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By: Martyn Pedler
Date: 1st Apr 08
Format: Festival
Mood: Leave brain at home
WHERE
DENDY CINEMA, 261 KING ST, NEWTOWN
WHEN
APR 3 - 11
HOW MUCH
FULL $14, CONCESSION $10.50
WATCH THE TRAILER TO LA ANTENA
HERE
SEE THE PROGRAM
HERE
There's something special about a cumulative effect of the scares, gore, and slow-burning dread contained in a horror festival. April's ‘A Night of Horror' focuses on new horror flicks - in fact, some so new that their IMDB pages still read as being ‘in production'.
If zombie comedies, old-school slasher homages, or an ‘Undead Rockabilly Dance' sound appealing, you'll be in heaven. There are also a ridiculous amount of short films tucked away over the nine days. (What, did NINE NIGHTS OF HORROR sound too Christmassy for April?)
The most interesting screenings are the less obvious choices of films that look back to early cinema. Andrew Leman's THE CALL OF CTHULHU is an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft that makes the most of a nonexistent budget by cleverly utilising silent film aesthetics - including flickering filmstock and cymbal crashes instead of gunshot FX.
And while it's disappointing that the festival is mostly USA-centric, the final night is Esteban Sapir's LA ANTENA from Argentina: a film about a hypnotic television channel and an entire city that cannot speak. Its stylings are reminiscent of Guy Maddin's art-cinema, and it shows the wide range of influences that horror cinema has always possessed.