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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2009

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009

Night Moves

Films worth staying up late for, generally subversive and often with a sinister edge.




Programme

8 films · 8 reviews

Jump to a film

Black Dynamite

Review preview for Black Dynamite

The key to Black Dynamite’s success is that the film-makers know the difference between a good-bad movie and a bad-bad movie.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4.5 out of 5
Blaxploitation spoof.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Scott Sanders; Writer: Byron Minns, Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White, Michael Jai White; Stars: Michael Jai White, Nicole Sullivan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Arsenio Hall, Phil Morris, Kym Whitley, Kevin Chapman, Cedric Yarbrough, Lauren Kim, Bokeem Woodbine)

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Day Two Diary (Part One)

Exam

Review preview for Exam

Exam drifts from being genuinely enigmatic and moody to derivative, disappointing, even ridiculous.

Anton Bitel · 2.5 out of 5
Eight strangers are sitting the final exam for a top-level position... but little do they know the stakes are higher than they imagine.

(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Stuart Hazeldine; Writer: Stuart Hazeldine, based on a story by Stuart Hazeldine and Simon Garrity; Stars: Luke Mably, Colin Salmon, Jimi Mistry, Nathalie Cox, Pollyanna McIntosh, Gemma Chan, Chris Carey, Chukwudi Iwuji, John Lloyd Fillingham, Adar Beck)

Full review

Giallo

Review preview for Giallo

Provides a solid framework for plenty of classic Argento images, suspense, shocks and splatter.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
As a killer stalks and kidnaps beautiful young women, how far will the local detective have to go to stop him?

(Country: USA, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Dario Argento; Writer: Jim Agnew, Sean Keller; Stars: Adrien Brody, Emmanuelle Seigner, Elsa Pataky, Robert Miano, Valentina Izumi, Silvia Spross, Lorenzo Pedrotti, Byron Deidra, Daniela Fazzolari, Luis Molteni, Giuseppe Lo Console, Barbara Mautino, Taiyo Yamanouchi, Maryann McIver, Anna Varello)

Full review See: FrightFest 2009 analysis and reviews

Long Weekend

Review preview for Long Weekend

Without question an eerie and ambiguous piece.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
Remake of the cult horror that sees nature turn predator.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Jamie Blanks; Writer: Everett De Roche; Stars: James Caviezel, Claudia Karvan, Star, Robert Taylor, John Brumpton, Roger Ward, Lara Robinson, Gordon Waddell, Jude Beaumont)

Full review See: Jamie Blanks interview about Storm Warning, Lost Weekend

Pontypool

Review preview for Pontypool

McDonald has once more created a unique and entertaining film that will be appreciated by fans of the zombie film and the quirky comedy alike.

Sarah Artt · 5 out of 5
A radio DJ tries to track the source of a virus which turns people into zombies.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Bruce McDonald; Writer: Tony Burgess; Stars: Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Rick Roberts, Tony Burgess)

Full review See: FrightFest 2009 analysis and reviews

Rule #1 (Rule Number One)

Review preview for Rule #1

Even amongst the dead there must be logic, or, at least, a plan, in order to manipulate the audience’s disbelief.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
Two cops attempt to rid Hong Kong of murderous ghosts.

(Country: Singapore/Hong Kong; Year: 2008; Director: Kelvin Tong; Writer: Kelvin Tong; Stars: Shawn Yue, Ekin Cheng, Stephanie Che, Fiona Xie, Lee Wan, Bill Liu)

Full review

Salvage

Review preview for Salvage

Salvage does a lot with limited means.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A divorced mum faces trouble when a military experiment goes wrong.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Lawrence Gough; Stars: Neve McIntosh, Shaun Dooley, Linzey Cocker, Trevor Hancock, Dean Andrews, Paul Opacic, Kevin Harvey)

Full review

Vinyan

Review preview for Vinyan

This is not the despotic kingdom of Rambo but something worse, increasingly alien, a murky desperate Myanmar.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A couple searching for their missing child find themselves in ever more desperate circumstances.

(Country: France, UK, Belgium; Year: 2008; Director: Fabrice Du Welz; Stars: Emmanuelle Béart, Rufus Sewell, Julie Dreyfus)

Full review