to Tobe Hooper. Star of the show, of course, is the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre but we also get a screening of his ultra rare debut Eggshells and a 45 minute Q&A session with the man himself. I expect lots of questions about why he’s not made anything particularly good since Texas Chainsaw 2 as well as lots of probing about his actual role in Poltergeist (which he is credited with, but most people think Spielberg really directed).

Standout movies from the main screen line-up, for me, would include: Primal (an Aussie movie with an intriguing screenshot on the Frightfest site), Dead Cert (which from the cast – including Danny Dyer and Dexter Fletcher – sounds like a horror version of a Guy Ritchie movie), F (another premiere with an intriguing screenshot), The Loved Ones and Monsters (both of which have had very good buzz).

There doesn’t seem to be any 100% Hollywood filler like in previous years, but there’s the unnecessary remake of I Spit On You Grave and the bland looking The Tortured that might fill that description. There’s nothing on the main screen that I feel I really want to miss, but I would like to see Burning Bright, Wound or Finale on the Discovery screen if I can!

As ever, reviews will be forthcoming following the event, and I’ll expect special guests and surprises that we haven’t been warned about beforehand! So, on to the final countdown and get my flights booked…

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June 12, 2010 by

Frightfest 2010

OK, so there’s been an early announcement about this year’s Frightfest and it’s a good one! The opening and closing films have been announced as:

Hatchet 2 – Adam Green is a long-time Frightfest contributor, and it’s the successful screening of the original Hatchet that really got his career under way. After not being able to attend February’s Frightfest screening of Frozen (due, ironically, to snow and ice preventing the plane from taking off successfully), it’s great that Green has chosen the festival for his new movie’s world première!

The Last Exorcism – I’ve not heard too much about this film apart from the fact it’s filmed in a documentary style and produced by Cabin Fever, but it sounds promising. According to IMDB, the director Daniel Stamm has directed another documentary style movie called A Necessary Death, I’ll have to check it out before the festival though it doesn’t seem to be on DVD. This will be the European première.

So there we have it. It’s slightly disappointing that no British movies have been chosen but I’m not entirely sure what’s on the horizon and the new movies from festival stalwarts Neil Marshall and Christopher Smith have already been released. Can’t wait till July 2nd, when the rest of the line-up is announced, and then July 3rd when I get to be able to buy the actual tickets!

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January 25, 2010 by

Frightfest Glasgow 2010 – a quick preview

So, before normal service is resumed – and since I finally managed to get a ticket & accommodation booked – I thought I’d give my thoughts on the upcoming Frightfest Glasgow event at the end of February. This will be my first Glasgow event, and my first non-August Frightfest as well as my first ever trip to Scotland! So, lots to look forward to, but here’s the movies playing:

Frozen – the new movie from Adam Green, Frightfest regular and director of Hatchet. He’s actually taking a break from filming Hatchet 2 in order to promote this film, which should be fun. The film itself follows a group of people who wind up stranded on a ski lift when the resort shuts down with them still suspended in the air. Looks pretty good, though I have a few doubts about the actions of the characters during the short trailer we saw in August – hopefully it’ll be much better in context.

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams – Tim Sullivan directs this sequel to his remake of H.G. Lewis’ Two Thousands Maniacs!, with Bill Moseley taking over from Robert Englund as the leader of a group of ghostly hicks looking for revenge over the civil war. The original 2001 Maniacs was gory, silly fun so I expect this to be more of the same. Should go down well with a hardcore crowd.

Stag Night – I don’t know too much about this, other than that the plot synopsis (people trapped in a subway being chased by underground killers) sounds a LOT like either Creep or 70s classic Death Line. Hopefully, it’ll be fun.

A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin – For some reason, despite the being a lot of hype surrounding recent DVD restorations, I’ve never gotten around to watching this 1971 Lucio Fulci giallo. It’s well respected and I’ve been watching quite a lot of giallo recently, so it should be good.

Amer – Again, one I’ve not heard too much about other than the fact that it’s supposedly a new French take on the classic 1970s Italian giallo style. I’ve enjoyed most of the major recent French genre movies, so hopefully this will be equally fun.

[REC] 2 – YES! I managed to miss this at the cinema despite living in Spain (I was in the US during its release :S ) so this will be a great watch on the big screen. Not sure what else to say other than I’m still excited about it despite having seen the trailer and the original many times and this should be the best way to see it.

Splice – Another movie I was glad to see announced, this is the new movie from Vincenzo Natali, the director of Cube. We saw a scene back in August that looked pretty good, and the CGI’s really respectable despite the low budget he normally works with. I’m hoping for another intelligent and complex plot surrounding the genetics themed storyline and hopefully a better performance from Adrien Brody than Dario Argento. The second is that it’s the first ever horror movie from Iceland! Should be a laugh if nothing else, and I’m sure we’ll down a few lagers or whatever either way…

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January 23, 2010 by

New year, new look

While working through a few new posts for this year (more reviews coming soon!), I decided to change up the theme I’m using in WordPress. This is going to be one of a few changes happening while I’m working on a few new things in the background. Why the change? Well, while I enjoyed the theme I was using, I couldn’t help noticing that it looked rather clunky and hard to read compared to other blogs I’m reading. Hopefully you like the new theme’s clean and easy format…

Disregard the header image for now, I’m working on a new customer image to replace it. Until then, comments are always welcome as ever.

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September 6, 2009 by

More free movies on YouTube

Maybe I’m just a little slow on the uptake, but here goes. Parallel to the recent announcement that YouTube will be trialling paid-for movie rentals in the near future, it came to my attention that they have a page here that lets you stream full movies for free. They’re of variable quality and have the usual idiotic regional restrictions attached, but there’s a wide and varied selection. Movies available to me currently include Slave Of The Cannibal God (a.k.a. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TZJCNM?ie=UTF8&tag=80sfear-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000TZJCNM, where ex-Bond girl Ursula Andress gets stripped naked and smeared with the putrefied flesh of her long-dead husband), Pigs! (a rare grindhouse feature, covered in the excellent Nightmare USA book), Just Before Dawn, Ghost Galleon (the third movie in the Blind Dead series) and infamous “video nasty” Driller Killer, among the usual public domain titles like House On Haunted Hill and Attack of The Giant Leeches.

It’s worth checking out if you haven’t already, especially as it’s not clear whether this freebie service will continue once the paid-for rentals go live.

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August 27, 2009 by

Free horror soundtrack compilation

For whatever reason, Full Moon Pictures have made a compilation of their themes available on the free music site Jamendo – that is, it’s free and legal. It’s a meaty 29 tracks, including tracks from 80s classics Trancers, The Pit and the Pendulum and Seed People, along with themes from later movies such as the Puppet Master movies and Subspecies. Well worth a download – haven’t listened to it yet, but I expect lots of Richard Band Psycho rip-offs among others…

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August 6, 2009 by

Frightfest 2009 preview

So, here we are exactly 3 weeks before Frightfest 2009 opens its doors. I’ve have my full weekend ticket, flights and accommodation booked and raring to go. I’m not 100% convinced my seat isn’t too close to the screen (B27), but at least that means that I’ll get a good view of the guests! Those guests have also now been confirmed, so let’s see what I think so far, after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

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July 23, 2009 by

Thoughts on the new Freddy Krueger

I’m of two minds about the upcoming remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. On the one hand, the original is a bonafide classic of 80s horror cinema and something that’s held up extremely well with age. However, the franchise really is due for a new makeover, and Freddy deserves a return to his scary boogeyman roots rather than his stand-up comic routines in some of the later sequels. With Freddy vs. Jason‘s much talked-about sequel not appearing any time soon, I don’t see why a reboot is necessarily a bad thing.

(see more, plus pictures from the remake after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

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June 22, 2009 by

Frightfest announcement: ’80s classic!

I’m a bit late updating this news, but I’ve been away for a few days… Anyway, Frightfest have made their first confirmed announcement of films screening at this year’s event – An American Werewolf In London!

This is interesting news for a few reasons. First of all, I’ve been going to Frightfest regularly for a couple of years, and I’m hoping that I can make the full 4 1/2 day event this year. Usually, it’s a decent batch of movies but they all tend to be new releases, often UK, European or even world premières. However, as good as that is, there’s always been a desire to see classic horror movies on the big screen with a crowd of like-minded horror fans. American Werewolf is indeed both a classic, and the new documentary that will accompany it (entitled Beware the Moon) has been well received elsewhere.

Most excitingly, the director John Landis has been confirmed as a Q&A guest, along with lead actress Jenny Agutter. Landis is a very interesting person in interviews and always makes an interesting speaker even though he’s not really a horror director and hasn’t made a truly decent movie (IMHO) since Coming to America. Not only that, but the cinema where this year’s event is taking place (the Empire in Leicester Square, London) is just around the corner from where the climax of the movie was filmed. The new venue will also apparently allow 2 screens to be used for the festival, opening up the possibility of repeat or alternate screenings of movie… all for the same price as last year’s festival :)

I can’t wait for the full lineup to be announced on the 3rd July, then the tickets go on sale on the 4th  July… here’s hoping I can get a full weekend pass!


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June 11, 2009 by

Nightbreed uncut discovered!

Clive Barker’s second movie Nightbreed, made in 1990, is one of the great butchered movies. Like Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist 3, Nightbreed was a fantastic movie, heavily re-edited by clueless studio executives who failed to understand the movie they were watching. Also like those two movies, the cut footage was considered lost.

However, a workprint has been discovered with not only the 20 minutes known to have been cut, but a whole 45 minutes of extra footage! At the moment, it’s only on VHS and not of releasable quality. But, you can help get this lost masterpiece released uncut on DVD or Blu-Ray (so far, only a barebones region 1 DVD of the cut version has been released – way to help piracy, guys!). How? The official Clive Barker website is collecting emails and tweets to show the studio that there’s enough support out there to justify the cost of DVD/Blu-Ray production.


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