Film / News
Forbidden Worlds’ autumn Big Scream event has a ‘stranger danger’ theme
It’s one of the most popular of what we’re probably now expected to call “horror movie tropes”. The ‘stranger danger’ flick has blameless folks, often young women, terrorised by sinister outsiders, often in what Gen Z would describe as ‘safe spaces’.
For its pre-Halloween two-day Big Scream event, the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival has gathered together six of the best of them for an orgy of menace on Bristol’s huge former IMAX screen in the aquarium, which has now been rebranded the Bristol Megascreen. The programme ranges from teen horror faves When a Stranger Calls and I Know What You Did Last Summer, to the VHS-era classic The Hitcher (starring the late, great Rutger Hauer), which has recently been restored in 4K.
There are also some lesser-known cult films. Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes Grand Prize-winning 1978 Brit horror The Shout is adapted from a short story by Robert Graves and stars Alan Bates as a mysterious fella who has mastered an Aboriginal ‘terror shout’ that can kill anyone who hears it.
The Big Scream also boasts the UK premiere of a new 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s typically lush and sadistic 1987 giallo flick Opera, which follows a masked assailant as he forces a young diva to watch him bumping off members of the cast of a production of Verdi’s Macbeth inside a stunning opera house.
Finally, fans of Japanese horror will be delighted to see the creepy 1997 film Cure, which has been hailed as a key influence on the Ringu and Ju-On series.
As a bonus, each film will be preceded by a horror short, five of which are the work of Bristol-based and/or Bristol-born filmmakers – plus a recent audience favourite from the horror festival circuit.
As usual, New Bristol Brewery will be bringing a selection of beers, including The Forbidden Sesh – their Forbidden Worlds Festival-branded IPA. Indian Summer will also be on site selling a range of Asian snacks, while Mobile Coffee Box will provide a range of hot drinks.
The Big Scream takes place on October 11 & 12. Go here for tickets and further information.
Main image from Opera: Forbidden Worlds Film Festival
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