Up nice and early we arrived just in time to grab a coffee again and get our seats for the long but brilliant MAYHEM Saturday. It kicked off at 12 with a film I had been looking forward to The Pool. A simple tale of a man who falls asleep on a lino as the pool is drained and he is trapped. Sounds simple enough right? But oh no it certainty isnt! My description is actually very sketchy as quite a bit does lead up to the draining of the pool but it’s one of those films that you could easily spoil as it has so many twists and outright bonkers situations. Another mad think about it is that’s its sponsored by pizza hut!
There is also Lucky the dog who stays around the top of the pool hopelessly trying to help out his stranded master. I shall say no more apart from it was one of my favourites of the weekend. 9/10 from me! Up next was one I was also very intrigued by She never died. After last years superb He never died and talk of it becoming a TV series I was looking forward to what they would do with it. Not a direct sequel but set in the same universe it was great and very very violent.
This time it followed the story of Cannibal Lacey when she does a deal to catch a local particularly nasty gang who deal in snuff movies. It’s greatly paced and the lead is superb. It does set it up for a sequel or indeed as I mentioned even a TV series. If you liked He never died or I would say even if you didn’t this is one we’ll worth catching when you can.
After the great She Never Died next up was Something Else.It was i found a nice easy watch with one of the most WTF?? Moments of any films of the festival! I told the story of small town life with a house renovation and love story but when the girlfriend has had enough and just leaves a note and leaves he is left alone, With a great house, No Motivation, Beer, A sofa and a Monster that tries to smash the front door down every night, It’s not your usual love story!
The local Sheriff is his ex girlfriends brother and stories leak back to the town that he says he sees a monster and he’s lost the plot, To be fair it doesn’t help that he shoots at passing cars. Like i said it was a nice easy watch, At a point near the end i did get a bit fidgety thinking it was going on a bit but then…….Just watch it and you’ll see what i mean! A great laugh.
Next up was one of my favourite parts of and indeed the heart of the festival the Short Film Showcase. Filled with the Brilliant, The Weird and the downright bizarre! Its usually about 2 hours long and goes so fast,
My favourites this year were “Creaker” A funny take on the monster under the bed story,
“Unmade” a very welcome and creepy return from MAYHEM director Steven Sheil,
“A little taste” Old school witches on a see-saw! “Frost Bite” a beautifully shot zombie short with some of the best looking zombies i have seen for a long time.
“Toe” A strange little animated Tim Burton style short
“Limbus” Very short but hilarious hitch hiker tale!
“Wild Love” An ice age style gore fest where nature really hits back, And to be honest the fate of some of the animals in this weekends films it was great to see them get revenge!
Last but by no means least was my favourite out of the all, “It’s Not Custard” It is available on YouTube and i have stuck it below, Be warned, Don’t eat whilst watching!!!
The Next film up was The Cop, The Gangster and The Devil, A film based on true story of a serial killer that is hunted down by both the police and the mob after a literal run in one night with the boss of the mob! It was yet another great UK premier for MAYHEM and it was brilliant, Fast paced, Superb acting, Extremely violent and as you expect with great Asian cinema loads of insane twists. This was one of my highlights of MAYHEM and yet another one you need to keep an eye out for.
The last film of the evening was the cheese fest that was Nicolas Cage in Kiss of the Vampire, Sadly i had to miss out on this one but from all accounts as with this slot in previous years the late night showing went down a storm, Taxi home, Early (ish!) night and back up tomorrow for the final day of MAYHEM, It’s gone so fast again!!