Raindance is an annual film festival in London, which this year has gone partly online. What's available seems to be in the short film categories, and is free. Anyway, I registered for the mailing list, and got an email yesterday about a livestreamed horror film - started late because of technical difficulties, running as I was writing. Don't worry, I didn't miss much!
The film is called In the Shadows It Waits, and is Australian. And honestly, it comes across as a pretty bog-standard story - in these socially distant times, the perfect way to shoot a horror film is via a group of people on a video call. In the Q+A afterwards, the director revealed that they tried Zoom, which just didn't work - I didn't catch what he said they did use. Anyway, as you'd expect, each in turn has bad things happen to them onscreen, as the others watch in horror and try to figure out what to do. What's different about this one is that every performance is live! So they're reliving this, every time.
Well, it is a decent premise - and the poor reception gave the film a creepy quality, as I often couldn't see what was going on. But really - isn't it a bit gimmicky, to redo it every time? And there were points where I could have done with more explanation. Still, it passed the creepiness factor - just. I wouldn't recommend paying to see it, though. Check the festival out.. runs till Saturday. So far, that's all I've had the chance to watch from it!
Later last night - past the witching hour, so technically no longer Hallowe'en - tv showed Poltergeist (2015). I was intrigued, and decided to watch - albeit with some trepidation, as I really like the original. I was greatly reassured to see the credit for Ghost House Pictures - they don't tend to produce classics, but they have a good feel for horror, and what they produce tends to be decent. Sure enough, Sam Raimi is co-producer. Sam Rockwell plays the dad, and Jane Adams is the head of the paranormal research unit that they consult for help.
Well, you might call this the updated version - the plot is the same, pretty much, but when they're moving in, the teenage daughter is concerned about the nearby electricity pylons, and the first we see of the son, he's playing a zombie attack computer game. Kinda hokey, starting with a closeup of that and zooming out to show it's just a game, but we'll forgive them. And the medium they end up bringing in has (a) his own tv show and (b) one of the worst stage-Irish accents I've ever heard. Which is pretty unforgivable, as his dad was Richard Harris! Tsk.
So - other differences have the house wired for electricity to an unusual extent, which seems to be meant to suggest that this amplifies paranormal energy. Can't remember hearing that theory before - anyway. The younger kids no longer share a room - I guess modern audiences would find that shocking, as they're of different genders. The mother not only stays at home, she's also a writer - albeit unproductive, and I doubt the events of the film do anything to help with that. There's less goo. Ooh, and this time, we get to see inside the "portal", which is interesting.
To be honest, it's a less well-crafted film - the original, directed by Spielberg, has a poignant message that's glossed over here, and parts are a bit flippant. But I found myself decently scared by it - in fact, I'd find it hard to choose between it and Eternal for the scary event of the weekend! It kind of cuts to the chase. However, I do have to question how - in the final scene - they're looking at another house to move to. I mean, he's been made redundant, they're short on cash - seriously, did their house insurance on the last place cover destruction by supernatural forces?!
I never did get to check back in with the paranormal researchers - it was that or the film, and I figured the latter would probably scare me more! Never mind, I don't begrudge them the €9.99..
To finish the night, I returned to the Bram Stoker Festival, where I watched Stoker on Stoker, a documentary about Bram Stoker by his great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker. Nice chap - I met him on a Spooky London walk, once. Now, this is an interesting documentary - I just wish I'd been able to watch the half hour of it in roughly half an hour! No, it took more than three times that - I had such terrible buffering issues that, even after switching to the lowest possible resolution, I had to refresh the page and restart the video twice! Nightmare.
Today, I listened to the first three podcasts in Fangs, on the same site. Very interesting documentaries about Dracula's influence on modern culture. Will check out some more now - I have to get this site finished with soon, as it closes tomorrow!
And after all that, tomorrow evening, wooo.. the Crick Crack Club is celebrating the Day of the Dead with a livestreamed show featuring just about everybody! I booked my ticket weeks ago.. it's listed as Tuesday on the site, which is a misprint. I think it's being broadcast from Bristol. They just sent me my Zoom link yesterday.
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