MAYHEM - Super Saturday.

And so it was on to Saturday a whole day of movies and the remarkable event that was The Unquenchable thirst of Dracula. I was going to include my review of Unquenchable thirst of Dracula in this post but it well deserves it's own post so I'll be putting that out tomorrow.Oh and did I mention me and Mike went as Tucker and Dale? Ha!!

TUCKER AND DALE VS MAYHEM!

First up at midday was a return to MAYHEM of Asian Cinema in the many forms of Parasyte Part 1.

Based on the Manga comic and Anime series Parasyte was bizarre and brilliant in equal measures. It told the story of a young boy infected by a Parasyte that seems like a nice one who battles other people who are also infected with what appear to be not so nice ones. The CGI was brilliantly done with buckets of gore and weird and wonderful scenes you will only find in Asian cinema. I would 100% recommend you tracking this down and it was a great welcome return of Asian cinema to the festival and hopefully next year we may get some more, Maybe even Parasyte part 2?

9/10

Next up was He Never Died, Henry Rollins plays a cannibal, Sounds not that interesting really but for me it was the surprise gem of MAYHEM and turned out to be my favourite film of the festival. Henry Rollins performance was stunning, His wit along with his scary presence made this a definite future purchase and re-watch. It was gripping, Funny, Nasty with a great twist around half way through. There is talking of turning it into a TV series and that would be something I would definitely watch. Believe me you really need to see this movie.

9/10

SCARY SHORTS.

Next up was what has become a regular feature of MAYHEM scary shorts in which new and some established film makers get to show their latest work on the big screen.

Lab Rats

Director:David Wayman, UK 16mins.

Lab Rats had it's world premier at this years festival and it was great,  The story of animal rights activists breaking into a lab to expose the companies mistreatment of animals but a gas is released and literal meltdown ensues. It was a great splatterfest in the tradition of gooey horror such as Demons and The incredible melting man. 8/10

Himiko The God Slayer Versus The Daemon Legion OF Azure Dragons 

Director:Hikaru Tsukuda Japan 5.13ms

Bizarre as the title suggests, A young girl in the woods with a plastic sword takes on plastic dragons and an inflatable crocodile, I can say no more! 7.5/10

ULTAVIOLETA

Director:Paco Plaza, Spain, 11mins.

As you would expect from Pacao Plaza this was very stylish. A demon is seen to be behind layers of paint that a young lady is restoring. How far will she go and what will she see when the demon is exposed? Stylish, Creepy horror from Mr Plaza. 8/10

SOLITUDO

Director:Alice Lowe, UK, 9mins.

Directorial début from Alice Lowe (Sightseers) this one rather bizarre, A lone nun in a crumbling monastery being haunted by a man painted head to in black with Vampire undertones, Certainly got a few people scratching there heads when it was done! 7/10

SURGERY

Directors:The Clemens Bros, UK, 11mins.

A tale of kind of torture porn that flipped things on it head with a great twist. Apparently the last work of legendary writer Brian Clemens. 8/10

THE HEARD.

Director:Melanie Light,UK,20Mins.

The longest of the "Short" films it told of women being kept in cages and systematically abused by an evil lady doctor and her hence men, Very unsettling to watch with some great gore FX 7.5/10

JULIET.

Director:Marc-Henri Boulier, France, 11.30 Mins.

Juliet is a life and soul mate robot, Like an extended advert for Apple products, I really liked Juliet. It's tongue firmly in it's cheek tackling  mass consumerism with brilliantly made fake Ad's. well worth seeking out 8/10

Count Magnus.

Director: Richard Mansfield, UK, 11.45mins,

Also receiving its world premier at MAYHEM, Based on the classic M.R. James story this short was done in shadow puppet form and it was done exceedingly well, After a while you forgot that you were watching a puppet show and the story as you would expect from M.R. James was spot on. 8/10

HEIR

Director:Richard Powell, Canada, 14mins.

Pretty sick and gooey creamy filled weirdness from Canada about a father and son and his fathers friends relationship, Kind of liked it but had no idea what was going on! 6/10

KOBOLD.

Director:Nicholas Verso, Australia,7Mins.

Creepy little tale this was, Basically about a young boy who's parents are always too preoccupied by everything else around them to give him any attention, But something creepy in his garden at night wants his attention, Very well done short. 8/10

CROW HAND.

Director :Brian Lonan, USA, 3mins.

Off its head, Guy finds a crow charm in a car park with his wife and his hand turns into a gory crow killing machine, brilliant! 9/10

So there you have it for the films on Saturday and there was some fantastic stuff, Keep your eye out for the scary short titles as some of them I should imagine will be or soon to be appearing on YouTube very soon.

Jonny T.