From Japan on one side of the globe to the United Kingdom on the other the second film in the Halloween festival comes to us from Hammer Studios, the people who made stars of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee while pioneering the bloodshed and bosoms style of horror films.

Short on both bloodshed and bosoms and written by Nigel Kneale, the man who also created the Quatermass stories, The Abominable Snowman follows an expedition to the Himalayan peaks as a small band of men search for proof of the Yeti’s existence. What might have been just another ‘chased by the monster’ story is instead in Kneale’s capable hands turned into a thoughtful character piece that explores some mighty big themes, including man’s place in the world. There are plenty of wonderful character moments in this film. The lhama’s careful verbal bombs as he sabotages the expedition without revealing the true depth of his own knowledge, the open conflict between Rollason a scientist and ‘Friend’ (we never learn if that was his true name) a con man looking reclaim his tarnished image, and other members of the expedition slowly snapping under the stress all come together very nicely.

The cast performs quite well, particularly Peter Cushing as the scientist John Rollason who is driven by the quest for knowledge and Forrest Tucker, best known to baby boomers as a comedic actor from television shows such as F Troop, turns in a very credible performance as Tom Friend, a man with too many secrets. The Abominable Snowman starts with the premise that the Yeti is a dying species, an evolutionary dead end but by the end  the story has turned that cliché on its head.

The film does suffer from the period in which it was produced. The staged mountain tops are clearly dressed sound stages and match up poorly with the location shooting from high in the European Alps. Being the 1950s the film also suffers from ‘yellow-face’ casting where European actors play Asian roles leaving only bit parts to be played by actors that match the ethnicity of their characters.

A lesser-known production of mighty Hammer Studios, my sweetie-wife obtained a copy of the film for me a few Christmases ago from an on-demand service. (Or it may have been for our anniversary which occurs the same week. And if you think a movie is a poor anniversary gift you don’t know me. Movies are ALWAYS a good gift.)

If older films with a more sedate pacing are you speed, this one is certainly worth a look.

This year as Halloween approaches I have decided to bing on horror films, Most if not all of these will be older films from my personal collection though there may one or two from a streaming service.

Horror films have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. When I was a wee boy my older brothers would go to the drive-in on the weekend and promise our parents that they would select something suitable for my impressionable mind and we often ended up watching horror films. The only fiction books I owned as a child were ghost stories so horror and ghosts in particular have always been a part of my experiences.

In 2002 the film The Ring was released, an American remake of a 1998 Japanese film Ringu. I saw The Ring on videotape – how very ironic – loved it and when I moved over to DVD obtained a copy in that medium. Some years later through Amazon I purchased a DVD set of the original films, Ringu and its sequels.

Ringu is based on a Japanese novel of the same title but the film and its sequels diverge significantly from the source material.

The plot of Ringu is fairly straight forward; a cursed videotape summons a ghost who kills people seven days after they watch the tape. A female news reporter discovers the story, views the tape and scrambles to unravel the mystery before the ghost arrives and claims her.

This movie has all the classic elements of a ghost story, the mystery, the unjust death, the focus of atmospherics over ‘kills’ to propel the horror. It is one of my favorite horror films. If you have seen The Ring you’ll know most of the beats that occur in Ringu but there are story elements that were not translated to the American version and these make watching Ringu a different experience than watching the Ring. The DVD has no dubbed English language so if you watch it you will do it via sub-titles. (Not a hindrance for me. I generally prefer sub-titling over dubbing.)

The sequels and prequels are uneven and perhaps are best approached as films in their own right and not directly tied to Ringu. That said, I would heartily recommend Ringu to anyone who like creepy horror fiction over splatter kills.

Today was the last day of the festival and I am knackered. I arrived just before noon and the start of the Human Killers & Psychological Terrors short film block. This is a sub-genre of horror that usually doesn’t speak that much to me, even though I have a fascination with the real life examples, and I nearly skipped the starting block because of that. However there were some of the shorts that stood out me and that I enjoyed.

Surgery – is the story of a man being tortured by an older man apparently without rhyme or reason. The film’s resolutions provides reason and context and what the story is rather used, a plot that I have seen a few times before, the execution was well-done and satisfying. This movie was a good example of the power of restrain in creating a sensation of horror, terror, and revulsion for the audience.

Little Boy Blue– another great entry from down under this movie is about a little boy being raised as a girl on a chicken ranch in the 1950. She discovers a terrible truth about the neighboring form and in the end resolves the terror. graphic and disturbing this film works on several levels and I hope to see more from these talent people.

Bunker Game – an entry from France this would play as an excellent short before the feature 10 Cloverfield Lane. The set up is simple a man keep and starves a woman in his bunker forcing her to playing endless games of Connect 4. This film turns on the woman’s performance and she delivers.

The last block I attended was the Supernatural Horrors short film block. Many of these movies did not work as well for me, though several had a lyrical quality that bordered on dreamlike. For me there was one stand out short in this section.

Leshy – from Slovenia is the story of a young girl, her forest ranger father, and the power that lives in the deep dark woods. This film rides on the back of its young actress who pulled it off beautifully. The style and story were very much like Guillermo del Toro and fans of his work would almost certainly enjoy this piece.

There was more to the festival, two more feature films and the awards, but my energy flagged and I surrendered to the inevitable returning home for the evening. I regret nothing save not taking Thursday off from my day job in addition to the Friday. The Wednesday night reception looked lovely and the food appealing but an early rise forced me home that night as well

All in all I had a wonderful time. I looked forward to next year with anticipation.

#HIFFSD

San Diego’s Premier horror film festival continued yesterday with more short and feature films. I put in a full day at the festival and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The block of shirt films started us off with Science-Fiction and creature horror. Again the overall quality of the films was high but I am only going to speak about a few of the movies that stood out to me. This is not to say that those unmentioned were sub-par in any way. So far the ratio of hits to misses has been extremely high.

A Matter Of Trust – This is the classic dilemma seen often in SF shows and movies. There’s an imposter who is perfectly mimicking a loved one and the principle character must work out who is his real love and who is the imposter. This film is well made, well acted, and well written. I kept expecting a standard twist for the ending and the film surprised be with a novel and satisfying turn about of events.

Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon — not truly a horror film but a fun and whimsical fantasy piece they takes its concept and runs with it. Bonus points for the well turned performance from Hollywood veteran James Hong.

The Disappearance of Willie Bingham – oh, this may be the most powerful short of the festival. It come to us from the land down under, Australia and is top notch social science-fiction. The film deals with the difficult concepts of justice versus Vengeance and never flinches from its core conceit.

After a short break we continued with another block of short films this time the theme was LGBT movies.

The Black Bear – from Canada this movie featured LGBT characters but the central thrust of the film is an absurd encounter with a bear. It is comedy and works perfectly prompting plenty of laughs.

Next we watched a Feature film with LGBT theme.

Alena – from Sweden and produced by the director of a short mentioned earlier in my series, First to Like First to Die, this is psychological horror film set amid the teenager of an all girl high school. The film may or may not be a ghost story. (I love ghost stories so I will lean on the interpretation that the ghost was real not a product of a broken mind.) The script works, the movie is well made and well acted, and the real horror comes not from supernatural forces from beyond but the bullying and hazing people engage in so easily.

After the diner break – supplied by festival Sponsor Bread and Cie — we were treated to more short films and the final feature of the day.

Bionic Girl – from France gave us an SF musical film about a scientist and her perfect android creations.

Beyond the Gates – a feature film that paid tribute to the horror films of the 1980s, this story concern three people trapped by a demonic videocassette game that threatens their lives. Well made and acted the cast and crew were in attendance allowing for a lively and fun Q & A afterwards.

#HIFFSD

This post will be brief as I am running up against commitments and a lack of time.

Yesterday was another good day at the festival. We started with a private tour for VIP members, which included me, of the Exhibit Cannibals! Myth and Reality at the San Diego Museum of Man. This was a really nice exhibit that presented the reality and cultural hammer that is the western view of Cannibalism. Biggest takaway from the curator lecture and panel discussion afterwards – the word Cannibal was coined by Christopher Columbus.

We watched short films:

Survivor Type – an adaptation of the Steven King short story. Normally I detest the ‘found footage’ genre but Billy Hanson the writer and director made the style fit perfectly. The film was carried on the shoulders of its one man cast and worked very well.

Ear Worm – A film by Tara Price and produce by Billy Hanson this film was quite short but on point about a man tormented by a fragment of a song that he cannot escape. It was well received by the audience and the original song composed as the fragment was everything that makes a good ear worm, catchy, pop, and upbeat.

The evening also saw the presentation of two feature-length films sadly neither worked very well for me.

Dark Exorcism – A film set in that sub-genre of horror film about demons and possession. This sub-genre has seen a resurgence lately. This film had very goods performances and a nearly all female cast giving it an interesting take on the subject. It did not work overall for me because the script leaned heavily on expository scenes which need more dramatic narrative elements woven into them.

Sendero (Path) — From Chile this film is part of thee young people in peril sub-genre along the lines of The Hills Have Eyes, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Five friends out for a weekend find themselves kidnapped and at the mercy of a merciless family. The movie had a strong start and good acting but by the second half of the film I had learned that the ‘professional victim’ class of character is universal cross cultural and language borders.

So now I have seen many films at the festival and only two have been disappointments. This is a far better average then I have seen at other smaller film festivals. I look forward to tonight.

So last night was the second day of the five day film festival and the quality of the submissions remains quite high. I have attended film festivals at SF conventions and there the quality of the movies varies a great deal from the clearly home-made first attempts to very good productions but Horrible Imaginings has maintained a caliber of quality that should make the director of the festival proud.

I skipped out on the opening feature, a documentary about Pilipino action star Rudy Fernandez. The Last Pinoy Action King certainly in my wheelhouse for documentaries as I adore film making and genre filmmaking subjects, but others things pressed on my times and I was forced to miss this one.

I arrive in time for the short film block, Thursday’s theme being horror/comedy. I would love to go over all the films presented as they all deserve to be talked about but time and space constrict me so i will discuss just a few that stood out to me.

The Phantom Hour – had a lovely retro feel complete with a classic 30’s style of credits and paid homage to classic tropes and the venerable plot of four strangers in a dark and lonely house. I had a chance to speak with one of the members of the cast afterwards always a treat at festivals.

First Like — a nice bit of supernatural killer/monster on the loose and the use of social media ‘likes’ to tell the story works nice as commentary and for overcoming language barriers

Watchbear — The set up of this film, a child with a monster in the closest has been seen before but the strength of the title characters dialogue and performance centers this film in a very strong place making it an audience favorite.

Stained — from the U.K. this film manages to work where the subject matter normally would repel me. The humor is scatological and that usually doesn’t work for my tastes. hence why my favorite Mel brooks movie is Young Frankenstein and not Blazing Saddles, but the filmmakers here walked the line perfectly keeping the tone light enough for humor, gross enough to remain scatological, and wry enough to have that English sensibility. The film’s final shots nail the landing elevating this from simple laughs to a story drenched in psychology and darkness.

A Zombie Next Door — Zombie horror is definitely a thing. In my collection I have three zombie comedies, Return of the Living Dead, Zombieland, and Shawn of the Dead, but to successfully make a zombie horror is difficult. Last weekend a friend and I watched A Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, a comedy with the grievous sin of not being funny and looking like it was made by people with no appreciation or knowledge of the genre. This is no the case with A Zombie Next Door. Crafted in the style of a Christopher Guest ‘mockumentary’ this film was funny, wry, knew the genre and powered by wonderful improv performances.

I was forced to leave the festival before the final feature documentary finished, and again a subject I am interested in Hail to the King: 60 Years of Destruction looked to be a fun Godzilla doc, but exhaustion commanded I return home while it was still safe to drive.

I look forward to the films playing tonight.

#HIFFSD

Yesterday was the first day of San Diego Horror Film festival, Horrible Imaginings, and the first year I was able to attend.

This year the festival is five days, which is great. My friend Miguel started the festival seven years ago and it’s been growing each year. Last night we started with a block of short animated films. The animation spanned a number of styles, subjects, and tones from the horror that humans perform upon each other with Dad’s Fragile Doll set in pre-revolution Iran to my favorite of the block the twisted comedy mixing puppet and live action The Detectives of Noir Town. (If you were a fan of the Angel episode with muppets then this short is for you.)

Before the feature presentation of the evening local horror author David Agranoff read his short story Stud. A piece not for the weak of stomach but he was kind enough to warn the audience before starting. (I will note no one left and perhaps slightly more surprising no one vomited. lol)

The feature film of the evening was Tag, a Japanese suspense/horror film about a group if teenage school girls chased and killed by mysterious forces. Let me tell you that one sentence description does the film no justice, but it is very difficult to talk about this movie without spoiling it. It is very violent, it is very bloody, the victims of this carnage are the stereotypical young pretty women seen in sub-par slasher films throughout the genre, yet Tag is about misogyny  and the role of the spectator in such spectacles. This is a not a movie for everyone but I enjoyed it.

There was an opening night reception following the film with what looked like lovely cakes, cookies, and treats, but as I need to get up at 5:30 am I could not stay.

I am looking forward to night two tonight.