Having finally recovered from the antics of last Saturday's FrightFest Halloween all-nighter, i've had time to reflect on the bits of the line-up that really were hard to stay awake for (almost ditching my pro-plus efforts and calling for matchsticks), as well as reminding myself of some of the summer programmes gems (which i'd largely, and undeservdly, ignored in my previous post about the festival.)
'Ere goes....
STINKERS
Bait 3D
**
When a freak tsunami hits a coastal city, the surviving
shoppers of a supermarket must swim their way out- but first, they must tackle
a 12-foot shark that lurks amidst the aisles. It’s ludicrously laugh-out-loud
clichés, hammy 3D moments, and handful of witty one-liners make for an
entertainingly dumb and frumpy fun character drama. But for a shark movie, its
demise lies in the lack of teeth-wrenched guts and bloody endings.
Nevertheless, there have been bigger fishy flops, and at least Bait’s shark doesn’t roar like a lion (Jaws 4) or have characters jet ski their
way straight into the predators mouth at 40mph (Shark Attack 3). We sit and sigh as we wait for Bait 3DD.
The Helpers
**
What happens when you get two freak punctured tyres on your
road trip to Vegas? Whatever you do, do not receive a free repair, unlimited
free booze, food and accommodation from a bunch of fun-loving teens-
self-dubbed ‘The Helpers’- at their motel. Why? Because you could awaken tied
up in a death trap faced with your last few minutes to live. Very unhelpful you’d think. Though this No Vacancy/Saw spin-off boasts some non-imaginative-but-pretty-cool deaths,
there are few surprises and even fewer (actually, no) characters that we give a
crap about. Curiously labelled a “found-footage” horror (the handheld camera
technique gives up after the first fifteen minutes), its final revelation
plunges the revenge scheme into a confusing contradiction when the helpers
torture-terror is hinted to continue after their intended victims are
(literally) ripped apart.****
It seems that Elijah Wood’s ‘One Ring’ has had a lasting
effect on the LOTR star as he bloodies up to lead in Franck Khalfoun’s remake
of 80’s genre classic, Maniac. A
psychologically deranged owner of a Mannequin store, who has fetish for scalps,
develops a stalkerish obsession with a local female photographer. Though Wood’s
typical on-screen appearance has the scare capacity of a custard cream, his
deliverance of infamous serial-killer Frank couldn’t have been more convincing.
His fluctuating withdrawn-awkwardness-turned-to-brutal-madness offers both a
spectacular character study as well as an eye-fixating visceral display of gore
and violence. Who knew, a remake worth watching!
Chained
***
You’d back the horror debut entry from the daughter of one
of 
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