GRIMMFEST 15 – Friday 6th Oct 2023
Grimmfest is Manchester’s own festival of (as the name may suggest) horror films.
This years event the 15th, is being held in Great Northern Odeon Manchester (UK) and is directed by Leonie Rowland and Linnie Blake of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, giving this years selection an emphasis on women in horror.
As mentioned the event is held in Manchester’s Odeon Great Northern Odeon cinema, a cinema that you enter and it still takes 5 minutes to enter. Trust me, it’s an odd use of space, but anyway.
There’s a table set up at the first set of escalators, with fantastically friendly, well organised, polite volunteers to sort out your passes and, if you’re a weekend pass holder, give you a Zavvi themed goodie tote bag. The start of any convention/festival is how easy and pleasant it is to actually get in. I couldn’t fault Grimmfest on this count, an absolute breeze.
I was excited for the films on offer this year, with a mixture of regional, UK, European and world premieres.
So, I arrived just in time (I absolutely hate driving in Manchester but that’s another story) for the first showing to start, “Nothing Is Real” part of the Shorts programme for this years festival.
Find You Here, a GM Premiere kicks us off, directed by Jo Smyth this 15 minute film takes us on a journey in a toxic relationship, to toxic land. Some really nice shots in this and genuine tension for the viewer trying to work out what’s happening and what’s next. It also made me think that shooting a film in an abandoned scare event should be a thing.
No Hay Fantasmas (There Are No Ghosts), a regional premiere, directed by Nacho Solana quickly became my film of the week, simple to follow with a nice “twist” and with a great performance by Catalina Sopelana (Julia in The Neighbour)
Variations On A Theme by Peter Collins Campbell is 7 minutes of grunge sci-fi type horror with a great bit of body horror involved. Leaves you wanting more.
Caterpillar, a GM Premiere directed by Matt Bentley-Viney is all about change. Beautifully shot body snatcher type psychological horror.
Ringing Rocks, a Manchester Premiere from Gus Reed a purgatorial visit to an idyllic desert resort.
Souvenirs de la Lune (Memories of the Moon) got it’s UK premiere introduced by writer director Antoine Dricot For the first time in 21 years the moon will be visible in the sky, time will pass differently for everyone.
What an opening to the Festival. Stand outs for me were There are no ghosts and Memories of the moon, all of the shorts were superbly made and all warrant a few more viewings.
Next up was the first feature Pandemonium with an introduction (and followed by a Q&A) by Writer-director Quarxx
If you can go into this with absolutely no knowledge of it, do. Opening with pitch perfect performances by Arben Bajraktaraj and Hugo Dillon as Daniel and Nathan and continuing in a similar vein. Watch it, then watch it again. During the Q&A Quarxx hinted he is in talks with Netflix to create more Pandemonium which is welcome, exciting news.
Mother Superior by Marie Alice Wolfszahn gets it’s English Premiere and I’m so glad I was there for it. Lovely looking film that has elements of Nazi eugenics,Norse folklore, cults and religious iconography all in a lovely blend of retro horror. Even the opening credits being part of the scene was special. Superb performances throughout, loved it and look forward to seeing it again.
The Sacrifice Game by Jenn Wexler got its regional premiere. This is the most “mainstream” horror on show today. As soon as the Shudder heart beat intro hit, you kind of know what to expect and it doesn’t disappoint. The cast are all great but after the opening scene, it’s all a little downhill from there with a lack of real suspense, the humour/horror mix doesn’t quite land and the main discovery waves at you with a big flag straight away. The foam snow is unforgivable too. Although a slight struggle to for a cinema viewing, when it streams on Shudder it will be well received.
Faceless After Dark got its regional premiere, with director Raymond Wood introducing and later following with a Q&A.
Again, go in without knowing too much about this for maximum effect. Jenna Kannel plays Bowie in a life imitating art (pardon the pun) kind of way. The official blurb is Bowie finds herself held hostage by an unhinged fan determined to recreate the film’s fatal plot. She does. Lots of interesting madness in this one. At the Q&A we found out some of the scenes in horror convention was shot guerilla style and the chat between Bowie and her co-star Kathrynne (Jenna’s co star from Terrifier Catherine Corcoran) was unscripted and the things discussed actually happened. Horror fans are wild!
Love Will Tear Us Apart directed by Kenichi Ugana got it’s UK Premiere and unfortunately I couldn’t stay to watch it, which was gutting as Japanes horror is a particular favourite of mine, but with a finishing time of near midnight and an hour drive home I thought better of it.
Fantastic first day of Grimmfest, I’m back on Sunday and looking forward to seeing 8 Found Dead.
Tickets for some films are still available HERE
