PIGEON SHRINE FRIGHTFEST 2023 – Film Review

Smart and stylish old-school horror anthology from the UK that offers ghosties, gore, and guffaws with excellent casting and slick storytelling.

Master of the sinister smile Richard Brake welcomes a likable foursome of scare seekers to sit around his woodland campfire. He invites each of them to toss a carved totem into the flames before sharing spooky urban legends with each other and the invisible entities that listen on.

His guests are impressed with his immersive attitude to the experience they have paid for over the Internet and enter into the spirit of things with twisted tales of demons, apparitions, Satanists, and stalkers. But, is their morbid host really playing a part, or do his ominous warnings carry deathly weight?

Horror anthologies are often misused by filmmakers eager to snag an easily controlled foothold in the genre world. They are often creatively cold, derivatively lazy, and tediously cheap. Thankfully, Lore is a thoughtfully put-together feast of fucked up fables that makes the most of its superb cast, pleasingly practical gore, and snappy writing.

First to emerge from the folklore fire is the chilling Shadows.

Daniel is in debt and desperately fleeing a couple of rather large gentlemen looking to settle the matter. After one of the most inept attempts at apprehension in cinema history, he takes refuge in a dark warehouse where something even more hazardous lies in wait.

Punchy and pacy this bloody little monster yarn is a solid curtain raiser for Lore that skates thinly on the delicate ice of mental health issues whilst delivering a delicious twist. It’s a fair barometer of the economic nature of the film as a whole with its practical creature design and bold bloodletting. Look out for a marvelous performance from Bill Fellows, (Ted Lasso, Coronation Street, Lady Macbeth), as ex-steel worker security guard Jeff.

The second totem to burn invokes the ghostly world of The Hidden Woman.

Arguably the most traditional tale of the four sees us ing a woman and her sullen son as they move into the sprawling pile of her recently deceased mother. Before they can settle in, an ethereal presence begins a campaign of fear that would have me straight on Zoopla.

The visuals are atmospheric and the score is marvelously malevolent resulting in some scary set pieces wonderfully reminiscent of the early 80s Hammer horror series. It was all more than sufficient to give me and my dog the heebie-jeebies on the lonesome rainy night we viewed the screener.

Next in line to appease the woodland spirits comes the tonal shift of the maniacal shagging fable Cross Your Heart.

Toxic would-be swinger Steve, played by Rufus Hound, yes THAT Rufus Hound, and his gas-lit wife Cath, award-winning actress Katie Sheridan, arrive at a cheap hotel. The plan is for a night of salubrious spit-swapping with what Alan Partridge might call ‘sex people’. However, things don’t go as planned as it all goes a bit Kill List and Steve falls into the clutches of a coven of ‘witchy pricks’.

It’s here that Lore reveals its strong suit is well-judged humour as the jokes and sight gags begin to hit the mark. Hound and Sheridan are clearly enjoying themselves with some great lines. When Cath is offered a shiny black fuck drug she dismisses it with a casual ‘No I’ve got work tomorrow’ and Hound’s ‘That is not sexy! That’s just mental!’ is priceless.

This paves the way nicely for the final frightful log on the campfire the cinema set meta slasher The Key Chain Man.

An oversized concessions server goes full Voorhees after being unjustly sacked just before a screening, and it’s a total blast. Brilliantly acted with fantastic comic timing and packed with some truly inventive kills with truly unusual implements it is horror fun personified.

It reminded me of an extrapolated version of those cool ‘turn off your phone’ indents that used to play Frightfest back in the day but with better production values. As a mini-calling card, it suggests a bright future for those involved.

Look out for Sammy T. Dobson’s scene-stealing Claire the toilet cleaner in a final dip for the finishing line that closes the quartet of stories with hilarious bravado and a showstopping kill.

The conclusion of the wrap-around segment is satisfyingly subtle, but hang around during the credits to be rewarded with an even more revealing last-gasp twist ending.

Lore is a thoroughly entertaining blend of Hammer House of Horror and Midnight Club, with bloody dashes of Inside No.9 and Black Mirror that shows craft and care in fashioning a potent portmanteau of genre goodness.