Patrick Thompson
Conventions
Fri, 10.16.09
11:23 pm

Hot on the heels of my report of last years fest comes news of this years fest. As regular readers of my writing will know the fest is a yearly pilgrimage for me and one I have spoke off my adventures at in great detail here!
Last year Horrothon had a tough time. It was a tough year for horror with finance being almost non existent after the credit crunch and the large scale failures of films like Hostel 2.
This year however it seems like the genre is enjoying a new lease of life. Nothing is more indicative of this than the opening film Premiere of “Jennifer’s Body” the new horror film scripted by uber-trendy Juno scribe Diablo Cody and starring Transformers sex symbol Megan Fox. This film sounds interesting, coming from the director of top notch indie flick Girl fight. Its also the first chance to see Megan Fox acting in a film not directed by Michael Bay so time will tell if we will see her acting chops. Following this will be the long awaited Trick r Treat. This will be Irish fans only chance to see the film unfortunately as it is being sent straight to DVD by Warner Bros.
The big film on everyone’s lips though is the sequel to Neil Marshall’s modern classic The Descent. Though Marshall has passed the directing reigns over to the original films editor Jon Harris he has remained onboard as producer. Not sure how this one is going to pan out but apparently it will follow on from the controversial “American” ending.
On the indie front genre legend Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead, The devils rejects, Rob Zombies Halloween ... and Kenan and Kel!) will be over to promote Serbian zombie flick Zone of the Dead. Paul Solet’s expansion of his notorious short Grace will be screening. This one stars Cabin Fever star Jordan Ladd. Other indies include Black , fest director Conor McMahon’s new one The Disturbed and the world premiere of new film The undying.
On the retro front cheese will be catered for by Samurai Cop and Italian Alien rip off Contamination amongst others. There will be a rare 70mm screening of Gremlins and a screening of Day of the Dead attended by star Joe Pilato.
Fest director Edward King had this to say: “This year there's a good selection of genre films compared to last, which made me think that if there's enough good new films out there to program for this years Horrorthon it made perfect sense to me to do less retrospectives, get loads of new movies and give the audience value for money, especially during a recession!”
So lets bring on the gore! It's Horrorthon 09 and it's good to be back.

Patrick Thompson
Film Festival
Fri, 10.24.08
05:46 pm

The moment has come! The moment that Irish gorehounds wait for all year , when the line up for the years Horrorthon film festival is announced! Anyone who reads my articles will know how much this festival means to me and will be familiar with the fest through my interview with fest director Edward Kind and of course my epic festival report from last year! Well this year the fest is back with a strong a line up as ever once again on the October bank holiday weekend!

The 11th festival launches on Thursday the 25th of October with 'Quarantine'. The American remake of Spanish fest hit 'Rec' from directors of the 'Poughkeepsie Tapes'. The film follows a documentary crew as they follow a group of fire-fighters around for a feature. When they are attacked by an “infected” woman in apartment block they are launched in to a nightmare.

Following this will be Frank Henlotter's (Basket Case, Frankenhooker)s audacious return to the horror genre in 'Bad Biology;.

New films include the latest installment in the ultra popular 'Saw' franchise as well as the Irish premiere of 'Mindflesh'! 'Mindflesh' was previously lauded on this very site yours truly and the director Rob Pratten was interviewed! Rob had this to say about the film screening at Horrorthon 'I’m delighted to have the film screen in Dublin and particularly delighted to be at Horrorthon with it's long history of screening great films. It's our Irish premiere and I hope all those who go to see it enjoy it.' Cant wait to see how this one goes down!

Other notable screenings include documentary
Not Quite Hollywood (the untold story of Ozploitation!)' , Spanish mindbender 'Time Crimes' and twisted Brit flick 'Mum and Dad'. Personally the film I am most excited by is Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus)’s adaptation of Clive Barker's 'The Midnight Meat Train'. One of the most exciting horror films to be released this year it was unfairly relegated during its US release and this should be a rare chance for genre fans to check it out.

On the Irish side, several new Irish films will be revealed. Alongside the short film 'In To the Mirror' and Irish shot feature 'Ghostwood' the most notable film will be the premiere of the Irish film Seer. Also there will a screening of 'Plague Town' -an Irish zombie film shot in Connecticut!

On the retro side of the festival horrorthon will be pulling out some old classics and obscure gems! Most notably there will be a 25th anniversary screening of Tonie Scott’s gothic cult classic 'The Hunger' as well as a 20th anniversary screening of 'Childs Play' , a 30th anniversary screening of 'Jaws 2' and a 30th anniversary of Romero’s immortal 'Dawn of the Dead'. On the more obscure side rare 70s giallo film 'The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire', will be getting an outing. This film was partly shot in Ireland and should be interesting. Anyone who saw the unbelievable midget-sploitation film 'For your Height Only' at Horrorthon last year will be glad to hear that 'The Impossible Kid', its sequel, will be screening. Amongst a hoard of retrospectives (Bram Stokers Dracula, Night of the Lepus) the stand outs include cult classics 'The Funhouse' and the inimitable 'Evil Dead 2'!
Festival director Edward King had this to say on this years line up 'Once again, Horrorthon sets out to provide the best films the market has to offer to you (the audience!!!) each year. As always, I only hope the fans are not let-down by this years choices but I know that the die-hards will always support the festival and more importantly the genre too.'



I for one cant wait and will be bringing you all the latest Horrorthon news, through my daily Horrorthon blog on the forums where I'll give you my opinion on the days films and of course another epic fest report!

Keep it really gory!