GFF 2012: The Horror

The Skinny pays tribute to the GFF's annual crimson splattered crescendo, the mighty <b>FrightFest</b>, and its much maligned gorehounds who make the Scottish horror scene so special

Feature by James Kloda | 23 Feb 2012

Be afraid. It’s that time of year again. Where the proverbial gorehound is let loose – maw thirsty for blood – upon the plasma-drenched offerings hanging in the delicious abattoir that constitutes FrightFest. Now in its seventh year, nestled in the bosom of the Glasgow Film Festival programme, it provides a climax of subversion to the main affair: as most festivals begin to wind down save for a final gala screening, here a whole new audience descend upon the GFT to pack out its largest cinema to be treated to ten UK premieres and a host of ghoulish guests over two blood soaked days.

The scale of FrightFest in Scotland may be inevitably smaller than its primary summer event held in Leicester Square, but it is no less essential to the horror fan offering a certain intimacy where the movies take precedence, debates always abounding over which are pure magic and which were utter pish.

What FrightFest’s main success has been is in recognising that the nationwide demand for horror needs to be further sated by hosting prestigious premiere screenings away from London. Whilst the programme tempts many English terror pilgrims to cross the border, this is often over-shadowed by the enthusiasm of the home-grown audience, their appetite for the gruesome and wayward having become particularly ravenous over the last few years. Sam Massey, a life-long evangelist of the macabre who has instigated a monthly discussion group at the GFT called Glasgore, believes FrightFest to be important to the city because it “introduces a captive audience to a wide range of genre films and has paved the way for other horror-related events.”

Key to the development of this has been a number of special screenings sprinkled across Scotland's horror calendar of classics from the golden age of European exploitation cinema. Organised by Edinburgh-based journalist Calum Waddell and supported by Arrow Video, the first event (held in Glasgow, May 2009) brought two legendary masters of Italian splatter, Lamberto Demons Bava and Ruggero Cannibal Holocaust Deodato, into the GFT to, erm, chew the fat. As Waddell recalls, “not only did we sellout but, contrary to the sort of perceptions that the genre once attracted, we achieved a considerable female contingent and a crowd of young people who were knowledgeable about this type of cinema’s past.”

With this initial outing part of a mini-tour that included Dublin and Edinburgh, further events were made unique to Glasgow because of the passion and perversity that manifested itself in the lively Q&A sessions: the late, great David Hess from Last House on the Left demonstrating how best to axe a Glaswegian upon audience request; Day of the Dead’s Joe Pilato ambiguously downing a bottle of red when asked how his psychotic Captain Rhodes would fare in Afghanistan. This ‘anything goes’ attitude has meant that filmmakers relish the chance to screen their work in the city. Indeed, last year, not to be outdone by the reputation of the local crowd, Hobo with a Shotgun director Jason Eisener conducted his FrightFest Q&A in his underpants, inviting the room to follow suit.

With rabid bloodhounds across the UK making the journey to commingle with the gleeful unpredictability of the region’s horror buffs, FrightFest Glasgow is becoming a distinct personality in itself. As Waddell has noted, “Back in the 90s when horror was considered some kind of ‘underground’ world of video nasties, I never would have dreamed the genre would attract such a diverse following, with smart, social and dare I say sexy being the rule rather than the exception.” And with tickets selling more rapidly than ever, the promised line-up of mutant cannibals, Chinese-speaking aliens and Pinocchio-obsessed psychos is returning to the sassy, shrewd family that love them dearly. But be afraid – they might not keep their trousers on…

+ Three horror films to catch at GFF

  1. The Plague Of The Zombies (FrightFest Extra // 18 Feb, 11.15pm, GFT) – John Gilling's atmospheric Hammer chiller in glorious hi-def
  2. The Monk / Le Moine (European Cinema // 19 Feb, 8.20pm, GFT) – French suspense master Dominik Moll's adaptation of the classic supernatural tale
  3. The Raid (FrightFest // 25 Feb, 11.15pm, GFT) – What better way to close FrightFest than with this hi-octane, cult-in-the-making Indonesian action flick?

FrightFest takes place 24-26 Feb at the Glasgow Film Theatre

James Kloda is DVD Reviewer for The Dark Side magazine (www.thedarksidemagazine.com)

http://www.frightfest.co.uk