The Time and Date: Friday 30 April to 2 May 2010, from 1pm till 1am each day.
Over the course of three days, nothing but the very highest quality feature films were screened at FAB Fest.. Every film is wonderful in its own right. Some were premieres, some are lost treasures, and some have simply fallen through the cracks for no sensible reason that we can discern...
Friday 30 April all day, starting 14:00, finish 01:30 Saturday morning
14:00-15:30 UK premiere: HIGH LANE (original title Vertige) running time 90m, format DigiBeta France, 2009 director: Abel Ferry cast: Fanny Valette, Johan Libéreau, Raphaël Lenglet, Nicolas Giraud, Maud Wyler, Justin Blanckaert Mountaintop Massacre! Having drawn comparisons to a host of action and horror favourites including The Descent, Deliverance, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Wrong Turn, FAB Fest is delighted to be screening the UK premiere of this new French survivalist horror film. A group of adventurous friends heads into the wilderness seeking thrills in the hills, but they soon encounter much more than they bargained for as the dangers of scaling cliffs and crossing dizzyingly high rope bridges are soon overshadowed by the much more lethal attentions of a homicidal killer.
16:00-17:45 UK theatrical premiere: MERANTAU (Indonesian language with English subtitles) running time 106m, format DigiBeta Indonesia, 2009 director: Gareth Evans cast: Iko Uwais, Sisca Jessica, Christine Hakim, Mads Koudal, Alex Abbad, Laurent Buson The year's most sensational action movie receives its one and only British theatrical screening! Coming to Britain on the back of the hottest online buzz in years, suffice to say that everything you have read is true - Merantau is without doubt the standout action movie of the year. Merantau's star Iko Uwais is about to popularise the Indonesian martial art of Silat in just the way that Tony Jaa showcased Thailand's Muay Thai style with the cross-over hit Ong Bak. FAB Fest is presenting Merantau's one and only British theatrical screening at Filmhouse, so don't miss your only chance to see this bone-shattering masterpiece on the big screen!
18:30-20:20 UK premiere: THE END running time 108m, format DigiBeta Canada, 2007 director: Jeremy Thomas cast: Jeremy Thomas, Ella May, Katie Webber, John Knight, Darren MacDonald Audacious, gripping and utterly original! Joseph Rickman's premonitions are driving him to despair. The people around him are convinced he is suffering from mental illness, but the fear in his head is all too real to him, and he does find an unlikely ally... A stranger in ghastly garb has been seen lurking about the streets of his neighbourhood, his appearances coinciding with a string of inexplicable disappearances. Convinced that only Joseph's psychic abilities can catch the culprit, detective Clara Wilkie urges him to help her. Making Rickman's madness the leitmotiv of a determined whodunit, director Jeremy Thomas leads us into a realm of the delirious where the standard rules of film narrative are shattered. A true post-modern nightmare from the fringe, The End unquestionably announces an exceptional new talent. (text adapted from notes prepared by Simon Laperriere and translated by Rupert Bottenberg)
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21:00-23:00 Scottish premiere: A DAY OF VIOLENCE running time 91m, format DigiBeta Great Britain, 2009 director: Darren Ward cast: Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Nick Rendell, Christopher Fosh, Victor D. Thorn, Peter Rnic, Steve Humphries, Helena Martin, Tina Barnes Unrelentingly brutal new British sensation! Mitchell Parker serves the low ranks of debt collectors, surrounded by all of the filth and scum that the world has to offer. He thinks his luck is in, when on a routine collection he stumbles across £100,000 cash hidden in the flat of one of his clients - a deadly mistake which could cost him his life. A Day of Violence is undoubtedly one of the most uncompromising and gritty features to emerge from the UK in 25 years. Influenced by British and Italian violent crime thrillers of the 1970s, and with parallels to The Long Good Friday and Lucio Fulci's Contraband (aka The Smuggler) it weaves a dark tale of violence, life and death in the underworld. Featuring John Morghen (aka Giovanni Lombardo Radice), infamous Italian horror icon and star of some of the most notorious Italian horror classics ever unleashed (e.g. House on the Edge of the Park, Cannibal Apocalypse and Cannibal Ferox. PLUS: Special Guests, director Darren Ward, star Nick Rendell, and guest star, Euro-shock legend Giovanni Lombardo Radice
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23:30-01:30 YATTERMAN (Japanese language with English subtitles) running time 119m, format HD Japan, 2009 director: Takashi Miike cast: Sho Sakurai, Saki Fukuda, Kyoko Fukada, Kendo Kobayashi, Katsuhisa Namase Takashi Miike's perfect midnight movie is a fantasy epic like no other! Japan's most prolific film director, Takashi Miike serves up a must-see live-action anime adaptation that is an astonishing assault on the senses. Attack sushi, the Funny Bunny Club, a pile of every schoolgirl in Japan - Yatterman offers up something shiny, new and crazy in every frame. The heart of the movie is Doronjo, played by Kyoko Fukada from Kamikaze Girls. She's a preening, prancing, pretty-pony prima donna who just loves to be evil simply because, well, she's a genius. What else is she going to do? Yatterman is the perfect adrenaline-rush climax to the first night of FAB Fest.
Saturday 1 May all day, starting 13:00 finish 01:45 Sunday morning
13:00-15:00 special retro guest screening: CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (original title Paura nella citta' dei morti viventi) running time 93m, format DigiBeta Italy, 1980 director: Lucio Fulci cast: Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Antonella Interlenghi, Michele Soavi, Janet Agren Brand new uncut High-Definition transfer! Lucio Fulci's Gothic zombie classic has long been regarded as one of the great Italian horror movies. It features some of the grisliest set-pieces ever concocted for cinema, along with lashings of doom-laden atmosphere, a literate script and a creepy sense of surreal dislocation that is genuinely disconcerting. Prepare to be unsettled, grossed-out and entertained as you are invited to step through The Gates of Hell! SPECIAL GUEST: Star Giovanni Lombardo Radice
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15:30-17:15 UK premiere: THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LITTLE DIZZLE running time 100m, format HD USA, 2009 director: David Russo cast: Marshall Allman, Vince Vieluf, Natasha Lyonne, Tania Raymonde, Tygh Runyan Best director award winner, this dazzling new film is a genre-defying cult classic in the making! After losing his job, Dory's life seems like it's going down the drain. Forced to become a janitor, he and his group of cast-off co-workers find themselves being used as unwitting guinea pigs by a corrupt cookie company - and when a strange 'new life' starts to literally take shape inside him, rather than continue his search for meaning, Dory learns that sometimes, meaning finds you. Quirky, humorous, and dark, David Russo's feature debut is a stylish meditation on the meaning of garbage in our throwaway society. The film features Russo's unique visual design, as well as a hallucinatory animation sequence by Dutch animator Rosto. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast Little Dizzle is a bittersweet, post-modern fable.
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17:45-19:45 special retrospective guest screening: COMBAT SHOCK (director's cut) (aka American Nightmares) running time 98m, format 16mm USA, 1986 director: Buddy Giovinazzo cast: Ricky Giovinazzo, Veronica Stork, Mitch Maglio, Asaph Livni Buddy Giovinazzo's legendary cult classic debut! Essentially the documentation of a neglected war veteran's disintegration through poverty and abandonment, Combat Shock is a heart-stopping vision of hell on earth, almost unendurably disturbing in its impact. Giovinazzo fuses the best elements from New York's history of indie film forces - the immediacy and honesty of Cassavetes, the confrontation and shock of the underground transgression movement, elements of Abel Ferrara - into a deeply personal hand grenade. Shot for virtually nothing with a non-professional cast and crew, it transcends its budgetary limitations and goes places few films have ever dared venture. Combat Shock is ultimately a film about the horrors of poverty and the terror of losing control over every circumstance in one's life. It's set in a heightened world of abuse that turns victims into predators and strong men into weeping, trembling shells. Its violence will make you want to throw up and die. That said, it's one of the most unshakable experiences you will ever have in a cinema. One of the most significant independent American films of the 1980s, for this special occasion, we'll be screening Giovinazzo's own print of his rarely seen director's cut. (text by Mitch Davis) PLUS: Guest of Honour, director Buddy Giovinazzo
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20:15-22:00 Scottish premiere: RESURRECTING THE STREET WALKER running time 80m, format DigiBeta Great Britain, 2009 director: Ozgur Uyanik cast: Joanne Ferguson, Christina Helena, Pinar Ögün, Mia Perovetz, Emma Pollard, James Powell, Tom Shaw Superb British horror that heralds a major new talent! After stumbling upon an incomplete snuff film from the 1980s in the basement of the production company for which he is a runner, wannabe director James starts to obsess over his discovery, and determines to do all he can to uncover the movie's mysterious origins and maybe even complete the discarded artefact by shooting new footage. His life spirals into chaos as the film's legacy takes over his life completely, leading him down a dark and dangerous road towards his inevitable horrifying fate. PLUS: Special Guest, director Ozgur Uyanik
22:30-01:45 special rare retro screening: GRINDHOUSE running time 191m, format 35mm USA, 2007 directors: Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez cast: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan, Michael Biehn, Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage, Jordan Ladd The Real Deal! Not seen in Britain for two years and still unavailable on DVD, FAB Fest and Filmhouse present an unmissable and extremely rare chance to see the double-bill of Death Proof and Planet Terror exactly as originally intended, complete with an intermission consisting of trailers for non-existent exploitation movies, directed by the likes of Rob (Devil's Rejects) Zombie, Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright, and Eli (Hostel) Roth. Grindhouse is the ultimate midnight movie, so join us for this once in a lifetime Saturday night cinematic experience!
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Sunday 2 May all day, starting 13:00 finish 01:00 Monday morning
13:00-15:00 Scottish premiere: REEL ZOMBIES running time 89m, format DigiBeta Canada, 2008 directors: Mike Masters, David J. Francis cast: David J. Francis, Mike Masters, Stephen Papadimitriou, Stephannie Hawkins, Lloyd Kaufman The most downright clever zombie movie of the last few years! Independent Zombie Film makers, Producer Mike Masters and Director David J. Francis, the team behind the commercially unsuccessful Zombie Night 1 and 2, set about to complete their trilogy, only this time, using the real zombies that have taken over much of the world. With a full crew and a documentarian following them all the way, Masters and Francis embark on the production of their masterpiece only to discover that shooting in a post-apocalyptic world offers many more challenges than those they faced on the first two films. An inspirational mockumentary and a satirical commentary on contemporary obsession with all forms of 'reality' filmmaking, Reel Zombies is simultaneously hilarious, shocking and ironic. In other words, the perfect post-modern zombie movie. PLUS SHORT FILMS: MORTIFIED director: Robert Nevitt (2 min 28 sec) REEL 4 director: Robert Nevitt (3 min 23 sec) FULL EMPLOYMENT directors: Matthias Vogel, Thomas Oberlies (12 min)
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15:30-17:30 UK premiere: 8TH WONDERLAND (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Turkish language with English subtitles) running time 93m, format 35mm France, 2008 directors: Nicolas Alberny, Jean Mach cast: Matthew Géczy, Robert William Bradford, Alain Azerot, Eloïssa Florez, Michael Hofland Award-winning, ground-breaking fantasy epic! There is a virtual country on the internet, its name: 8th WONDERLAND. Every week, each inhabitant of 8th WONDERLAND votes for a different motion by referendum. Should one be adopted, the inhabitants of this virtual country take it upon themselves to apply it to the real world. With several million inhabitants, 8th WONDERLAND becomes a true force of opposition. Little by little the motions of 8th WONDERLAND became more reactionary. But how do you counter a country whose inhabitants infiltrate every real world nation so thoroughly? How do you capture millions of people disseminated throughout the world? How do you fight a country that doesn't exist? PLUS: Special Guests, directors Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach
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18:15- 20:15 Scottish premiere: NEIGHBOR running time 90m, format DigiBeta USA, 2009 director: Robert Masciantonio cast: America Olivo, Christian Campbell, Lauren Rooney, Pete Postiglione An astonishing modern Grand Guignol masterpiece! Neighbor is one of those films that will have even the most jaded audiences squirming and screaming by the 30-minute mark. If you couldn't handle the last act of Takashi Miike's Audition, this isn't the film for you. Nearly the entire second half is an astonishing series of extreme sequences that seriously push the envelope - character-driven, mind you, and nothing like the so-called 'torture porn' wave, this is smart, freaky stuff. Writer/director Robert Masciantonio toys with his audience through temporal shifts and visual sleight-of-hand, the distressingly convincing make-up effects, which include several we've never seen done before, further 'sweetening' the deal. Shot, rather fittingly, on the Red One system, Neighbor cleverly flips the gender roles of classic exploitation cinema staples, giving us a lone woman who terrorizes a series of mostly very frightened and defenseless men. Love thy neighbour? Depends on where your pain threshold lies. We can't imagine finding a nastier film this year. Watch out for an inspired four-minute steadicam shot and an appearance by John Waters vet Mink Stole. (text by Mitch Davis) PLUS: Special Guest, producer Charles Smith
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20:45-22:45 UK premiere: LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN running time 101m, format 35mm USA, 2008 director: Buddy Giovinazzo cast: Kerry Washington, Illeana Douglas , Brandon Routh, RZA, Victor Rasuk The latest gut-wrenching urban horror from legendary New York filmmaker Buddy G! Buddy Giovinazzo has created a haunting urban nightmare that plays like a strung-out version of Altman's Short Cuts by way of Last Exit to Brooklyn. Like his previous films, CrackTown is set deep below the poverty line and steeped in human frailty, populated with unforgettable characters in terrifying circumstances. An adaptation of his 1993 cult bestseller of the same name, this is a film that Giovinazzo has been trying to get made for nearly 15 years. Through the infamy of the novel and the force of his script, he was able to line up an all-star cast (other actors include Brandon Routh, RZA and Lara Flynn Boyle) in spite of the film's low budget. Everyone worked for very little pay and shot completely on location in a downtown Los Angeles neighbourhood that was overrun with drugs, guns and crime. Their performances across the board are extraordinary, bringing life to this deeply affecting portrait of the broken and the dangerous. CrackTown is a shocking and compassionate work that chillingly illustrates how America has already lost so much more than just its war on drugs. (text by Mitch Davis) PLUS: Guest of Honour, director Buddy Giovinazzo
23:30-01:00 UK premiere: KAIFECK MURDER (original title Hinter Kaifeck, German language with English subtitles) running time 86 minutes, format 35mm Germany, 2009 director: Esther Gronenborn cast: Benno Fürmann, Alexandra Maria Lara, Henry Stange, Michael Gwisdek, Erni Mangold, Waldemar Kobus, Manfred Möck Supernatural chills in Bavaria! With a name that's spit out like a curse, it's hardly surprising that Kaifeck should harbor a dark secret or two, as photographer Marc soon finds out. Having stumbled onto the remote town with his son, Marc is obsessed by the tale of a gruesome multiple murder on a nearby farm back in 1922. It's a topic that everyone in the village seems to want to forget, and which even the talkative young innkeeper Juliana diligently avoids. At night, however, mysterious things begin to happen to Marc, an uncanny interweaving of visions and reality that draws him ever deeper into the secret of the murders.
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