ZOMBIE INVASION HITS EDINBURGH! (for the 16th time)

DEAD BY DAWN’s finally here! Adele Hartley’s blood splattered labour of love is back in the city for four days of the best horror shorts and independent features from all over the world.

I’ve been in Edinburgh for a few years now and always regretted not going before. I’d heard the rumours. Fantastic stuff and essential for horror fans, but at a price: the gradual smell building up as chances to shower disappear, the unsteady and awkward shuffling to the bar during breaks, the brain giving up under the relentless onslaught and the awful final realization that you look, smell and think like a zombie yourself. Unmissable stuff, obviously! So how could I resist when the Skinny asked me to check it out?

I get there just after 10 and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Filmhouse so busy. Even with the Beltane Fire Festival clashing this year, it’s wall to wall in the bar, and heaving with genre geeks, costume freaks and party animals out for a laugh.

I grab a pint and sort through the freebies in the bar. Everyone has a cute little Dead by Dawn bag with a free book from sponsors, Abaddon books. I’ve got some kind of post-apocalyptic trash called Kill or Cure, which looks kind of great in its way. The programme itself is a lovely piece of work and really professional for this kind of thing. I have a leaf through and immediately jumping out at me is something deliciously called Wheelchair Werewolf, which looks like exactly what it promises. “Almost no-one can escape the clutches of this monster!” screams the blurb next to a picture which is just too tragic looking to describe. I’m sold.

Frank “Monster Squad” Dekker is doing a Q&A on Saturday when he’s here to introduce the classic splatter flick Night of the Creeps (shamelessly ripped off to lesser effect by 2006’s Slither). I make a mental note to try to speak to him. And then another hurried note not to ask him what went wrong with Robocop III or if the wolfman has nards.

The festival this year is packed with features, shorts and a few surprises. Too many to get into here. Friday is the shark vs zombie classic Zombie Flesh Eaters (complete with Q&A), a new hillbilly horror Cold Storage, and something called The Baby’s Curse intrigues with a mention in the blurb of connections to the fantastically Lovecraftian Manga, Uzumaki.  A Shit Film Amnesty on Sunday night grabs my attention too. Bring in your worst dvd and potentially win hundreds of others.  Maybe I could jettison Shark Attack III: Megalodon at last? There’s also a “What you make of it” element at the festival; non-typical horror movies like Misery and a few others on the fringe of the genre to shake things up. It’s looking great. I suddenly realize that with movies going on ‘til near 7am I’m not going to get any sleep at all on Saturday night and I’m still trying to figure out the math when the horde starts heading through to the theatre…

An introduction from Adele gets everyone in the mood, bad parenting being the theme to look out for this year apparently, and she asks if there are any festival virgins in the audience. A few nervous hands go up (mine among them). “CAN WE TAKE THEIR VIRGINITY?” someone bellows from the back (did he really shout that?) and the hands awkwardly drop.

It’s a wee programme tonight to ease everyone in. The Room is a short put together by Diego and Andres Meza-Valdes while they were in film school and they’re here to chat a little bit about it. Clearly loving the attention from the festival audience, their enthusiasm is infectious. The film itself is a twist on the now almost traditional captured-woman-in-peril movie with a nice monstrous sting in the tail and some great effects.

The main feature for the night, Adam Mason’s Blood River is similarly unconventional. Best described as a little Hitcher, a little Frailty, with a bit of Dust Devil along for the ride, it has your irritating horror movie couple falling afoul of a charming blue-eyed and bible spouting drifter, but it’s not quite what you think and some excellent cinematography keep things a cut above the rest.  A little slow to get going, I notice midway through that the guy on my left has fallen asleep and he’s missing the best bits as it has fun with suggesting that the drifter could be a serial killer, or maybe an angel, or possibly even the messiah.

A great start to the festival! At 1, I slump out of my seat and stagger back home past crowds of people coming back from Beltane. I’m worryingly tired for only the first day, but willpower, pro-plus and an all horror diet will see me through.

It’s the beginning of things and my brain’s in the best state it’s going to be in for the next few days. I’m here. I’m committed to seeing everything it’s got to offer. This year there are a few extra tickets available on each day for individual movies so you’ve got no excuse and nothing to lose by coming down to the Filmhouse and checking things out! Join us!!