ScreamFest 2011

This past week at the Hollywood & Highland complex, the annual Screamfest was held for it’s 11^th year. The festival most noted for breaking the original Paranormal Activity held a stellar line up of Horror films for all fans of the Genre. Starting out with the world premiere of Crawl and ending with Ti West’s The Inkeepers. I had an opportunity to check out few of the films being showcased and although I didn’t see the next Paranormal Activity I was not left disappointed primarily due to the InnKeepers.

The first film I was able to check out was the world premiere of Wrong Turn 4 which was handing out free tickets for all to enjoy. For those not familiar with the series the original was an Eliza Dushku vehicle and number 4 doesn’t stray too far from the formula take a bunch of kids have them take a “wrong turn” and soon they are being hunted by deformed inbred cannibals, This time our college age crew heads into the woods and due to a snow storm end up in a sanitorium, Wrong turn has plenty of barbed wire and gore to go along with its preposterous plot, bad puns and questionable choices made by the victims. The people in this film are so stupid that even after three of their friends are killed and they have the chance to kill the hillibillies they choose not to, a monumental F up, Wrong Turn 4 is entertaining but ultimately silly (Human Fondue).

Next up is the Tunnel an Australian found footage film that follows a news crew as they navigate the tunnels underneath Sidney. Lacking on tension or scares, the decision to have Natasha (Bel Delia) and Steve (Andy Rodoreda) give testimonials to explain what was going on greatly reduces the amount of tension, mystery and intrigue. When dealing with such a small group of people it does not help to know who the survivors are.

For the closing night festivities we were treated to The Innkeepers, The story of two employees working at a Haunted Inn that is about to go out of business.

Ti West has a way with creating something quite enjoyable on a shoe string budget from 09’s 80’s Horror throwback “The House of the Devil” to this years low budget Horror/Thriller The Inkeepers, Ti is a man who has been able to create a rabid fan base with his small entertaining brand of pictures.

The Inkeepers follows Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) as they work the last few nights at the Yankee Pedlar Inn. (From the Q&A it turns out that this creepy old hotel was the hotel that the cast of “The House of the Devil” stayed at and it truly is rumored to be haunted.) Both are instantly relatable in how mundane their jobs are and act like you would expect anyone in their situation. (Switching off shifts while one works and the other hangs out in a hotel room and watches TV is beyond perfect given the situation).

West brings a slow and deliberate pacing to the film with moments of humor intermixed throughout. This isn’t a gorefest or a slasher film this is an old fashioned haunting film that builds and builds until the very end. What I liked about this tactic is it gives you enough time to have a vested interest in the characters so when things do reach a full head of steam you actually care. Those with Short attention spans will find the pacing a bit on the plodding side but those with patience are rewarded with what my grandfather would have called a good yarn.

Overall the 11^th year was a success, I am going to mark my program and check out the films I didn’t get a chance to see with 45 feature and shorts that’s a lot of horror, gore and screams including a few world premiers and a screening of the original horror film PSYCHO. One never knows when next big franchise will be shown, in Horror though it’s a good bet it will have happened at Screamfest.