It’s Screamfest 2015 Time! What I’ve Seen, and What to Look for at Hollywood’s Horror Show

Martyrs

If you’ve seen the original French-language film, you’ll wonder how in the hell this could possibly be remade stateside, and now you’ll have a chance to find out. Given the source material’s levels of nudity, blasphemy, flaying alive and spirituality conflated with torture on a  level not usually seen outside of a Clive Barker novel, this new version has a lot to live up to, and I’m dying to see if directors Kevin & Michael Goetz can come anywhere close to pulling it off.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

I’m less excited by the 3D than I am that the story is finally concluding, and may do so in a way that actually allows this installment’s heroes to stand a chance against the invisible whatsits and their witch worshippers. I missed part 4 and didn’t feel like I lost any important plot information, but The Marked Ones was refreshingly creative within the template. As a bonus, Screamfest is also going to have a free screening of the first Paranormal film, which they debuted back in the day – though it won’t, sadly, be the version that debuted, in which Katie was killed at the end and sequel plans were briefly stymied until the finale could be reshot.

Game Changer: the Legacy of Saw

With the classic slasher franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th getting definitive documentaries recently, I’d say it’s about time for one on the Saw series, which was always one of my faves even in the later installments, as the ingenious deathtraps and the mandatory Tobin Bell flashbacks could always be counted on for fun even if the rest fell flat. I’ve spoken to Bell a few times over the years, but that was before the series concluded – thoughts on the full story post-completion would be fun to hear, as well as some long-overdue refutations to some of the more facile criticisms of the series (“It thinks it’s deep! It justifies torture!” No and no, and I’ll get into that in comments below if you really want me to. But I’d rather see the actual cast and crew do so).

Patchwork

I LOVE the premise already: three women wake up to find that they have had their body parts stitched together into one Frankensteined creation, and must try to remember the why, the how, and the who the fuck to murder in retaliation. Sounding like part Hangover, part May, part Human Centipede, this could well be a potential festival winner already.

The Hallow

Evil forest fairies in rural Ireland menace a couple of new residents and try to steal their baby. I suspect they’re also pissed off at being portrayed as girlish Tinkerbell-types all these years, when they’re actually mutant things with fangs and claws.

These are just the selections that look the best to me right now, but there are always surprises – I never expected The Human Centipede to strike a nerve like it did. Check out the full festival guide to see for yourself what else is on offer, from revival screenings like Feast and Phase IV with its long-lost original ending, to new contenders produced by the likes of James Franco and Wes Craven, there are a lot of shiny things to see and devour. Metaphorically.

I’ll do what I can to report back on the best.