EIFF 2010: Night Moves

Each year EIFF runs a strand of late-night premieres – films with niche appeal, for fans of genre fare. These tend to reach a small but avid audience and become 'cult' phenomena. 'Night Moves' this year offers a typically diverse range. Between Greek, Dutch and British horror, we find a no-budget neo-western and an effects-driven monster movie (if you recall The Host from EIFF '06, you'll know this is a recipe for success). While The Last Rites of Ransom Pride looked a little too low-fi to my taste, and Two Eyes Staring just too damned terrifying, I did catch Evil in the Time of Heroes, Outcast and Monsters.

A prequel to 'the first Greek zombie movie', Evil in the Time of Heroes, tells the tale of a band of survivors having fun slaughtering an Athenian infestation. The contemporary story melts into flashbacks of classical Athens, and the ever charismatic Billy Zane as a hoplite zombie-butcher. The film opens with warriors by the fireside, joshing in ancient Greek; one is swiftly infected by crazed undead, and while half the band is despatched, the rest let the monsters have it. Don't expect anything as exhilarating as God of War though - this is underwhelming schlock, and while there's plenty of gore, there's also a lack of drama or atmosphere.

In the present day, our heroes must battle other violent hoods with firearms. At times, silly digital effects make those of a certain Russian vampire series look mature and essential by comparison. The tone is so flippant that one doesn't recall, at any stage, contemporary scenes in Athens – not a trace of realism or social commentary to be found. Musical accompaniment is ineffective, sound editing poor, but the script is solid. The greatest weakness is editing, and sadly the kernel of an excellent exploitation flick lies at its heart. What we have instead is sub-B-movie fare with a brand of humour best reserved for teenage stoners.

Outcast is home-grown Celtic horror fare. The brothers McCarthy are responsible for this creepy, gruesome and pretty contrived chimera. Set in Sighthill, we follow Mary (Kate Dickie) and her son Fergal (Niall Bruton) as they escape from a trouble past in Ireland. Life on their estate provides Fergal with opportunities for growth, but his mother is disturbingly protective, and especially anxious about his consorting with girls. Simultaneously, his erstwhile father Cathal (James Nesbitt) hunts them down with arcane rituals and sacrifice for guidance.

There's a wonderful sense of atmosphere: the setting is ideal, and though by-the-numbers, Colm McCarthy's use of genre tropes is highly effective. The major problem with Outcast is the terrible weakness of its script. Efforts at social realist aesthetics belie entirely wooden, farcically pretentious dialogue. There's a cognitively-impaired young man next door, whose characterisation is about as effective as an offensive school-yard pastiche. The older members of the cast give it their all, in the face of this huge handicap. But it's something the youngsters simply can't overcome.

Not that the audience would notice this, since most of them probably came for the violence and its setting. Outcast doesn't fail to deliver on that front, with a series of evisceration, skinning and habitual bird-butchery (the pigeons don't have a chance in this film) to satisfy any moderate gore hound. On that basis it's about as effective as Evil in the Time of Heroes, though less of a disappointment as a piece of cinema.

Then there's a gleaming gem in the strand. Gareth Edwards, the creative force responsible for Monsters, is a phenomenal new talent. Only inspired direction and technical accomplishment could create such a stunning and entertaining debut from such limited resources. He's had his share of good luck though, and can't quite believe it himself.

Discussing the production with wannabe film-makers this week, Edwards explained how he postponed the project for a full year, suspecting that his potential producers were all talk. Vertigo, who immediately leapt on board with only a concept and CV to hand, were left hanging while he went to work single-handedly creating all the effects for BBC's Attila the Hun.

The concept came to Edwards on holiday, where he was inspired by seeing foreign fishermen nonplussed as they dragged the bulbous corpse of a sea creature from their nets. Surreal images of horrific alien beasts laying in gorgeous, uncanny surroundings began to haunt his imagination. It was a vision perfectly suited to single-handed production.

Andrew (Scoot McNairy) and Sam (Whitney Able) are struggling to find passage back to the United States. Andrew is a photojournalist tasked with returning his CEO's daughter from her adventures south of the border. Here's the twist - extra-terrestrial eggs have crash-landed across the northern belt of Mexico, and three-hundred foot alien octopi now stalk the landscape, demolishing the hostile humans perpetually on the assault. The increasingly likely couple are turned back at every turn, and after an unfortunate error of judgement, find themselves forced to travel through the unthinkably hostile quarantine zone.

Edwards worked with the smallest team he could (and therefore the lowest budget) because big money comes with a "circus" attached. Counter-intuitively, the less you have to work with, the more free you are to make choices freely. His principal cast of two had to work spontaneously, and constantly within earshot of real-life violence, as they travelled through Central America. They certainly deliver the goods, revealing naturalistic and humanised performances.

The producers refuse to reveal the film's budget. It may be so low that it'd see Edwards pinched from under their noses, given that his film's effects, visual design, performances and narrative force put Hollywood to shame. He has described his giddy, dumbstruck response to Tarantino's praise at an LA industry screening, and has caught the attention of Harvey Weinstein, among others.

One expects most audience members from those screenings to disagree with these critical remarks. By definition, fans of 'cult' films will vehemently defend their darlings, and their attraction can be quite unfathomable outside the clique. I'm certain, however, that if any of these films has a chance at breaking through to mainstream success, it's Monsters. We will be seeing much more from Gareth Edwards, without a doubt.