Saturday night's all right for frightening at the Glasgow Film Festival, with a special selection of the very best from Frightfest travelling up north to entertain fans. Like last year, tickets went fast, with most events sold out on the night and the Grindhouse double bill proving so popular that a special re-screening was immediately arranged for April. Together as they were meant to be seen, Planet Terror and Death Proof proved a winning combination, but equally popular were the ingenious Eden Log, the 'hilarious' and very gory The Cottage, the highly acclaimed Rec and genuine grindhouse-style trashfest Zombie Strippers. We went out and about to see what the punters had to say to it.
"I didn't see Grindhouse. I'm in for Eden Log, The Cottage, Rec and Zombie Strippers - especially Zombie Strippers, that sounds hilarious," said Barry, from Paisley, who was attending a Frightfest event for the first time. "I meant to see Diary Of The Dead but I missed it." The new Romero film was one of the horror highlights of the earlier part of the festival, which has featured quite a few shocking films this year, including horror comedy Teeth and the curiously grotesque Far North. Barry hadn't been to anything else but seemed keen to be back for Frightfest again next year.
"Grindhouse was so much fun!" enthused Vicki from Glasgow. "I've not seen either film before, so it was really, really good. I'm so excited!" Happy to jump in at the deep end, she announced: "We've got a ticket for the whole thing. We might not make it to The Cottage but we're definitely staying for everything else and coming back for Zombie Strippers, so it's going to be awesome. Planet Terror was absolutely hilarious, really good. And all my friends who've been to Frightfest here before say that this is definitely the most hectic they've see it and the most crazy."
Damien, from Edinburgh, was equally enthusiastic about Grindhouse. "It was awesome. It kicked ass. In my opinion it should have been shown like that from the word go. Planet Terror is my favourite but it's the whole experience that matters - you have to see it with the adverts and everything. Planet Terror, the way it's filmed, is designed to have those kind of adverts with it." Asked if he intended to see anything else, he assured us "Yeah: Rec. The Spanish horror film. I want to see it partly because I've heard they'll be videoing the audience for their reactions. And I'm a huge zombie fan."
On their way into Eden Log, Sean and Richard, both from Hamilton, were not so keen on the Grindhouse combination. "I liked Planet Terror," said Sean, "but I thought that was so good that Death Proof was a bit of a disappointment.."
"I liked the style with Planet Terror, with the missing reels and stuff, but then it changed and went more modern in Death Proof and I wasn't sure that worked," explained Richard, who had previously only seen the latter film on DVD.
"I don't think they should have been together," Sean concluded. He was looking forward to seeing the surprise film later at Cineworld. This has long been one of the festival's most popular events, and this year it turned out to be Son Of Rambow.
"I've been to see a few other things, like Cassandra's Dream and Diary Of The Dead," said Sean. He and Richard both rated the former as one of their favourites from the festival.
Frightfest was so successful this year that its directors have announced they plan to make it a two day event at next year's GFF.
