Glasgow Film Festival - A Quick Recap

By Evrim Ersoy Feb 28, 2010, 20:22 GMT

 Just back from a 3 day stint at the Glasgow Film Festival catching not only the mini 2-day Frightfest event but also Japanese mystery Zero Focus (Zero No Shoten). I'll be writing longer reviews for some of the titles I've managed to catch but before I get to that, here in order of preference are the films of the weekend listed:

1)AMER: Brilliant and intense tribute to gialli of yesteryear , Helene Cattett and Bruno Forzani's tour-de-foce debut feature is an unparalled exercise in cinematic purity. The best film of the year so far.

2)SPLICE: Perhaps slightly hokey and unbelivable in places, Vincenzo Natali's loving update of the Frankenstein myth is still a jaw-dropping and audacious science fiction film.

3)FROZEN: Adam Green proves he really is one of the most talented young directors working in any genre at this moment with this intelligent and terrifying survival horror film which is head and shoulders above anything that has come before it.

4)ZERO FOCUS: A remake of the 1961 film with the same title, Zero Focus is a beautiful and old-fashioned murder mystery with strong echoes of Hitchcock as well as an intelligently modern exploration of the themes suggested in the book.

4)[REC 2]: A massive letdown after the carefully crafted genius of the first film; [REC 2] is still an intense experience providing some genuniely stand out moments during its short run time.

5)2001 MANIACS: FIELD OF SCREAMS: Nowhere as outrageous or twisted as it might sell itself - this is is still an acceptable sequel for those who enjoyed the first one.

6)HARPOON: REYKJAVIK WHALE WATCHING MASSACRE: Attempts at doing something different within a genre film falls flat as Reykjavik quickly becomes just another average horror film with various characters being pitted against a family of psychotic whale hunters. Almost as disappointingly dire as last summer's Dead Snow.

7)STAG NIGHT: In a word: dull. In two: dull and uninspired.