I’ve just come back from the Welsh horror festival Abertoir, and thought I might share a few thoughts on the films I caught there, splitting the report into two parts to aid digestion. I should emphasise that I won’t mention any of the excellent live events that help make the festival so special, and that I confess to missing more films than I would have liked. The troublesome demands of eating and sleeping tended to intrude, as indeed did drinking. To be honest, at times it began to resemble a boozing festival interrupted by occasional movies. On which basis, I name my personal beer of the fest to be Dark Side of the Moose. But I digress…

Proceedings kicked off on Tuesday with an old classic in the shape of The Shining – particularly apposite with the wave of haunted house flicks that have been made over the past few years. It was an extended cut, with most of the reintroduced footage being early exposition. The Shining made or destroyed Jack Nicholson’s career, depending on who you ask. The aspect of the movie that most struck me this time was how bad – yet simultaneously perfect – the performances were by the leads, Nicholson and Shelley Duvall (though Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd are very good). There’s little character development. Nicholson’s Jack is gleefully demented from his first scene, while Duvall’s long-suffering Wendy looks consistently on the edge of nervous collapse throughout. Yet somehow it works…

Resolution took us bang-up-to-date with what might best be described as a post-modern horror movie. On the surface, it’s a film about friendships and how they survive the passage of time – particularly when one friend turns his back on his wild youth and the other most certainly does not. Beneath, however, Resolution enters much deeper, stranger territory, playing games with both the characters and the audience. The strength of the first aspect of the film – the friendship’s very well observed and performed – helps sustain its more ambitious elements, and even provides some proper belly laughs. Ultimately, however, Resolution develops into such a fascinating puzzle, that it’s difficult to imagine any ending avoiding anticlimax…

Next up, another preview, entitled The Ghastly Love of Johnny X. An affectionate, kitsch satire of 50s drive-in sci-fi filmed as a musical on antique stock, it was never going to appeal to everyone. But there’s enough love and inventiveness evident on the screen to make it worth a watch. Authentically enough, the ‘teen’ heroes are all at least in their 20s, the musical numbers don’t outstay their welcome, and there are a few amusing touches of surrealism – such as the resolutely revolting rock idol Mickey O’Flynn – that help sustain interest. For all that, I suspect that the makers of The Ghastly Love of Johnny X are hoping to create a Rocky Horror Picture Show style cult, and such phenomena seldom ever happen by design.

Errors of the Human Body was an altogether more serious affair, though the presence of Rik Mayall in a prominent supporting role did raise a few inappropriate chuckles (though Mayall is actually rather good). A taut medical thriller about disease, immunity and the morality of scientific research, it was seldom short of gripping. It was also the first of a number of films over the week with a medical theme, suggestive, perhaps, of a burgeoning trend? If I were to pick fault with Errors of the Human Body, the actor cast as a sinister scientist looked like he’d come from sinister scientist central casting, though his performance was strong enough. I must also come clean, and confess that I missed the twist ending and had to have it explained to me afterwards. Even at this early stage the Dark Side of the Moose was beginning to take its toll…

The Mad Magician 3D was another vintage presentation, this time a minor Vincent Price vehicle from 1954. However, even minor Vincent Price vehicles are almost invariably good value, particularly when they’ve been put through a state-of-the-art 3D process. The 3D was very impressive – probably the best I’ve ever experienced (I could never bring myself to watch Avatar). The film itself is about a stage magician who finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a web of deceit after committing murder in a moment of passion, endeavouring to use his conjuring skills to extricate him from the predicament. Price, as ever, chews the scenery with exquisite elegance as the titular conjuror, making The Mad Magician 3D on the big screen a must for fans of Gothic melodrama.

It’s become traditional for horror festivals to screen one of the increasingly demented exploitation flicks currently flooding from Japan. Truth be told, these deliriously over-the-top exercises in excess are increasingly victim to the law of diminishing returns, as the tsunamis of CGI gore and gleeful bad taste lose their impact, so clued-up audiences are starting to demand a little more substance with their schlock from the Land of the Rising Sun. Dead Sushi delivered, a sick action-comedy parodying the rituals surrounding sushi in Japan, as well as corporate culture and any number of stupid monster movies. Largely replacing the robots, ninjas and gallons of viscera now routine in such flicks with sentient snacks, Dead Sushi successfully disarms the viewer with its crackpot exuberance and sheer defiant daftness.

Check out part two of my festival report, going live soon, where I tackle the excellent Antiviral, the goofy ghastliness of The Beyond, the controversial American Mary, the weird and wonderful John Dies at the End, and the pitch-black Brit-com Sightseers…