So, the final day! As ever this seemed to come way to fast, and we were lamenting the end already. Nothing much more to say here, though. A great experience all round! Roll on Glasgow, or next year depending on how much I can make it to in 2012!

The final John Carpenter tribute was Ben Wheatley’s Assault on Precinct 13. Now, this was probably my least favourite for the simple reason that it departed so drastically from the original (zombies instead of gang members). Still, it’s not too bad, check it out here.

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Day 4 and as ever I was starting to flag a little bit, although nowhere near as badly as other years! Again, I just managed to fit in 4 films today, as I decided to skip the short films/quiz section and ticket for the Israeli movie Rabies being hard to come by (so much so that it had an extra screening arranged for the Monday night). I also skipped the late film Detention, as although that was getting plenty of buzz it seems to be a movie that will be coming up fairly soon. No release date planned, but I can’t see a movie with that much advance notice getting ignored. So, a relatively short day but one that still held up very well, quality-wise.

The John Carpenter tribute was Marc Price’s tribute to They Live, a nicely done tongue-in-cheek recreation of the alley brawl from the movie, refitted as a reference to 3D movies.

You can find it here.

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So, day 3 already and I ended up watching a few less films than I’d normally watch on the Saturday and Sunday due to friends visiting me at the festival. On this Saturday I had already watched opener Troll Hunter (a decent Norwegian found footage movie with an interesting sense of humour) and Adam Green’s segment of Chillerama (the amusing Diary of Anne Frankenstein) so I didn’t miss anything too important IMHO. By this point, I’d pretty much decided I couldn’t be bothered with the Discovery screen as well – far too many people queuing far too early for my tastes! As ever, I bet I’ll catch up with all the films eventually anyway…

Today’s John Carpenter short was a take on Halloween, an amusing if slight spoof where Michael Myers is now living in England and doesn’t take kindly to noise pollution and littering… It’s worth checking out if nothing special and can be found here.

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So, on to the first proper full day of the festival. here were a couple of Q&As on this day (for The Holding and The Glass Man) and we finally got our hands on the goody bag. This year’s bag was a little light in content (no T-shirts ) but what we got was decent, branded with the Kill List logo. I got free copies of Fanboys and Black, both films at previous festivals, and a range of goods including a Troll Hunter survival guide. Overall for movies, a reasonable day but there’s still nothing that really stood out – Tucker & Dale was the most enjoyable experience but that was rather in many ways.

There were a few extras – the usual instalment of trailer trash, a preview of Outpost 2 (which looks OK but I wasn’t that keen on the first despite Nazi zombies). We also saw an excellent parody of The Thing, which you can view here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMwBIYx7GNM&feature=player_embedded

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I managed to get in to London just before time to check in as High Holborn as usual (a twin room this time, as I has guests coming for once!). Everything went nice and smoothly, so I had plenty of time for a couple of beers before going in to the Empire to start the marathon sessions! It was packed this year, perhaps seeming more so due to the Olympic construction going on in Leicester Square. Luckily, we weren’t as crowded as we could have been as special areas had been reserved for us and extra exits opened up around the cinema. I’m not sure what else to explain at this point, all the usual plusses are there – friendly crowd, lots to see and do, plenty of DVD shopping around the films themselves! I picked up some bargains, but on the first day it was really just a case of getting a few drinks and watching some films. I did have a few hectic weeks around the festival, so I was almost dropping off to sleep by the end of the last movie – not an omen of things to come, thankfully!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgTOGFeEvFc&feature=player_embedded

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