Author: Alix Turner
-
What happens when a BAFTA-winning editor swaps shorts for a no-distributor rave nightmare? I saw the answer when watching Game at Mayhem Film Festival a few weeks ago, and now I had the chance to find out from the director himself, John Minton. My teenager, Fern, had loved the film too, and couldnโt help gatecrashing right at…
-
Despite having talked to the Mayhem team a year ago about how they put on such an event, itโs still a surprising feat, just like every other time I have attended. And also just like every other time, I have come away with a few stand-out memories and some new favourite films. Here are this…
-
When I watched the UK premiere of YuriyanโฏRetrieverโsย Mag Mag on Saturday, the directorโs name was relatively new to me, although well known in Japan and more recently in the USA. I had read it was going to be a โweird and wild satire of J-Horrorโ, which Iโve been fond of since discovering Urotsukidลji, Ring and…
-
It was difficult to know what to expect from Game: the opening film of the festival (Iโve seen a couple of very strong openers, and a couple less so); and audiences had been told there are โlocal connectionsโ to Nottingham, which might have meant the cityโs genre film festival was promoting well known talent, rather…
-
Intelligent satire, humour, a demon and a cult actor or two: count me in. Portal to Hell was surprisingly deep and actually raised lots of questions, too, so I hardly knew which one to start with when I sat down at my laptop to talk to Woody Bess, its writer and director. The filmโs tone…
-
Kombucha is a satirical horror film about the dilemma many creative people face between work that satisfies their souls versus more commercial jobs that pay well. Oh and itโs about health fads and other issues too; a wild and potent mix, which made for a fascinating conversation with its director, Jake Myers. I asked him…
-
Iโve admired found footage films for some time, always keen to discover different approaches to it, so pleased to see a film Grimmfest describes as โa twisty, disorientating and brilliant spin on the โfound footageโ subgenreโ in their 2025 programme. Once I watchedย Tribe, I was even more pleased to sit down and talk with the…
-
I love a good revenge thriller: revenge often seems to give a rich tension to a film, and a motivation viewers can get behind. So I relished the chance to talk to Tom Botchii, whose filmย Syphon wasnโt quite so straightforward. Described as a โcat-and-mouse vigilante actionโ, I asked Tom how it came about that the…
-
Iโve become very fond of Mayhem Film Festival, and itโs lovely to meet a filmmaker who feels the same. Recently, I had the pleasure of spending half an hour in the company of Marc Price, writer and director of The Arbiter, soon due to screen at this yearโs Mayhem. โWeโve had two films there,โ Marc…
-
Iโm going to tell you as little as possible about the filmย I See the Demon: when I saw it a few days ago, I kept thinking it reminded me of another film, but then, before a few minutes had passed, it turned out to be quite different. There was certainly a lot to talk about…