Frightfest may be a few weeks in the past now, but due to the nature of my rather uncompromising work hours since I returned, my time for writing has been slim to none. I managed to write short Twitter reviews for every film I saw and for most films those little ditties will suffice, however I feel a few of the films (and the event itself) were worthy of a few more lengthy passages.
The weekend didn't get off to a great start. Realizing I was sans mobile phone moments before the train was about to leave the station led to me being delayed an hour whilst I trekked back home to pick up the phone (being in a minor motor vehicle related collision and getting stung by a wasp on the neck in the process) only to be further delayed when in my frantic and massively excited state I managed to walk 40 minutes in the opposite direction to my hotel leading to my plan of spending the afternoon in The Captain's Cabin meeting and interacting with fellow fest-goers being replaced with a hurried race to Leicester Square in time to nab my goodie bag and pick up my festival pass. I did manage to have a swift pint in The Captain's Cabin after all which was - as I had been told it would be - packed with the most number of horror fanatics you're ever likely to find loitering in a pub. 
Once 5:30 rolled around and I headed over to the Empire after a most speedious bite to eat (and believe me speedy eating is par for the course if you want to catch as many films as possible over the weekend) I was positively gobsmacked by the volume of people gathered in the lobby. Actors, directors, authors, press, critics and of course horror hounds were all milling about and it was fair to say that everybody was buzzing with anticipation for the weekends programme.
After finding my seat in the gargantuan Screen 1 of the Empire things were kicked off with a humorous pre-amble from comedian Ross Noble before the opening film The Seasoning House got its world premiere. The film just about managed to balance on the very edge of being overly bleak thanks to its impressive production quality. Seasoning House was a fairly appropriate mood setter for the rest of the festival which featured a number of other films featuring uncompromising scenes of rape, something which I personally find to be a rather detestable trope in the modern horror film. I'm not saying that it's too extreme and shouldn't be shown in moderated circumstances, but I simply find it to not constitute as a scare, but more a cheap shock. A shock which at this point has been wrung dry and is no longer effective in all but the most scant number of circumstances. I digress however as The Seasoning House managed to just about pull it off and was a worthwhile if forgettable and flawed watch.
The Seasoning House was followed by the frankly pants Cockneys Vs Zombies - a film which managed to execute neither its comedy or horror elements, instead seeming juvenile and really quite boring. The humour was simplistic and cheap relying on the outlandish premise of it's title to entertain throughout a very stretched running time. Some people loved it so much so they compared it to Shaun of the Dead. If you like Shaun of the Dead, take my advice and just watch that again. You'll have a much better time.
Grabbers swooped in to save the night at the 11th hour (quite literally). The perfect midnight movie, not only was it much funnier than Cockneys, but it had real heart. Richard Coyle was excellent in the lead role and save for Russell Tovey (who was annoying and obnoxious, seemingly there to inject a modicum of unnecessary star power to proceedings) the rest of the cast were all great too and made the film the fun viewing experience it is. Not to mention the quite stunningly effective CG work. It's only a shame the alien wasn't somewhat less generic looking.
So at the end of the first day, 2 good films, 1 not so good film, nothing that I was desperate to put on my Blu Ray shelf. Friday was just a few hours away though and I knew I was in for a treat after a much much needed sleep.
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