Five days and 37 movies later, FrightFest 2011 is over.
The line-up this year was solid-to-strong, with a marked decrease in torture porn movies and an injection of fun thanks to movies like Final Destination 5 , Saint , Fright Night , Troll Hunter and Deadheads .
As ever, FrightFest brought us all the genre’s staples – vampires, zombies, serial killers, rednecks, ghosts, the Grim Reaper, Satanism, paganism, imaginary friends/fiends – from around the globe, but some of the best films ( Kill List , The Woman ) took unexpected turns and came at established themes from unusual angles to surprise and brutalise.
So, here is Total Film ’s annual awards, celebrating the best (and worst) of the fest.
Best Film
1. Kill List (Ben Wheatley)
2. The Innkeepers (Ti West)
3. The Woman (Lucky McKee)
4. Detention (Joseph Kahn)
5. A Lonely Place To Die (Julian Gilbey)
Best Director
Ti West ( The Innkeepers )
Best Actor
Michael Smiley ( Kill List )/AJ Bowen ( A Horrible Way To Die )
Best Actress
Polly McIntosh ( The Woman )/Sara Paxton ( The Innkeepers )
Best Screenplay
Ben Wheatley ( Kill List )
Best Kill
It’s hammer time… ( Kill List )
Grubbiest kill
Slitting a man’s throat with the lid of a baked beans can ( The Divide )
Most fun kill
The dismount ( Final Destination 5 )/The Woodchipper ( Tucker & Dale Vs Evi l)
Best Scare
The bride ( The Innkeepers )
Best gag
Bees and chainsaws ( Tucker & Dale Vs Evil )
The 10-years-too-late-but-still-pretty-creepy ‘found footage’ award
Atrocious
The 10-years-too-late-and-very-little-to-recommend-it ‘found footage’ award
A Night In The Woods
The 10-years-too-late-but-hey-it’s-got-awesome-trolls-in-it ‘found footage’ award
Troll Hunter
The five-years-too-late torture porn film award
Urban Explorers / Vile (we suggest the filmmakers pull out each others’ fingernails to find a winner)
Biggest Disappointment
The Wicker Tree
Biggest surprise
Detention
Best Question and Answer
Audience member: “The head scene was very graphic. Did you mean to leave it in?”
Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List : No. I was as surprised as you to see it in there. I thought, ‘There goes my 15…’”
