Horrorthon: Day 4

It was Sunday and I really appreciated that extra hour of sleep once the clocks went back. Summer Scars was the first of the day and it didn't seem to be all that interesting to merit getting my lazy ass out of bed. Once I got in it was time for The Masters Of Horror selection. In the previous Horrorthon the MOH was a daily feature with double episodes of the TV show. Some were really good (Family, The Deer Woman) and some were downright awful (Pro-Life). Sadly, the 2 episodes for this year's Horrorthon (The Screwfly Solution and The Black Cat) were terrible. Once that was over it was time for Dracula!

Review: Dracula (1958)
This Hammer-Horror version of the Dracula story was the first time it was shot in color and made a star out of Christopher Lee. The BFI's clean-cut restored print will be screened in the coming weeks at the IFI and is well worth checking out. It's not hte best adaptation I've seen of the story but is really entertaining nonetheless.
Rating: * * * (3 Stars)

Review: Shrooms (Surprise Film)
Shrooms isn't a bad film, and is probably the best Irish horror film ever made (which doesn't say much about Irish horror), but it wasn't that much of a "surprise". You could hear the disappointment in the audience when the titles came up, and then the credits rolled there were some very audible boos. The Surprise film should just not have been so predictable (in the selection sense). As a film, it's ok. It does create a nice atmosphere and is unnerving at times, but it is nothing that you can't find in other horror films cut from the same cloth (Blair Witch, Evil Dead, Cabin Fever).
Rating: * * (2 Stars)

Review: Stuck
Stephen Rae is a homeless guy who gets hit by a car driven by Mena Suvari late at night after a night on the town. She freaks out, drives home (with Rae still stuck in the windscreen) and hopes that it'll all work out in the end. This was the best film of the festival! It plays out more like a good thriller than a horror, and contains some of incredibly tense sequences. If Hitchcock were alive today then he'd be making films like this. Highly recommended.
Rating: * * * * (4 Stars)

What began as a terrible day with some lackluster Master Of Horror and turned into disappointment with Shrooms, Stuck redeemed it. A few beers later and it was time to head home.