Essentially, the initial four characters are invited to sit around a campfire by the sinister aid and asked to share tales of horror and fear to feed the spirits that dwell within the woods surrounding them. The film then becomes a collection of nightmare-fuelled storylines under the guise of your cliched campfire tall tales of ghosts and goblins told by kids at camp. This is where the film may split audiences with each story being reminiscent of the childlike stories you might tell other kids to scare them late at night (with some being more graphic than others) and in nature rather obvious and slightly disjointed at times.

The genius (intentional or otherwise) is that the storylines are, at times, laugh-out-loud funny due to their on-the-nose outcomes or twists that even a 12-year-old could probably see coming. But fortunately, the reminder that we, as an audience get between each story, is that these short stories are being told by friends, who are intent on amplifying aspects of shock and surprise, almost to a comedic degree.

Had these short stories been told independently of one another, they would have worked fine, but their obviousness and their cheeky charm would have probably come across as weird and ill-placed without the interwoven plot holding them together.

Something not apparent, until the credits roll, is that each sub-story has been written by a different writer. Looking back that is rather apparent, with each plot having a different tone and style, with genres clashing based on each person’s interpretation of what truly scares them.

The film star Richard Brake, Andrew Lee Potts, Bill Fellows, Rufus Hound and a list of actors too long to recount, with no one being any better or worse than the other, all culminating in a well-acted hour and a half. Again, how the story progresses allows the acting to be farcical at times, almost like a mate saying, “And then he turned around and said this”. Whether this was by design or pure coincidence is hard to say for sure, but it works better than you’d think.

Production value is there, and the camera work is better than most in this genre, showing just as much as you need to keep you drawn in, whilst still leaving you guessing. The final story in particular had me gleefully gasping at the shocking quality of detail shown on screen, for what I expected to be more of an ‘off-screen’ kind of B movie.

Fans of tongue-in-cheek horror and short storytelling will surely enjoy each minute. Not quite the quality of horror you’d get from the VHS franchise (2012 – 2024) or the stardom we’ve seen in Ghost Stories (2017) but still a good night of fun to enjoy with friends; just not quite hot enough though to toast marshmallows on.

A  love letter to classic horror, Lore is premiering exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 26th August, sign up for a 7-day free trial at iconfilmchannel.uk or via the Icon Film Channel on Amazon Prime. Lore will be available to stream exclusively on the IFC Channel from 26 August, in Select UK Cinemas from 27 September and then available on Home Entertainment from 21 October 2024.

The post Lore: Film Review appeared first on Quays Life.

What starts as a simple, circular, white piece of fabric draped upon The Lowry’s warehouse floor, grows over time into an intimate, albeit borderline claustrophobic, viewing tent in which the audience gleefully gathers in shared anticipation. Growing in size over the hour, the surrounding fabric rises higher and higher as the artists take greater risks whilst also managing to strengthen the audiences’ intrigue and reverence.

Originally from Chicago, the Aloft Circus Arts troupe consists of seven; Shanya Swanson (Tour manager and director) and six astonishing acrobats; Rachel Nesnevich, Zoe Sheppard, Linnea Ridolfi, Hayley Larson, Heather Dart, and Sarah Tapper. Performing as far back as 2005, the group continues to sell out shows in America, and the UK, with shows consisting of juggling, ariel arts, and acrobatics; to name a few.

What was created as “an antidote to the horrors of the daily news cycle”, the 60-minute-long performance pairs audience input with mesmerising stunts. Now the artists themselves may not consider the acts to be worthy of the title ‘stunts’, but all in attendance would undoubtedly agree that the acts did at times evoke real moments of shock and awe. Certainly not your typical night out at the theatre, but for good reason.

The audience is asked to put their faith in one another as much as the performers, with attendees being invited intermittently to partake in responsibilities that would make even the Fonzies’ palms sweaty, such as holding a metal pole tightly in place whilst a performer raises themselves 8 feet in the air upon it; with no safety net or soft ground beneath them. Direct involvement is not required from all to enjoy the show but only heightens the overall experience for those lucky few who are asked.

The highlight (no pun intended) perhaps had to be ‘The duo sling’ act performed by Hayley and Linnea, which had the two artists swinging melodically and gracefully high above the audience’s heads. More so remarkable due to its unusual perspective; as we were invited to lay on our backs, and gaze up at the unravelling of fabric restraints and deadly aerobatics from an unseen angle mere meters above our heads.

The whole performance was paired perfectly with music to match its calming but occasionally unpredictable temperament. The simple yet striking set design only added to the overall aesthetics of intimacy and fantasy. Throughout, lyrics such as ‘Good girls can fly’ and ‘You are safe here’ practically floated through what little space there was between the artist high above and the spectators down below.

Unlike anything you are likely to have seen before, Brave Space manages to squeeze together aspects of contemporary dance, circus-centric acts, and audience participation, culminating in an impulsive congregation in the tiniest of tents.

Brave Space is at The Lowry, Salford from 18-20 July 2024.

The post Brave Space: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

Hidden down a dark and dreary back alley, somewhere between Cheetham Hills vacant industrial estate and Manchester City Centre’s bustling night life, is the most characteristic concert venue one will ever have the opportunity to visit. The White Hotel, a converted garage no less, opened its shutters to host four of the most highly praised and innovative string performers this generation has to offer. 

The dimly lit, secretly hidden site surely houses no more than 40, with only a small handful of chairs lined up in front of the quaint stage. The closeness only heightens the intense feeling of intimacy. Paired with the hued orange glow radiating from neon signs positioned behind vacant chairs on stage, culminating in a sense of surreal mystery. 

The night opens with violinist Amy Tress talking about the structure of the night’s set list, which was separated into two polar opposite sections. The first, a 30-minute long rendition of Steve Reich’s ‘Different Trains’, and the second being a selection of hits from 80’s superstar Kate Bush. The audience simply smile and nod with sincere admiration, and it’s only when we’re told that the quartet will be joined by Alice for the latter, that the audience hail and applaud. 

The first half has the small audience silent with suspense, with the recorded audio blaring through stereo speakers either side of the stage. The quartet play alongside the recording, flawlessly mirroring, and imitating the distinctive noises of once recorded trains along with imitating the sound of recorded speech through unique and specialised strokes. Stephen Upshaw can be seen plucking at his violin pizzicato style part way through, causing the sounds to cut through high above the collective. 

More than 25 minutes of continuous playing go by and the troupe show no sign of stopping. It’s only as the final movement of Reich’s piece ends does the quartet softly come to a tender conclusion. The room pauses for a moment in complete silence before breaking out in applause. Tears can be seen falling from the faces of several, whilst others turn to one another to reflect on what they had just experienced. 

After a short break Amy returns to stage and announces their guest performer, soul and gospel inspired singer Alice Zawadzki. The vibrant deep red of Alice’s dress cuts through the smoke filled room and separates her perfectly from the other four performers wearing traditional black attire with accents of white. Alice doesn’t sit like the others on stage, but rather stands tall behind a pre-positioned music stand, placing her hands faintly upon the top. She softly speaks the words: “Our first song of the night is one Kate wrote at the age of 13…The Man with the Child in His Eyes”, and the quartet begin to play. 

As a complete contrast to the evening’s first half, which was heavily shaped by pre-recorded audio, Solem Quartet now lead with confidence and allure. Trills and harmonies sail through the air, complementing one another perfectly before landing the ears below. Cellist Stephanie Tress, nods and sways her head along to the melody, occasionally looking up at Alice for lyrical queues, all the while drawing her bow along the strings with grace. 

Various adaptations (courtesy of violinist William Newell) of Kate Bush tracks pass by, separated only by the intermittent converse from singer Alice. These brief talks give background detail to the upcoming song or simply highlight the significance of the song prior, until steadily, the night’s performance serenely comes to a calming end, leaving the musicians to stand one last time to massive applause. 

Solem Quartet + Alice Zawadzki were at The White Hotel, Salford on 27 March as part of Through the Noise 2024. 

The post Solem Quartet and Alice Zawadzki: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

As one of the leading festivals in the north, MANIFF’s focus is on making a week-long event as entertaining for all their attending guests as possible. Whether they are budding film directors, big recognisable film stars, or simply film fans coming to support the filmmakers that they love. It’s the bustling atmosphere, paired with the stunningly real ‘Manc’ location that gives new meaning to the phrase ‘This is Manchester, we do things differently here.’

This year the festival will host 45 feature films and more than 100 short films. Northwest shorts is a returning category, showcasing some of the latest and greatest talents in the northern region. Juliette Holmes, a member of the awards panel, says: “The addition of the Northwest shorts category is a great way of celebrating stories and filmmakers from the region. It is a really popular screening, as so many local filmmakers attend to show their support to colleagues. There’s always a chance you’ll see a familiar face”.

Industry professionals like Luke Bather have attended and featured in recent years festivals, coming away with awards. He says: “MANIFF has always been brilliant, not only for being able to see amazing shorts and features but also for the people that I’ve had the chance to meet simply through attending the festival!”

From start to finish, the festival hosts evening events for their filmmakers to connect and unwind following the stresses a launch can bring. The festival is known for its positive energy that doesn’t stop when the screenings fade to black, with festival director Neil Jarem-Croft reflecting on fond memories: “From a 3-day festival to the 10-day extravaganza that we have now. What has been most enjoyable over the years has been meeting so many talented filmmakers and sharing their films with an audience”.

Kicking off the festival will be the UK premiere of The Convert, starring Guy Pearce.
The Convert is directed by Lee Tamahori and tells the story of a preacher who arrives at a British settlement in 1830s New Zealand. His violent past is soon drawn into question and his faith put to the test, as he finds himself caught in the middle of a bloody war between Maori tribes.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the UK premiere of The Trap, marking the directorial debut of Lena Headey. Other The world premieres hosted at the event include UK films Of God’s Men, Straight Through Crew, The Can and Die Before you Die.

The closing night also promises to be a cinematic treat with the screening of the latest Rose Glass film, Love Lies Bleeding, starring Kirsten Stewart, Katy O’Brian and Ed Harris.
The film sees Stewart star as Lou, a reclusive gym manager who falls hard for Jackie (O’Brian), an ambitious bodybuilder who’s heading to Las Vegas to pursue her dream. Their love soon leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.

The festival runs from March 15-24 at Odeon, Great Northern. Forfull details of the films and tickets visit MANIFF’s official website. Here’s to the next 10 years!

The post Celebrating 10 years of the Manchester Film Festival appeared first on Quays Life.

There are only a select few movies that both test an audience’s patience and attention span, whilst also showcasing some of the most astonishing shots of terrain there are to be seen on screen. ‘American Star’ manages to proportionately draw you in with dramatic, slow panning shots of Spain’s dusty mountain landscape one minute whilst pushing you away with its likely intentional, but equally frustrating, expansive moments of silence.
Director Gonzalo López-Gallego takes the term ‘Pinter Pause’ to the extreme, with the character Wilson not even speaking a word throughout the initial 10 minutes of the movie, as well as there being frequent moments of awkward silence between pivotal characters. These silences are certainly there to give audiences adequate time to reflect on the meaningfulness of what few conversations do take place but don’t help with the difficult pacing.

That’s not to say that every film has to cram dialogue into every minute of its runtime for it to be engaging. ‘American Star’ discernibly falls into an art house category of nuanced movies that you would normally find at a film festival rather than one you would watch with your friends on a Friday night. Due to its more engaging aspects being the vibrant location and filming style.

The minimalist cast is led by veteran actor Ian McShane, known for performances in John Wick and American Gods, and the 81-year-old gives an unsurprisingly grounded performance of a most unlikely hitman on holiday. The handful of supporting actors give equally fair performances, with Gloria (Nora Arnezeder) being the residential bartender and Wilsons’ private tour guide of the island. Others include Max (Oscar Coleman), the young influential child whom Wilson takes a fondness for, and Ryan (Adam Nagaitis) the reminder of what outstanding work Wilson has to do in the first place.

Riddled with foreshadowing and symbolism, the movie doesn’t allow the audience time to figure things out for themselves but rather shows them the literal intent of unfolding events. Whether it be the band covering Europe’s hit song The Final Countdown at a communal bar being the reflection of how this would be the final assassination for Wilson, or the imagery of an old, washed-up sea vessel crumbling into the ocean mirroring the washed-up persona of old Wilson himself. The film often felt more like a toured book of planned occurrences than a movie with surprise and allure.

It is hard not to compare one movie to another, and unfortunately for ‘American Star’, I often found myself comparing themes with the cult film ‘In Bruges’. Although not remotely of the same genre, the themes around assassins on their days off and the grand imagery of Europe’s stunning locations, often left me wondering if the film was at all inspired by the other and sadly, it just didn’t compare.

Watched at the right time, in the right setting with the right people, ‘American Star’ could certainly be appreciated by most, however, with audiences watching movies from the comfort of their couches rather than via the big screen experience, the scenes of striking cinematography will be lost on many and the added sluggish pacing will likely kill much attention spans quicker than a hitman on holiday.

American Star is coming to UK Cinemas & Digital Platforms on 23 February 2024.

The post American Star: Film Review appeared first on Quays Life.

Lead actor Kay Tse, who’s better known for her massive success in the Cantopop music genre, plays eldest sister, Cat. Cat is the main driving force for the bulk of the movie and it’s mainly her development that we follow on screen.

The rest of the cast give similarly impressive performances and, what’s more impressive, most haven’t professionally acted before! Co-stars Anna hisbbuR (younger sister) and Rondi Chan (Son) are making their big screen debuts, and I guarantee most audiences couldn’t have guessed that based on these performances alone. Both effortlessly showcase the deeper emotions a family in disagreements often has to face, and they are led by an excellent performance from Kwan Wai Pang (professionally known as Teddy Robin) as ‘King’, father to the two sisters. At 78 years of age Teddy proves that acting is equally an old man’s game.

The heart and soul of the movie is the music, so it makes sense that the entirety of the cast is musically apt, but it’s truly astonishing just how musically talented the cast truly is.
The plot at face value is about a disjointed family thrust back together following the death of the mother and we follow as the four go about their lives, with occasional heated confrontations, largely in part due to some dissimilar views on what a family is and what they should do for one another. However, the movie also intertwines other various plot points together such as the trials and tribulations of a starving musician as well as some insightful looks into an illness that over 55 million suffer from.

As good as this is for a first attempt at feature-length filmmaking, the film suffers largely in part due to the fact it is packed full of stereotypical metaphors, which often draw away from the great moments of real character development for an ‘ahh’ moment later on. These don’t detract from the film’s overall charm and enjoyment by any means but act more as a reminder of the director’s possible nervous attempts to show development rather than letting the audience notice it naturally.

Obviously, a film about musicians, starring musicians and directed by a musician is going to have some excellent music and it does. The musical talent is most admirable when nine-year-old Rondi slaps his drumsticks (or chopsticks) atop a drumkit, or any flat surface, to exhibit his character’s emotional state at that time to an impressive level. As a drummer myself, I was trying to establish if the young actor was actually performing the beats and fills himself, and to my surprise… I believe he was. What’s equally as impressive as the young drummer’s talents, is the director’s recognition of the good use of silence in a movie, which she uses to add real emotional depth and elevate moments of real sorrow.

Overall, Band Four is a movie for both lovers of music and lovers of screen and can be appreciated by all. It doesn’t particularly break any moulds but rather embraces the age-old techniques and runs with them. With a great cast, great musical score, and some surprise moments of gloom, Band Four could be a great launching point for a new director and an exciting debut for the novice actors’ future careers.

Band Four will be in UK Cinemas from 15th December

The post Band Four: Film Review appeared first on Quays Life.

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is a documentary about famed actor, Robert Englund, best known for his portrayal as the knifed-glove-wearing baddie, Freddy Krueger, in the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ saga. It looks at Englund’s entire repertoire of movies, TV shows, and early onstage productions throughout his seven decades as a performer on screen and stage, as well as dissecting his acceptance as a genre-defining icon, which potentially cost him his freedom as a diverse character actor going forward.

Unlike some other documentary-style films following the life of an entertainer, Dreams and Nightmares is told primarily first-hand by Robert himself, through memories and tales, and it’s this intimacy and involvement from Englund that garners intrigue and attention throughout its rather lengthy screen time of just over two hours.

Starting when Robert was a young boy launching himself into acting as an unexpected but respected stage performer in the ’60s, we learn how this craft wasn’t always his intended lifelong dream, but rather blossomed from a natural ability to make people laugh. Comedy and comedic timing are something many know Robert for, and it is spoken about frequently by the many guest interviewees.

Movie stars such as co-star Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Lin Shaye (Insidious) give burning praise for Englund’s craft and capacity to make each and every scene memorable for audiences and comfortable for them as performers. As well as discussing their collective experiences on set, we gain some insightful titbits into the actor’s personality off-screen. These interviews work well by adding glances at the other guests smiling or laughing in agreement with one another, almost as if they were in the room together recalling fond memories.

As well as numerous exclusive video recordings of interviews with Robert and guests, audiences are treated to both animated depictions of the tales being told as well as photos taken of the actor during his time off camera. The former is possibly the most interestingly done, as it strengthens the exploration into one of the actor’s most prolific genres, body horror, by twisting and pulsating images of people’s faces. Often, I found myself feeling uncomfortable due to the unusual movement of the photo’s foreground or focal point (often Robert in some kind of disfigured makeup).

What doesn’t work quite as well as the image manipulation however is the loud soundtrack, which is regularly playing underneath whilst the interviewees are talking. Often used to add suspense or excitement to the dialog, the talking is merely lost underneath the brash music track, which is a shame when every bit of dialogue is as valuable as the next in understanding Robert’s career choices and personality traits.

The biggest takeaway from the documentary is the argument that Robert’s talent as an actor was possibly squandered when he became such a worldwide iconic movie character thus becoming typecast as such. Although Robert and fans acknowledge and appreciate his success it is debated at what cost, a quote from within the documentary perfectly summarises his difficult career following the Elm Street franchise well – ‘Does KISS get sick of playing rock and roll every night? Probably. But that’s what everyone is there to see’.

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story will be available on Blu-ray and Digital Download from 6 November 2023.

The post Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story: Film Review appeared first on Quays Life.