Cell Six

Film Festival opening parties are always good, but then you wake up “with a sare heid and a pocket full of sticky pennies.”

LET US PREY, written by Fiona and myself, screens at 20.15 tonight at Filmhouse 1, part of Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Director Brian O’Malley and his cast, led by Pollyanna McIntosh (FILTH, THE WOMAN), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, HUNGER, pictured) and Niall Greig Fulton (NATAN), having done a sterling job. The main thing we don’t like is the title, so as an act of petty vengeance I’ve used our original title for this post. Let it have one outing at least.

If you are a fan of gruelling horror I venture to say you will not be disappointed by the violence quotient in this film. And people I spoke to after the press screening seemed to feel it was FUN, which is good to hear. One anxiety we had was that it might just end up being an unpleasant ordeal, the kind of endurance test some horror fans seem to appreciate but which was never our intent. Instead, you get a suspenseful, funny, very stylish mixture of claustrophobia, character byplay and mayhem.

A pre-Fest treat: we tagged along to DRAGNET GIRL at Filmhouse on Friday 13th, so eager was I to repeat the experience I had with it at the Bo’ness Hippodrome — scored by Jane Gardner and performed by the composer (piano) alongside Hazel Morrison (percussion) and Roddy Long (violin). With a slight tweak to the sound levels, the experience was even better this time, and I shared it with Fiona and our friend Ali, who liked it so much she’s thinking of taking her husband to the Dundee screening on her birthday. Ozu’s only gangster movie is a unique treat, and if you get the chance, I highly recommend it. It’s touring Scotland so check press for details.

A funding optunity — Neil O’Driscoll, the ex-student of mine who brought me the story of Bernard Natan, is raising cash for a psychological thriller called WAKING THE WITCH. Here. Neil is super-talented and very nice, so you should invest — if anyone can turn a profit in this cockeyed business, it ought to be him.