The day ended with a special treat. Neil Marshall presented some footage from his forthcoming science fiction epic, Doomsday. Things didn’t run smoothly - technical difficulties delayed the screening - but for those of us who waited (which was almost everyone) the reward was worth it. Even though the footage was displayed in black and white when it should have been colour this was the highlight of the day and looks like one of the must-see films of next year.
Having read up on the festival beforehand, I’d come prepared with a cushion in my bag, but not seeing anyone else with one and not wanting to appear a wimp I kept it in there for the duration of the first day. I was starting to feel a little numb in the posterior by the time I made my way out of the cinema and I knew Mr Cushion would be making an appearance the next day.
Day 2
On the second day the cushion was out of the bag and slipped under me in one swift motion in the hopes no one noticed.
I’d skipped the first film of the day, Hatchet, because this was being shown to record a live commentary for the DVD and, as I hadn’t seen it before, I didn’t fancy watching it with someone talking all the way through the film.
So the first film of the day was The Sword Bearer, a Russian fantasy (there were two being shown at the festival, the other being Day Watch) that ended up as the worst film of the festival for me. It’s a love story but one whose central characters we care nothing about. They come across as cold and self-serving, uncaring of the mayhem they leave behind. The score doesn’t help matters, it’s so overblown you’d think you were watching an opera. Stealing from the X-Men’s Wolverine, the sword bearer of the title has a sword that pops out of his arm. Now genre audiences will take a lot on faith, and it’s nice not to have too much spelled out for you, but I think a guy with a sword in his arm needs an explanation. Perhaps Russian cinema just doesn’t translate well to a western audience.
Thankfully the day got better with The Signal, that rare thing – an intelligent horror film. Borrowing from George Romero’s The Crazies, this sees the world’s (or at least the city the story takes place in) TVs, radios, and phones emitting a signal that sends people crazy. This is the set-up but at heart this is a character-based film and as much a love story as The Sword Bearer; the difference here though is we do care about the characters. Broken down into three interconnected tales, the film's high point is its blackly humorous middle section and while the ending of the film verges on pretentiousness it's still an exceptionally well-made low budget feature.
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