Nightstream Film Fest 2020 Preview
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and Nikk Nelson, Cinema Freak of Nature
This October, the horror film scene is alive and well.
Despite there being a global pandemic, we have not found ourselves short of spine tingling flicks. With the challenges from COVID-19, five genre festivals have banded together to create the ultimate accessible virtual event that is sure to be a real scream! Beginning Thursday, October 8 until October 11 horror fans are in for a real treat with the Nightstream Film Festival. Showcasing features, repertory films, shorts and special events, horror fans are sure to experience thrills and chills! Moviejawn’s Old Sport and Cinema Freak of Nature, highlight some of their picks and some filmmakers to watch out for!
Just when I thought Quentin Dupieux could not get any more outlandish he goes and does something like Mandibles. His latest flick tells the tale of a couple of feeble minded pals that discover a giant fly in the trunk of their car and decide to invite it home for dinner with the hope of domesticating it. Of course supper ain’t free… there’s an angle, and that is to turn this relationship into a Michigan J. Frog type of scenario. Simply put: train the fly and earn money. This director has told tales of murderous tires with the flick Rubber and deerskin jackets with killer style in Deerskin. Knowing this, I have no doubt Mandibles is gonna be a sight to behold.
Available to watch October 11th at 7:30pm eastern, tickets here.
This feature debut from Devereux Milburn sounds right up my alley. When a couple decides to take a roadtrip through the boondocks they find a lot of bumps along the way. These setbacks lead them to an isolated farmhouse inhabited by a mother and eccentric son. I’ve seen Psycho, so I have a feeling I know how this is all gonna turn out and I’m here for it.
Available to watch October 9th at 9:30pm eastern, tickets here.
I was sold on this flick when I read “Satanist couple”. What intrigued me even more about this story was learning that, prior to this flick, filmmaker Justin G. Dyck has a history of directing Hallmark Christmas movies. To be clear, I am not a fan of this genre. However, the idea of someone going from Santa to Satan thrills me. Anything for Jackson couldn’t be further from A Puppy From Christmas. A satanic elderly couple is overcome with grief after their grandson, Jackson, is killed in a car accident. Their misery leads them to kidnapping a pregnant patient of the husband’s with the goal to perform a “reverse Exorcism”, by placing their grandson into the unborn child. Sounds sinister, count me in!
Available to watch October 9th at 8:45pm eastern, tickets here.
With two flicks currently making the rounds in the festival circuit, Canadian director, Amelia Moses has had a busy year. I was introduced to this director through her sophomore feature, Bloodthirsty which closed out the 2020 Fantastic Film Festival. Unfortunately, the werewolf/pop singer horror/drama story didn’t quite do it for me, but there was no doubt that as a filmmaker, Amelia shows potential.
Most recently, I was fortunate to catch her moody atmospheric feature debut, Bleed with Me at Salem Horror Fest (which runs from October 9-11) and now a member of the Amelia Moses fan club. Similar to Bloodthirsty, this flick also features what I am now deeming Amelia’s trademark eerie aura. Unlike the second film though, I found Bleed With Me to be much more appealing. A vampire (or is she?) finds herself in a snowy isolated cabin and is suspected of stealing her friend’s blood. Obviously, this was not quite the holiday her pal was expecting and leads to quite the interesting dinner conversation. Both of Amelia’s films star Lauren Beatty, who also seems like someone to watch out for.
Available to watch October 11th at 8:30pm eastern, tickets here.
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell
My coverage of the Nightstream film festival will be hellish and bloody starting on October 8th with an offering from Japan, Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (2012). A simple question in the posted synopsis was all I needed to hear: “What if THE EVIL DEAD’s Ash was a bodybuilder whose ex-girlfriend researches haunted houses and, as such, asks him to join her on a special investigation of his dead father’s supposedly ghost-ridden home?” Who wouldn’t immediately want this movie in their face? Add to that, apparently, it was made over a 14-year span from 1995-2009. These filmmakers have to be raging psychopaths and I want to support their art.
Available to watch October 8 at 1pm eastern, tickets here.
Next up on my blood soaked watchlist on October 9th is Bloody Hell (2020). Billed as “a subversive, witty and blood-soaked new entry in the Australian genre film canon,” the film follows a bank robber whose recorded antics go viral. On the lam in Helsinki, he finds that he may have jumped out of the frying pan and into another frying pan. Mad Max (1979) is one of my favorite movies of all time and I always enjoy any opportunity to see what’s going on in cinema down under…as in hell. Get it? Because the title and theme of my coverage, whatever, go fuck yourself. [Maybe I gotta ship Nikk an edible arrangement. -ed.]
Available to watch October 9th at 6:15pm eastern, tickets here.
Last in my hellish lineup on October 10th is Boys from County Hell (2020). A vampire movie set in Ireland with an ensemble cast that boasts “visceral, legit-freaky horror via top-notch practical FX work…”? Don’t mind if I do. Shaun of the Dead (2004) set a really high bar for horror-comedy, in my opinion, and I’m always anxious to see any film with the potential to at least meet it, if not top it.
Available to watch starting October 10th at 4pm eastern, tickets here.
Read more from the Old Sport and The Cinema Freak of Nature in the pages of our Summer 2020 print issue of Moviejawn.