FrightFest 2013: epic critics’ roundtable post-mortem

Anton Bitel, Kim Newman and Virginie Selavy emerge from the UK’s leading horror film festival with 41 films in the bag.

Anton Bitel , Kim Newman , Virginie Sélavy
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Pictured: Israeli revenge drama Big Bad Wolves

 

Films discussed, by chapter:

1. A series of unfortunate titles (0m 16s)

The Dyatlov Pass Incident (aka Devil’s Pass)

Renny Harlin, US 2013

Dark Touch

Marina de Van, Ireland 2013

Dark Tourist (aka The Grief Tourist)

Suri Krishnamma, US 2012

You’re Next

Adam Wingard, UK 2013

The Dead 2: India

Howard & Jon Ford, UK 2013

2. The state of horror (3m 07s)

3. Found-footage films (4m 34s)

Banshee Chapter

Blair Erickson, US 2013

The Conspiracy

Christopher MacBride, Canada 2012

Frankenstein’s Army

Richard Raaphorst, US 2013

Willow Creek

Bobcat Goldthwait, US 2013

4. Vampires 0, zombies 3½? (9m 14s)

Stalled

Christian James, UK 2013

The Dead 2: India

The Desert

Christoph Behl, Argentina 2013

Contracted

Eric England, US 2013

5. Mumblegore? (12m 21s)

Snap

Youssef Delara & Victor Teran, US 2013

Missionary

Anthony DiBlasi, US 2013

You’re Next

Cheap Thrills

E.L. Katz, US 2013

In Fear

Jeremy Lovering, UK 2013

Hatchet III

B J McDonnell, US 2013

6. Rid of ‘Rapefest’ (15m 05s)

I Spit on Your Grave 2

Steven R. Monroe, US 2013

Willow Creek

7. British horror (21m 35s)

The Dead 2: India

The Borderlands

Elliot Goldner, UK 2013

In Fear

8. Lost in the countryside (23m 19s)

Dark Tourist (aka The Grief Tourist)

100 Bloody Acres

Cameron & Colin Cairnes, Australia 2013

No One Lives

Ryuhei Kitamura, US 2012

9. This year’s sequels (26m 01s)

Curse of Ch​ucky

Don Mancini, US 2013

10. Strong women and economic hardship (26m 59s)

We Are What We Are

Jim Mickle, US 2013

11. Cheap Thrills and the late slot (30m 02s)

Cheap Thrills

The Hypnotist

Lasse Hallström, Sweden 2012

12. The Spanish contingent (32m 56s)

For El​isa

Juanra Fernandez, Spain 2013

The Last Days

Alex & David Pastor, Spain 2013

Painless

Juan Carlos Medina, Spain 2012

Sadik 2

Robin Entreinger, France 2013

13. Victims, persecutors and the revenge motive (37m 51s)

Big Bad Wolves

Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado, Israel 2013

Cannon Fodder

Eitan Gafny, Israel 2012

Dark Touch

Dark Tourist (aka The Grief Tourist)

14. Hope and fairy tales (43m 59s)

Hansel & Gretel: The 420 Witch

Duane Journey, US 2013

Odd Thomas

Stephen Sommers, US 2013

R.I.P.D.

Robert Schwentke, US 2013

15. V/H/S/2 (47m 38s)

V/H/S/2

Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener, US 2013

16. Retrospectives (50m 12s)

Nosferatu

F.W. Murnau, Germany 1922

The Fall of the House of Usher

Roger Corman, US 1960

17. Documentaries (50m 54s)

The American Scream

Michael Stephenson, US 2012

Rewind This!

Josh Johnson, US 2013

On Tender Hooks

Kate Shenton, UK 2013

18. Wake in Fright (54m 00s)

Wake i​n Fright

Ted Kotcheff, Australia 1971

19. Corruption (58m 24s)

Corruption

Robert Hartford-Davis, UK 1967

20. Too much FrightFest? (1h 00m 21s)

21. The Empire (Leicester Square), partitioned (1h 4m 14s)

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