December Film Highlights

The best of Scotland's December film happenings

Preview by Becky Bartlett | 28 Nov 2011

It's almost Christmas, but It's a Wonderful Life is not the only film showing across Scotland this month. From 6-22 Dec the GFT in Glasgow is screening a season of Mad Love – six films dedicated to passion, lust and madness. Alongside classics like Mulholland Drive (15 Dec) and Black Narcissus (13 Dec) are some lesser known gems, including Gus Van Sant's directorial debut Mala Noche (8 Dec), a tale of unrequited love between a young man and an illegal Mexican immigrant. Also included in the season: Gun Crazy (20 Dec), Head-On (6 Dec) and A Blonde in Love (22 Dec).

The Filmhouse in Edinburgh is celebrating Inter-faith Week between 1-4 Dec, collaborating with the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association to raise awareness and promote positive interaction between different religions. Two films are being shown, with other events running throughout the city. Little Town of Bethlehem (1 Dec), a documentary following three men of different faiths living in Israel and Palestine, will be followed by a special Q&A, as will Into Great Silence (4 Dec), set in France's Grande Chartreuse monastery.

The DCA in Dundee is offering a chance to celebrate an alternative Christmas, with a Dundead Double Bill on 18 Dec. Saint, a film by Dick Maas, is a gory horror comedy about the villainous Saint Nicholas, responsible for a series of grisly murders in Amsterdam during the holiday season. This 2010 film is followed up by possibly the most famous Yuletide horror film, the 1974 gem Black Christmas, which has been fully restored and will be shown completely uncensored.

Sick of watching critically acclaimed classics? Head to the Cameo in Edinburgh on 3 Dec for The All Night Bad Movie Experience. Starting at 10pm, four films are being shown. If you can survive Samurai Cop, Hospital Massacre and Road House, you will be rewarded in the early hours of the morning with The Room, a convoluted 2003 melodrama from writer, director and actor Tommy Wiseau that has become adored by many, for all the wrong reasons. You have been warned, these are the worst of the worst.

Finally, join Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass) and comedian Sanjeev Kohli (Still Game) for Geek Film Night at the GFT on 4 Dec. Set in the 1950s, Angel Heart, starring Mickey Rourke and Robert DeNiro, follows private investigator Harry Angel as he attempts to locate a singer called Johnny Favourite, only to find himself embroiled in a world of murder and mysticism. [Becky Bartlett]