Bristol Film Festival: Review Round-Up
Bristol Film Festival was sorely missed last year when it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Screening classic films at iconic locations, the festival is always one of the highlights of the year!
The festival runs from October to December with a range of films screened across Bristol. From the 1980’s classic Airplane! screened underneath Concorde to horror films such as The Descent shown at Redcliffe Caves, the festival is never lacking in exciting events.
Two of our reviewers were fortunate enough to attend a couple of the events and have reviewed their experience for us.
The Witch at Bristol Museum
The Everyday were invited to the Bristol Film Festival this year where a host of different films were showcased in, shall we say, unusual locations. At the time, this premise sounded promising; a chance to see films, old and new, outside of the typical cinema setting but instead in some of Bristol’s most famous places and landmarks.
My sister and I went to see The Witch at Bristol Museum; neither of us had seen this film before and as it was only a few days before Halloween we were looking forward to watching a horror film underneath the gigantic whale in the main downstairs area of the museum. When we first walked in there was a bar set up selling food and drinks, an acrobat entertaining guests, and two women dressed in the same way as those in the film and talking about the horrors of witches. We took our seats and fifteen minutes later the film started.
The film itself had an interesting premise; set in 1630’s it follows a family who are banished from their New England village and set up a farm next to the woods where sinister events start to take place. Not your typical horror film. This is Robert Eggers’ directorial debut and in some ways, you can definitely tell. The camera movements and sudden cut-to-black screens makes me feel like I’m watching a student film but that isn’t a bad thing because it also feels like I’m watching a horror documentary rather than a work of fiction. A lot of the tension is built up before the screen cuts to black and a new scene is started meaning some of the actual horror elements are not shown to the audience. Personally for me, someone who is not typically a fan of horror, this worked because it meant us as the audience have to actually engage with the film mentally. For those who prefer the slasher/gory/he’s-coming-to-get-you horror films, this one might not be for you.
This is also Anya Taylor-Joy’s film debut, not that you would know. She’s magnetic, drawing your eye in every scene as she struggles to cope with the evil forces at play before being forced to deny to her family that she herself is the witch. Towards the end of the film we do get the scenes we’ve all been waiting for; some gory, gasp-out-loud, what the hell is going on scenes that make it hard to look away no matter how much you want to. In one particular scene the mother of the family believes her lost new-born son has returned and breast-feeds him though as the scene changes we see that it is a crow pecking at her beast and causing her to bleed; the nervous laughs and gasps of disgust could be heard in Bristol Museum at this particular scene.
It is obvious that Eggers’ has done his homework; there is a title card at the end of the film stating that it was inspired by many folktales, fairytales and written accounts of historical witchcraft. It also states that much of the dialogues comes from period sources. It is a shame then that at Bristol Museum we didn’t hear much of that dialogue. Though the film was shown in good quality I cannot say the same for the sound. Much of the dialogue was completely missed due to the poor condition of the sound; we had to try and make sense of the events unfolding without relying too heavily on the dialogue which is most definitely not ideal when watching a film for the first time. A lot of people left about a quarter of the way through - I presume because of these sound issues. Although I enjoyed the film, and being able to watch it at Bristol Museum was a great idea, the sound unfortunately marred the experience as a whole.
The Descent at Redcliffe Caves
I hadn’t heard much about The Descent (2005) until reading the name on Bristol Film Festivals line up with the description; a horror film about caving… being screened in a cave… on Halloween night!!
Honestly, it sounded completely terrifying and wrong. The weeks leading up to the screening I experienced slight waves of anxiety thinking about it; I was very excited.
When I stepped into Redcliffe Caves on Halloween night that same excited anxiety hit. I hadn’t ever experienced such intense feelings before a film’s opening titles.
I had purposely avoided any spoilers but when I walked through the darkly lit tight passageways of the caves leading to the screening room I couldn’t help but think it might be something like this.
The film was prefaced with an introductory speech and when I raised my hand to the question “Who hasn’t seen The Descent before?” I was lovingly called a mad bastard. As the cave descended into darkness, I shared one last terror filled grin with my +1.
The whole room was enraptured, each jump scare brought out a shared jolt from the crowd. The story follows a group of friends spiraling into a nightmarish situation, as they face claustrophobia, gnarly injuries and eventually lose their grip on reality. That may sound bad enough, but the further they travel into the cave, the further they trespass on the nest of subterranean, and hungry, monsters. There is something for all kinds of horror fans here.
My viewing experience was massively exaggerated by my surroundings. I was sat on the end of a row, to my left a cave passage leading into a mass of darkness. My imagination inflated as I pictured the creatures from the film lurking just where my eyesight couldn’t reach. For the entire 1hr 39 minute run time, I was tense and full of adrenaline.
This night was like no other cinema trip I’ve been on. I felt so connected to the content of the film and felt I could easily be in the protagonists’ shoes. I also felt so bonded to the audience, through enduring such an ordeal together and that we all chose to do so, on Halloween of all days.
It was a five-star film that was only elevated by its setting and I am considering going back next year for it’s annual screening in the same place. If you like horror, this is about as close as you can get to stepping through the screen and joining the characters.
You can check out more screenings shown in unique and thoughtfully chosen locations on Bristol Film Festival’s website:
Written by Harriet Packer
Hi, I’m Harriet – Haz to my friends. I’m a 23 year old BA English Literature and Language graduate from Bristol; I have a twin sister, and am passionate about a range of things such as feminism, reading, film, travelling and scuba diving.
Written by Joe Brashaw
