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A Night of Horror International Film Festival is a genre
specific film festival that is based in Sydney,
Australia.
The festival was founded in 2006, by Dr. Dean Bertram, Lisa
Mitchell, and Grant Bertram. It was originally a short film festival, but has
since expanded to include feature films and horror themed music videos. Indeed,
now that the festival runs for a longer duration, the festival’s name, “A Night
of Horror”, is actually something of a misnomer (the 2008 festival actually ran
for ten days and nights). The principal screening venue for the 2008 festival
was the Dendy Newtown Cinema. Additional special events included a horror
filmmaking forum, a zombie walk, and a number of horror-themed parties.
In addition to the principal annual event in Sydney, a “best of” program of films from the festival
tours within Australia
and internationally. Some of these screenings take place at other festivals
under the “A Night of Horror” banner, and have included programs at: It Came
From Lake Michigan Film Festival , Weekend de la Peur , and Revelation Perth
International Film Festival
In 2007, A Night of Horror International Film Festival also
programmed a special selection of Canadian produced horror films for Possible
Worlds: Sydney’s
Canadian Film Festival (which took place at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington).
During the great war-torn upheaval in medieval Japan, a
poverty-stricken mother and her daughter-in-law scratch out a desperate
existence by murdering lost samurai, disposing of their bodies and
selling their belongings for grain. But when a neighbor returns from
the war, lust, jealousy and rage threaten to drive a wedge between the
mother and daughter-in-law. It isn't long before the presence of an
ominous demon mask seals the trio's fate.
Troubled artist Johan (Max von Sydow) is haunted by past memories … and those demons are contagious, as Johan's wife, Alma (Liv Ullmann), learns when she begins to experience the same delusions. A local aristocrat (Erland Josephson) and his supernatural clan could be behind the nightmares in this brooding, surreal Gothic tale from Swedish master Ingmar Bergman.
Renowned Danish director Lars von Trier
continues his surreal television series set in Copenhagen's Kingdom
Hospital, where unexplained supernatural events are a common
occurrence. As the second season opens, Dr. Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) battles a malpractice case and begins performing voodoo rites; Judith's (Birgitte Raaberg) new baby is disfigured; and a demonic energy has infiltrated the ancient hospital.
Japanese filmmaker Takahisa Zeze
weaves a surreal world of crime and grit called Maleppa in this gory
tale about Sho (pop star Gackt), his vampire friend Kei (Hyde), their
buddy, Son (Wong), and his sister, Yi-che (Zeny Kwok). The group's bond is put to the test, and Sho and Kei are torn apart -- only to meet up later as enemies.
Based
on the book by Koji Suzuki, this earlier Japanese version of the hit
American movie The Ring is creepy in the extreme. After watching a
mysterious videotape, a group of teenagers die … gruesomely. The video
becomes an urban myth. But an insidious force points a deadly finger at
unwary souls unable to resist their curiosity -- people such as Reiko,
a journalist who's unwillingly drawn into a nightmare by the unseen
threat.
Three Asian masters of horror spin twisted tales in this terrifying trilogy. Hong Kong's Fruit Chan
directs "Dumplings," in which an aging actress's obsession with
recapturing her youth leads to an unnatural diet. In Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park's "Cut," a movie extra with a grudge torments a successful director. And in "Box," from Japan's Takashi Miike, sibling rivalry and jealousy reach disturbing new heights.
Director Takashi Miike fashions an explosive drama in Audition. Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi)
has lived as a widower for too long and decides it's time to marry
again. But how will he find a wife? When a friend suggests he hold a
fake audition to pick the right woman, he takes him up on it -- only to
realize that his choice may be a better actress than he bargained for.
A group of teenagers summons up troublesome spirits in this third
installment of the Pang Brothers' horror series. While vacationing in
Thailand, some young friends try to contact ghosts using the 10 methods
outlined in a mysterious book. Once awakened, the persistent phantoms
traumatize the teens and chase them back to Hong Kong. The kids' only
hope is enlisting the aid of an old Thai ghostbuster. Wilson Chen, Isabella Leong and Kate Yeung star.
A plastic surgeon (Pierre Brasseur) becomes obsessed with making things right after his daughter Christiane's (Edith Scob)
face is terribly disfigured in a car accident that he caused. Overcome
with guilt, Dr. Genessier and his vicious nurse, Louise (Alida Valli),
concoct a plan to give Christiane her face back by kidnapping young
girls and removing their faces ... and then grafting them onto
Christiane's.
Director Marco Bellocchio
rethinks the horror genre with unsettling results in his feature-film
debut, widely considered one of the great achievements of Italian
cinema. Vowing to fix it so that his only normal brother (Marino Mase) can get married without fear of being burdened, a death-obsessed epileptic (Lou Castel)
sets out to rid his aberrant family of its faults -- and he starts by
throwing his blind mother (Liliana Gerace) into a ravine.
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