The 12th edition of the London Film4Frightfest has just wrapped up, but as usual it offered a great selection of movies, guests and sincere scares. Thousands of fans have gathered at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square to be part of what has become one of the major appointments for horror fans in Europe and in the world.
The festival kicked off on thursday night with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, by Troy Nixey and written and produced by Guillermo del Toro, showing once again that horror movies can be simply and genuinely scary. Del Toro’s touch and a decent job by Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce make this reimagining of a ’73 tv movie an interesting choice to start off the festival.
The gloomy atmospheres of Del Toro are soon swiped away by the fun and the 3D hype of Final Destination 5. Possibly one of the most entertaining movies of 
Frightfest, the fifth installment of the saga is surprisingly clever and it gives the franchise a credibility that many thought it was lost. The stunning opening sequence, the effective 3D effects of every deaths and the unexpected ending are the best features of a movie that also stars a Tom Cruise lookalike (Miles Fisher) and the horror legend Tony Todd.
The first day ended with an anthology movie, Theatre Bizarre, with six different segments by six different directors. Horror legends Tom Savini and Richard Stanley direct the first two, and probably the most disappointing ones, lacking intensity and pace, while insisting on abstraction and dreamy atmospheres. The most interesting segments are Vision Stains, by Karim Hussain, and Sweets, by David Gregory. In the first one a woman becomes addicted to the vitreous fluid of the people she kills, and surrealism, gruesome closeups of needles pinching eyeballs, makes you grasp on your seat; the second one is another surreal metaphor of love and death with a contour of food, portrayed in a psychedelic and refined manner.
The highlights of the second day are the world premiere of The Holding, the world premiere of Cristian Solimeno’s The Glass Man, and the fun horror flick Tucker and Dale vs Evil.
The Holding, by Susan Jacobson, has been compared to No country For Old Men, but set in England, and the expectations were quite high. Unfortunately, despite good performances by Keirston Wareing, Vincent Regan and Terry Stone, the film does not have the appeal nor the subtlety of the Cohen’s masterpiece. More a thriller than a horror, The Holding falls short to be boring, but does not deliver what the hectic beginning and the tense first part promise.
Completely different is The Glass Man, by Cristian Solimeno with Andy Nyman, Neve Campbell, the director himself and veteran James Cosmo. At his second feature film, but first important project, Cristian Solimeno – known for his lead role in Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears – delivers a film that is admirably crafted, masterly directed and with an unexpected twist that takes the story towards a beautifully laconic ending. Completely written and built around a magnificent Andy Nyman, The Glass Man is definitely one of the best movies of the festival, with its hitchcock flavor and astonishing performances. Desperation, misunderstandings, shame, love, irony, all in the bleak frame of today’s London.
The last highlight of the day was Tucker and Dale vs Evil, a black horror comedy that is an intelligent spoof of all the clichés that we find in the most classic slasher movies. Hilarious and funny from the beginning to the end, Tucker and Dale is one of the funniest and most gory horror movies ever made. With notable performances by Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, it is not clear why this 2010 film did not receive the distribution it deserved.
