The Horror...
Maybe it’s because VIFF happens so close to Halloween, but in the last couple of years the festival has developed a penchant for getting really compelling horror fare in the line up of films. Last year the unexpected Scandinavian vampire film, Let the Right One In, got a lot of buzz at the festival, which helped generate a larger audience for the film when it came to the Palace for a general theatrical run a few months later.
This year, we have the Best Worst Movie/Troll 2 double feature, of course, as well as Ti West’s satanic thriller, The House of the Devil, all on Halloween night, but the surprise for me (I’m not a festival programmer so there are several films that take me by complete surprise every year) was The Elcipse, which I caught on Saturday night.
This quiet, gentle Irish film (directed by playwright Conor McPherson) made me jump out of my seat and scream like an eight year-old child several times. Ciaran Hinds stars as a widower who starts seeing ghosts as he helps to launch a literary festival in a small coastal Irish town. As with Let the Right One In, the horror elements feel so out of place in the otherwise sedate European atmosphere that they become all the more real and horrific in contrast.
If you get a chance, try and catch this little, scary gem. It’s playing at the festival two more times: Thursday the 29th at 3:45PM and Friday the 30th at 9:15PM. Trust me.
Posted by Bill Simmon | Permalink |
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