Fantastic Films Weekend: The Future #ffw

[miss_s_b]

You might have gathered over the past few days that I am a big fan of the FFW. It's something I look forward to every year. Next year is the festival's tenth birthday, and as such it ought to be a doozy. The thing is, the FFW is not guaranteed to happen; if there isn't enough public demand then there's no point in the museum spending all that money to put the event on. So we need to make sure that the museum know the demand is there...

Now, I know that lots of readers of this blog are fans of genre films. But how many of you would be willing to travel to Bradford to see them? Are there any films which would have you leaping on a train with gay abandon?

Leave a comment to this entry and I will make sure Tony, the festival director, sees it. Or send the man himself an email - tony DOT earnshaw AT nationalmediamuseum DOT org DOT uk.

My suggestions include Ginger Snaps (feministy werewolf films FTW!), Dark City (Rufus Sewell's bum!), The Tingler (with or without seat modifications) and The Blob. I also think it would be cool to do something with Doctor Who - perhaps one of the Peter Cushing films (Dalek Invasion of Earth has genre favourites Cushing and Andrew Keir in, and would capitalise on interest in the current series).

What films/events would attract YOU?

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Comments

[andrewhickey.info]

I'll probably do a blog post about how much I enjoyed it, and email Tony the link to that, but a few things here:

I loved the Harryhausen stuff they did a few years ago, and would love to see one of those films on the big screen. If they could get the man himself along all the better.

I suggested the Tingler when we were there, and I heartily second the Doctor Who film.

For a double bill, instead of film/sequel, how about an original/remake double bill, like 1933 King Kong/1977 King Kong, or James Whale Frankenstein/Hammer Frankenstein?

Another interesting double bill might be Nosferatu/Shadow Of The Vampire

Ghostwatch in TV Heaven would be a must.

Time Bandits, perhaps, for more fantasy stuff.

Maybe show an old Republic serial like Flash Gordon *as a serial*, with maybe an episode before each feature in Pictureville or something?


Also, next year is the 80th anniversary of *THE* great year in horror cinema history - 1931. Lugosi Dracula, Karloff Frankenstein, Frederic March Jekyll & Hyde. Surely that deserves some kind of celebration?

Quatermass - either the TV show in TV Heaven or the film.

The Peter Cushing/Nigel Kneale adaptation of 1984

[miss_s_b]

1984 and Ghostwatch have both been shown recently. Shadow of the Vampire would be awesome, as would any kind of Quatermass, and Time Bandits.

I do wonder if we could work any of the Monty Python films into sci-fi/horror/fantasy... I mean, Life of Brian even has a spaceship segment! Any of those would be good for a midnight screening...

[karohemd]

Oh, I absolutely love your suggestion of showing an ep of Flash Gordon before every film! That would rock.
Altough, not everyone stays at the same cinema on a day, so they would be a bit disjointed. Still, brill idea.

I definitely want to see some more SciFi (esp. some b/w 50s stuff and how about Dark Star or The Black Hole?) and actual fantasy/sword&sorcery type affairs.

I second SB's suggestion of Dark City and would throw The Crow into the mix.

[innerbrat]

That is an excellent idea for the double bill! I'd love to see the 1925/1960 The Lost World. OR Curse of the Werewolf vs The Wolfman, as between them they invented the Werewolf genre.

I also heartily second the request for more Harryhausen, and for him as a guest.

I said it at the time and I'll say it again, more people need to see Moon. It's a very recent film, but it fits. The festival needs to lean away from horror if it wants more people, so some good hard SF'd be nice.

Other films I'd love to see:
- Day of the Triffids
- Frankenstein
- Lost Boys

[(Anonymous)]

i was linked through to your post by one of my google reader friends - my wife and i have attended and enjoyed a couple of fantastic films weekends over the last few years, but the last two years have been... a little weak? a little predictable somehow? the best year we went there was a real breadth of styles and genres ("the most dangerous game", "blood on satan's claw", "terminator 2") which hasn't been seen for the last couple of years. it's all seemed a bit niche and predictable

what i want from the weekend personally is a chance to see stuff i love (but rarely get the opportunity to see on the big screen) and stuff i've heard of but not got a chance to track down ("most dangerous game") and THEN something truly leftfield - i'm thinking of the magical afternoon i first discovered "malpertuis" three years ago

i know the weekend has to appeal to hardcore fans - of every different hue - as well as general punters, but i think there's definitely an argument for a broader selection of film styles. if it gets too closed off and niche, then it's not appealing to anyone really is it?

sorry for the ramble!

[karohemd]

I very much agree with this.
I was really disappointed that Wrath of Khan wasn't shown (again!) this year and I'd love to see some classic SciFi, too.

[(Anonymous)]

(sorry - i was linked by andrew by the way. although i've not got one of these dreamwidth account things i can be found on thecommonswings at blogspot and irkthepurist at livejournal if you wanted to respond)

[miss_s_b]

You can log in with both of those ;)

To an extent I agree with you about the breadth of programming; although it is dependent to a degree on what Tony can get hold of, and if he can use stuff that is already in the archive of the museum (or his own collection) then that brings the cost down.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

oh i completely understand that (i worked with him about ten years ago as part of my placement for my masters degree. he'd never heard of "the day the clown cried" until i pointed him towards it. that's my key memory of my time working with him! i doubt he remembers me at all!). but the problem is that if the festival is just niche then we can't really justify the cost. i want to see 1. an old classic 2. a hard to find classic 3. something populist and 4. something i've simply never heard of before. and the last two years have seemed to entirely fail at that sadly

[andrewhickey.info]

Hi crispy, shame I didn't see you at FFW - you must have been just to the ones I've not been to (I've been to the last couple). You can actually log in on dreamwidth using either your blogger or LJ accounts - click 'log in with OpenID' - if you want to receive replies.

I know that Tony said he wanted to broaden it out a bit more again. It's just that horror films of the 70s/UK/low-budget type tend to be easy and cheap to get hold of prints of compared to 1940s Czech science fiction or whatever. But from people's suggestions this time, I think we'll see more SF and fantasy along with the horror.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

we haven't been the last couple of years (we went the two years before it - the first year ruined by an unfortunate choice of a double bill of "the woman in black" and "threads" which, as you may know, is thusly a double bill of two of the single most punishingly bleak and depressing bits of tv ever which ultimately sent us into a massive funk for the the rest of the day, the second year absolutely brilliant) because the line up has just not been... tantalising enough? basically we don't make much of a wage between us these days, and the line up has to be truly stunning (like it was in 2008) to coax us out. and it's just been a bit... samey the last couple of years. nothing really striking at all. it just needs to be opened out a bit. otherwise it's just too niche to bother with

[purple-pen.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the weekend hugely, and am already looking forward to next year, so it definitely worked for me. I think the main thing I want from it is a good balance of much-loved classics which I've never had the chance to see on the big screen, and lesser-known gems which I've never seen or even heard of at all before. So suggestions and general expressions of support from the public are certainly important, but I think Tony was right in his closing talk before The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue to say that there's a certain extent to which he needs to just ignore the public and draw on his own expertise when putting together the schedule. I probably come to the festival primarily for the films I know, but I then stay for the ones I don't - and at that point what I'm getting out of the weekend is the chance to benefit from Tony's expertise in the obscurer corners of the horror genre. Anyway, I felt that the balance between the big classics and the little-known gems was struck very nicely this year, so I reckon he's doing a pretty good job.

I completely agree with all your suggestions above - in fact, I'd wondered about suggesting the Peter Cushing Doctor Who films myself. They would be awesome seen at full size in all their technicolor glory! I would also absolutely LOVE to see Death Line (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068458/), which isn't particularly widely-known, but I think is an absolutely brilliant film. It has some great performances in it, and manages to be very moving while still providing enough of the '70s cheese factor to be good fun as well. Even if I'm not living locally by this time next year, I would DEFINITELY come back for the weekend if Death Line is on the menu.

Feel free to point Tony towards my own write-ups of the weekend if you would like: handy links for Friday evening and Saturday are here (http://purple-pen.livejournal.com/357582.html) and here (http://purple-pen.livejournal.com/358039.html), though I'm still part-way through writing up Sunday, as I saw a lot of films that day! I have, of course, been incredibly rude about Mark of the Devil in my Saturday write-up, but hey - that's just an honest account of how it seemed to me. I'm still glad I saw it, because at least I know for myself how rubbish it is now!

[purple-pen.livejournal.com]

Just popping back here because I have remembered another under-appreciated gem which I would also most definitely come along to see on the big screen: Martin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077914/) (1977). It's a George Romero film, so might fit nicely into a schedule which also featured some of his better-known work like the various '... of the Dead' films (on a 'come for the classics, stay for the gems' model). But I very rarely come across anyone who seems to know about this one, which is a shame because it's brilliant. Nominally about vampirism, but really much more about small-town life, religious fanaticism and the isolation of being a teenager. Really powerful stuff that definitely deserves a wider audience.

[jamie77]

I remember you mentioning Candyman in a FFW post at some point but what about the Hellraiser movies or Nightbreed?

Nightbreed is probably not all that it could have been but is still a movie I have always found interesting.

I have to say to my shame, I was out-geeked on the subject of Hellraiser recently - I didn't know there were three sequels after Bloodline - though of the four I have seen, the original is really the only one I would say is a good movie. So perhaps, scratch Hellraiser movies, insert Hellraiser.

On the subject of naff sequels, by next year there surely would be the opportuity for a Lost Boys triple bill. The Lost Boys 2 is complete bobbins and one is not overly confident that The Thirst will be any better. But The Lost Boys on the big screen must be kinda cool, and certainly different.

With the Fright Night remake due later this year, early next, a Fright Night/Fright Night 2 double bill might be in order on grounds of topicality.

Akira is something I have been interested in seeing on the big screen since I emptied my piggy bank to buy the vhs in 1990 (91?) Ghost in the Shell too.

As regards TV Heaven, I daresay ongoing controversy around William Mayne might scupper it as it has dvd release but I certainly remember enjoying the 1990s BBC Children's adaptation Earthfasts. And indeed the slightly earlier ones of Peter Dickinson's The Gift and Diane Wynee Jones' Archer's Goon. Possible candidates?

Flash Gordon serials are great fun but the current non-availability of the Buster Crabbe Buck Rodgers and King of the Rocketmen this side of the atlantic, would make those titles of more interest to me.

[jamie77]

And indeed, as I mentioned the subject of the fright Night remake - have you seen who is connected to the Roddy McDowell/Peter Vincent role?

[miss_s_b]

Yes, moviegrrl has been reporting on it. Actually, you should follow her, she's cool.

[matgb]

Hmm, think Tony would say no to LB2; sequels must be better than the original to be considered, and while he has a dubious definition of 'better' that includes 28 Weeks Later, he definitely wouldn't include something much much worse.

But Lost Boys would work as a definite draw I suspect.

[jamie77]

I think one would indeed have to stretch the use of the words 'better'; 'superior' for Lost Boys 2 to be included.

An alternative companion piece to Lost Boys, if one were needed, could be Fred Dekker's 'The Monster Squad' what with its teenage boys vs Universal Classic monsters storyline.

Something of a overlooked gem 'The Monster Squad' here in the UK, in my opinion aleast, as the 12a (or indeed 12) certificate wasn't about in 1988 and therefore it was lumbered with a 15 certificate for its 'Virgin' punchline.

[jamie77]

...which rather reduced its opportunity with its target audience, which would have been slightly younger than The Lost Boys.