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Abertoir · 2021

Abertoir 2021

Aberystwyth films

Programme

26 films · 21 reviews

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A Banquet

Review preview for A Banquet

Directing with confidence and misdirecting with grace, Paxton draws us into a world where the absence of apparent solutions becomes compelling in itself.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young woman undergoes a disturbing transformation after her daughter's newfound faith threatens her health.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ruth Paxton; Writer: Justin Bull; Stars: Sienna Guillory, Jessica Alexander, Ruby Stokes, Lindsay Duncan, Kaine Zajaz, Richard Keep, Deka Walmsley, Rina Mahoney, Jonathan Nyati, Walter van Dyk, Andrew Steele, Adam Abbou, Finn Bennett, Dylan Clout, Selena Thompson)

Full review See: Interview with Ruth Paxton about A Banquet

Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (Droste No Hate De Bokura)

Review preview for Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes

High concept films like this can easily go awry, but Makoto Ueda’s script somehow manages to stay on the ball throughout.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A café owner discovers that the TV in his café suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Junta Yamaguchi; Writer: Makoto Ueda; Stars: Aki Asakura, Riko Fujitani, Gôta Ishida, Yoshifumi Sakai, Kazunari Tosa)

Full review

Blood For Dracula (Sangue Per Dracula)

Review preview for Blood For Dracula

The film has that trademark combination of high artistic ambition and crude pornographic content, sometimes charming or am,using, sometimes repellent.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
An ailing vampire count travels to Italy with his servant to find a bride.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 1974; Director: Paul Morrissey; Writer: Paul Morrissey; Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Vittorio De Sica, Maxime McKendry)

Full review

The Blood On Satan's Claw

Review preview for The Blood On Satan's Claw

It touches on an underlying anxiety in British society as few other films have done.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In 17th Century England, the children of a village slowly convert into a coven of Devil worshipers.

(Country: UK; Year: 1971; Director: Piers Haggard; Writer: Robert Wynne-Simmons, Piers Haggard; Stars: Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews, Wendy Padbury, Anthony Ainley, Michele Dotrice, Charlotte Mitchell)

Full review

Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Review preview for Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Timely in its exploration of how we determine what’s real and how easy it is for what seems like legitimate research to become unbalanced and lead to strange places.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In the late Nineties, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jacob Gentry; Writer: hil Drinkwater, Tim Woodall; Stars: Harry Shum Jr., Kelley Mack, Chris Sullivan, Jennifer Jelsema, Arif Yampolsky, Justin Welborn, Michael B. Woods, Steve Pringle)

Full review See: Interview with Jacob Gentry about Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Censor

Review preview for Censor

Running a tight 84 minutes, the film still feels like an epic journey into both its seedy world and its heroine’s psyche.

Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
When film censor Enid discovers an eerie horror that speaks directly to her sister's mysterious disappearance, she resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director – a quest blurring the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Prano Bailey-Bond; Writer: Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher; Stars: Niamh Algar, Clare Holman, Michael Smiley, Adrian Schiller, Felicity Montagu, Beau Gadsdon, Nicholas Burns, Sophia La Porta, Vincent Franklin, Guillaume Delaunay, Max Bennett, Andrew Havill, Tina Louise Owens, Sean Buchanan, Erin Shanagher)

Full review

Cry Of The Banshee

Review preview for Cry Of The Banshee

Handsome sets and costumes give the film a certain glamour that helps to obscure its weaknesses.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In 16th Century England, a cruel witch-hunting magistrate, who often tortures innocent villagers for his entertainment, runs afoul of a witch who conjures a banshee to kill the magistrate and his family.

(Country: UK; Year: 1970; Director: Gordon Hessler; Writer: Tim Kelly, Christopher Wicking; Stars: Vincent Price, Essy Persson, Hilary Heath, Carl Rigg, Stephan Chase)

Full review

The Curse Of Frankenstein

Review preview for The Curse Of Frankenstein

The sensitivity of Lee’s performance helps to draw out the ambiguities in Shelley’s work, and the moral complexities which, acknowledged or not, are a critical component of the story’s staying power.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
While awaiting execution for murder, Baron Victor Frankenstein tells the story of a creature he built and brought to life - only for it to behave not as he intended.

(Country: UK; Year: 1957; Director: Terence Fisher; Writer: Jimmy Sangster; Stars: Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Christopher Lee, Valerie Gaunt)

Full review

The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein

Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Morpho are killed just as they bring their creation to life. The monster is taken by Cagliostro and he now controls the monster and plans to have it mate and create the perfect master race.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 1973; Director: Jesús Franco; Writer: Jesús Franco; Stars: Alberto Dalbés, Dennis Price, Howard Vernon, Beatriz Savón, Anne Libert)

The Feast (Gwledd)

Review preview for The Feast

The way that director Lee Haven Jones frames male and female characters is intriguing, with classic gendered shots reversed.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Over an evening a wealthy family gathers for a sumptuous dinner with guests in their ostentatious house in the Welsh mountains. Served by a mysteriously disturbing young woman, the assembled party do not realise they are about to eat their last supper.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Lee-Haven Jones; Writer: Roger Williams; Stars: Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, Rhodri Meilir)

Full review See: Interview with Lee Haven Jones and Annes Elwy about The Feast

Flesh For Frankenstein (Carne per Frankenstein)

Dark comedy based - very loosely - on Mary Shelley's novel.

(Country: Italy/France/US; Year: 1973; Director: Paul Morrissey; Writer: Paul Morrissey, based on the novel by Mary Shelley; Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren, Udo Kier, Arno Juerging, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Srdjan Zelenovic, Nicoletta Elmi, Carla Mancini)

Full review

The Hands Of Orlac (Orlacs Hände)

Review preview for The Hands Of Orlac

One of the most impressive horror films of the silent era.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. He is given new ones - taken from a man executed for murder.

(Country: Austria; Year: 1924; Director: Robert Wiene; Writer: Louis Nerz, based on the book by Maurice Renard; Stars: Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Strassny, Paul Askonas, Carmen Cartellieri)

Full review

Ich-Chi

Yakut folk horror.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2011; Director: Evgeniy Pavlov; Writer: Evgeniy Pavlov; Stars: Evgeniy Pavlov, Valentina Stepanova)

Lamb

A childless couple, María and Ingvar discover a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland. The unexpected prospect of family life brings them much joy, before ultimately destroying them.

(Country: Iceland, Sweden, Poland; Year: 2021; Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson; Writer: Valdimar Jóhannsson, Sjón; Stars: Noomi Rapace, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Hilmir Snær Guðnason)

New York Ninja

Review preview for New York Ninja

Marvellously entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A sound technician for a news station becomes a vigilante ninja in New York City after his pregnant wife is murdered.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: John Liu, Kurtis Spieler; Stars: John Liu, Michael Berryman, Darius Churchman, Wayne Grayson, Linnea Quigley, Cynthia Rothrock)

Full review

Offseason

Review preview for Offseason

Keating is a master of building up atmosphere and is much more interested in that than in conventional plot mechanics.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
After receiving a mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes trapped in a nightmare.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Mickey Keating; Writer: Mickey Keating; Stars: Joe Swanberg, Jocelin Donahue, Melora Walters, Richard Brake, Jeremy Gardner)

Full review

The Revenge Of Frankenstein

Having escaped execution and assumed an alias, Baron Frankenstein transplants his deformed underling's brain into a perfect body, but the effectiveness of the process and the secret of his identity soon begin to unravel.

(Country: UK; Year: 1958; Director: Terence Fisher; Writer: Jimmy Sangster, Hurford Janes, George Baxt; Stars: Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, Eunice Gayson, Michael Gwynn, John Welsh)

The Sadness

Review preview for The Sadness

The sheer quantity of imitable violence in the film is likely to frighten censors around the world.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The streets erupt into violence and depravity.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Rob Jabbaz; Writer: Rob Jabbaz; Stars: Regina, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Berant Zhu)

Full review

The Scary Of Sixty-First

Review preview for The Scary Of Sixty-First

Drifting through the angst-ridden conversations of a classic New York drama before morphing into something more like giallo, the film makes a positive asset of its low production values, which give it a sense of freshness and urgency.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Two mismatched roommates discover and relive the murky secrets of their new Upper East Side apartment.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Dasha Nekrasova; Writer: Dasha Nekrasova, Madeline Quinn; Stars: Betsey Brown, Madeline Quinn, Dasha Nekrasova, Michael M. Bilandic, Aaron Dalla Villa, Jason Grisell, Stephen Gurewitz, Ruby McCollister, Mark H Rapaport)

Full review See: Interview with Mark Rapaport about The Scary Of Sixty-First

See For Me

Review preview for See For Me

A beautifully self-contained, self-sufficient little film.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A legally blind housesitter turns to a mobile app service for help when the remote mansion she’s looking after is targeted by a gang of thieves.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Randall Okita; Writer: Adam Yorke, Tommy Gushue; Stars: Skyler Davenport, Kim Coates, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Laura Vandervoort, Matthew Gouveia, Keaton Kaplan, Pascal Langdale, Emily Piggford, Joe Pingue, George Tchortov, Drew Tyce)

Full review See: Interview with Skyler Davenport about See For Me

Slumber Party Massacre

Review preview for Slumber Party Massacre

Esterhazy is showing us that she knows how to play the game by the old rules – before she subverts them.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A reimagining of the famous slasher film.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Danishka Esterhazy; Writer: Suzanne Keilly; Stars: Hannah Gonera, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Mila Rayne, Alex McGregor, Reze-Tiana Wessels, Rob van Vuuren, Jennifer Steyn)

Full review

Sweetie, You Won't Believe It

Review preview for Sweetie, You Won't Believe It

If you're a fan of Three Stooges-style silent slapstick but wish it came with a lot more gore, then, Sweetie, you won't believe what a treat you are in for

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
It all starts off quite trivially, with a young married couple’s quarrel. The husband decides to get away with two friends on a fishing trip but mysterious events await them.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2020; Director: Yernar Nurgaliyev; Writer: Zhandos Aibassov, Yernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Il'yas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev)

Full review

Taste The Blood Of Dracula

Three distinguished English gentlemen accidentally resurrect Count Dracula, killing a disciple of his in process. The Count seeks to avenge his dead servant by making the trio die at the hands of their own children.

(Country: UK; Year: 1970; Director: Peter Sasdy; Writer: Anthony Hinds; Stars: Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis, Anthony Higgins, Isla Blair)

Titane

Review preview for Titane

The audience laughed at times that were not meant to be that kind of funny, a primate exhalation of surprise and relief.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A dancer becomes pregnant after having sex with a car.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Julia Ducournau; Writer: Julia Ducournau; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Nathalie Boyer, Dominique Frot, Anaïs Fabre)

Full review

When I Consume You

Review preview for When I Consume You

Blackshear pulls off quite a trick by giving us the impression that things are as bad as they can get and then delivering something still more devastating.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A woman and her brother seek revenge against a mysterious stalker.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Perry Blackshear; Writer: Perry Blackshear; Stars: Libby Ewing, Evan Dumouchel, MacLeod Andrews, Margaret Ying Drake, Jeff Musillo)

Full review See: Interview with Perry Blackshear about When I Consume You

Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror

Review preview for Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror

Rather than trying to establish a thesis of her own, Janisse allows her interviewees to deliver contradictory viewpoints on key issues, and the film is richer for it.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A documentary about the history of folk horror cinema from the 1960s to today.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Kier-La Janisse; Writer: Kier-La Janisse)

Full review See: Interview with Kier-La Janisse about Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror