Review: Mayhem Film Festival 2022

It’s October again, and that can only mean one thing - the celebrated Mayhem Film Festival returning to take over our beloved Broadway Cinema for a celebration of horror, sci-fi and cult classics. With everything from indie film premieres to big-budget action flicks, Nottingham’s famed film celebration covered all the bases. Here’s what we thought of some of Mayhem’s main events…

Dark Glasses

It has been over ten years since Dario Argento unleashed a giallo onto the world; most people consider that a blessing due his last few features garnering nothing but negative criticism. Luckily, his latest outing, Dark Glasses, is a terrific entry into the late career of one of horror’s most accomplished directors. This functions less like a strict giallo, with the film focusing less on a black gloved killer and more on the survivor of a vicious attack. Argento captures her journey with much grace and imbues the film with a surprising amount of empathy - although there are still a few great sequences that end in the gratuitous violence and abject horror you would expect.

Watcher

Despite only running at around the ninety-minute mark, director Chloe Okuno manages to squeeze an incredible amount of style into this taut and lean horror. It’s great to see someone who acknowledges that horror is at its best when it is a formalist genre; emphasising atmosphere and mood through visual imagery rather than drudging the viewer through some opaque metaphor. Watcher wears its influence of films like Rear Window and Body Double on its sleeve but it also adds an extra layer of loneliness as Julia wanders aimlessly around the city of Bucharest. Plus it has a beautiful classical score that helps craft a truly immersive and ambient experience.

Kuroneko

Japanese folk horror Kuroneko saw a rare, one-off theatrical screening – accompanied by a live score – as part of a double with Sleepwalkers. Kaneto Shindo’s adaptation of the supernatural folktale that tells the tale of two vengeful spirits, both murdered brutally by the hands of samurai, is simply beautiful on the big screen. Kuroneko is a tragic and melancholic film that often feels like a melodramatic tragedy more than a stereotypical horror film; covering themes of war, social political power, grief and female revenge. Shindo makes incredible use of lighting and fog to craft an incredibly haunting atmosphere that gives the film a feeling of eeriness and dread in every single frame; which is a pleasure to see on the big screen.

Freaks Out

With Marvel and DC projects seemingly hitting the big and small screen at a rate of knots right now, you’d be forgiven for thinking there simply aren’t any more unique, interesting stories about superpowered people left to tell. Well, Freaks Out, the well-funded Italian action-comedy-drama from Gabriele Mainetti, proves otherwise. This is an incredibly heartfelt and moving yet action-packed and high-octane, bold and brave yet intelligent and introspective film about a group of outcasts finding their way through the power of love and friendship. Tackling themes such as belonging, guilt, responsibility, hatred and fascism, Freaks Out is well worth seeking out.

Jethica

Rounding out our coverage of Mayhem is one of its most understated movies - Jethica, a micro-budget passion project intriguingly described as a “chill ghost movie”. And it is definitely that. From the soft, dreamy cinematography to the sparing use of dialogue, Pete Ohs’s tale is a far cry from Freaks Out, but brings its own poignancy to the festival. Taking a refreshingly singular approach to exploring the need to belong, this is a surprisingly thoughtful story despite its strange concept. With a running time of just over an hour ensuring the film never outstays its welcome, some impactful performances that offer the unexpected, and a hazy score from John Bowers that helps to set the mood, Jethica gets a resounding yeth from us. 

Mayhem Film Festival took place at Broadway Cinema from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 October

broadway.org.uk