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...
The film festival programme features reviews and rare photos and poster artwork for all fifteen films, which are as follows:
HIGH LANE (aka Vertige) (Abel Ferry, 2009)
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.
MERANTAU (Gareth Evans, 2009)
Merantau's star Iko Uwais has now popularised 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.
THE END (Jeremy Thomas, 2007)
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.
A DAY OF VIOLENCE (Darren Ward, 2009)
A Day of Violence is undoubtedly one of the most uncompromising and gritty features to emerge from the UK in 25 years, a brutal endurance test influenced by British and Italian violent crime thrillers of the 1970s.
YATTERMAN (Takashi Miike, 2009)
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.
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (Lucio Fulci, 1980)
Lucio Fulci's Gothic zombie classic 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.
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LITTLE DIZZLE (David Russo, 2009)
David Russo's feature debut is a stylish meditation on the meaning of garbage in our throwaway society, featuring 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.
COMBAT SHOCK (director's cut) (aka American Nightmares) (Buddy Giovinazzo, 1986)
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.
RESURRECTING THE STREET WALKER (Ozgur Uyanik, 2009)
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.
GRINDHOUSE (Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez, 2007)
A 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.
REEL ZOMBIES (Mike Masters & David J. Francis, 2008)
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.
8TH WONDERLAND (Nicolas Alberny & Jean Mach, 2008)
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. But how do you counter a country whose inhabitants infiltrate every real world nation so thoroughly? How do you fight a country that doesn't exist?
NEIGHBOR (Robert Masciantonio, 2009)
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.
LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN (Buddy Giovinazzo, 2008)
Buddy Giovinazzo has created a haunting urban nightmare. Like his previous films, it's set deep below the poverty line and steeped in human frailty, populated with unforgettable characters in terrifying circumstances. Cracktown is a shocking and compassionate work that chillingly illustrates how America has already lost so much more than just its war on drugs.
KAIFECK MURDER (Esther Gronenborn, 2009)
The town of Kaifeck harbours a dark secret, as photographer Marc soon finds out, when he becomes obsessed by the tale of a gruesome multiple murder on a nearby farm back in 1922. At night, 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.
Technical Details
Size: 210mm x 148mm
Binding: Magazine
Extent: 24 pages, all printed in full colour
Publication Date: April 2010
Market: Film
Weight: 60g
Cover Price: £1.50
