Revenge of the Monster Film Festival!

This year’s EIFF is all about the weird and wonderful world of low budget cinema and no one sums this up better than Roger Corman, the king of B movies, who is the subject of an 11 film retrospective. If you’re not familiar with this influential director and producer have a read of our feature this month. He’ll also be appearing in person giving audiences an opportunity to ask him about his work. Also visiting the festival is Joe Dante, director of 80s mini-monster movie Gremlins, his blend of sci-fi and horror is another example of the programme’s focus on films which have gained a cult following.

Continuing the festival’s promotion of independent and low budget film-making, there are two strands dedicated to the cutting-edge of indie film-making. Under the Radar brings you films which stray from the straight and narrow – we recommend Zach Clark’s Modern Love is Automatic and Robert Byington’s Harmony and Me – American indie at its most daring. Night Moves on the other hand provides insomniacs and cult movie fans with a late night programme, including Dario Argento’s new flick Giallo and Blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite.

Le Donk, in contrast, is an example of an established filmmaker returning to his low-budget roots with a film that was made in 5 days for £30,000. Shane Meadows presents this black and white faux-documentary about a rock roadie (played by Paddy Considine) and will be taking part in an extended Q&A after the screening.
 
And finally, Darren Aronofsky, who has recently made the leap from directing experimental indie films (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) to Oscar-nominated big-hitters (The Wrestler) will be paying the festival a visit. He’ll be talking about his career so far and his future project tackling RoboCop. The event promises to be a fascinating insight into one of America’s most exciting and visionary directors.
 
With more than 100 films showing there’s a real veritable feast on offer. Our advice? Embrace the oddball, the bizarre and the low-budget and welcome this monster film festival with open arms.