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Abertoir · 2013

Abertoir 2013

Features

Programme

21 films · 10 reviews

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Across The River (Oltre Il Guado)

A young naturalist monitoring animals by video in the Alps discovers an abandoned village where something terrible has happened.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Lorenzo Bianchini; Writer: Lorenzo Bianchini, Michela Bianchini; Stars: Renzo Gariup, Marco Marchese, Lidia Zabrieszach)

All Cheerleaders Die

Review preview for All Cheerleaders Die

When it comes to action, the physical abilities of the cheerleaders make them genuinely scary predators.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A gang of cheerleaders embark on a supernatural path of vengeance.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Lucky McKee, Chris Sivertson; Writer: Lucky McKee, Chris Sivertson; Stars: Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Brooke Butler, Amanda Grace Cooper, Reanin Johannink, Tom Williamson, Chris Petrovski, Leigh Parker, Nicholas S. Morrison, Jordan Wilson, Felisha Cooper, Sidney Allison, Nadia Boceski, Simon Patrick Brown, Nathaniel Derrico)

Full review

Bad Milo

A man with puzzling stomach problems discovers he has a demon living in his intestine.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jacob Vaughan; Writer: Benjamin Hayes, Jacob Vaughan; Stars: Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Patrick Warburton, Claudia Choi, Toby Huss)

The Battery

Two former baseball stars struggle to get along as they drive through a zombie-infested New England.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Jeremy Gardner; Writer: Jeremy Gardner; Stars: Jeremy Gardner, Adam Cronheim, Niels Bolle, Alana O'Brien)

Blood Glacier (The Station, Blutgletscher)

Review preview for Blood Glacier

Though essentially a familiar monster movie / survival horror story, Blood Glacier is so well put together that it feels fresh and punches well above its weight.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Scientists investigate a glacier from which a mysterious toxic liquid is leaking.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2013; Director: Marvin Kren; Writer: Benjamin Hessler; Stars: Gerhard Liebmann, Edita Malovcic, Brigitte Kren, Hille Beseler, Peter Knaack, Santos)

Full review

The Borderlands

Vatican investigators use hidden cameras to try and discern the cause of strange happenings in a West Country church.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Elliot Goldner; Stars: Aidan McArdle, Patrick Godfrey, Gordon Kennedy, Luke Neal, Robin Hill)

City Of The Living Dead (Paura Nella Città Dei Morti Viventi, The Gates Of Hell)

Review preview for City Of The Living Dead

City Of The Living Dead lacks the sophistication of Fulci's later films about Hell, coming across as significantly more camp, but it still has plenty going for it.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
After a psychic has a disturbing vision, she and her reporter friend race to rescue the inhabitants of a town where a priest's suicide has released a terrible evil.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1980; Director: Lucio Fulci; Writer: Lucio Fulci, Dardano Sacchetti; Stars: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Janet Agren, Luca Venantini, Venantino Venantini) , Trailer

Full review See: Interview with Catriona MacColl about Lucio Fulci and her career in horror.

Chimères (Chimeres)

After receiving a blood transfusion in Romania, a young man displays the symptoms of a strange infection. He and his girlfriend attempt to keep their relationship strong despite it.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2013; Director: Olivier Beguin; Writer: Olivier Beguin, Colin Vettier; Stars: Jasna Kohoutova, Yannick Rosset, Catriona MacColl)

Discopathe

A young New Yorker is driven to murder by the pulsating rhythms of Seventies dancehalls.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Renaud Gauthier, Marie-Claire Lalonde; Writer: Renaud Gauthier; Stars: François Aubin, Sandrine Bisson, Nancy Blais, Mathieu Lepage, Christian Paul)

Forgotten (Du Hast Es Versprochen)

Two long-lost friends return to the island where they played as children and gradually uncover sinister secrets about a former playmate who disappeared.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Alex Schmidt; Writer: Valentin Mereutza, Alex Schmidt; Stars: Mina Tander, Laura de Boer, Katharina Thalbach)

Frankenstein

Review preview for Frankenstein

There's still lots to appreciate here beyond its status as a historical artefact.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An early reimagining of the Mary Shelley classic in which an ambitious scientist gets more than he bargained for.

(Country: US; Year: 1910; Director: J Searle Dawley; Writer: Based on the book by Mary Shelley; Stars: Augustus Phillips, Charles Ogle, Mary Fuller)

Full review See: Column on books about film looking at Edison's Frankenstein by Frederick C Wiebel Jr

Ghost Graduation (Promoción Fantasma)

Getting through high school is hard when you're a ghost. Fortunately a teacher with paranormal talents is on hand to help.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Javier Ruiz Caldera; Writer: Cristóbal Garrido, Adolfo Valor; Stars: Raúl Arévalo, Alexandra Jiménez, Javier Bódalo)

The Haunting

A scientist researching ghosts takes a group of people to an old house with a creepy reputation.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 1963; Director: Robert Wise; Writer: Nelson Gidding, based on the book by Shirley Jackson.; Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Compton)

Kiss Of The Damned

A spiteful vampire brings chaos to the life of her mild-manered vampire sister who just wants to settle down with a still-mortal man.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Xan Cassavetes; Writer: Xan Cassavetes; Stars: Josephine de la Baume, Roxane Mesquida, Milo Ventimiglia)

The Machine

Review preview for The Machine

What James has tried to do is film a Hollywood Blockbuster on an independent British budget, and it shows.

Neil Mitchell · 2 out of 5
A cybernetics expert tries to create an android super-soldier.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Caradog W James; Writer: Caradog W James; Stars: Toby Stephens, Sam Hazeldine, Caity Lotz, Denis Lawson, Lee Nicholas Harris, Ben McGregor, Stuart Matthews, Helen Griffin, Sule Rimi, Alan Low, Pooneh Hajimohammadi, Clark Fisher, James Burn)

Full review

Madhouse (Deathday)

Review preview for Madhouse

A decidedly postmodern piece that nevertheless retains an emotional punch thanks to the sterling efforts of its two leads.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Trouble ensues when a former horror movie star, long incarcerated in a psychiatric institution, returns to the fray.

(Country: UK; Year: 1974; Director: Jim Clark; Writer: Ken Levison, based on the book by Angus Hall; Stars: Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry, Adrienne Corri, Natasha Pyne, Michael Parkinson)

Full review

The Mummy

Review preview for The Mummy

It’s really Lee’s performance which gives the film its soul.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In pursuit of a mummified princess, archaeologists accidentally restore her vengeful high priest to life.

(Country: UK; Year: 1959; Director: Terence Fisher; Writer: Jimmy Sangster; Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne, Felix Aylmer)

Full review

Motivational Growth

A suicidal man is coaxed back to confidence by a smooth talking mould growing in his bathroom, but it may have a sinister agenda.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Don Thacker; Writer: Don Thacker; Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Adrian DiGiovanni, Danielle Doetsch)

Painless (Insensibles)

Review preview for Painless

There is a great story in here somewhere.. but the combination of the two narratives - presented as tonally and visually distinct from one another - does not entirely work.

Rebecca Naughten · 2.5 out of 5
Gothic horror entwining the story in 1930s Catalonia of a group of children who cannot feel pain, with a man searching for his biological parents in the present day.

(Country: France, Spain, Portugal; Year: 2012; Director: Juan Carlos Medina; Writer: Juan Carlos Medina, Luiso Berdejo; Stars: Tómas Lemarquis, Alex Brendemühl, Derek De Lint)

Full review

The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears (L'étrange Couleur Des Larmes De Ton Corps, The Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears)

Review preview for The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears

For all that its often said "they don't make them like they used to" this is very, very close.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman's disappearance forms the central mystery in this visually stylish neo-giallo.

(Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2013; Director: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Writer: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Stars: Klaus Tange, Jean-Michel Vovk, Sylvia Camarda, Sam Louwyck, Anna D'annunzio, Manon Beuchot)

Full review

Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombiee 2, Zombi 2)

Review preview for Zombie Flesh Eaters

Although the editing sometimes jars, Fulci juggles smooth, elegant camera moves with nimble handheld work to get the balance of dramatic build-up and visceral action just right.

David Graham · 4 out of 5
A woman searching for her father stumbles on an island of the undead.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1979; Director: Lucio Fulci; Writer: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti; Stars: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Auretta Gay, Stefania D'Amario, Olga Karlatos, Nick Alexander, Ugo Bologna, Ramón Bravo, Omero Capanna, Dakar, Giannetto De Rossi, Alberto Dell'Acqua, Arnaldo Dell'Acqua)

Full review