21 - 24 April 2016 DEAD BY DAWN 21 - 24 April 2016 All screenings in Cinema One

All times shown are when films actually start. Late-comers are not admitted

Thursday GREEN ROOM 2030 – 2210 K-SHOP + Q&A with Dan Pringle and Adam Merrifield 2245 – 0100

Friday JACOB’S LADDER 1145 – 1340 Ignorance is Bliss Short Film Programme 1415 – 1530 YR YMADAWIAD aka THE PASSING + Q&A with Gareth Bryn and Ed Talfan 1615 – 1800 DECAY 1945 – 2130 Tribute Double Bill: NEW NIGHTMARE 2215 – 0015 THE HILLS HAVE EYES 0045 – 0215

Saturday ASTRAEA 1200 – 1340 Where the Wild Things Are Short Film Programme 1415 – 1530 DER BUNKER + Q&A with Nikias Chryssos 1615 – 1800 ANTIBIRTH 1945 – 2120 THE CORPSE OF ANNA FRITZ 2200 – 2315 Terror Triple: WE GO ON 2350 – 0120 FROM BEYOND 0145 – 0315 DEAD AND BURIED 0330 – 0505

Sunday CREATURE DESIGNERS 1230 – 1410 Apocalypse Soon Short Film Programme 1445 – 1545 SHE WHO MUST BURN 1630 – 1805 I Blame The Parents Short Film Programme 1915 – 2045 SORGENFRI 2130 – 2300 Freebies, Shit Film Amnesty, Award Winners, Thanks 2330 – 2345 MEN & CHICKEN 0000 – 0140

The Filmhouse bar has a late licence for alcohol each night of the festival until 3am. On the Saturday night, the bar will stay open beyond 3am for everything else. Please note that alcoholic drinks may not be taken in to the DEAD AND BURIED screening. I know you will be excellent to our gorgeous bar staff - they’re lovely people and would change the law for you if they could. But they can’t. Welcome to Dead by Dawn!

Over the next four days we present, for your delectation, a veritable cinematic smorgasbord of evil treats!

What sets this festival apart is that we go a long way to unearth exceptional talent, introducing films and directors new to the genre. This year we’re thrilled to present seven feature debuts - Dan Pringle here with K-Shop, Gareth Bryn here with Yr Ymadawiad, Nikias Chryssos here with Der Bunker and Joseph Wartnerchaney’s Decay, Danny Perez’ Antibirth, Hèctor Hernández Vicens’ The Corpse of Anna Fritz And Bo Mikkelsen’s Sorgenfri – all showing the genre to be in excellent hands.

It’s also a real pleasure for us to welcome back some festival favourites – The Meza Brothers (Play Dead, The Room) return with Boniato, Ryan Spindell (Kirksdale) returns with The Babysitter Murders while Andy Mitton and Jesse Holland (Yellowbrickroad) return with We Go On.

A wild, beautiful, dark and twisted collection of stories are about to unfold, the shorts mini-masterpieces in their own right, the classics offering up long-forgotten scares and the bar open to help the whole lot melt into one delicious lingering fever dream to cushion the blow of returning to real life!

Whether you’re here for the first time or your favourite seat gives in all the right places, what more can I say, other than...one, two Freddy’s coming for you…three, four better lock your door…five, six grab a crucifix…seven, eight gonna stay up late…

I hope you have a brilliant festival.

Adèle Hartley Festival Director

We’d like to thank these organisations for their support: It all starts innocuously enough. Mildly USA / 2015 / 94 mins chaotic hardcore punk band the Ain’t Director: Jeremy Saulnier Rights, played by Anton Yelchin, Alia Writer: Jeremy Saulnier Producers: Neil Kopp, Victor Moyers, Shawkat, Joe Cole and Callum Turner Anish Savjani are parked in a corn field after their Composers: Brooke Blair, Will Blair driver fell asleep. Siphoning gas to Cinematographer: Sean Porter replenish the tank, they eventually Editor: Julia Bloch Cast: Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Patrick GREEN rock up for an interview and gig in a Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Mark Webber, Callum small town only to discover the show Turner, Joe Cole, Eric Edelstein, Macon is off. To make amends, the promoter Blair, Kai Lennox, October Moore, David W sets something up with a relative Thompson, Taylor Tunes, Cody Burns, Mason at a club in the middle of nowhere. Knight, Brent Werzner, Joseph Bertót, Kasey Unsurprisingly, it all goes horribly Brown, Samuel Summer, Ed Squires, Michael Draper, Audrey Walker, Jace Daniel, Colton ROOM wrong. Ruscheinsky, Lj Klink, Kyle Love, Jake Love, Jake Kasch Saulnier keeps a tight rein on proceedings for the first half before letting his beast run wild. Excess eventually becomes the name of the game, the film jumping between dark comedy and slasher horror with unerring regularity. Stakes get raised so high they start to disappear out of sight.

Green Room is a mad, wild ride that even when headache inducingly over- the-top, never stops being fun.

From a review by Stephen Mayne for Flickfeast WE GO ON

USA / 2015 / 89 mins Directors: Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton Writers: Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton Producers: Logan Brown, Richard W King, Irina Popov Cinematographer: Jeffrey Waldron Composer: Andy Mitton Editors: Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton Cast: Justin Carpenter, Jay Dunn, Cassidy Freeman, Clark Freeman, John Glover, Laura Heisler, Annette O’Toole, Nicholas Popov, Steve Rifkin, Lucky Schwarz, Ian Sharkey, Giovanna Zacarías

Able to indulge his agoraphobia Naturally he’s flooded with responses, However, amid these trials Miles thanks to a stay-at-home job editing out of which a grand total of three meets Nelson (Jay Dunn), who offers infomercials, Miles Grissom (Freeman) look interesting. to get him “into that inner circle” is afraid of just about everything, but where life and afterlife overlap. It is especially the one thing that pretty First up is Dr Ellison, an academic who not an idle promise. much everyone fears. believes the afterlife can be glimpsed when facing one’s greatest fears. Of From a review by Dennis Harvey Plagued by recurring nightmares he the others, Spanish-speaking medium for Variety decides to take a drastic step: placing Josephina (Giovanna Zacarias) seems an ad offering a huge reward to anyone simply nuts, while the third prospect who can provide reassuring proof that doesn’t play out quite as expected. there is some kind of life after death. Canada / 2015 / 94 mins Director: Larry Kent Writers: Larry Kent, Shane Twerdun Producers: Peri Creticos, Andrew Dunbar Composer: Chris Alexander Cinematographer: Stirling Bancroft Editor: Elad Tzadok Cast: Sarah Smyth, Bart Anderson, Steve Bradley, Peri Creticos, Missy Cross, Andrew Dunbar, Jim Francis, Havana Guppy, Andrew Moxham, Alan Silverman, Nancy Sivak, Jewel Staite, Shane Twerdun, James Wilson, John Ziros

Canadian indie film pioneer Larry realises the political sway these twisted family, showing again what a Kent breathes fire in his most vicious misogynistic, bible-thumping versatile performer he is, while Missy film yet, a searing indictment of the terrorists have on their home turf. Cross goes for broke as his hysterically fundamentalist dogma that wages Inspired by the infamous Westboro grief-stricken sister Rebecca - who war on women’s bodies. It’s just one Baptist Church, Kent’s fictional wants all women to pay for what she component of the global right wing clan is made up of weak-willed and has lost. conflagration likely playing out on intellectually sheltered sycophants your Facebook feed as we speak – and who rally around a deluded and Beginning with 1963‘s The Bitter Ash eerily prescient given the 2015 mass tyrannical moral watchdog. They see which was banned in most of Canada shootings at the Planned Parenthood themselves as carrying out the will at the time, Kent positioned himself clinic in Colorado Springs. of the merciless god of end-times as a confrontational auteur who religions. Adding to their fervour is a would carve out his own niche, Angela (Sarah Smyth) is a nurse in a regional epidemic of infant deaths that with or without the support of the rural women’s clinic that is shut down they attribute to divine vengeance for establishment. And he’s done just that when the state caves to pressures from Angela’s alleged “sins”. for over 50 years. David Cronenberg the local religious right. When she credits Kent with inspiring him to continues to offer medical counselling Kent’s frequent collaborators Shane keep pushing for funding for his first and assistance out of her home, she Twerdun, Andrew Moxham and feature Shivers, by saying to a dejected finds herself in a stand-off with a Andrew Dunbar (also the core team of Cronenberg: “We are young, we are fanatical religious family headed up his 2011 improv film Exley and most of passionate, and we will not be denied!” by Jeremiah Baarker, who will stop at them key players in Canadian arboreal nothing to run her out of town or send horror films Black Mountainside and Larry Kent may not be young anymore, her flaming to hell. White Raven) provide their combined but he hasn’t mellowed with age. And talents to bring Kent’s story to She Who Must Burn – which won the Far from subtle, the film opens brimstone-spewing life on the screen. Barry Convex Award for Best Canadian with a bang and never relents. The Shane Twerdun plays Jeremiah Baarker, feature at the 2015 Fantasia Film performances may seem over the top, who - like Michael Parks in Kevin Festival – is the fiery proof of that. but they go from blackly comical to Smith’s Red State or Gene Jones in Ti deadly serious once the audience West’s Jonestown riff The Sacrament Review by Kier-La Janisse – is a disturbingly calm patriarch of his Denmark / 2015 / 81 mins Director: Bo Mikkelsen Writer: Bo Mikkelsen Producer: Sara Namer Composer: Martin Pedersen Cinematographer: Adam Philp Editors: Bo Mikkelsen, Niels Ostenfeld Cast: Mille Dinesen, Ole Dupont, Mikael Birkkjær, Marie Hammer Boda, Troels Lyby, Therese Damsgaard, Benjamin Engell, Rita Angela, Diana Axelsen, Ella Solgaard, Sonny Lahey, Michael Molin SORGENFRI

Sorgenfri (What We Become) examines to spread. The nature of the virus is Later, when things get crazier, in line the churning emotional dynamics of a not revealed, though television reports with genre conventions, the story takes nuclear family when they are placed indicate the government is concerned. off based on the characters that have under extreme - some might even call More odd things begin to happen and already been developed. That gives it apocalyptic - stress. then government forces start to appear everything that happens a greater on the streets and the residents are basis in the reality of the characters, Mother Pernille (Mille Dinesen) told to stay inside. Is the government resulting in greater tension, even and father Dino (Troels Lyby) live telling the truth? What is being done to though we suspect that beyond them, with their two children in a leafy save these people? mankind itself may be doomed. suburban neighbourhood just north of Copenhagen. While their youngest, What makes What We Become is that What We Become is surprisingly a young girl, is sweet and obedient, the family members are well-drawn compelling, not just because of Gustav (Benjamin Engell), their older individuals, and the actors deliver what happens but because of how it child, is in the teenage rebellion authentic performances tailored to happens. It’s the kind of noir-ish horror period of his life; nothing violent, just those roles. So, mother and father that is rapidly becoming extinct. disagreeable. But even he is cheered get along well, the mother enforcing up when he sees a pretty girl about his discipline and the father doting on From a review by Peter Martin age move in with her family nearby. his daughter. They’re both trying to for Twitch Film exercise patience with Gustav who has It’s summer and the living is easy. And tired of their parental restrictions. Both then everything begins to turn topsy- parents want to enjoy a happy family turvy. A mysterious virus is responsible life, while Gustav wants to break free for two deaths, and then quickly begins and start his own life. Decay

Jonthan’s home isn’t just his home, Since her demise, the only other USA / 2015 / 98 mins nor his castle nor even his refuge. It woman in Jonathan’s life is his Director: Joseph Wartnerchaney is an intricately designed vision of the neighbour Karen - more gossip Writer: Joseph Wartnerchaney Producer: Michael Haskins world inside his head. His obsessions, delivery system than helping hand, Composer: Michael Shaieb his mantras, his beliefs, his securities unfortunately, and not particularly Cinematographer: Chuck F Fryberger are all on display, labelled, listed and sensitive to his increasingly fragile Editor: Joseph Wartnerchaney catalogued. Everything has meaning, state. Cast: Rob Zabrecky, Lisa Howard, everything serves a purpose either Elisha Yaffe, Jackie Hoffman, Meaghan Banville, Hannah Barron, physically or emotionally. Everything Despite his compulsive behaviour, his Taylor Brown, Shannon K Dunn, is in its place and that helps to keep crippling need for routine, his fear of Reese Ehlinger, Gustine Fudickar, Jonathan calm and in control. Nothing strangers and his self-imposed Kathryn Gould, Chris Guarino, is here by accident. solitude, it’s clear that a part of him Amanda Hargreaves, Michael Haskins, desires companionship and a less Whitney Hayes, Jeff Huling, Denielle Fisher Johnson, Jason Knauf, We don’t have to wait too long to find stressful life. He’s seen these things, Alf Kremer, Dave Leikam, Emma V Peltes, out how Jonathan got like this because he knows they exist but he has no Quinn Perkins, Hannah Preshe, soon his mother is introduced in a experience of acquiring or maintaining JT Richardson series of telling flashbacks. Deeply them. He just has to keep taking the religious, paranoid, selfish and cruel, meds, do the best he can and hope it’s she treats Jonathan more like an good enough. experiment than a beloved child when all he wants is to make her happy. CREATURE DESIGNERS

This documentary delves deep into the mechanics of monster-making through France / 2015 / 104 mins extensive interviews and unseen footage. It is a true celebration of the creativity, Directors: Gilles Penso, Alexandre Poncet art, ingenuity and occasional madness that goes in to giving form to our worst Writers: Gilles Penso, Alexandre Poncet Cinematographers: Gilles Penso, nightmares. Looking back to the earliest stop-motion work and forwards to new Alexandre Poncet technologies, it’s a fascinating trawl through the minds and workshops of some of Editor: Gilles Penso the biggest names in horror and fantasy. Cast: Rick Baker, Joe Dante, John Landis, Guillermo del Toro, Mick Garris, Alec Gillis, Steve Johnson, Phil Tippett, Chris Walas, Matt Winston, Tom Woodruff Jr jacob’s ladder

This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Jacob’s Ladder enters into the hallucinations of a desperate mind, and lives there.

Tim Robbins stars as an American soldier in Vietnam who undergoes a shocking but unspecified battle experience which appears to send him back into civilian life as a psychological time bomb. He begins to suspect that he and his Vietnam friends were victims of some kind of misbegotten USA / 1990 / 113 mins Army experiment. Director: Adrian Lyne Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin This movie was not a pleasant Producer: Alan Marshall experience, but it was exhilarating. Not Cinematographer: Jeffrey L Kimball every movie has to be fun. Composer: Maurice Jarre Editor: Tom Rolf Cast: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Alexander, From a review by Roger Ebert Patricia Kalember, Eriq La Salle, Ving Rhames, Brian Tarantina, Anthony Alessandro, Brent Hinkley, for rogerebert.com S Epatha Merkerson, Suzanne Shepherd, Doug Barron APOCALYPSE SOON Shorts

MONSTERS

Jenn lives in an underground bunker, protected from the monsters that now ravage the world. She’s about to turn ten and feels grown up enough to join her family on their foraging runs.

“Like a lot of you, I’m a huge fan of The Twilight Zone. Their stories shocked us, scared us, and forever imbedded themselves into our memories. They were social commentaries and morality tales disguised as psychological thrillers. But where are these types of stories today? The truth is, they don’t make them anymore. So my team and I wanted to make one of our own. Thus, Monsters was born. A Twilight Zone-style story but for a modern audience.

“At its core, Monsters is a story about feeling trapped. We’ve all felt trapped at some point in our lives… Whether it’s trapped in a job that we hate, a relationship that isn’t working, or in a town that we want to leave. Like many of us, Jenn is trapped in a life that she doesn’t want and dreams of something better. The question is...how far will she go to escape?” —Steve Desmond

USA / 2015 / 14 mins Director: Steve Desmond Cast: Caitlin Carmichael, Ione Skye, Christopher Wiehl, Joey Luthman, Eva-Marie Fredric, Paul Hickman, Brooklyn Robinson, Benjamin Waters

GRAFFITI

The world has ended. He is all alone and spends his days mapping and marking the local territory, scavenging and leaving messages that he hopes will be seen... but by whom?

“We decided to shoot in the abandoned town of Pripyat in Ukraine. This city is known because it suffered the worst accident in the history of nuclear power on April 26 1986 when the overheating and explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant occurred. It released 500 times more radiation than the atomic bomb that landed on Hiroshima in 1945.

“GRAFFITI lies in a type of cinema interested in raising questions rather than giving out the answers; a cinema that values and respects its viewers by giving them the opportunity to digest what they have witnessed; a cinema in which the audience will bring their own interpretations.” —Lluis Quilez

Spain/Ukraine / 2015 / 34 mins Director: Lluís Quílez Cast: Oriol Pla

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WILLIE BINGHAM

Willie Bingham is the first man to undergo a radical new justice program under the State’s revised stance on capital crime. Execution is no longer an option.

“The Disappearance of Willie Bingham is a dark, satirical tale set in a near future. In this world the privatisation of the prison system is complete. The moral landscape has shifted considerably and the public, raised on a diet of spectacle, have encouraged a government with a thirst for visible and increasingly horrific punishment. The film’s key question is, at what point does the punisher become more of a monster than the criminal?

“When I began reading this short story I was hooked. As I continued to read it I became quite disturbed. I put it away and read it again a week later and found it to have the exact same effect. I’ve thought long and hard about what it is that attracted me to the tale of Willie Bingham. Foremost, I found it a beautifully poetic metaphor for the way society gradually allows people caught within its justice system to vanish.” —Matt Richards

Australia / 2015 / 12 mins Director: Matthew Richards Cast: Leah Vandenberg, Albert Goikhman, Kevin Dee, Tim Ferris, Gabriel Carrubba, Gregory J Fryer, Raymond Thomas, Julia Farrell 2D & DERANGED Shorts

FROZEN BLOOD TEST

I don’t want to tell you anything about this because it’s under 2 minutes of total joy that really needs to be a surprise, trust me!

USA / 2015 / 2 mins Director: Lee Hardcastle Cast: Lee Hardcastle

MUTE

In a world populated by people born without a mouth, a messy accident releases a cheerful chain reaction among the population...

Netherlands / 2013 / 4 mins Directors: Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen Cast: Maaike Blaauw, Marieke Blaauw, Fresku, Lisa Meijntjes, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen

ALT-TAB

Gloriously puerile, violent and unhygienic, welcome to the icky sticky world of Dave Carter, whose mind is full of stuff that’s funniest when it’s happening to someone else!

Australia / 2015 / 2 mins Director: Dave Carter Cast (voices): Sam Simmons, Craig Anderson, Sam Campbell, Nikos Andronicos

FRANCIS

Francis is the story of a young boy who usually spends his vacations in Quetico Provincial Park but no more, not after what happened to Francis Brandywine.

USA / 2015 / 8 mins Director: Richard Hickey Cast: Cameron Kelly

OTHER LILY

Lily is babysitting her little sister Beth on a dark and stormy night. When she goes to check on her sibling, she discovers Beth has drawn a special picture...

USA / 2015 / 5 mins Director: David Romero A student needs a quiet place to live What is ultimately more important, Germany / 2015 / 85 mins while he writes a scientific paper, and after all, being able to recite the Director: Nikias Chryssos we first see him as he tramps out into names of all the world capitals in Writer: Nikias Chryssos Producer: Nikias Chryssos the deep, snowy woods to a small, alphabetical order? Or how, exactly, to Composer: Leonard Petersen isolated house where he plans to rent learn? When he has time to himself, Cinematographer: Matthias Reisser a cheap room. the Student scribbles away at his Editor: Carsten Eder scientific paper, making use of the Cast: Pit Bukowski, Daniel Fripan, The unnamed young man, referred to walls of his room to lay out all the Oona von Maydell, David Scheller throughout as Student (Pit Bukowski), information that he wants to include. soon finds himself an intimate What is it that drives the Student to acquaintance of the other residents of such lengths? Is it his own personal the house. In addition to the landlord, obsessions, or the potential for gaining referred to as Father (David Scheller), knowledge, or to prove to others what and his wife, referred to as Mother he has discovered? (Oona von Maydell), there is Klaus (Daniel Fripan). And then there is For a debut feature, Der Bunker is an Heinrich, but we’ll let you find out all impressive piece of work, reflecting a about Heinrich for yourselves… distinctive sensibility and a swarming intelligence that questions the more Nikias Chryssos spends the first part commonplace rhythms of narrative of the film setting up a pitch black order. comedy, loaded with mean-spirited, bizarre and absurd humour. But From a review by Peter Martin without giving too much away, for Twitch Film Der Bunker is about so much more than a twisted, unbelievably We are delighted to host this dysfunctional family. UK Premiere and to welcome Nikias Chryssos to the festival. Indeed, the idea of education itself is examined from a bent perspective. DER BUNKER In the small coastal town of Potter’s Bluff, a number of tourists are being sadistically murdered. Sheriff Dan Gillis begins to investigate but finds it strange when the victims seemingly turn up alive a few days later. The events seem to point to eccentric local mortician William G Dobbs who treats his corpses as works of art and takes great pride in making sure that they remain beautiful after death.

USA / 1981 / 94 mins It’s a travesty that Dead and Buried is Director: Gary A Sherman not as widely known or regarded in the DeaDeadd Writers: Jeff Millar, Alex Stern, Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon genre as it should be. A near perfect Producers: Robert Fentress, Ronald Shusett with a great cast, nearly Cinematographer: Steven Poster water-tight script and an atmosphere anandd Composer: Joe Renzetti that is second-to-none, it’s the type of Editor: Alan Balsam great quality horror film that they just Cast: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke, Lisa Blount, Robert Englund, don’t make anymore. If Carpenter gets Buried Bill Quinn, Michael Currie, Christopher Allport, a load of praise nowadays for The Fog, Buried Joseph G. Medalis, Macon McCalman, Lisa Marie, then Sherman deserves to share the Estelle Omens, Barry Corbin, Linda Shusett, Ed Bakey, podium alongside him. Glenn Morshower, Robert Boler, Michael Pataki, Jill Fosse, Mark Courtney, Michael Courtney, Renee McDonell, Dottie Catching, Colby Smith, Judy Ashton, From a review by Andrew Smith Anthony Cecere, Bill Couch Jr, Bill Couch, Angelo De Meo for Popcorn Pictures

In the basement of scientist Pretorius’ subject to interview and study. Rather secluded mansion, he and his assistant than choose the naked bloke furiously Crawford are furtively testing out their wanking in his padded cell, she opts FROM latest creation: a machine called the for Crawford. ‘resonator’, which aims to stimulate the pineal gland in an effort to open Kinky, wild, often visually breath- BEYOND one’s senses to the wonders of a taking and blessed with unbridled USA / 1986 / 86 mins parallel universe. A gateway to the performances, FROM BEYOND is a Director: Stuart Gordon elusive sixth sense, if you will. truly weird but effortlessly entertaining Writers: HP Lovecraft, Brian Yuzna, Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon ride. It holds up so well because it Producer: Brian Yuzna When a neighbour calls the cops, improves on each viewing. It’s nuts, Cinematographer: Mac Ahlberg Crawford’s subsequent story results and we love it all the more for that. Composer: Richard Band in him being thrown into the nearest Editor: Lee Percy loony bin. From a review by Stuart Willis Cast: Jeffrey Combs, , Ted Sorel, Ken Foree, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, for SexGoreMutants Bunny Summers, Bruce McGuire, Del Russel, Enter Katherine, a repressed doctor Dale Wyatt, Karen Christenfeld, Andy Miller, who visits the asylum looking for a John Leamer, Regina Bleesz, Albert Band Stanley (Mark Lewis Jones), works Wales / 2015 / 87 mins diligently at a well near his secluded Director: Gareth Bryn property. He hears the sound of a car Writer: Ed Talfan Producers: Kate Crowther, Ed Talfan horn and following it, finds a crashed car. Composer: Jeremy Holland-Smith He finds a young couple at the vehicle, Cinematographer: Richard Stoddard which is part-submerged in the river. Editor: Sara Jones Cast: Mark Lewis Jones, Dyfan Dwyfor, Annes Elwy Stanley rescues and houses them both; the defensive Iwan (Dyfan Dwyfor) and the injured Sara (Annes Elwy) but their secrets and the secrets of the house begin to unravel to life-changing effect.

The Passing is a dark melodrama with a supernatural garnish, and as such there’s a sense of dread throughout, the seclusion of the house within its rural setting as claustrophobic as the interior of the dilapidated, cobweb-ridden building. By far the film’s primary strength is its exceptionally beautiful look: director Gareth Bryn and his team have managed to make damp, rainy Wales look as gorgeous as it does on a day of bright sunshine. But crucially they manage to do so without ever making it seem entirely inviting: there is definite darkness to this tempting landscape.

The film’s three leads give wonderful performances, and in Mark Lewis Jones’ Stanley, we are presented with a potentially threatening but genuinely sympathetic character.

From a review by By Nia Edwards-Behi for Brutal As Hell

We are delighted to host this Scottish Premiere and to welcome Gareth Bryn and Ed Talfan to the festival.

YR YMADAWIAD ASTRAEA

Historically, post-apocalyptic films by. The superb production design survival, but Astraea is a genuinely have been filled with dread, bleakness doesn’t feature decrepit or vandalized interesting and likable character. and no hope for the future. Kristjan locations. Instead, the areas look Having a sixteen-year-old girl lead a Thor’s Astraea opens up with a sign relatively normal, just emptier and void post-apocalyptic film (without donning of compassion in a world gone mad, of electricity and people. There’s a a bow and arrow and fighting in any which becomes a recurring theme in genuine sense of struggle, danger, and hand-to-hand combat) is a unique the film. Astraea utilizes a low-key, devastation in the aesthetic. choice that truly pays off here. character-driven story to tell the tale of the human struggle to remain hopeful During the opening fifteen minutes In 97 minutes, Astraea provides a during the darkest of times. there is a voiceover narration but more honest and emotionally taxing almost no spoken dialogue between look at the psyche of those struggling After an event known as “the Drop,” the two leads, which really adds to the to survive the apocalypse than The most of the earth’s population is wiped already heavy sense of desolation. Even Walking Dead has in five seasons. It’s out as human beings drop dead without in its subtlety the film stresses the simply a good film with emotional warning. As a result, the survivors are bleakness that the end of the world has stakes and personal dynamics providing left in a world of violence and hardship. created. Astraea carries around a sound the tension, while the world appears to We first meet teenager Astraea (Nerea recorder with her parents’ voicemail be ending in the background. Duhart) and her brother Matthew greeting saved and frequently listens (Scotty Crowe) on their way to Nova to it throughout the film - a truly From a review by Blair Hoyle Scotia to meet up with their grandmother, heartbreaking, sobering aspect. for Way Too Indie trekking through the wintry landscape, There’s the heart of Astraea. It’s surviving on canned food, living a completely depressing in a way that virtually rinse-and-repeat life. somehow allows its audience to feel hopeful and positive about the future. Where Astraea really succeeds, where Though survival is surely unlikely, many films of its nature fall apart, is in it is completely possible, and with Thor’s crafting of an honest depiction characters who are easy to cheer for, it’s USA / 2015 / 97 mins Director: Kristjan Thor of life after an earth-shattering event, easy to get overwhelmingly invested in Writer: Ashlin Halfnight rather than heightening the drama in their story. Producers: Scotty Crowe, Jessica Cummings, more silly ways. There are no zombies, Ashlin Halfnight, Kristjan Thor mutants, aliens, or other supernatural The acting on display is great all- Composer: Phil Carluzzo beings running around, nor are there around, with Duhart delivering a true Cinematographer: Matthew Mendelson Editor: Jackeline Tejada armies of bandits attempting to skin standout performance in her film Cast: Scotty Crowe, Jessica Cummings, survivors. There are just bleak, empty début. Young people can sometimes Nerea Duhart, Alec Judelson, Dan O’Brien, landscapes and people trying to get weigh down and annoy in tales of Joan Russo, Charlotte Williams I BLAME THE PARENTS Shorts

DE KLEINZOON Leo, an old and slightly demented man, keeps a little list of all the things he should expect to happen each day. It helps to keep him right. And then he’s unsettled by a surprise visit from his grandson Jacco. Netherlands / 2013 / 10 mins Director: Jan van Gorkum Cast: Arthur Boni, Nino Mastwijk, Tyn Hageman

HONOR STUDENT It’s unrealistic to go through life expecting all our dreams to come true, but is this really what she wanted her life to turn out like?

USA / 2015 / 9 mins Director: Aaron B Koontz Cast: Peggy Schott, Elise Gardner, Loraelei Temoney, Logan Magaha, Cassandra Hierholzer

VIKING Cathy’s life is a shambles. Emotionally damaged by her brutal father, she decides that he should finally pay for his behaviour and give her some closure. UK / 2015 / 23 mins Director: Sam Callis Cast: Sophie Thompson, Joseph May, Andrew Lancel

BLIGHT A young priest is sent to battle dark supernatural forces threatening a remote Island community.

Ireland / 2015 / 16 mins Director: Brian Deane Cast: George Blagden, Donncha Crowley, Alicia Gerrard, Joe Hanley, Tristan Heanue, Gary Murphy, Matthew O’Brien, Marie Ruane

THE BABYSITTER MURDERS An innocent babysitter all alone. A phone call to say the parents will be home later than expected. A storm rages outside and the lights begin to flicker...

USA / 2015 / 22 mins Director: Ryan Spindell Cast: Caitlin Custer, Ben Hethcoat, Alison Gallaher, Mike C Nelson, Bradley Bundlie, DeMorge Brown, Trian Long Smith, Joe Hartzler, Barak Hardley, Robert Craighead, Sam Eidson, Kayli Hernandez, Kirk C Johnson, Josephine McAdam

BLACK EYES Alex discovers Alice by the river, not exactly having the best of days. He has a creative solution to her problem, though, that might just improve things for both of them.

USA / 2015 / 11 mins Director: Rick Spears Cast: Hays Wellford, Elena Lazorishak WHAT YOU MAKE IT Shorts

LA SÉANCE

A photographer is obsessed with his muse, a Countess. When he finds out there is an opportunity for just one last picture, he hurries to her home.

France / 2014 / 13 mins Director: Edouard de La Poëze Cast: Paul Hamy, Fanny Ardant, Fabienne Chaudat, Urbain Cancelier

THE NEST

A patient is interviewed before surgery but is the doctor a psychiatrist or surgeon? The woman has unusual justification for going ahead with her procedure.

Canada / 2014 / 9 mins Director: David Cronenberg Cast: Evelyne Brochu, David Cronenberg

THE HOUSE IS INNOCENT

Tom and Barbara’s new home has a notorious past and it’s going to take more than a fresh coat of paint to whitewash its macabre history.

USA / 2015 / 31 mins Director: Nicholas Coles Cast: John Cabrera, Barbara Holmes, Tom Williams

HOW DEEP CAN I GO?

Hairy Soul Man explores how deep some humans will go for love.

Australia / 2015 / 6 mins Director: Kai Smythe Cast: Tim Mager, Kai Smythe

DEATH IN BLOOM

Death In Bloom is a dark comedy about a door-to-door death salesman who is struggling to close a deal with a fabulously difficult customer.

Australia/USA / 2015 / 12 mins Director: Dael Oates Cast: Ewen Leslie, Robyn Nevin Salah arrives home from university to find his father Zaki seriously ill and the family kebab shop business in dire straits. With his father in hospital, he sets about putting things right by opening the shop himself in an attempt to clear his father’s debt and discovers quickly the unsavoury reality of the drunk customers that frequent it.

After an altercation one night between Zaki and a group of drunk thugs attempting to break into the shop, Salah tries to bring the appropriate course of justice against his father’s assailants but when his legal challenge falters, he finds himself forced to reopen the shop to procure more funding. UK / 2015 / 115 mins As the nightlife begins to escalate, so Director: Dan Pringle too do does Salah’s bitter resentment Writer: Dan Pringle towards it until one night he finally Producer: Adam J Merrifield snaps. As he steps up his fight against Cinematographer: Chris Fergusson Composer: Nina Humphreys the town’s nightlife, he finds himself Editor: Dan Pringle at risk of slipping down the dark path Cast: Ewen MacIntosh, Darren Morfitt, to madness. Lucinda Rhodes, Reece Noi, Scot Williams, Jamie Lee-Hill, Sean Cernow, Harry Reid, We are delighted to host this World Ziad Abaza, Nayef Rashed, Joseph Booton, Daniel Wilkinson, Duncan Meadows, Premiere screening and to welcome Steve McCarten, Kristin Atherton, John May, Dan Pringle and Adam Merrifield to Edmund Dehn, Neil Bishop, Chris R Wright, the festival. Michelle Foxton, Sean Pogmore WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Shorts

BONIATO An illegal migrant worker decides it’s time to head north and find her father. Little does she know, insidious forces have a different plan for her because some borders aren’t meant to be crossed.

USA / 2015 / 23 mins Directors: Eric Mainade, Andres Meza-Valdes, Diego Meza-Valdes Cast: Carmela Zumbado, Felix Tuhon Cortes, Alex Garay, William Garcia, Francois Guirola, Diego Lizarzaburu, Michelle Lopez, Orlando Lopez, Alberto Meza, Isabella Naranjo, Nathan Robert Restrepo, Julian Yuri Rodriguez, Angel Sanchez, Nassie Shahoulian, Diego Smith, Fernando Smith, Kush Suicide

THE BRIDGE PARTNER

Mattie is a timid housewife whose social life revolves around her weekly bridge game. One week she’s introduced to Olivia, her new bridge partner. The two women could not be more different... USA / 2015 / 14 mins Director: Gabriel Olson Cast: Peter S Beagle, Rebecca Brooks, Catherine Carlen, Robert Forster, Marcy Goldman, Beth Grant, Sharon Lawrence, Vicki Oleskey

L’OURS NOIR

Rule #1 Do not feed the bears. Rule #2 Keep a distance of at least 100 metres. Rule #3 Do not surprise the bears.

Belgium/France / 2015 / 15 mins Directors: Méryl Fortunat-Rossi, Xavier Seron Cast: François Neycken, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Terence Rion, Catherine Salée, Jean-Benoît Ugeux

FOXGLOVE

In the wilds of Connemara, an engineer and his daughter are targeted by an ancient and angry force from within the earth itself.

Ireland / 2015 / 12 mins Director: Brian Deane Cast: John Delaney, Bob Kelly, Doireann Ní Fhoighil, Matthew O’Brien

BAD THROTTLE

Uncle Tan lives a simple life until a nuisance invades his tranquility. Not prepared to tolerate the intrusion, he takes matters into his own hands.

Singapore / 2015 / 13 mins Director: JD Chua Cast: Michael Foong, Vincent Tee WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Shorts

USA / 2016 / 94 mins Director: Danny Perez Writer: Danny Perez Producers: David Anselmo, Justin Kelly, Natasha Lyonne, Roger M Mayer Cinematographer: Rudolf Blahacek Editor: Aden Bahadori Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Meg Tilly, Mark Webber, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Emmanuel Kabongo, Neville Edwards, ANTIBIRTH Morgan Bedard, Corey Pascall, Lili Francks, Marie-Josee Dionne, Jessica Greco, Kevin Hoffman, Chad Gibbons, Spider Allen, Wayne St-George, Megan Dawson, John MacRae, David Scott

Lou (Natasha Lyonne) and Sadie Lou with an endlessly watchable physical faculties, Antibirth digs (Chloë Sevigny) spend most of their mix of cynical humour and dogged into some seriously relevant issues nights partying in the numerous determination, her chemistry with regarding the mistreatment of military abandoned warehouses in their Sevigny is excellent, and Lou really veterans and women in the US. The backwards Michigan town. Neither comes into her own once a paranoid result becomes a surrealist perspective woman is particularly responsible, drifter named Lorna (Meg Tilly) on the problems that are deeply rooted so when Lou discovers that she’s arrives to shed some light on Lou’s in American culture; the whole town pregnant, she reacts to the news with condition. The entire supporting cast becoming a grisly metaphor for the a toxic mixture of scepticism, alcohol is also rock solid, featuring a creepily pain and difficulty military veterans and pot. As her pregnancy continues, sinister turn by Mark Webber as a can experience when they return to however, she starts to realize that human trafficker who is dealing in civilian life. there’s something else at work in their more than just a sex trade. The cast small, washed out town. It could manages to bridge the gap between the Antibirth strikes a rare balance - it have been the result of any number film’s fuzzy, dreamlike imagery and the portrays a visually arresting and bizarre of nebulous possibilities, but her harsh reality of their circumstances. story while bringing relevant subtext situation had an explanation that made and spot-on character acting along sense with the tone the film initially It’s evident that writer/director Danny for the ride. It’s definitely not for the established. That’s not to say that the Perez has a unique visual palette for faint of heart, but it’s a great example film’s Cronenbergian climax isn’t hard his films. Where some directors might of a film that plays by the rules while to watch and completely batshit crazy, use a film as an excuse to overindulge simultaneously breaking them. but the underlying conspiracy behind themselves, Perez has the discipline to Lou’s pregnancy is steeped in good, old reign it in when it comes time to focus From a review by Alex Springer fashioned militant patriarchy. on letting the actors tell his story. for Slug Magazine

Natasha Lyonne is Antibirth’s lucky In between hallucinatory trips into charm. She infuses the character of Lou’s slowly eroding mental and new nightmare

Wes Craven (as himself) explains Considering that Craven’s original at one point, “The only way to stop Nightmare movie was famously Freddy is to make another movie” even inspired by a series of Los Angeles though Krueger apparently died for Times articles about people who once and all in “Freddy’s Dead: The told relatives of their fears of killer Final Nightmare” (1991). nightmares - and then died the next night - it would seem as if Craven and But that was exactly the problem: The his cast are asking for trouble here. “Nightmare” movies had generated an evil force which, once liberated by From a review by Roger Ebert Freddy’s death, was set free to haunt the nightmares of the people involved USA / 1994 / 112 mins in making the movies. Director: Wes Craven Writer: Wes Craven Producer: Marianne Maddalena Craven admits “We should never have Cinematographer: Mark Irwin killed Freddy,” because Freddy was Editor: Patrick Lussier not simply a fictional character played Cast: Jeff Davis, Heather Langenkamp, by the normal and friendly Robert Miko Hughes, Matt Winston, Rob LaBelle, Englund, but also a manifestation of David Newsom, Wes Craven, Marianne Maddalena, Gretchen Oehler, ancient demonic forces which, enraged Tracy Middendorf, Cully Fredricksen, by his death, have returned. Bodhi Elfman, Sam Rubin, Robert Englund, Claudia Haro, Sara Risher, Robert Shaye

Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes remains a seminal slice of down-and- dirty 70s horror, there’s no debating it. The story of the Carter family’s fight for survival against a clan of mutant cannibals is as unflinching as horror films get; it’s a story where no one is safe and the brutality is unleashed on both sides of the coin. Ghastly and grim storytelling all-around and time has been very kind to it.

Craven was an educator before he was a filmmaker and, as such, this has a fair bit going on beneath the surface in how it parallels the dynamics – and savagery – of the two families. It stands not only as a horror film, but as an examination of the animalistic instincts locked away in each and every one of us.

From a review by Matt Serafini for Dread Central

USA / 1977 / 89 mins Director: Wes Craven Writer: Wes Craven Producer: Peter Locke Cinematographer: Eric Saarinen Editor: Wes Craven Cast: John Steadman, Janus Blythe, Peter Locke, Russ Grieve, Virginia Vincent, Suze Lanier-Bramlett, Dee Wallace, Brenda Marinoff, Robert Houston, Martin Speer, James Whitworth, Michael Berryman, Lance Gordon, Cordy Clark, Flora, Striker People often turn to movies when a Pau’s friends, Ivan (Cristian Valencia) The Corpse Of Anna Fritz is an aptly proper escape from reality is needed, and Javi (Bernat Saumell) are en route paced ride that doesn’t shy away from but sometimes we’re taken to a place to a party one night and so drop by the divisive boundaries. There’s an icky, that’s anything but a safe retreat. hospital to try and convince him to sinful nature to Creus’s story, yet the ditch work and have some fun instead worst moments are never grotesquely The Corpse Of Anna Fritz is one such and they’ve brought plenty of coke and exploited in a deviant manner. film that would rather prod about our booze to get the party started early. moral makeup than offer a cheerful Pau, keen to impress them, lets slip From a review by Matt Donato fantasy, but then without exploring that there’s a new body in the morgue. for We Got This Covered the darkness, we might never stumble upon the revealing stories that take a Ivan, in particular, wants to see the little more digging to find. corpse of Anna Fritz. Despite Pau’s initial reservations, he agrees to sneak Anna Fritz, an adored actress, has been his cretinous friends in to have a Spain / 2015 / 76 mins found dead in the bathroom at a party sneaky peek at the actress. Director: Hèctor Hernández Vicens Writers: Isaac P Creus, and her whereabouts are being kept a Hèctor Hernández Vicens secret while the media whips itself into The film itself is abhorrently Producers: Marta Carbó, Laia Cirera, a now too-familiar drooling frenzy. disturbing in its practice, but the Marc Gómez del Moral, Cristian Valencia claustrophobic horrors that haunt each Composer: Tolo Prats Pau (Albert Carbó) works as a hospital scene delve relentlessly deep into the Cinematographer: Ricard Canyellas Editor: Alberto Bernad morgue orderly, with a distasteful habit psyche of everyone involved. Cast: Daniel Aser, Albert Carbó, Belén Fabra, of taking illicit phone pics of the more Montserrat Miralles, Henry Morales, interesting corpses. Alba Ribas, Bernat Saumell, Cristian Valencia

THE CORPSE OF ANNA FRITZ My thanks to all those without whom…

Joseph Alberti, Chris Alexander, Manon Barat, Sean Barney, Olivier Berlemont, Ali Blaikie, David Boyd, Gareth Bryn, Louise Buckler, Ben Callis, Dave Carter, Emily Cecil, Nikias Chryssos, JD Chua, Ali Clark, Matthew Coady, Nick Coles, Peri Creticos, David Cronenberg, Kate Crowther, Jessica Cummings, Mark Dailly, Edouard de La Poëze, Brian Deane, Marjolein Den Bakker, Tommy Delcher, Steve Desmond, Fran di Muro, Craig Docherty, Jan Doense, Ioana Dragomirescu, James Erwin, Jean-Pierre Giansiu, Antoni Gimel-Lécosse, Harry Guerro, Lee Hardcastle, Hèctor Hernández Vicens, Cathi Hitchmough, Philip Hoile, Jesse Holland, Robert Howie, Linda Hunt, Marc David Jacobs, Kier-la Janisse, Nik Jardine, Job Joris & Marieke, Larry Kent, Aaron B Koontz, Alethea Laird Craig, Tim League, Jenny Leask, Keith Leopard, Delphine Lievens, Andy Lobban, Seth McAnespie, Ally McCrum, Laurel MacMillan, Kim Magnusson, Lisa Mahal, Océane Mailharrin, Lara Matthews, Roger Mayer, Adam Merrifield, Andres Meza-Valdez, Diego Meza-Valdez, Bo Mikkelsen, Andy Mitton, Debbie Murray, Frank Smith, Dale Oates, Gabriel Olson, Gilles Penso, Danny Perez, Alexandre Poncet, Dan Pringle, Lluis Quilez, James Rice, Matt Richards, David Romero, Jeremy Saulnier, Chris at Second Sight, David Selkirk, Ronald Simons, Alan Simpson, Ines Skrbic, Yvonne Smith, Kai Smythe, Rick Spears, Ryan Spindell, Tom Stewart, Ed Talfan, Kristjan Thor, Ant Timpson, Kirsty Tough, Mark Truesdale, Evi Tsiligaridou, Ursula van den Heuvel, Jan van Gorkum, Max Velez, Joseph Wartnerchaney, Rod White, Edith Young

Huge thanks are also due to all the staff at Filmhouse because they are just magic – we get amazing support from projection, front of house, office, box office, bar and all points in-between.

And thanks to all of you, too, for making the effort to be here – if it’s your first year we hope you’ll come back a lot but for those of you who’ve been here before, thank you not just this year but for every year you’ve been so loyal to the festival. We know the effort and financial commitment it takes to be here – we love you for it and we’re still here because you are. To anyone I’ve missed out from this list – sorry! Your help and support truly does not go unappreciated.

Shit Film Amnesty™

Was there very cool cover art? Did the blurb make it sound like it might be a laugh? Did So-Bad-It’s-Good turn out to be just Unadulterated Cack? Were you in an altered state and the £1 price tag made it seem like a steal?

Dead by Dawn kindly provides a golden opportunity to offload the very worst dreck from your DVD shelves.

All you have to do is own up to how this atrocity ever got house- room in the first place or why it’s the worst film ever made and we’ll ask the audience to decide just which film is the very worst of the worst.

Should you be lucky enough to...”win”...then your prize is not just your own movie back again, but all the other entries too. Woohoo!! We strongly advise winners to walk home past a skip.

Forms are on our desk and all entries can go in the subtley marked box any time until 10pm on Sunday night. Denmark/Germany / 2015 / 104 mins Director: Anders Thomas Jensen Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen Producers: Kim Magnusson, Tivi Magnusson Cinematographer: Sebastian Blenkov Composers: Frans Bak, Jeppe Kaas Editor: Anders Villadsen Men Cast: David Dencik, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Søren Malling, Nicolas Bro, Stine Engberg Andersen, Rikke Louise Andersson, & Ulla Asbjørn-Damsted, Thor Bisbjerg, Valdemar Bemmann Bredning, Lisbet Dahl, Johnny Didriksen, Matti Ehlers, Daniel Engstrup, Jens Fitzau, Agnes Franch, Anders Hansen, Poul Ib Henriksen, Stig Hoffmeyer, Kim S G Jensen, Bodil Jørgensen, Tobias Kowalczyk, Chicken Brian Kristiansen, Ingelise Larsen

This is a coming-of-age story where estate isn’t anything resembling peace Men and Chicken is an absolute gem the father may be a mad scientist and of mind. Instead they encounter which, surprisingly, maintains a level siblings fight with taxidermy animals, more siblings, a menagerie of animal of interest in characters that nearly amongst other unsuitable objects. Half- roommates and a frequency of violence nobody in the audience will be able brothers Elias and Gabriel learn of their so steady it seems to replace any form to relate to. It’s well put-together and father’s passing and watch the video of communication. riotously hilarious - probably because he left behind for them (filmed on an not a single character is exercising his unreliable tripod), where a shocking Elias and Gabriel attempt to build complete mental faculties. Obscene, secret is revealed. bridges with their nearly simian then coarse, then begrudgingly sweet. brothers, while simultaneously You do not want to miss this one when With this information the duo exploring their family history. What it comes around. (consisting of a compulsively nauseous secrets they unfold from their nervous wreck and a short-tempered adventures together will redefine their From a review by Carlos O’Leary frequent masturbator) head out to find lives - if they don’t beat one another to for Quiet Earth the key to their true lineage. What they death in the process. discover when they reach their father’s