Here are my Arrow FrightFest 2021: Day Three micro reviews for: OFFSEASON / PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND / THE MAID
9
OFFSEASON d. Mickey Keating, 2021/83mins
@alanfrightfest introduced this as one of his own personal choices for the festival, and the gent proves yet again to have impeccable taste…
A slight story of a young woman, her dying movie actress mother, and an isolated island gives rise to a fully realised lo-fi nightmare. With a small cast, sparse script and limited locations, the smokey, widescreen visuals really transform this material, every inch of each frame used to project horror, achieving a scale far beyond its modest means. It’s also great to have a central female character who doesn’t either keep falling over at the slightest threat or have to go the full Sigourney in order to survive (her escape strategy skewers an arcane element of the horror movie rulebook and had me giggling with delight…). It might be your heaven or hell, but I loved it.
10
PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND d. Sion Sono, 2021/100mins
The post apocalypse portrayed through the dream logic of an Olympic opening ceremony. Big, bonkers, but not entirely worth all the shouting…
11
THE MAID d. Lee Thongkham, 2020/102mins
Holy fuck…
I’m a late night movie fan… and THE MAID delivers what I want. Lots will be said about it, but the standout for me was the film’s use of music, particularly when everything shifts several gears for the final act. When genre cinema’s this glorious, you need do nothing more than buckle up for the ride and sit there in the darkness with a massive grin on your face. I know I did.
