The Screamfest Horror Film Festival had an amazingly strong line-up this year. I didn’t just like, but loved almost every film I saw there. Many were worthy of full reviews like Dark Was the Night, Lost After Dark and Julia, but I want to tell you about the rest. Even the ones that weren’t great were bad in memorable ways that bonded Screamfesters for life by the shared experience.
Now that the Screamfest awards have been given out, it’s time to share my thoughts on the rest of the batch. Most of these won’t be out in time for this Halloween, but certainly keep them in mind as they play festival rounds and line up distribution deals in the future. I’ll recap them in the order in which they played Screamfest so you can get some context for the progression of the festival!
Screamfest 2014 Movie Review Recap:
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
Screamfest 2014 Movie Review Recap
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Parlor
This was a very special experience for the sold out opening night audience to share. Parlor doesn’t have “good dialogue” or “believable characters,” but watching it unfold is an oddly compelling activity. American tourists in Lithuania fall prey to a tattoo artist (Robert LaSardo) who skins people alive for their back skin. Cool twist on the Hostel sort of horror, but the dialogue asks LaSardo to give history lessons on the Yakuza and ancient Sumerians. While he’s up to the task, the other actors can only respond to torture with unconvincing cries for help. Worse, the group of friends playing detective on the streets have nothing to say to fill the search for the captives, so they start a gang war with street kids. Sadly, it is unlikely Parlor will ever show to a sold out audience ever again so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
RATING: 2.5 out of 10
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Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort
Franchise Fred has been delinquent on the Wrong Turn series. I’ve seen 1, 2 and 5 before, but unless 3 and 4 were wild departures, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort is the first to put a real twist on the formula. In fact, no one even makes a wrong turn. They meant to go there! Danny (Anthony Ilott) and his friends arrive at the Hobbs Springs resort which Danny has inherited. However, the previous owners were working in conjunction with our favorite backwoods killers and intend to keep it in the family. Wrong Turn 6 overreaches when it wants to have serious dramatic scenes, but as long as it’s having fun, it’s got some outrageous kills and a more compelling plot about characters with an actual decision to make. Particularly sympathetic is Aqueela Zoll as Danny’s supportive girlfriend. Available on DVD, Blu-ray and digital now.
RATING: 6 out of 10
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Preservation
It seems every year, Screamfest gets away with more of an action movie because it has some horror element. While I guess any stalker murderer is horrific, aside from the masks they wear, Preservation is an action movie. A husband and wife (Aaron Staton and Wrenn Schmidt) and his brother (Pablo Schreiber) find themselves stalked on a camping trip in a remote preservation. The “Most Dangerous Game” survival is intense and well done, and the identities of the killers a poignant, shocking surprise. The real standout is Schmidt who’s badass turn as the reluctant heroine should be her audition for more action movies.
RATING: 7.5 out of 10
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House at the End of Time
The Screamfest award winner for Best Picture and Best Director was actually one that I didn’t like. Story of my life, celebrating the underdogs and rejecting the popular ones. The debut film from writer/director Alejandro Hidalgo and the first Venezuelan horror film is perfectly well made. It just wasn’t for me. A mother is convicted of murder because no one believes supernatural forces caused it. Now an old woman, she is released to her home where of course scary stuff continues to happen. The supernatural slow burn just left me bored and waiting for the inevitable, to me predictable, resolution. But hey, everyone else at Screamfest loved it.
RATING: 3.5 out of 10
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Refuge
It’s too easy to make a bad post-apocalyptic movie, so it’s always a treat when filmmakers are able to create something special with limited resources. Refuge is the familiar story of a family trying to keep their house safe and ultimately tested to seek another shelter. While shakycam is never a good choice, it’s become the default language of guerrilla style indie films. Except for a particular scene where EVERYONE is standing still except the camera, it’s not as obtrusive as in studio films where they had all the resources to invest in tripods. There are some good apocalypse shots that must have been a real ghost town and burnt out factory, and good world building through dialogue about the state of the world. There is a solid siege scene and when it gets out of the house, encounters on the road are scary because you don’t really know how nihilistic the film is going to be.
RATING: 6 out of 10
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Suburban Gothic
This is pure fun, a romp through ridiculous supernatural shenanigans. Raymond (Screamfest Best Actor winner Matthew Gray Gubler) has to move back home, where the paranormal visions he had as a child resurface. Since his parents (Ray Wise and Barbara Niven) don’t respect him, Raymond turns to bartender Becca (Kat Dennings) to help him break the curse. It’s smug smartass Raymond versus goth sarcastic Becca, with pervy dad Ray Wise getting in the way with the best lines. With Norman Rockwell colors all over the place, Suburban Gothic has something to say about suburban culture, speaking out against homophobic A-holes and forced medication of children. The visual effects are crazy, but Wise steals the show.
RATING: 7 out of 10
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I Survived a Zombie Holocaust
It’s Scream for zombie movies when actual zombies attack the production of a zombie movie. That seems so obvious, but this New Zealand lark is pretty clever. It’s pretty perceptive about the ineptitude of P.A.s (they call them runners) and difficult demands of certain actors, that seems to go a little bit deeper than an episode of “Entourage.” The zombie makeup is great and the setting provides a few fun new twists for zombie hordes. Particularly, the parallel between fans and zombies is well played.
RATING: 7 out of 10
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Girlhouse
On the surface, Girlhouse could have some troubling problems. It’s about a killer stalking a porn webcam house, and while it does have some fun exploitation, it’s smart enough not to perpetuate dangerous stereotypes of either porn actors or porn viewers. The nudity is teased as often as it blatantly titillates, and it has something to say about the internet age making erotica more intimate. The geography, technology and dynamics of the house lead to a thrilling third act that delivers on everything it set up. Both the victims and the viewers are sympathetic as they’re rendered impotent to stop the killings, which is ultimately what horror movies are all about anyway.
RATING: 7.5 out of 110
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Fear Clinic
After a week of indie horror filmmakers proving what they can accomplish with nothing but passion, why does a prolific horror label like Anchor Bay churn out uninspired shelf clutter? I did not see the Fear Clinic web series, but if that was a promo for a feature, the filmmakers have obviously cared about this for a long time. Perhaps it was more inspired or punchy in short form. Dr. Andover (Robert Englund) has invented a fear machine that simulates their fears or traumas, in order to cure them. Simple enough, but the film takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously. We may relate to the fears naturally, but not when we’re told how traumatic they are. Worse, it has so much flashing strobe lighting that it would give audiences in a theater seizures. It’s not an appealing look on DVD either.
RATING: 4 out of 10
