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Oliver Blackburn unveils his masterpiece “Kristy” at the London Film Festival

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Recently, iHorror.com had the monumental honour of being invited to the premier of Oliver Blackburn’s terrifying new slasher movie, “Kristy”.  I was the lucky one chosen to go along… don’t mind if I do.

The Introduction

Despite tickets being sold out on the website, there were plenty of seats empty and I get the feeling this was deliberate, maybe to keep the premier as intimate as possible. It was quite clear to see that many of Olly’s friends and family had come to support him in what was his biggest movie to date. What a movie it was, too. After seeing and enjoying his “British, gritty, indie” entry to the big screen,“Donkey Punch”, which was filmed in only 25 days, I did set my sights high for his new work.  All movie goers know doing so is a bad idea, and can often spoil the enjoyment gained through watching a movie when knowing nothing about the director or their background. With this in mind, Olly’s work still managed to impress me beyond my expectations, and is the best slasher movie I have seen in many years. Combining elements from movies such as “The Collector” and “Scream”, it really is worth putting on your must-see cinema list.

Oliver introduced himself as the director of the movie, and pointed out that we were currently in the town where he spent many years finding his love for the cinema in a nearby local picture house named The Scarlett. You could easily feel Olly’s love for his chosen line of work, and he was very upbeat and enjoyable to listen to; appearing to make eye contact with as many people in the audience as possible. His introduction only lasted a few minutes, and when drawing to a close, he told us to keep watching to the end of the credits as the movie would not simply end there. This excited me; I love to see a sneaky bit of extra footage at the end of a movie, and possibly witness something others may have missed.

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The Film

The volume was turned up extra high and I knew what I was in for within the first two minutes of the opening credits. I was presented with a low resolution, online style video of a young female being brutally attacked and murdered, and I instantly felt compelled to look away in fear of seeing something to close to the bone (pardon the phrase). Her attackers then started to take photos of the now lifeless woman’s body in a woodland setting, showing no remorse whatsoever. Following this, was a clever insight into the purpose of the killing; an online collection of extremists promoting the idea of “Kill Kristy”. My research had pointed out that there was no one in the cast playing a character named Kristy, and when the introduction scenes explained that Kristy is actually the name given to the followers of Christianity, the movie no longer needed an explanation and I could settle into my seat and enjoy the actor’s performances.

It was a very enjoyable movie with a LOT of jumpy, but necessary moments. I never found myself rolling my eyes at pointless scares, as it all seem to flow together terrifically. It was not over the top gory, and I was told by Olly himself that this was a conscious decision. I did feel it had an adequate amount of bloodshed to whet the appetite of the horror fans, however.

Haley Bennett Ashley Greene Chris Coy
Haley Bennett Ashley Greene Chris Coy
Images courtesy of IMDB.com

The movie followed Haley Bennett as her character was hunted throughout her empty university campus by the Kristy-killing hooligans. Haley portrays the victim brilliantly, leaving no doubt that you are watching a person in immense panic. Without giving too much away, she reaches a turning point where she decides to take matters by the horns, and starts to kick ass, which is why she landed at No. 8 in Glen Packard’s Best Bad Ass Kick Ass Final Girls.

The very popular Ashley Greene is no stranger to a horror movie or two, but is normally the actor playing the sweet and innocent girl with sex appeal. In this movie, however, she finds her true calling, and plays a bad-ass, creepy bitch who is the leader of the hooded attackers. She was amazing, and in Olly’s words, put so much into her work by tirelessly researching her role. By creating a back story for her character, she found a hatred for the privileged, and pulled off something quite brilliant.

Olly pointed out that on several occasions the actors playing the villains would bond outside of work to try to bring a togetherness within their relationship to each other.  Ashley worked closely with Chris Coy, who helped further her understanding of the “partners-in-crime” scenario, as he himself has gained several years of experience in the horror industry. He is now in the cast of “Walking Dead”, and appeared on the show for the first time in season 5 episode 1. Hats off to you, Coy!

After Movie Q&A with Oliver Blackburn

The host of the event didn’t give much time for questions and I myself only managed to ask two. So, rather than writing the conversation out, I thought I would upload the recording and let you listen for yourselves. Sorry for the poor sound recording and the rustling half way though. Olly brought several roles of aluminium foil and asked us all to make Kristy Masks!

 

Some Photos from the Event:

Oliver Blackburn Intro Oliver Blackburn and Host Q&A Daniel Hegarty and Oliver Blackburn 1
Oliver Blackburn at the intro Oliver Blackburn and the Presenter of London Film Festival Me and Oliver Blackburn (Olly not ready for the shot)
Daniel Hegarty and Oliver Blackburn 2 (2) Daniel Hegarty and Oliver Blackburn 2 Daniel Hegarty and Oliver Blackburn 4
 Me and Oliver Blackburn (Me not ready for the shot) Olly trying to put the mask I made on. Olly wearing the mask.
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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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