LASGOW
L-R, The Unborn. Grace, I Sell the Dead. The Unborn. Deadgirt. Dorothy
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Fear itself
ILMFES'I'IVALO9 “ ' ‘-
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As the Glasgow Film Festival rolls to a Climax this weekend, Henry Northmore explores the thrills on offer at FrightFest and asks just why we liked being scared by
movies quite so much
here's something primal about being scared. that jolt of adrenaline that makes us l'eel alixe. (ioing back to the monsters of (ireek and Roman mythology to scary stories told round the camplire. the horror genre is one ol the oldest recorded l‘orms ol‘ storytelling (alter all lit'ou-ull' was a grand tale of beasts. dragons and gore). In those dark days [error was a lar more real concept: but. eyen in our cosseted modern age. writers like Stephen King and lilms like The lixort'lsl or The Slit/tine hayc a big impact on popular culture. l'niyersal‘s classic series ol‘ 30s l‘right l‘ilins ll"l'(lllk('ll.\l(’lll. The Mummy. Dracula et all swil'tly liollow ed by llanuner's lurid and bloody colour entries llllt' ('m'st' (ill/Iv lli'rt'woll. Hum/s tilt/1c Rip/m: The Brides ol'lh‘ut'ulu. etc) were massiyely popular. Then the Slls gaye rise to iconic antiheroes such its .lttstin \imt‘th‘s (I‘II'I't/(ll Iltt' Lil/ll. l‘il’L‘tlLl} Kru: ger l.-l .\lelilmurt' on [film Street) and Michael Myers (Halloween). lindless sequels diluted the genre until it was reimigorated by Scream and once again in the wake ol' Sun: Today. horror is more extreme and more mainstream than it has eyer been before. But what draws its to the dark side'.’ Perhaps the people behind l~‘i‘iglitl5est haxe some answers as they return to the (ilasgow' l5ilm Festiyal to
once again terril’y us with a selection ol‘
gruesome ol'l'erings. as their l‘estiyal within a l'estiyal expands to two days for the lirst time in Scotland. ‘l5or me I like getting scared. knowing that I‘m going home at the end of the night.‘ explains FriglitFest co-director lan Rattray. who alongside Paul .\lcliyoy. (ireg Day and Alan Jones orchestrate the terror at FrightFest. 'People like to be scared sliitless. but when the lights come up at the end. you're still there and you‘re
16 THE LIST ‘9 Lev—:1 Max .5339
all in one piccef laughs Rattt‘ay
‘I think there's something daring in a wayf continues (ilcnn .\lcQuaid. lrish director ol~ / Sell lllt' [Mal ta hornir/comedy homage to the world ol- llammer about two grayc robbers. starring Ron l’erlman and Dominic .\lonaghan ). ‘('ertainly when l was younger you're daring yoursell to see how lar you can go. I also think people jtist need to explore lear. I mean most PCUPlc don't encounter tear or horror in their day-to—day lixcs. So to present it in a package to people that they can switch on and switch on. is enticing.‘
"l‘he world isn't always a pretty place. so it‘s nice to hay e some catharsis through the world ol‘ horrorf adds director Paul Solet. who brings (have to the lest. a dark tale ol‘ a mother who is desperate for a child but loses her baby at eight months. Determined to carry the l'oenIs to term. when she giyes birth to the apparently dead child it returns to life. "l'he miracle is not without consequence.‘ Solet. .\ dark and disconcerting premise that led to two audience members l'ainting when it was screened at this year‘s Sundance.
‘Audiences should be uncoml'ortablc in a horror lilm. ll' they ‘re not. we didn‘t do our job. The reality is. while this is a disturbing lilm. anyone who is paying any attention will recognise that it isn‘t an exploitatiye lilm. Quite the opposite. 'l‘hcre‘s nothing gratuitous.
HORROR IS MORE EXTREME AND MORE MAINSTREAM THAN EVER BEFORE
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