Abertoir 2024 Brochure

Programme

WELCOME CROESO

Welcome to the 19th Abertoir! It’s been loads of fun planning the festival, as it always is, and we’re delighted to be welcoming so many people this year in particular. We know some of you have travelled really far to attend, and whether you’ve jumped time zones, or have just walked down the road, we’re honoured you’ve chosen to spend the next four days with us.

The theme this year is ‘Killer Nature’ – and to be honest we could really do with forty days rather than four to properly do this sub-genre justice. As we learned when we started researching it, this sub-genre covers almost every life-form there is: from frogs to bears to slugs to sharks, there’s just so many of them (see Tristan’s extensive A to Z on pages 70-78)! It’s a fascinating and fun collection of films that really deserves the spotlight – especially as they nearly all carry a hugely important ecological message. So we’ll do our little bit to highlight these movies, and you can breathe a sigh of relief – we’re not showing anything involving spiders!

There are plenty of shorts and features awaiting you, interesting talks, and chances to hear from the filmmakers themselves. And of course, our highlight of the festival is Fabio Frizzi and the Frizzi2Fulci band with Zombie: Composer’s Cut live! What a treat!

We certainly hope you enjoy what we’ve got in store for you, and thanks for joining us at Abertoir 2024!

Gaz, Nia & Rhys

THANKS DIOLCH

Ffilm Cymru Wales, Film Hub Wales, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University (especially the print room team and the dept of Life Sciences), Colin Osborne, Simon Gelly Jones, Satoko Bailey, Peter Stevenson, Fabio Frizzi, Francesca Ferrari Frizzi, Francesco Saguto, Riccardo Rocchi, Federico Tacchia, Paolo Castellani, Roberto Fasciani, Robin Ince, Dominic Hardy, Kaniehtiio Horn, David Gregory, Alberto Sedano, Matt Wise, Harvey Fenton, John Probert, Kate Probert, Nicko Vaughan, Joe Timmins, Gavin Baddeley, Prof. Joanne Hamilton, Steven Sloss, Callum McKelvie, Tristan Thompson, Austin Andrews, Andrew Holmes, Matthew Cervi, the Matchbox CineSub team, Mel and Dan Hughes and the Arts Centre box office team, Mike Davies, Alejandro Wyatt and the staff at the Commodore, Iain Halliday – and many others who have helped in different ways over the past year!

Our biggest thanks goes to each and every one of you attending and supporting the festival. Diolch!

ABERTOIR'S OFFICIAL

ABERTOIR TEAM

Dannaoui

Puck Andrew

Mali Foote

Matt Hardwick

Tristan Bishop

Satoko Bailey

Colin Osborne

Alice & Mei

LOCAL’S GUIDE

Visiting Aberystwyth for the first time, or just looking for some useful local insights? We’ve put a guide together for you – scan the QR code or visit our website.

CONTENT GUIDE

We’ve put together a content guide for the films at this year’s festival. If you need to know a little more about any potentially distressing content, please speak with a member of staff or view the content guide by scanning the QR code or visiting our website.

Emyr Glyn Williams

1966-2024

Earlier this year the world of film and music in Wales lost an innovator and leader, our friend Emyr Glyn Williams.

We collaborated many times with Emyr for our screenings in Pontio, Bangor, which we know, over the years, brought us new regulars to the festival. He joined us in Aberystwyth too, finding time out of his busy day job to catch films and events at Abertoir as an audience member. His pure passion and enthusiasm for cinema - and particularly cult, genre and arthouse films - has always been invigorating.

Emyr was also a giant in Welsh music, not least as a founder of Recordiau Ankst and Ankst Musik; vital companies that platformed iconic Welsh acts, such as Llwybr Llaethog and Super Furry Animals, to audiences in Wales and far beyond.

His loss is a personal one, a professional one, and a cultural one - Wales has really lost a legend.

We’re so grateful to have had his support and friendship and we’ll miss him a lot. We’d again like to extend our thoughts and condolences to everyone who knew him, particularly his family, friends and those who worked closest with him.

THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER

SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER

FEATURES

CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN

PLUS Q&A WITH CO-DIRECTOR DOMINIC HARDY

JUSTIN HARDY, DOMINIC HARDY & CHRIS NUNN UK 2024, 86 MINUTES

Fifty years on from the making of The Wicker Man (1973), director Robin Hardy’s lost papers come to filmmaker son, Justin. Enlisting his brother Dominic, they journey to discover the complex nature of independent filmmaking and fatherhood. Justin’s view of the film is tainted because it robbed him of his father, his home, and his mother too. Dominic is more distanced, his experience relating more to the film’s subsequent cult status.

Those of you who know the story of Abertoir know that The Wicker Man is responsible for the festival starting in the first place, 19 years ago, and we welcomed Robin Hardy as a guest twice. Naturally, The Wicker Man holds a dear place in our heart.

Just when we thought there was nothing more to be said about this iconic film, Children of the Wicker Man came along to prove us wrong. It allows us to understand the more personal aspect of the film and Robin himself, providing an important new lens to watch it through. The Wicker Man has been with Abertoir in various forms since day one, and Children of the Wicker Man brings us full circle.

50 mlynedd ar ôl gwneud The Wicker Man (1973), mae papurau coll y cyfarwyddwr Robin Hardy yn dod at fab y gwneuthurwr ffilmiau, Justin. Gan ymrestru ei frawd Dominic, maent yn teithio i ddarganfod natur gymhleth gwneud ffilmiau annibynnol a bod yn dad.

Mae barn Justin o’r ffilm yn llygredig oherwydd ei fod wedi ei ladrata o’i dad, ei gartref, a’i fam hefyd.

Mae Dominic yn fwy pellennig, ac mae ei brofiad yn ymwneud yn fwy â statws cwlt dilynol y ffilm.

Mae’r rhai ohonoch sy’n gwybod hanes Abertoir yn gwybod mai The Wicker Man sy’n gyfrifol am yr ŵyl yn cychwyn yn y lle cyntaf, 19 mlynedd yn ôl, a croesawon ni Robin Hardy fel gwestai ddwywaith. Yn naturiol, mae The Wicker Man yn dal lle annwyl yn ein calon.

Yn union fel yr oeddem ni i gyd yn meddwl nad oedd dim byd mwy i’w ddweud am y ffilm eiconig hon, daeth Children of the Wicker Man draw i brofi ein bod yn anghywir. Mae’n ein galluogi i ddeall agwedd fwy personol y ffilm a Robin ei hun, gan ddarparu lens newydd, bwysig i’w gwylio drwyddi.

Mae The Wicker Man wedi bod gydag Abertoir mewn gwahanol ffurfiau ers y diwrnod cyntaf, ac mae

Children of the Wicker Man yn dod â ni i dro crwn.

DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY

JOHN HSU

TAIWAN 2024, 110 MINUTES

ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Being human is challenging, but being dead is just as difficult. When you die, you have 30 days to prove you can make it as a ghost, or you fade into oblivion. Recently dead, Newbie is invited to team up with a washed-up celebrity ghost to help revive an out-of-date hotel haunting. But when the team finds themselves locked in a bitter battle with a media-savvy upstart, they have no choice but to beat the odds and become the most terrifying legends they can.

Certainly the most creative concept for a film in a long time, it’s also one of the funniest we’ve seen this year. As the dead underdogs deploy their back catalogue of Asian horror stereotypes, what unfolds is a brilliant, clever, and somehow touching parody. Guaranteed to be an audience favourite, it’s the perfect film to close this year’s festival.

Mae bod yn ddynol yn heriol, ond mae bod yn farw’r un mor anodd. Pan fyddwch chi’n marw, mae gennych chi 30 diwrnod i brofi y gallwch chi lwyddo fel ysbryd, neu byddwch chi’n diflannu i ebargofiant. Wedi marw’n ddiweddar, gwahoddir Newbie i ymuno ag ysbryd enwog sydd wedi colli ei phoblogrwydd i helpu adfywio hen westy brawychus. Ond pan fydd y tîm yn cael eu hunain dan glo mewn brwydr chwerw yn erbyn seren Newydd sy’n ffefryn y cyfryngau, does ganddyn nhw ddim dewis ond curo’r fantol a throi’n chwedlau mor frawychus â phosib.

Yn sicr y cysyniad mwyaf creadigol ar gyfer ffilm ers amser maith, mae hi hefyd yn un o’r rhai mwyaf doniol a welsom eleni. Wrth i’r meirw truenus ddefnyddio eu hôl-gatalog o stereoteipiau arswyd Asiaidd, yr hyn sy’n datblygu yw parodi wych, glyfar, a rhywsut deimladwy. Wedi’i gwarantu i fod yn ffefryn gan y gynulleidfa, mae’n ffilm berffaith i gloi gŵyl eleni.

UK PREMIERE

DECIBEL

PLUS Q&A WITH WRITER & PRODUCER MATT WISE

ZAC LOCKE USA 2024, 76 MINUTES

When a struggling singer-songwriter gets the opportunity of a lifetime to work with a tech-obsessed music producer, she finds not everything is as she imagined it to be.

Part-music film and part-techno horror, Decibel is a modern and topical look at not only the music industry today, but also the dangers posed by the encroaching dominance of technology over art.

Pan fydd cantores-gyfansoddwraig sy’n ei chael hi’n anodd yn cael cyfle oes i weithio gyda chynhyrchydd cerddoriaeth sydd ag obsesiwn â thechnoleg, mae’n canfod nad yw popeth fel y dychmygodd.

Yn rhannol ffilm-gerddoriaeth a rhannol arswydtechno, mae Decibel yn olwg fodern ac amserol ar nid yn unig y diwydiant cerddoriaeth heddiw, ond hefyd y peryglon a achosir gan oruchafiaeth ymledol technoleg dros gelf.

EXORCISMO

PLUS Q&A WITH DIRECTOR & WRITER ALBERTO SEDANO

ALBERTO SEDANO

SPAIN 2024, 120 MINUTES SOME ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Under the Franco dictatorship, Spain’s rigid censorship laws repressed any form of sexuality outside of Catholic marriage. But following Franco’s death and the consolidation of democracy, ‘Clasificada S’ films – restricted to those over 18 years old – embodied a period in Spanish history when sex went from being a sin to becoming a cinematic expression of political freedom. This brand new documentary explores the eye-opening history behind Clasificada S, and the distinctive shockers that subverted the values of the former dictatorship.

Abertoir regulars know how much we love European horror cinema, so this two hour deep dive into this particular strand of Spanish exploitation cinema was a gift from the Gods. Well, Severin actually – and there was no question that we’d want to share it with you. It’s surprising, eye-opening, and even shocking: a remarkably topical documentary that we’re proud to be screening as part of Abertoir.

O dan unbennaeth Franco, roedd deddfau sensoriaeth anhyblyg Sbaen wedi atal unrhyw fath o rywioldeb y tu allan i briodas Gatholig.

Ond yn dilyn marwolaeth Franco a chyfuno democratiaeth, roedd ffilmiau ‘Clasificada S’ –wedi’u cyfyngu i rai dros 18 oed – yn ymgorffori cyfnod yn hanes Sbaen pan aeth rhyw o fod yn bechod i ddod yn fynegiant sinematig o ryddid gwleidyddol. Mae’r ffilm ddogfen newydd hon yn agor llygaid drwy archwilio’r hanes y tu ôl i Clasificada S, a’r ffilmiau nodedig a wyrodd werthoedd yr unbennaeth flaenorol.

Mae’r rheini sy’n gyfarwydd ag Abertoir i gyd yn gwybod cymaint rydyn ni’n caru sinema arswyd Ewropeaidd, felly roedd y ddwy awr hyn o blymio i mewn i’r llinyn arbennig hwn o sinema exploitation Sbaenaidd yn anrheg gan y Duwiau. Wel, gan Severin a dweud y gwir - ac nid oedd unrhyw gwestiwn y byddem am ei rannu gyda chi. Mae’n syndod, yn agoriad llygad, a hyd yn oed yn syfrdanol: ffilm ddogfen hynod amserol yr ydym yn falch o’i dangos fel rhan o Abertoir.

FRANKIE FREAKO

STEVEN KOSTANSKI

CANADA 2024, 80 MINUTES

Yuppie Conor has a dilemma: no one in his life respects him. Not his boss, not his co-workers, not even his wife, who thinks he’s an uptight “square”. Conor sees no way out until one night he catches a bizarre TV ad for a hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin: Frankie Freako. Home alone for the weekend, Conor works up the courage to dial the number, unleashing chaos into his white-collar world.

A wonderfully realised and heartfelt throwback to those classic puppet-based movies from the 80s and 90s, such as Ghoulies and Puppet Master, this affectionate homage comes from practical FX master Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman, Manborg). With a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, Frankie Freako cleverly emulates the look and feel of a budget Charles Band knock-off, but with a huge injection of pure charm.

Mae gan y yuppie Conor dilema: ‘does neb yn ei fywyd yn ei barchu. Nid ei fos, nid ei gydweithwyr, na hyd yn oed ei wraig, sy’n meddwl ei fod yn “sgwâr” ddiflas. Nid yw Conor yn gweld unrhyw ffordd allan nes ei fod yn dal hysbyseb teledu rhyfedd un noson ar gyfer llinell gymorth a gynhelir gan oblyn rhyfedd sy’n dawnsio: Frankie Freako. Adref ar ei ben ei hun am y penwythnos, mae Conor yn dod o hyd i’r dewrder i ddeialu’r rhif, gan ryddhau anhrefn i’w fyd coler wen.

Ffilm wych sy’n edrych yn ôl i’r ffilmiau pypedau clasur hynny o’r 80au a’r 90au, fel Ghoulies a Puppet Master, daw’r gwroliaeth serchog hon gan feistr FX ymarferol Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman, Manborg). Gyda synnwyr digrifwch tafod-yn-y-boch, mae Frankie Freako yn efelychu gwedd a theimlad efelychydd Charles Band yn gelfydd, ond gyda chwistrelliad enfawr o swyn pur.

GODZILLA VS HEDORAH

YOSHIMITSU BANNO

JAPAN 1971, 85 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES

The King of the Monsters, Godzilla, must face-off with an alien life-form that arrives on Earth and steadily grows by feeding on industrial waste.

A divisive entry into the iconic Godzilla franchise, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is also one of the most violent. Tapping into the enduring ecological underpinning of Godzilla, here a pollution problem needs tackling in order to win the day…with a little help from big G, of course.

Read more about the film in Steven Sloss’ essay on pages 52-58.

Rhaid i Frenin yr Angenfilod, Godzilla, wynebu bywyd estron sy’n cyrraedd y Ddaear ac yn tyfu’n raddol trwy fwydo ar wastraff diwydiannol.

Rhifyn ymrannol yn fasnachfraint eiconig Godzilla, mae Godzilla vs Hedorah hefyd yn un o’r rhai mwyaf treisgar. Gan fanteisio ar sylfaen ecolegol barhaus Godzilla, yma mae angen mynd i’r afael â phroblem llygredd er mwyn ennill y dydd… gydag ychydig o help gan G mawr ei hun, wrth gwrs.

Darllenwch fwy am y ffilm yn erthygl Steven Sloss ar dudalen 52-58.

GRAFTED

SASHA RAINBOW NEW ZEALAND 2024, 96 MINUTES

When Wei is shunned by social butterfly cousin Angela and her glamorous friends, she immerses herself in her late father’s research into a revolutionary skin grafting procedure that could help. As her experiments take a dark turn, Wei becomes more dangerous and unhinged, willing to eliminate anyone who threatens her secret.

Grafted is a film led by a very sympathetic antihero. While at its core a bold tale about the pressure of beauty standards and integration, it’s also a very gory and entertaining genre mashup, perfectly described elsewhere as Mean Girls meets Face/Off.

Pan gaiff Wei ei anwybyddu gan ei chyfnither cymdeithasol Angela a’i ffrindiau cyfareddol, mae’n ymgolli yn ymchwil disglair ei diweddar dad i grafftio croen a allai ei helpu. Wrth i’w harbrofion gymryd tro tywyll, mae Wei’n dod yn fwy peryglus a dirwystr, yn barod i ddileu unrhyw un sy’n bygwth ei chyfrinach.

Mae Grafted yn ffilm sy’n cael ei harwain gan wrtharwr cydymdeimladol iawn. Tra ei bod yn greiddiol i stori feiddgar am bwysau safonau harddwch ac integreiddio, mae hefyd yn gymysgedd o genres gory a difyr iawn, a ddisgrifir yn berffaith mewn man arall fel Mean Girls yn cwrdd â Face/Off

GRIZZLY

WILLIAM GIRDLER USA 1976, 89 MINUTES

A seemingly indestructible and super-sized grizzly bear develops a taste for human meat and rampages through a busy national park. It’s up to a seasoned park ranger, a naturalist, and a hotheaded gunman to contain it…or not.

Although certainly not the first animal attack horror film, Grizzly stands tall as the first that took advantage of the success of Jaws and its winning formula, opening the path for other films such as Piranha and a slew of other imitations. Regardless of its inspiration, Grizzly is undeniably a great watch and it’s not hard to see why it became the highest grossing independent film of 1976. Showing in a 4K restoration.

Mae arth fraith sy’n annistrywiol a hynod ei maint yn datblygu blas am gig dynol ac yn terfysgu drwy barc cenedlaethol prysur. Mater i geidwad parc profiadol, naturiaethwr, a gynnwr penboeth yw ei ddal... neu beidio.

Er yn sicr nid y ffilm arswyd gyntaf am ymosodiad anifeiliaid, mae Grizzly yn sefyll yn uchel fel y gyntaf a fanteisiodd ar lwyddiant Jaws a’i fformiwla fuddugol, gan agor y llwybr ar gyfer ffilmiau eraill fel Piranha a chyfres o efelychiadau eraill. Waeth beth yw ei ysbrydoliaeth, heb os, mae Grizzly yn brofiad gwych ac nid yw’n anodd gweld pam y daeth yn ffilm annibynnol mwyaf elwgar 1976. Yn dangos mewn adferiad 4K.

UK PREMIERE

INDERA

MING JIN WOO

MALAYSIA 2024, 99 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Joe and his daughter Sofia accept a handyman job in a remote home run by an old Javanese woman. When the father and daughter begin to experience mysterious and terrifying visions, they’re forced to confront their worst fears and regrets, while trying to outrun the sinister fate that awaits them.

Set in 1985, during a time of unrest in Malaysia, Indera is a classic horror chiller, with the audience and protagonists plunged into terrifying isolation. Here, we are isolated in a rural village seeped in history and mystical beliefs, and a film which will have you hanging onto every mysterious tragedy.

Mae Joe a’i ferch Sofia yn derbyn swydd tasgmon mewn cartref anghysbell sy’n cael ei redeg gan hen ddynes o Java. Pan fydd y tad a’r ferch yn dechrau profi gweledigaethau dirgel a brawychus, maen nhw’n cael eu gorfodi i wynebu eu hofnau a’u gofidiau gwaethaf, wrth geisio trechu’r dynged sinistr sy’n eu disgwyl.

Wedi’i gosod ym 1985, yn ystod cyfnod o aflonyddwch ym Malaysia, mae Indera yn ffilm arswyd oeraidd clasurol, gyda’r gynulleidfa a’r prif gymeriadau wedi’u plymio i arwahanrwydd dychrynllyd. Yma, rydym wedi’n hynysu mewn pentref gwledig sy’n llawn hanes a chredoau cyfriniol, a ffilm a fydd yn gwneud ichi hongian ar bob trasiedi ddirgel.

UK PREMIERE

THE ISLAND BETWEEN TIDES

AUSTIN ANDREWS & ANDREW HOLMES CANADA 2024, 99 MINUTES

A young woman follows a mysterious melody onto a remote tidal island. When she crosses back over at the next low tide, she emerges into a world where 25 years have passed. Overcoming distrust and suspicion by her community, she attempts to piece together the mystery that caused her disappearance, and the secrets behind the melody that haunts her now grown-up son.

Featuring truly stunning cinematography shot against the majestic coastal wilds of British Columbia, this is a haunting, beautiful ghost story that immerses its audience deeply inside a world layered with mysteries.

Read an interview with the directors on pages 60-63.

Mae menyw ifanc yn dilyn alaw ddirgel ar ynys lanw anghysbell. Pan fydd hi’n croesi’n ôl drosodd ar y llanw isel nesaf, mae hi’n dod allan i fyd lle mae 25 mlynedd wedi mynd heibio. Gan oresgyn diffyg ymddiriedaeth ac amheuaeth ei chymuned, mae’n ceisio rhoi’r dirgelwch a achosodd ei diflaniad at ei gilydd, a’r cyfrinachau y tu ôl i’r alaw sy’n aflonyddu ar ei mab sydd bellach wedi tyfu i fyny.

Yn cynnwys sinematograffeg gwirioneddol syfrdanol wedi’i saethu yn erbyn gwylltion arfordirol mawreddog British Columbia, mae hon yn stori ysbryd hardd sy’n trochi ei chynulleidfa’n ddwfn i fyd sy’n haenog o ddirgelion.

Darllenwch gyfweliad gyda’r cyfarwyddwyr ar dudalennau 60-63.

PHASE IV

SAUL BASS USA 1974, 84 MINUTES

On a scientific expedition in the Arizona desert, a biologist, E.D. Hubbs and his cynical assistant, mathematician James Lesko, discover a town that has been deserted after an attack by an army of highly evolved ants. When the ants react with hostility to their research station, faced with an enemy that they struggle to comprehend, Hubbs becomes increasingly obsessed with carrying out their mission whilst Lesko starts to fear for their safety and the prospects of humanity against such a force.

A genuinely eerie and discomforting film, Phase IV is so much more than ‘killer ants’. Laden with a sense of doom, here humanity’s arrogance in the face of nature is truly its own undoing.

Ar alldaith wyddonol yn anialwch Arizona, bu biolegydd, E.D. Hubbs, a’i gynorthwyydd sinigaidd, y mathemategydd James Lesko, yn darganfod tref sydd wedi’i gadael yn anghyfannedd ar ôl ymosodiad gan fyddin o forgrug hynod ddatblygedig. Pan fydd y morgrug yn ymateb yn elyniaethus i’w gorsaf ymchwil, yn wyneb gelyn anodd ei ddeall, mae obsesiwn Hubbs â chyflawni eu cenhadaeth yn tyfu, tra bod Lesko yn dechrau ofni am eu diogelwch a dyfodol dynoliaeth yn erbyn y fath rym.

Yn ffilm wirioneddol iasol ac anghysurus, mae Phase IV yn gymaint mwy na ‘morgrug sy’n lladd’. Yn llawn ymdeimlad trwm, yma mae haerllugrwydd dynoliaeth yn wyneb natur yn wirioneddol ei ddadwneud ei hun.

RETURN OF THE FLY

EDWARD BERNDS

USA 1959, 80 MINUTES

15 years after the events of The Fly, Philippe Delambre, Andre’s son, and his uncle François attempt to create a matter transmission device on their own. However, their experiments have disastrous results...

Our mission to screen a Vincent Price movie every year continues unabated, and given that we’d already screened The Fly, this was the perfect chance to host the very entertaining follow-up, as well as being a nod towards our festival’s theme. Filmed in black and white this time, and using the same sets as the first film, Vincent Price thankfully has a much larger role to get his teeth into for a remarkably different film than its predecessor.

15 mlynedd ar ôl digwyddiadau The Fly, mae Philippe Delambre, mab Andre, a’i ewythr François yn ceisio creu dyfais trosglwyddo mater ar eu pen eu hunain. Fodd bynnag, mae eu harbrofion yn arwain at ganlyniadau trychinebus...

Mae ein cenhadaeth i ddangos ffilm Vincent Price bob blwyddyn yn parhau fel yr arfer, ac o ystyried ein bod eisoes wedi dangos The Fly, roedd hwn yn gyfle perffaith i arddangos y dilyniant difyr iawn, yn ogystal â bod yn addas fel rhan o thema’r ŵyl eleni. Wedi’i ffilmio mewn du a gwyn y tro hwn, ac yn defnyddio’r un setiau â’r ffilm gyntaf, mae gan Vincent Price, diolch byth, rôl llawer mwy i gael ei ddannedd ynddi ar gyfer ffilm hynod wahanol na’i rhagflaenydd.

UK PREMIERE

SEEDS

PLUS RECORDED INTRODUCTION BY DIRECTOR, WRITER & ACTOR KANIEHTIIO HORN

KANIEHTIIO HORN

CANADA 2024, 80 MINUTES

Ziggy is offered her first gig as an online influencer, promoting for Nature’s Oath, a seed and fertilizer company. But when her cousin summons her back to the reservation to house-sit for her aunt, she’s forced into a battle to save her family’s legacy from her unexpected new enemy.

With Home Alone amongst its influences, this charming indigenous film features great practical FX and a powerful message about how we honour our ancestors. Kaniehtiio Horn has drawn inspiration from her own experiences to create an entertaining lesson in self-determination in a world of corporate greed, spiritual connections, and plain old-fashioned violence.

Mae Ziggy yn cael cynnig ei gig gyntaf fel dylanwadwr ar-lein, gan hyrwyddo ar gyfer Nature’s Oath, cwmni hadau a gwrtaith. Ond pan mae ei chefnder yn ei galw’n ôl i’r rez i gadw golwg ar dŷ ei modryb, mae’n cael ei gorfodi i frwydr i achub etifeddiaeth ei theulu rhag ei gelyn newydd annisgwyl.

Gyda Home Alone ymhlith ei dylanwadau, mae’r ffilm Frodorol swynol hon hefyd yn cynnwys FX ymarferol gwych a neges bwerus am sut yr ydym yn anrhydeddu ein cyndeidiau. Mae Kaniehtiio Horn wedi tynnu ysbrydoliaeth o’i phrofiadau ei hun i greu gwers ddifyr mewn hunanbenderfyniad mewn byd o drachwant corfforaethol, cysylltiadau ysbrydol, a thrais hen-ffasiwn.

SLUGS

JUAN PIQUER SIMÓN

SPAIN 1988, 89 MINUTES

The townsfolk of a rural community are dying in strange and gruesome circumstances. Following the trail of horrifically mutilated cadavers, resident health inspector Mike Brady is on the case to piece together the mystery. He soon comes to a terrifying conclusion that giant slugs are breeding in the sewers beneath the town, and they’re making a meal of the locals!

Based on the novel by British horror author Shaun Hutson and directed by Juan Piquer Simón, of Pieces fame, Slugs is a particularly icky and gruesome entry in the animal attack sub-genre. It’s also one of our favourites, and a guaranteed crowd pleaser that will make even the strongest of you squirm in your seats. You certainly won’t be eating lettuce again for a very long time after this one...

Mae dinasyddion cymuned wledig yn marw dan amgylchiadau rhyfedd ac erchyll. Wrth ddilyn trywydd cyrff sydd wedi’u llurgunio’n erchyll, mae’r arolygydd iechyd preswyl Mike Brady ar yr achos i ddatod y dirgelwch. Daw i gasgliad brawychus yn fuan fod gwlithod enfawr yn magu yn y carthffosydd o dan y dref, ac maen nhw’n gwneud pryd o’r bobl leol!

Yn seiliedig ar y nofel gan yr awdur arswyd

Prydeinig Shaun Hutson ac a gyfarwyddwyd gan Juan Piquer Simón, sy’n enwog am Pieces, mae Slugs yn gofnod arbennig o ych-a-fi ac erchyll yn yr is-genre ymosodiad anifeiliaid. Mae hefyd yn un o’n ffefrynnau, sy’n siŵr o blesio’r dorf a fydd yn gwneud hyd yn oed y cryfaf ohonoch wegian yn eich seddi. Yn sicr, ni fyddwch yn bwyta letys eto am amser hir iawn ar ôl hwn...

SUZZANNA

PLUS REMOTE Q&A WITH DIRECTOR DAVID GREGORY

DAVID GREGORY

USA 2024, 90 MINUTES

She starred in forty-two classic movies, was hailed as ‘The Queen of Indonesian Horror’ and crowned ‘Asia’s Most Popular Actress’. But who was Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, longbeloved by the Asian world as Suzzanna yet virtually unknown outside it? Through exclusive interviews with family, colleagues, filmmakers, and historians, as well as clips from her classic films, director David Gregory (Enter the Clones of Bruce) unearths the legacy of the Scream Queen who has begun to emerge as one of the most compelling icons in cinema history.

David Gregory’s brand new documentary doesn’t just tell Suzzanna’s story with a series of talking heads, it allows the subjects to become part of the narrative itself, eventually taking the film in a direction that those of us unfamiliar with her story will find shocking, compelling and unbelievable in equal measure.

Ymddangosodd hi mewn 42 o ffilmiau clasurol, yn cael ei galw’n ‘Brenhines Arswyd Indonesia’ a’i choroni’n ‘Actores Fwyaf Poblogaidd Asia’. Ond pwy oedd Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, a oedd yn hir annwyl gan y byd Asiaidd fel Suzzanna ond eto bron yn anhysbys y tu allan iddo? Trwy gyfweliadau unigryw gyda theulu, cydweithwyr, gwneuthurwyr ffilm, a haneswyr, yn ogystal â chlipiau o’i ffilmiau, mae’r cyfarwyddwr

David Gregory (Enter the Clones of Bruce) yn datgelu etifeddiaeth y Scream Queen sydd wedi dechrau dod i’r amlwg fel un o’r eiconau mwyaf cymhellol yn hanes sinema.

Nid yw ffilm ddogfen newydd David Gregory yn adrodd stori Suzzanna gyda chyfres o bennau siarad yn unig, mae’n caniatáu i’r pynciau ddod yn rhan o’r naratif ei hun, gan fynd â’r ffilm yn y pen draw i gyfeiriad y bydd y rhai ohonom sy’n anghyfarwydd â’i stori yn ei chael yn ysgytwol, cymhellol ac anghredadwy mewn mesurau cyfartal.

THE WAILING

PEDRO MARTÍN-CALERO

SPAIN/ARGENTINA/FRANCE 2024, 107 MINUTES

ENGLISH SUBTITLES

A sophisticated, high-concept horror film about three young women, from different times and countries, each being haunted by an unknown entity. A presence that reveals itself with the same, horrific noise that only they can hear: a wailing.

Thought-provoking and creepy, and with shades of It Follows, this is a smart and chilling film that keeps its secrets close, as past and present intersect, and a terrifying mystery is slowly pieced together.

Ffilm arswyd soffistigedig, cysyniad-uchel am dair merch ifanc, o wahanol gyfnodau a gwledydd, sy’n cael eu haflonyddu gan endid anhysbys. Presenoldeb sy’n datgelu ei hun gyda’r un sŵn erchyll na allant ond ei glywed: wylofain.

Yn pryfocio’r meddwl ac yn iasol, a gydag arlliwiau o It Follows, mae hon yn ffilm smart ac iasoer sy’n cadw ei chyfrinachau’n agos, wrth i’r gorffennol a’r presennol groestorri, a dirgelwch arswydus yn cael ei roi at ei gilydd yn araf deg.

P RESENTED WITH FABIO FRIZZI LIVE SCORE

ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS

LUCIO FULCI

ITALY 1979, 91 MINUTES

An abandoned boat unleashes a deadly flesh crazed Zombie cargo, while two Americans investigate a tropical island where a deadly disease is making the dead walk. More commonly known as Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK, Lucio Fulci’s famous gory cult classic has one of the most recognisable and beloved musical scores in horror history.

Forty-five years later, world-famous composer Fabio Frizzi has reworked his own music and will, with his band, perform it live on stage! The film will feature all the original dialogue and bonecrunching sound effects, with the expanded and reinterpreted score played live alongside it.

Mae cwch gadawedig yn rhyddhau cargo marwol o sombïod gwallgof, tra bod dau Americanwr yn ymchwilio i ynys drofannol lle mae afiechyd marwol yn gwneud i’r meirw gerdded. Yn fwy adnabyddus fel Zombie Flesh Eaters yn y DU, mae gan glasur cwlt gory enwog Lucio Fulci un o’r sgorau cerddorol mwyaf adnabyddus ac annwyl yn hanes arswyd.

45 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, mae’r cyfansoddwr byd-enwog Fabio Frizzi wedi ail-greu ei gerddoriaeth ei hun a bydd, gyda’i fand, yn ei pherfformio’n fyw ar y llwyfan! Bydd y ffilm yn cynnwys yr holl ddeialog wreiddiol ac effeithiau sain crensian, gyda’r sgôr estynedig ac wedi’i hail-ddehongli yn cael ei chwarae’n fyw ochr yn ochr â hi.

HANDLING THE UNDEAD

Méliès d’or winner

The winners of the Méliès d’or 2024 are the feature film Handling the Undead by Thea Hvistendahl and the short film Weeds by Pola Kazak. The Méliès International Festivals Federation awarded them with the Méliès d’or in Sitges, October 2O24. Who will be next? Find out more at melies.org

Méliès d’or WINNER

SHORTS

ABERTOIR SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Each year Abertoir invites filmmakers from across the globe to submit short films for the Abertoir Short Film Competition. As always, the response has been phenomenal and it’s not possible to show all of the amazing entries. Here we present our shortlist.

There are two prizes on offer. The first being the Abertoir Short Film prize, and the second is the Méliès d’argent awarded to the best European film. As part of Abertor’s role in the Méliès International Festivals Federation, our short film competition will award a Short Film Méliès d’argent. This is an internationally recognised prize specific to the Federation and is a testimony to the talented filmmakers in Europe. The winner of our Short Film Méliès d’argent will go forward to the final lineup at one of the major European festivals for the prestigious Méliès d’or Award for the Best European Fantastic Short Film. All our European short films are eligible.

Pob blwyddyn mae Abertoir yn gwahodd i wneuthurwyr ffilm o bob cwr o’r byd i gynnig ffilmiau byrion ar gyfer cystadleuaeth ffilmiau byrion Abertoir. Fel yr arfer, mae’r ymateb wedi bod yn rhagorol, ac nid oes le i ddangos yr holl gynigion gwych. Felly dyma’r rhestr fer bydd yn cael ei dangos i’n gynulleidfa.

Bydd dwy wobr ar gael. Y cyntaf yw Gwobr Ffilm Fer Abertoir, a’r ail yw’r Méliès d’Argent, sy’n cael ei wobrwyo i’r ffilm Ewropeaidd gorau. Fel rhan o rôl Abertoir yn y Méliès International Festivals Federation, bydd ein cystadleuaeth ffilmiau byr yn dyfarnu Méliès d’argent ar gyfer ffilm fer. Mae hon yn wobr a gydnabyddir yn rhyngwladol sy’n benodol i’r MIFF ac mae’n dyst i’r gwneuthurwyr ffilm talentog yn Ewrop. Bydd enillydd ein Méliès d’argent ar gyfer ffilm fer yn mynd ymlaen i raglen derfynol yn un o brif wyliau Ewrop er mwyn cystadlu ar gyfer wobr fawreddog Méliès d’or- ar gyfer Ffilm Fer Ffantastig Ewropeaidd Orau. Mae ein holl ffilmiau byrion Ewropeaidd yn gymwys.

AFFENTANZ - HUNTER

CYPRIAN HERCKA, GERMANY 2023, 9 MINUTES

The name of the song says it all: The hunter on the prowl. A deer in a scope. A finger on the trigger. But then – a crack. A smack from a faceless hooded figure. A knock out and darkness. From there everything will be different.

Mae enw’r gân yn dweud y cyfan: yr heliwr ar y prowl. Carw mewn cwmpas. Bys ar y sbardun. Ond wedyn - crac. Smac gan ffigwr di-wyneb â hwd. Syfrdan a thywyllwch. Oddi yno bydd popeth yn wahanol.

BATH BOMB

COLIN G COOPER, CANADA 2024, 10 MINUTES

A possessive doctor prepares an ostensibly romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend, but after an accusation of infidelity, things take a deeply disturbing turn.

Mae doctor meddiannol yn paratoi bath sy’n ymddangos yn rhamantus i’w gariad narsisaidd, ond ar ôl cyhuddiad o anffyddlondeb, mae pethau’n cymryd tro hynod annifyr.

BLACK HOLE BARRY

ALEJANDRO ALBEROLA, UK 2024, 10 MINUTES

Right before Scott’s boyfriend moves in with him, he decides to go on a series of hookups to get the most out of his last week living alone, a decision he’s going to regret forever.

Yn union cyn i gariad Scott symud i mewn gydag ef, mae’n penderfynu mynd ar gyfres o fachiadau i gael y gorau o’i wythnos olaf yn byw ar ei ben ei hun, penderfyniad y mae’n mynd i’w ddifaru am byth.

COLLECTION ONLY

ALUN RHYS MORGAN, UK 2023, 12 MINUTES

Nye has dragged his estranged best mate Daf to collect a free armchair from a fearsome old house. A chain of sinister events follow, as Daf and Nye grapple with their fractured friendship, while trying to make it out alive…with the chair.

Mae Nye wedi llusgo ei ffrind gorau, Daf, sydd wedi ymddieithrio, i gasglu cadair freichiau rydd o hen dŷ brawychus. Mae cadwyn o ddigwyddiadau sinistr yn dilyn, wrth i Daf a Nye fynd i’r afael â’u cyfeillgarwch toredig, wrth geisio dianc yn fyw…a gyda’r gadair.

THE COST OF FLESH

TOMAS PALOMBI, FRANCE 2023, 10 MINUTES

Alice is a totally paralyzed teenager who can only communicate through the movements of her eyes. Her brother and sister try an obscure method to free her from the evil that hinders her…

Mae Alice yn ferch yn ei harddegau sydd wedi’i pharlysu’n llwyr a dim ond trwy symudiadau ei llygaid y gall gyfathrebu. Mae ei brawd a’i chwaer yn rhoi cynnig ar ddull aneglur i’w rhyddhau rhag y drwg sy’n ei rhwystro…

CRIMSON HARBOR

VICTOR BONAFONTE, SPAIN 2024, 8 MINUTES

Hattie Duvall, a mysterious clairvoyant, is asked by Crimson Harbor Police Department to help them solve a serial murder case. Her interviewer, an experienced detective, is reluctant to Ms. Duvall’s unorthodox techniques, but both will be forced to cooperate and unravel the mystery.

Mae Adran Heddlu Crimson Harbour yn gofyn i Hattie Duvall, clirweledydd dirgel, eu helpu i ddatrys achos llofruddiaeth gyfresol. Mae ei chyfwelydd, ditectif profiadol, yn amharod i ddefnyddio technegau anuniongred Ms. Duvall, ond bydd y ddau yn cael eu gorfodi i gydweithredu a datrys y dirgelwch.

DAGON

PAOLO GAUDIO, ITALY 2024, 6 MINUTES

In 1919 San Francisco, a man is standing on the ledge of a building ready to jump. Desperate, he relives in his memories the absurd and shocking episode that led him to the brink of suicide: the encounter with the monstrous and mythological Great Old One, DAGON.

Ym 1919, mae dyn yn San Francisco yn sefyll ar silff adeilad yn barod i neidio. Yn anobeithiol, mae’n ail-fyw yn ei atgofion y bennod hurt ac ysgytwol a’i harweiniodd at fin lladd ei hun: y cyfarfyddiad â’r Hen Un Mawr gwrthun a mytholegol, DAGON.

DARK MOMMY

COURTNEY ECK, USA 2023, 13 MINUTES

Ben is the only night shift 911 operator in a small town. His bubble of selfisolation is only ever punctured by drunks or prank calling kids, but tonight Dark Mommy has her own intentions for Ben…and the rest of the town.

Ben yw’r unig weithredwr shifft nos 911 mewn tref fechan. Mae ei swigen o hunan-ynysu byth yn cael ei dyllu gan feddw neu blant yn prancio, ond heno mae gan Dark Mommy ei bwriadau ei hun ar gyfer Ben…a gweddill y dref.

DELIVERANCE

KALJEVEN SINGH LALLY, UK 2024, 10 MINUTES

A Sikh delivery driver is asked for help by a customer, a Priest.

Mae cwsmer, Offeiriad, yn gofyn i yrrwr dosbarthu Sikhaidd am help.

DUMMY!

FRANCESCA PAZNIOKAS, USA 2024, 14 MINUTES

An aspiring cabaret singer struggles to break free from her controlling mother — a ventriloquist dummy who was once a star herself. DUMMY! is a surreal technicolor melodrama about fearing you weren’t built for the world you’re meant to inhabit.

Mae cantores cabaret uchelgeisiol yn brwydro i dorri’n rhydd oddi wrth ei mam sy’n rheoli - dymi tafleisio a oedd unwaith yn seren ei hun. Mae DUMMY! yn felodrama amrywliw swrrealaidd am ofni na chawsoch eich adeiladu ar gyfer y byd yr ydych i fod i fyw ynddo.

ELDRITCH KARAOKE

JOE LOFTUS, IRELAND 2024, 5 MINUTES

A young woman on the road to escape her past is hit by a car and descends into a chaotic musical after-life.

Mae merch ifanc sydd ar y ffordd i ddianc rhag ei gorffennol yn cael ei tharo gan gar ac yn disgyn i ôl-fywyd cerddorol anhrefnus.

FISITOR

LLŶR TITUS, UK 2024, 15 MINUTES

Stalked by grief for his husband and a nightmarish creature from Welsh folklore, Ioan must do his best to survive Christmas Eve.

O dan gysgod galar am ei ŵr a chreadur hunllefus o lên gwerin Cymru mae

Ioan yn ceisio’i orau i oroesi Noswyl Nadolig.

THE GOURD, THE BRAD AND THE GHOSTLY

JILLIAN TERWEDO-MALSBURY, USA 2023, 10 MINUTES

After causing a tragic accident on Halloween night, Brad is haunted by his guilty conscience as he takes the elevator down to the scene of the crime. Is he heading to the lobby… or straight to hell?

Ar ôl achosi damwain drasig ar noson Calan Gaeaf, mae Brad yn cael ei aflonyddu gan ei gydwybod euog wrth iddo fynd â’r lifft lawr i leoliad y drosedd. Ydy e’n mynd i’r lobi ... neu’n syth i uffern?

HENRY’S HAND

LAURA GILDA MAIULLARI, LILITH EVA FÖHN & OLEKSANDRA GORSHEVIKOVA, SWITZERLAND 2024, 5 MINUTES

Henry, Fish and Cat run the most successful Lemon business in Syracuse. The Vulture, a jealous mafia boss, is after their recipe for success: the Superlemon. To blackmail Henry, Vulture kidnaps Cat, and things soon start to escalate.

Mae Henry, Fish a Cat yn rhedeg busnes Lemon mwyaf llwyddiannus Syracuse. Mae The Vulture, bos maffia genfigennus, ar ôl eu rysáit ar gyfer llwyddiant: y Superlemon. I flacmelio Henry, mae Vulture yn herwgipio Cat, a chyn bo hir mae pethau’n dechrau gwaethygu.

IT CAME FROM INSIDE

JACKSON REES & AURA SANDOVAL, USA 2024, 12 MINUTES

On Halloween night, an aloof young couple find a corpse, a cassette tape, and a mysterious transmission device. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by the mystery of their discovery. Who — or what — is the device designed to summon?

Ar noson Calan Gaeaf, mae cwpl ifanc di-ben-draw yn dod o hyd i gorff, tâp casét, a dyfais drosglwyddo dirgel. Daw panig wrth iddynt gael eu dychryn gan ddirgelwch eu darganfyddiad. Pwy - neu beth - y mae’r ddyfais wedi’i chynllunio i’w galw?

THE MANNEQUIN

EMELIE DAHLSKOG, SWEDEN 2023, 14 MINUTES

An aspiring seamstress thinks she can solve all her creative problems by creating a mannequin. But after some strange events she suspects that the mannequin has aspirations of its own.

Mae gwniadwraig uchelgeisiol yn meddwl y gall ddatrys ei holl broblemau creadigol trwy greu mannequin. Ond ar ôl rhai digwyddiadau rhyfedd mae hi’n amau bod gan y mannequin ddyheadau ei hun.

MOON ALONE

HEEJIN KANG, CANADA 2024, 3 MINUTES

Every night, an angel awaits her divine orders alone. When a list of departed souls appears in the sky, she journeys to meet them, guiding them toward their heavenly destination.

Bob nos, mae angel yn aros ar ben ei hun am ei gorchmynion dwyfol. Pan fydd rhestr o eneidiau ymadawedig yn ymddangos yn yr awyr, mae hi’n teithio i’w cyfarfod, gan eu harwain tuag at eu cyrchfan nefol.

OUTSIDE NOISE

ETHAN EVANS, UK 2024, 8 MINUTES

An overwhelmed woman listens to a sleep ambience app to unwind before bed, but when the sounds eerily begin to blend with reality, she suspects it has conjured something frightening into her room…

Mae menyw wedi’i gorlethu yn gwrando ar ap awyrgylch cwsg i ymlacio cyn gwely, ond pan fydd y synau’n dechrau cymysgu’n iasol â realiti, mae’n amau ei fod wedi hudo rhywbeth brawychus i’w hystafell…

PASPOCALYPSE

JASPER TEN HOOR & IVAN HIDAYAT, NETHERLANDS 2024, 6 MINUTES

During an evening shift in an empty office building, a young cleaning lady experiences the fright of her life.

Yn ystod shifft gyda’r nos mewn adeilad swyddfa gwag, mae gwraig glanhau ifanc yn profi braw ei bywyd.

POPPY’S SATURN

NICOLE TEGELAAR, BELGIUM 2023, 15 MINUTES

When nightclub singer Poppy is confronted by a black-eyed man she is overcome by fear. The event triggers a buried sexual trauma that she has to overcome in a kaleidoscopic world of glitter, music and blood.

Pan fydd canwr clwb nos, Poppy, yn wynebu dyn du ei lygaid, mae’n cael ei goresgyn gan ofn. Mae’r digwyddiad yn sbarduno trawma rhywiol claddedig y mae’n rhaid iddi ei oresgyn mewn byd caleidosgopig o ddisglair, cerddoriaeth a gwaed.

RÉEL

RODRIGUE HUART, FRANCE 2024, 4 MINUTES

1857. Coutances. Two farmer girls find a smartphone in their field.

1857. Coutances. Dwy ferch fferm yn dod o hyd i ffôn clyfar yn eu cae.

SAINT MARIA’S WAY

CHRIS TURNER, UK 2024, 7 MINUTES

Carolyn never intended to walk home alone at night. When police emergency services receive her call reporting a man following her, they try to help. But between the glitching phone signal and her evasive answers, she proves difficult to track down.

Nid oedd Carolyn erioed wedi bwriadu cerdded adref ar ei phen ei hun yn y nos. Pan fydd gwasanaethau brys yr heddlu yn derbyn ei galwad yn adrodd bod dyn yn ei dilyn, maen nhw’n ceisio helpu. Ond rhwng y signal ffôn annibynnol a’i hatebion aneglur, mae’n anodd dod o hyd iddi.

STRANGE CREATURES

NICHOLAS PAYNE SANTOS, USA 2023, 7 MINUTES

Desperate to see her brother again, a young woman visits the site of his death.

Yn ysu i weld ei brawd eto, mae dynes ifanc yn ymweld â safle ei farwolaeth.

THIRSTY THURSDAY

JEFF OLIVER, USA 2024, 15 MINUTES

When a sacred ritual is interrupted by a clueless frat boy, a coven of Black witches are forced to teach a deadly lesson about consent.

Pan amharir ar ddefod gysegredig gan fachgen diamcan sy’n aelod o frawdoliaeth, gorfodir cwfen o wrachod Du i ddysgu gwers farwol am gydsyniad.

TRIPTYCH

SOPHIA RAY, UK 2024, 15 MINUTES

A high-end art dealer is haunted by a mysterious force from her past that threatens to destroy everything she’s built.

Mae deliwr celf bonheddig yn cael ei haflonyddu gan rym dirgel o’i gorffennol sy’n bygwth dinistrio popeth y mae hi wedi’i adeiladu.

VHX

ALISA STERN & SCOTT AMPLEFORD, USA 2024, 5 MINUTES

A collection of home movies languish on a shelf, longing to be watched again. Little do they know, there’s a fate far worse than being forgotten. Casgliad o ffilmiau cartref yn dihoeni ar silff, yn hiraethu am gael eu gwylio eto. Ychydig a wyddant, mae tynged yn waeth o lawer na chael ei anghofio.

THE VISITOR

TONY MORALES, SPAIN 2024, 10 MINUTES

Alone in her home overnight, a young influencer’s solitude is interrupted by an unexpected visitor.

Ar ei phen ei hun yn ei chartref dros nos, mae ymwelydd annisgwyl yn torri ar draws unigedd dylanwadwr ifanc.

WAKE

SEAN CARTER, USA 2023, 13 MINUTES

With a hurricane raging outside their hospital, two nurses have one last job before evacuating: stow the “dead-on-arrival” corpse of a young girl in the downstairs morgue before the building floods. But the corpse quickly reveals itself to be more than it seems.

Gyda chorwynt yn chwythu tu allan i’w hysbyty, mae gan ddwy nyrs un swydd olaf cyn dianc: cadw corff “marw ar gyrraedd” merch ifanc yn y marwdy lawr grisiau cyn i’r adeilad orlifo. Ond mae’r corff yn gyflym yn datgelu ei fod yn fwy nag y mae’n ymddangos.

ZOMBIE: THE COMPOSER’S CUT

PERFORMED LIVE BY FABIO FRIZZI AND THE F2F BAND

An abandoned boat unleashes a deadly flesh crazed Zombie cargo, while two Americans investigate a tropical island where a deadly disease is making the dead walk. More commonly known as Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK, Lucio Fulci’s famous gory cult classic has one of the most recognisable and beloved musical scores in horror history.

Forty-five years later, world-famous composer Fabio Frizzi has reworked his own music and will, with his band, perform it live on stage! The film will feature all the original dialogue and bone-crunching sound effects, with the expanded and reinterpreted score played live alongside it.

Mae cwch gadawedig yn rhyddhau cargo marwol o sombïod gwallgof, tra bod dau Americanwr yn ymchwilio i ynys drofannol lle mae afiechyd marwol yn gwneud i’r meirw gerdded. Yn fwy adnabyddus fel Zombie Flesh Eaters yn y DU, mae gan glasur cwlt gory enwog Lucio Fulci un o’r sgorau cerddorol mwyaf adnabyddus ac annwyl yn hanes arswyd.

45 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, mae’r cyfansoddwr byd-enwog Fabio Frizzi wedi ail-greu ei gerddoriaeth ei hun a bydd, gyda’i fand, yn ei pherfformio’n fyw ar y llwyfan! Bydd y ffilm yn cynnwys yr holl ddeialog wreiddiol ac effeithiau sain crensian, gyda’r sgôr estynedig ac wedi’i hail-ddehongli yn cael ei chwarae’n fyw ochr yn ochr â hi.

ROBIN INCE: BIBLIOMANIAC UNTAMED

Robin Ince loves books, as we’ve seen before at Abertoir. Can you imagine his excitement when he found out this year’s theme?

Robin returns with a suitcase of pulpexpect slugs and dogs and crabs and locusts and, if Stewart Lee lends it to him on time, QUEEN KONG! Plus a poem written especially for Abertoir...

Mae Robin Ince wrth ei fodd â llyfrau, fel y gwelsom o’r blaen yn Abertoir. Allwch chi ddychmygu ei gyffro pan ddaeth i wybod y thema eleni? Mae Robin yn dychwelyd gyda chês o bwlp - disgwyliwch wlithod a chŵn a chrancod a locustiaid ac, os bydd Stewart Lee yn ei roi ar fenthyg iddo mewn pryd, QUEEN KONG! Ynghyd â cherdd a ysgrifennwyd yn arbennig i Abertoir...

ATTHECOMMODORECINEMA

NICKO AND JOE’S BAD FILM CLUB

Comedians Nicko and Joe know terrible cinema better than anyone, and every year we like to drag them to Aberystwyth in order to demonstrate some true cinematic shit for you, complete with their own, very special, very silly live, commentary.

Abertoir regulars know what to expect by now –verbal abuse and a truly terrible film – and those of you who’ve never had the pleasure…well, brace yourselves!

Mae’r comedïwyr Nicko a Joe yn adnabod sinema ofnadwy yn well na neb, a phob blwyddyn rydym yn hoffi eu llusgo i Aberystwyth er mwyn dangos gwir gachfa sinematig i chi, ynghyd â’u sylwebaeth fyw, arbennig iawn, gwirion eu hunain.

Mae mynychwyr rheolaidd Abertoir yn gwybod beth i’w ddisgwyl erbyn hyn – sarhad geiriol a ffilm wirioneddol ofnadwy – a’r rhai ohonoch sydd erioed wedi cael y pleser…wel, byddwch yn barod…

ABERTOIR MINI

TEATRO PROBERT PRESENTS: CAN A SHARK ROAR?

Sit back and enjoy a smorgasbord of everything we love about killer animal movies, in the inimitable style of John and Kate Probert! There will be props, audience interaction…maybe even chocolate! A unique experience will be had by all.

Eisteddwch yn ôl a mwynhewch smorgasbord o bopeth rydyn ni’n ei garu am ffilmiau anifeiliaid llofruddgar, yn arddull ddihafal John a Kate Probert! Bydd yna bropiau, cyfraniadau gan y gynulleidfa…efallai hyd yn oed siocled! Bydd profiad unigryw i bawb.

In days gone by, Abertoir’s notorious pub quizzes were generously scheduled at three hours and invariably went on longer than planned. Having somehow managed to get things down to just over an hour in more recent years, quizmaster Gaz is back again with this year’s horror trivia bonanza.

Yn y dyddiau a fu, trefnwyd cwisiau tafarn enwog Abertoir yn hael gyda thair awr ac yn ddieithriad aethant ymlaen yn hirach na’r disgwyl. Ar ôl llwyddo rhywsut i ostwng pethau i ychydig dros awr yn ystod y blynyddoedd diwethaf, mae’r cwis feistr Gaz yn ôl eto gyda’r bonanza trifia arswydus eleni.

ZOOLOGY TO ZOMBIES: WHEN NATURE BITES BACK

BY JO HAMILTON

Vampires, serial killers, body snatchers and zombies live amongst us, hiding in plain sight. Join Jo Hamilton (Professor of Zoology and Parasitology at Aberystwyth University) to explore some of nature’s most fascinating and horrifying parasites and investigate why the horror of the silver screen may not be as fictional as we think. Explore parasites that replace their victim’s tongues with their own body, wasps that lay their eggs inside a host and eat them alive from within, parasites that control the behaviour of their hosts (including humans!), worms that live in your blood, and a fungus that bursts out of its host’s head to spread its spores…. All sound familiar? Jo’s had a special request from us – make the presentation as disgusting as possible!

Mae fampirod, llofruddion cyfresol, cipwyr cyrff a sombïod yn byw yn ein plith, yn cuddio yn ein golwg. Ymunwch a Jo Hamilton (Athro Sŵoleg a Pharasitoleg ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth) i archwilio rhai o barasitiaid mwyaf swyngar a brawychus a darganfod pam fod arswyd y sgrin fawr yn fwy gwir nag i ni sylweddoli. O barasitiaid sy’n disodli tafodau eu dioddefwr gyda’u corff eu hunain, i gacwn sy’n dodwy eu hwyau y tu mewn i westeiwr i’w bwyta’n fyw o’r tu mewn, parasitiaid sy’n rheoli ymddygiad eu gwesteiwr (gan gynnwys bodau dynol!), mwydod sy’n byw o dan eich croen, a ffwng sy’n byrstio allan o ben ei westeiwr i ledaenu ei sborau...swnio’n gyfarwydd? Mae Jo wedi cael cais arbennig gennym ni – i wneud y cyflwyniad mor ffiaidd â phosib!

OCCULT ZOOLOGY 101 BY GAVIN BADDELEY

Abertoir are delighted to welcome back festival veteran Gavin Baddeley to take this class on the most bizarre and macabre lore concerning all creatures great and small. From the mystical secrets of Ancient Egypt’s animal kingdom, to the weirdest entries to be found in medieval bestiaries, Gavin gives us the kind of (un) natural knowledge you’ll never get on a David Attenborough documentary.

Mae’n bleser gan Abertoir groesawu hen law’r ŵyl, Gavin Baddeley, yn ôl i gynnal dosbarth ar y chwedlau fwyaf rhyfedd a macabre am bob creadur bach a mawr. O gyfrinachau cyfriniol teyrnas anifeiliaid yr Hen Aifft, i’r cofnodion rhyfeddaf sydd i’w cael mewn goreuon canoloesol, mae Gavin yn rhoi’r math o wybodaeth (an) naturiol i ni na fyddwch byth yn ei chael ar raglen ddogfen David Attenborough.

GUESTS

FABIO FRIZZI & THE FRIZZI2FULCI

BAND

Legendary Italian film music composer Fabio Frizzi is known throughout the world for his remarkable and unparalleled films scores, particularly those for the films of Lucio Fulci. Throughout a career that has spanned over 40 years, his most notable scores are for Zombie Flesh Easters, City of the Living Dead and The Beyond, which have made him a household name for lovers of horror worldwide.

The Frizzi2Fulci band are talented players and performers selected personally by Fabio Frizzi to join his band. The band is Francesco Saguto (guitar), Riccardo Rocchi (guitar), Federico Tacchia (drums), Paolo Castellani (keyboard), and Roberto Fasciani (bass).

Mae’r cyfansoddwr cerddoriaeth ffilm chwedlonol Fabio Frizzi yn adnabyddus dros y byd am ei draciau sain ryfeddol a digyffelyb, yn enwedig rheini ar gyfer ffilmiau Lucio Fulci. Drwy yrfa sydd wedi parhau dros 40 mlynedd, mae ei gerddoriaeth ar gyfer ffilmiau fel Zombie Flesh Eaters, City of the Living Dead a The Beyond wedi’i wneud yn enw cyfarwydd.

Mae The F2F Band yn grŵp talentog o berfformwyr wedi’i dewis yn bersonol gan Fabio Frizzi i ymuno a’i fand. Y band yw Francesco Saguto (gitar), Riccardo Rocchi (gitar), Federico Tacchia (drymiau), Paolo Castellani (allweddfwrdd), and Roberto Fasciani (bas).

ROBIN INCE

Robin Ince is many things. A comedian, an author, a broadcaster and a populariser of scientific ideas. The Guardian once declared him a ‘becardiganed polymath’ which seems about right. Robin is also devoted to cult film and pulp literature, making him a perfect fit for Abertoir and going some way to explain why he can usually be found skulking around the second-hand bookshops of Aberystwyth in mid-November.

Mae Robin Ince yn llawer o bethau. Digrifwr, awdur, darlledwr a phoblogeiddiwr syniadau gwyddonol. Cyhoeddodd y Guardian unwaith iddo fod yn ‘becardiganed polymath’ sy’n ymddangos yn gywir. Mae Robin hefyd yn selogyn ffilmiau cwlt a llenyddiaeth pwlp, sy’n ei wneud yn ffit Berffaith ar gyfer Abertoir, ac yn egluro rywfaint pam fod modd ei ddarganfod yng nghysgodion siopau elusen Aberystwyth yng nghanol mis Tachwedd.

Kaniehtiio Horn

Kaniehtiio Horn is an actress, writer, producer, and now director, with her feature debut, Seeds, an Indigenous genre-bending horror which she also wrote, produced, and stars in. Horn’s other credits include Lionsgate’s thriller, Alice, Darling, Peacock’s hit comedy series Rutherford Falls, FX’s Emmy-nominated series Reservation Dogs, and her award-winning performance in the cult comedy series Letterkenny, the latter for which she served as producer on its spinoff, Shoresy. Her prolific acting work has also included appearing in The Theatre Bizarre, The Strain, The Man In The High Castle, and the video game Assassin’s Creed III. Kaniehtiio has recorded a special introduction to the film especially for us.

Mae Kaniehtiio Horn yn actores, yn awdur, yn gynhyrchydd, ac yn awr yn gyfarwyddwr, gyda’i ffilm nodwedd gyntaf, Seeds, arswyd brodorol sy’n plygu genre y bu hi hefyd yn ei hysgrifennu, ei chynhyrchu, ac yn serennu ynddi. Mae credydau eraill Horn yn cynnwys ffilm gyffro Lionsgate, Alice, Darling, cyfres gomedi boblogaidd Rutherford Falls i Peacock, cyfres FX a enwebwyd am Emmy Reservation Dogs, a’i pherfformiad arobryn yn y gyfres gomedi gwlt Letterkenny, ac y bu’n gynhyrchydd ar ei dilyniant, Shoresy Mae ei gwaith actio toreithiog hefyd wedi cynnwys ymddangos yn The Theatre Bizarre, The Strain, The Man In The High Castle, a’r gêm fideo Assassin’s Creed III. Mae Kaniehtiio wedi recordio cyflwyniad arbennig i’r ffilm i ni.

Alberto Sedano

Alberto Sedano is a film producer, curator and archivist. Since 2021, he’s been in charge of Spanish Film Acquisitions of Severin Films, as well as researching and locating film elements, managing film restoration projects and producing Blu-ray extras. He regularly curates film programmes for cinemas, museums and other cultural venues and he’s been a jury member and consultant of diverse international film festivals, co-production forums, and public funding programs. Exorcismo is his first feature film as a director. Alberto joins us for a Q&A after Exorcismo

Mae Alberto Sedano yn gynhyrchydd ffilm, yn guradur ac yn archifydd. Ers 2021, mae wedi bod yn gyfrifol am Gaffael Ffilmiau Sbaenaidd i Severin Films, yn ogystal ag ymchwilio a lleoli elfennau ffilm, rheoli prosiectau adfer ffilm a chynhyrchu ychwanegolion Blu-ray. Mae’n curadu rhaglenni ffilm yn rheolaidd ar gyfer sinemâu, amgueddfeydd a lleoliadau diwylliannol eraill ac mae wedi bod yn aelod o reithgor ac yn ymgynghorydd i wyliau ffilm ryngwladol amrywiol, fforymau cyd-gynhyrchu, a rhaglenni cyllid cyhoeddus. Exorcismo yw ei ffilm nodwedd gyntaf fel cyfarwyddwr. Mae Alberto yn ymuno â ni am sesiwn holi ac ateb ar ôl Exorcismo

Dominic Hardy

Professor Dominic Hardy is the son of The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy, as well as being the executor for Robin’s estate. He is professor of history and historiography of art of Québec-Canada at UQAM, and director of the LAB-A, digital lab for the study of art histories in Québec. He is also a specialist of satire in the visual arts. Dominic joins us for a Q&A after Children of the Wicker Man

Mae’r Athro Dominic Hardy yn fab i gyfarwyddwr The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, yn ogystal â bod yn ysgutor ystâd Robin. Mae’n athro hanes a hanesyddiaeth celf Québec-Canada yn UQAM, ac yn gyfarwyddwr y labordy digidol LAB-A ar gyfer astudiaeth hanes celf yn Québec. Mae hefyd yn arbenigwr ar ddychan yn y celfyddydau gweledol. Mae Dominic yn ymuno â ni am sesiwn holi ac ateb ar ôl Children of the Wicker Man

David Gregory

Filmmaker David Gregory co-founded Blue Underground and its Exploited video label in the late 90s. Going on to direct, produce and edit over 100 documentary features and shorts himself (many of which have screened at Abertoir), he is also the co-founder and CEO of Severin Films, the production/distribution label dedicated to preserving and promoting cult cinema from around the world. David will be joining us virtually for a live Q&A after his film Suzzanna

Cydsefydlodd y gwneuthurwr ffilmiau David Gregory Blue Underground a’i label fideo Exploited ar ddiwedd y 90au. Gan fynd ymlaen i gyfarwyddo, cynhyrchu a golygu dros 100 o raglenni dogfen a ffilmiau byr ei hun (y mae llawer ohonynt wedi’u dangos yma yn Abertoir) mae hefyd yn gydsylfaenydd a Phrif Swyddog Gweithredol Severin Films, y label cynhyrchu/ dosbarthu sy’n ymroddedig i gadw a hyrwyddo sinema gwlt o bedwar ban byd. Bydd David yn ymuno gyda ni o bell am sesiwn holi ac ateb ar ôl ei ffilm Suzzanna.

Matt Wise

Matt Wise is a US- born, London based writer/producer. He has worked as development executive in the entertainment industry for 15 years- including as Director of Publishing for horror juggernaut Blumhouse. Decibel (Cowritten with his writing partner Stephen Christensen) is his first feature. Matt joins us for a Q&A after Decibel

Mae Matt Wise yn awdur/cynhyrchydd o Lundain a aned yn UDA. Mae wedi gweithio fel swyddog datblygu yn y diwydiant adloniant ers 15 mlynedd, gan gynnwys fel Cyfarwyddwr Cyhoeddi ar gyfer y jygernot arswyd, Blumhouse. Decibel, a gyd-ysgrifennwyd gyda’i bartner ysgrifennu Stephen Christensen, yw ei ffilm nodwedd gyntaf. Mae Matt yn ymuno â ni am sesiwn holi ac ateb ar ôl Decibel

John Probert

John Llewellyn Probert is the author of 22 published books, the latest of which are The Frightfest Guide to Mad Doctor Movies (FAB Press) and the Amicus-style portmanteau novel How Grim Was My Valley (NewCon Press), which is set in his homeland of Wales. He is also the author of the popular Dr Valentine series, the first volume of which won the British Fantasy Award. He reviews new cinema and Blu-ray releases at his site, House of Mortal Cinema, and is a regular columnist for the magazines Weird Fiction Review and Nightmare Abbey in the US and We Belong Dead in the UK. Coming up next is a new novel, more Dr Valentine, another short story collection and more film books. He tries to fit in some sleep where he can.

Mae John Llewellyn Probert yn awdur 22 o lyfrau cyhoeddedig, a’r diweddaraf yw The Frightfest Guide to Mad Doctor Movies (FAB Press) a’r nofel portmanteau arddull Amicus How Grim Was My Valley (NewCon Press), sydd wedi’i lleoli yn ei famwlad o Gymru. Ef hefyd yw awdur y gyfres boblogaidd Dr Valentine, yr enillodd ei gyfrol gyntaf y British Fantasy Award. Mae’n adolygu ffilmiau newydd ar gyfer sinema a Bluray ar ei safle, House of Mortal Cinema, ac mae’n golofnydd rheolaidd i’r cylchgronau Weird Fiction Review a Nightmare Abbey yn yr Unol Daleithiau a We Belong Dead yn y DU. Yn dod nesaf mae nofel newydd, mwy o Dr Valentine, casgliad arall o straeon byrion a mwy o lyfrau ffilm. Mae’n ceisio ffitio mewn rhywfaint o gwsg lle gall.

Kate Probert

Kate Probert was born to the wail of the Wendigo and the whisper of warp engines. So it’s no surprise that her writing embraces both the mythic and the speculative. She is the author of two forthcoming film books, one on The Descent and one on Orca. In the realm of fiction she is better known by her nom de plume, Thana Niveau, author of the short story collections Octoberland, Unquiet Waters, and From Hell to Eternity, as well as the novel House of Frozen Screams. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, and has frequently been reprinted in the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. She has been shortlisted three times for the British Fantasy award. She is not from Wales, but a land far across the ocean, where it is hot and beset by hurricanes and tornadoes. She shares her life with John Llewellyn Probert, in a crumbling gothic tower filled with arcane books and curiosities. And toy dinosaurs.

Ganed Kate Probert i wylofain y Wendigo a sibrwd injan warp. Felly nid yw’n syndod bod ei hysgrifennu yn cofleidio’r chwedloniaeth a’r damcaniaethol. Mae hi’n awdur dau lyfr ffilm sydd i ddod, un ar The Descent ac un ar Orca. Ym myd ffuglen mae hi’n fwy adnabyddus gan ei nom de plume, Thana Niveau, awdur y casgliadau straeon byrion Octoberland, Unquiet Waters, a From Hell to Eternity, yn ogystal â’r nofel House of Frozen Screams. Mae ei gwaith wedi ymddangos mewn nifer o flodeugerddi, ac mae wedi cael ei ailargraffu’n aml yn y Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. Mae hi wedi cyrraedd y rhestr fer deirgwaith ar gyfer gwobr Ffantasi Prydeinig. Nid yw hi’n dod o Gymru, ond gwlad ymhell ar draws y cefnfor, lle mae’n boeth ac yn llawn corwyntoedd. Mae’n rhannu ei bywyd gyda John Llewellyn Probert, mewn tŵr gothig dadfeiliedig sy’n llawn llyfrau di-flewyn-ar-dafod a chwilfrydedd. A deinosoriaid tegan.

professor Joanne Hamilton

Joanne is a Professor of Zoology and Parasitology in the Department of Life Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Her research focuses on host-parasite interactions in a wide variety of systems including bloodsucking insects and nematodes and trematodes of medical and veterinary importance. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for Biology and the current President of the British Society for Parasitology. She promises that she will draw on all these decades of learning to make her presentation as disgusting as possible!

Mae Joanne yn Athro Sŵoleg a Pharasitoleg yn Adran Gwyddorau Bywyd Prifysgol Aberystwyth. Mae ei hymchwil yn canolbwyntio ar ryngweithiadau gwesteiwr-parasit mewn amrywiaeth eang o systemau gan gynnwys pryfed sy’n sugno gwaed a nematodau a thrematodau o bwysigrwydd meddygol a milfeddygol. Mae hi hefyd yn Gymrawd y Gymdeithas Frenhinol ar gyfer Bioleg ac yn Llywydd presennol Cymdeithas Parasitoleg Prydain. Mae’n addo y bydd yn tynnu ar yr holl ddegawdau hyn o ddysgu i wneud yn siŵr bod ei chyflwyniad i ni mor ffiaidd â phosib!

Gavin Baddeley

Gavin Baddeley is an English writer specialising in the devilish and decadent, Gothic and macabre, with a special interest in the darker fringes of history. In addition to penning numerous books in these areas, he’s written for numerous, diverse periodicals and newspapers, ranging from The Observer and Knave, to Metal Hammer and Medieval History magazine. He has also made annually appearing at Abertoir part of his varied career, so let’s hope evil keeps giving him plenty more topics to share with us.

Mae Gavin Baddeley yn awdur Seisnig sy’n arbenigo yn y diawledig a’r dirywiol, gothig a macabr, gyda diddordeb arbennig yn ymylon tywyllach hanes. Yn ogystal ag ysgrifennu nifer o lyfrau yn y meysydd hyn, mae wedi ysgrifennu ar gyfer nifer o gyfnodolion a phapurau newydd amrywiol, yn amrywio o The Observer a Knave, i Metal Hammer a chylchgrawn Medieval History. Mae hefyd wedi gwneud ymddangos yn flynyddol yn Abertoir yn rhan o’i yrfa amrywiol, felly gadewch i ni obeithio y bydd drygioni yn parhau i roi llawer mwy o bynciau iddo i’w rhannu gyda ni.

Nicko & Joe

Nicko and Joe have been confusing, disturbing and delighting audiences with their unique brand of comedy since 2004. Their infectious enthusiasm on stage and twisted creativity in their writing has resulted in many comparisons being made to other artists. These range from the surreal group They Might be Giants to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park. We know Nicko and Joe most at Abertoir for their Bad Film Club, unashamedly providing live commentaries to some of the most awful pieces of cinematic sewage to ever be put to celluloid…and we love them for it.

Mae Nicko & Joe wedi bod yn drysu, yn aflonyddu ac yn plesio cynulleidfaoedd gyda’u brand unigryw o gomedi ers 2004. Mae eu brwdfrydedd heintus ar y llwyfan a chreadigrwydd dirdro yn eu hysgrifennu wedi arwain at lawer o gymariaethau ag artistiaid eraill, yn amrywio o They Might be Giants i Trey Parker a Matt Stone, crewyr South Park. Rydyn ni’n nabod Nicko a Joe yn bennaf yn Abertoir am y Bad Film Club, yn cynnig sylwebaeth byw di-flewyn ar dafod i rai o’r ffilmiau gwaethaf erioed wedi’u creu…a rydyn ni gyd yn eu caru nhw am hynny!

Surprise Guest

Abertoir wouldn’t be complete without a surprise - so how about a surprise guest! We’re going to have a lot of fun this year when we reveal who this person is - and we’re absolutely sure you’ll be delighted you were in the right place at the right time when we do it! Just be sure you try and attend as much as you can...

Na fyddai Abertoir yn gyflawn heb syrpreis – felly beth am westai dirgel! Bydd lot o hwyl i gael pan fydd y gwestai yma’n datgelu’i hun, ac rydym yn sicr iawn byddwch chi wrth eich boddau bod yn y lle iawn ar yr adeg iawn pan fydd hynny’n digwydd! Jyst gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod chi’n troi fyny i gymaint â phosib…

GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH: MANKIND’S MESS AND THE FORCES OF NATURE

AN ESSAY BY STEVEN SLOSS

“The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control, and not the other way around”

– Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), Godzilla (2014)

In his seventy-year (and counting) career, Godzilla has represented and stood against many things. The colossal conflict of King Kong vs. Godzilla (in its unaltered Japanese edition) skewered rampant consumer capitalism, while Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah took aim at Japan’s ballooning economy of the early 1990s. Ishiro Honda’s original 1954 film, presented what would soon become cinema’s most iconic monster as a living manifestation of the threat of nuclear energy, a theme which would run throughout the series for decades, including the two most recent Japaneseproduced entries, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One. In Yoshimitsu Banno’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah, the King of the Monsters goes up against a toxic smog monster literally born of humanity’s unchecked pollution of Earth. It is perhaps ironic that a nuclear mutant now represents nature fighting back against the overwhelming threat of man-made smog.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is an enduringly effective environmental protest film born of desperate circumstances. Throughout the 1960s, Japan experienced calamitous environmental deterioration. In Toyama Prefecture, cadmium poisoning was eventually discovered as the cause behind itai-itai disease, a man-made infliction causing severe pain in the spine and joints. In Yokkaichi, high levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide led to life-threatening levels of air pollution, resulting in a staggering increase in diagnoses of asthma and bronchitis. Throughout the country, photochemical smog from exhaust fumes caused a spike in respiratory problems, and chronic arsenic poisoning emerged in Shimane and Miyazaki

Prefectures. In Minamata City, citizens were subjected to methylmercury poisoning caused by a chemical factory leak, with the total number of historic casualties surpassing 6500.

In 1970, the National Diet (Japan’s national legislature) convened in a session dubbed “the Pollution Diet”, with fourteen anti-pollution laws passed in a single session. It was in this choked, spluttering Japan that Yoshimitsu Banno (assistant director to Akira Kurosawa on Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, The Bad Sleep Well, and more) conceived Godzilla vs. Hedorah, with Godzilla –once a nuclear spectre haunting humanity – now representing nature’s fight back against manmade pollution. The film features some of the bleakest iconography of the entire Godzilla series, including a baby drowning in sludge, graphic and sudden deaths, and decomposing corpses littering streets. The film’s uncompromising bleakness and stark imagery is reflective of Banno’s fears and concerns, who in an interview in Eiga Hi-Ho magazine stated:

“I did a lot of research to write that screenplay, so I was seeing data like, one out of every four babies born in the Niigata Prefecture at the time was deformed. When that’s all you’re reading every day, you really start to think that the world is going down the tubes, that tomorrow it will all be over.”

Godzilla vs. Hedorah was Banno’s only directorial contribution to the franchise. Various unsubstantiated rumours and myths regarding Banno’s dismissal from the franchise at the hands of longtime series producer Tomoyuki Tanaka persist. The legend states that Tanaka – who was hospitalised during most of the film’s production – was extremely unhappy with Banno’s completed film (in particular, a now-famous sequence in which Godzilla manipulates his atomic heat ray to pursue Hedorah in flight) and assured him he would never be involved in the franchise again. This remains uncorroborated, but Banno’s legacy within the Godzilla series happily continues to this day. Banno, when shopping a 3-D Godzilla feature around Hollywood in the early 2010s, was instrumental in negotiating the franchise rights with Legendary Pictures, eventually leading to Gareth Edwards’ 2014 epic Godzilla and the “MonsterVerse” franchise it spawned. Edwards’ Godzilla is a monstrous tale of nature thrown out of balance and at war with itself and humanity. Fittingly, Banno is credited as an executive producer.

Banno passed away in 2017 but is posthumously credited as executive producer on all MonsterVerse Godzilla sequels, most recently this year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. For having been allegedly dismissed from the franchise after his sole directorial effort, Banno is indirectly responsible for Godzilla’s current international stardom. The franchise is currently enjoying its most significant worldwide success and popularity in decades, historically winning its first Academy Award earlier this year. Fittingly, the MonsterVerse franchise posits Godzilla and his fellow “Titans” as guardians of nature, bringing balance to a world thrown out of order by the machinations of man (Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong), alien evils (King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters), or dormant internal threats (Skar King in The New Empire).

At its core, the Godzilla series is a fable of man’s perversion of nature and its destructive consequences. Godzilla himself (and several of his monstrous co-stars) would go on to become

defenders of the Earth, facing down threats of all shapes and sizes to the planet they call home. However, this does not make them protectors of mankind, as the ending of Godzilla vs. Hedorah reminds us: with Hedorah vanquished (for now), Godzilla begins to depart before suddenly turning to face our human protagonists, staring silently at them for several moments as if considering our destruction. As he always has, Godzilla reminds us that we are the ultimate threat to Planet Earth.

As Blue Öyster Cult sang in their aptly titled 1977 hit “Godzilla”:

“History shows again and again, How nature points out the folly of man.”

Steven Sloss has been a fan and scholar of kaiju cinema since he saw Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah at the age of seven.

He has written on the subject for Arrow Films, FrightFest the Barbican Centre, Glasgow Film Festival, and more, and is the former co-host of the AV Clubfeatured Kaijusaurus Podcast.

He posts on X (formerly Twitter) at @steven_sloss. E-mail him at stevensloss@hotmail.co.uk.

vs. Godzilla

In 1977, Abertoir guest of honour Fabio Frizzi composed music for Godzilla, il re dei mostri, Luigi Cozzi’s colourised reedit of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (itself a US-produced re-cut of Ishiro Honda’s original Godzilla). Fabio composed a cover of a song from the original film, “Prayer for Peace”, which would later become the basis for his famous main title themes to Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 and City of the Living Dead

Fabio

BITING BACK REFLECTING ON THIS YEAR’S THEME

BY NIA EDWARDS-BEHI

Back in August 2023 a seed was sown in the Abertoir management WhatsApp group that, a year and a bit later, is now blooming. It was an almost frivolous suggestion that, maybe, we should consider ‘eco-horror’ as a theme in 2024…mainly as a reason to show Godzilla vs. Hedorah. And here we are.

We honed in from that broad theme into ‘animal attack’ films, dropping Godzilla in the process. Fast forward a few months having watched one too many less than great animal attack films, and we’ve ended up with the theme at its widest – ‘natural horror’ - and with Godzilla vs. Hedorah back where it belongs.

It’s a pressing theme, of course, tapping into a clear zeitgeist well beyond the genre, but likewise wellrepresented within it. Superstar podcast Evolution of Horror has been running near enough 25 episodes of a ‘nature bites back’ series this year, as just one example.

Perhaps calling it a zeitgeist is too blasé: the rapid decline of our climate, of biodiversity, and of life as we know it is surely one of the greatest existential threats we’ve ever faced, an understandable preoccupation.

With that in mind, we might beg forgiveness for still programming a slightly light-hearted approach to the theme: animals on the rampage, killer kaiju, apocalyptic creepy crawlies. But at the heart of all of these films are some reflections of humankind’s negligence in its custodianship of Earth. Yes, even Slugs

Furthermore, in the animal-obsessed year of 2024 –we’re still not over Moo Deng, or Pesto, or Neil the Seal, and we’re still (always) choosing the bear –the theme seems even more pertinent.

You might even wonder where some of the more obvious examples of the genre are in the programme – The Birds, Jaws, Piranha, or even Cujo, or Long Weekend. Well, they were all in consideration. We’ve spent several (mostly) pleasurable months watching nothing but animal attack and eco-horror films, and painstakingly landed on our selection, from the sublime to the ridiculous: Phase IV, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Grizzly, Slugs and Return of the Fly (because Vincent Price has to be in there somewhere).

Beyond the films, we celebrate 50 years since the publication of James Herbert’s landmark The Rats and the subgenre it spawned, both with our incredible exhibition of books thanks to Tristan Thompson, and through the inimitable lens of Robin Ince’s vast appreciation, knowledge and dubious collection of paperbacks.

You’ll certainly be entertained at this year’s Abertoir, but hopefully there’ll be a little time for reflection too. We’ve not programmed anything explicitly about the desperate need for a corporate and mass response to the rapidly deteriorating state of our climate and environment, but we hope the sentiment is there. May the prospect of murderous slugs, an unstoppable smog monster or a global takeover by ants remind us that the real horror is happening all around us.

INTERVIEW WITH THE ISLAND BETWEEN TIDES FILMMAKERS AUSTIN ANDREWS & ANDREW HOLMES

INTERVIEWED BY NIA EDWARDS-BEHI

What drew you to J. M. Barrie’s source play, Mary Rose?

AUSTIN: I’d adored the original Peter Pan as a teenager, and my completist side led me to Mary Rose. It felt like a spiritual ancestor to The Sixth Sense, which was my favourite movie as a kid.

I became obsessed with the play. And it has SUCH a history. It had been Alfred Hitchcock’s great unrealised dream project decades ago, but by the time I read it in the early 2000s, it had fallen into obscurity. Even then, part of me knew deep down that I’d make it into a film one day. Every time there was a new staging, like the Off-Broadway revival in the late 2000s with Ron Howard’s daughter, I worried Hollywood would rediscover it before I got my chance.

Then, while Andy and I were working on some bigger projects that ultimately stalled, I pitched the idea of adapting Mary Rose over lunch at our favourite fried chicken spot. We learned the play had just entered the public domain, and it felt like the right project for us—something we could fully control and not be dependent on other producers to push through for us.

The film’s taken 5 years to reach the screen, can you tell us a little about its production history?

ANDREW: Yeah, that chicken lunch was in 2019, and here we are in late 2024 and we’re finally preparing for our wider release. Five years!

When you don’t have a big budget, you can at least spend time to get things right, especially when you’re not working from a reverseengineered release date the way that larger films and series do. At one point, we took a few months off from the edit to be able to return to it with a fresh perspective, and ended up cutting 12 minutes from the movie that we’d thought were untouchable.

There was a lot of that, working instinctively, taking a step forward but then another step back in another direction. Lots of lessons that will make the next one much smoother.

Please tell us a little about the film’s setting: what took you to British Columbia specifically, and what was it like shooting in that stunning landscape?

AUSTIN: The story centres on an island that’s so remote that its time-bending powers could have only been noticed a few times through history. There aren’t many places in our modern world where such an island could hide without being discovered, but the north coast of British Columbia, far from the city of Vancouver, is one of them.

Filmmaking is an adventure for us, so relocating to Prince Rupert for a few months was part of that. It nearly killed us, though—trying to pull off a large-scale production in a town that’s 22 hours by ferry, plus a five-hour drive, from the nearest film centre. But our tight-knit producing team somehow managed to get us to the finish line!

Though very much an atmospheric ghost story, there’s also sense of the real-world in the dynamics between family members and explorations of trauma. How did you balance these two aspects of the film?

ANDREW: It felt like the right cultural moment for this kind of film. The horror and dark fantasy genres have expanded to cover a lot of ground that used to belong to straight dramas. Horror, in a way, is becoming a Trojan Horse for exploring difficult themes, which is something we leaned into with The Island Between Tides.

Grief is a major theme in the story—what happens when someone you’ve already mourned comes back into your life. But when you can scare an audience, or wrap them up in a compelling mystery, those hard themes go down a lot easier.

What’s it been like to get the film in front of audiences? How have you found audience responses?

AUSTIN: We’ve watched the film a few times with audiences now, and I think we’ve gone through all the stages of reckoning with it. Is this a future lost classic? A flaming dumpster fire? Maybe somewhere in between? I think most filmmakers don’t really know what they have until they watch it with an audience, and I’m grateful that most people seem to really respond to this story— especially when it’s something that we’ve managed to put so much of ourselves into. We’re gearing up for a wider release in early 2025, and just hope that excitement carries over when people watch it at home.

What’s next from you – future collaborations?

ANDREW: After we wrapped, we both went back to our day jobs—me in documentary work and Austin in editing—to keep our heads above water. But now it’s time to dive back in. We have folders for eight new projects together kicking around our desktops, some in the genre space and some that are a bit more outlandish, and we’ll be taking at least a couple of them to script stage over the coming months. It’ll be fun to see which one takes off first.

BEE BOY

A SHORT STORY BY CALLUM

MCKELVIE

“Shit, watch out! There it is!”

“Be careful!”

“No wait, don’t kill it! It’s a bee not a wasp-” James couldn’t understand. It was impossible, preposterous, ludicrous - it made no damn sense. One second he had been vigorously attempting to swat a bee, the next his hand was firmly planted on a perfectly peachy derrière.

A shudder ran through James’s body, he could practically feel Sandra from HR breathing down his neck. If the intense heat wave had caused him to lightly perspire before, then the sweat was dripping off him now.

The owner of the rump was no older than thirty. A large pair of bug-eye sunglasses covered much of the pale face, but James still found himself entranced by the stranger’s striking jaw line and full lips. A long-sleeve black-and-yellow striped pullover hugged a thin frame, whilst tight denimjean shorts struggled to contain the ample arse, still held in James’s grasp.

“Jesus, shit!” James spluttered, finally pulling his hand away “I’m so sorry!”

It was as if the newcomer had appeared out of thin air.

The stranger ran a hand through his auburn locks, before removing the glasses. A pair of piercing amber eyes carefully studied James. A rare genetic trait indeed, James thought.

Finally, the full lips parted and a mouth full of pearly white teeth broke into a broad smile, “apology accepted.”

Whoever the hell he was, he was stunning. James had always wondered if Zertuche Pharmaceuticals, despite claiming to hire only the brightest graduates in the country, secretly considered a pretty face an additional asset. After all, they were so much more appealing to the company’s more…lecherous investors.

The annual summer party, held at a chic rooftop bar where an income of at least £60,000 was a standard entry requirement, was awash with gorgeous faces, beautiful bodies and the smiles of people wondering whose back to stab in order to guarantee their next promotion. After all, they called it the rat race for a reason.

But even among the crowd of beautiful peoplethis boy was something else.

“Do you work for Zertuche? I haven’t seen you before?” James asked the newcomer.

“I used to…help…with some of the experimental projects…but that ended some time ago”.

At that moment Karl from marketing sauntered over, all fake tan and teeth. By the time he had finally given up trying to explain to James the benefits of the Paleo diet - the stranger had vanished.

Later that night James found himself unable to sleep, his thoughts plagued by visions of fiery locks and amber eyes. Eventually he admitted defeat, dragged himself out of bed and towards his home office; if he couldn’t sleep he may as well try and be productive. His work was hard, arduous and messy - but he liked it that way.

Over the following week, thoughts of the mysterious party-goer finally began to dissipate.

Zertuche had demanded results before the next quarter and James’s manager even had the cheek to question his project’s financial breakdowns. But James was determined, he would win ‘Employee of the Year’ and the coveted company mug.

His work was somewhat interrupted by the occasional presence of a bee which seemed to follow him, incessantly buzzing in his ear but never close enough to spot - let alone swat. Only once did he catch a good glimpse. It was an ugly thing, a small hairless patch across its back where someone with a better aim than James had evidently given it a good whack.

But even with the incessant pest, James threw himself into his work and after long days at Zertuche HQ plus long nights in his home office, he began to find that all work and no play made him a rather dull boy. So as the clock chimed 11pm that Friday, he downed tools and resolved to have some fun - of the carnal kind.

The Phoenix was James’s hunting ground. He found the world of online dating too crowded and too crude. You sent one dick pic to a faceless stranger and a minute later you were bent over behind a Weatherspoons. No, for him the thrill of the hunt was a physical one.

Besides…it gave him the opportunity to inspect the merchandise in person. Though he was careful not to make a habit of it, the last thing he needed was a reputation.

In this fashion, James was meticulously scanning the gyrating bodies when he spotted a familiar black and yellow striped pullover. He pinched himself.

The same tuft of orange hair, the same magnificent arse, the same glowing amber eyes. It was him.

There was just one problem. Currently the stranger was dancing with Davey Dickinson, the mesh-vest-clad ‘queen of the scene’ who insisted on being known as Dà-vey. The treacherous twink was supposed to be in a monogamous relationship with a 48 year-old accountant called Kevin, though there wasn’t a night when he couldn’t be found with his tongue - or something significantly larger - down someone’s throat.

If that two-timing trollop had got his talons into the stripe-wearing stranger then there was little hope for James. Davey might be a bitch but he

was an attractive bitch...heaven knew James himself had taken more than one bite of that particular forbidden fruit.

Suddenly the golden eyes locked onto his and the stranger began to walk towards him. Steam practically poured from Davey’s ears.

“Hey - we met the other night right, at the Zertuche thing?”

James couldn’t believe his luck. The Strangerwho it turned out was called Anthony - offered to buy him a drink. He laughed at James’s jokes, frequently enquired about his work and seemed unable to take those heavenly amber eyes off him.

But just once, James thought he saw a flash of something in those eyes. Something primal, raw and utterly deadly.

Fuck, he needed this boy.

“Wanna go back to mine?”

They ran through the rain soaked streets hand in hand. Lightning flashed and thunder roared but the air was still muggy and humid. The heatwave that for the past week had seared the city’s occupants was finally giving way to the mother of all storms.

Smokers, crowding round the entrances of latenight bars, ran for cover. Those who had been leisurely stumbling home, now rushed towards taxis. A young woman, missing one shoe and with a vomit-stained dress, desperately tried to protect her paper-wrapped kebab.

But James didn’t care, he fled through the night, letting the rain soak his skin. When they reached his apartment, Anthony planted sweet kisses along his neck and jawline as he struggled with the key. Fingers probed and felt under James’s shirt and across his thigh. Finally the door opened.

James dragged Anthony inside, his hands clawing hungrily at the slimmer man’s clothes.

His lover seemed reluctant to lose the heavy striped pullover but James didn’t give a damn - it was the shorts he wanted off.

James hurled Anthony onto the bed, grabbing his legs roughly and tugging at the thin black boxers. Pure animal arousal took over. He struggled out of his jeans and, naked, mounted his prey. Sweat dripped off him, he was hungry with lust.

James heard himself scream before he felt the agonising pain.

Something, shiny black and sharp, had embedded itself in his thigh. With horror he looked down and saw the thing was jutting out from a gaping wound over Anthony’s coccyx. As he watched, it slid slowly back inside the boy, the skin instantly healing over the crevice.

“Whoops! I forgot to mention,” Anthony beamed. “I have a sting in my tail.”

James wanted to scream again, needed to scream - but the noise caught in his throat. Pain radiated out from his groin. Already his flesh was swelling, huge pus filled boils forming before his eyes.

But there was something else. A paralysis that seemed to spread quickly. Not a numbness, just an inability to move. It began in his thigh but was moving quickly up towards his chest and down his legs. He stumbled for a moment before they finally gave way and he found himself spiralling towards the floor.

“I was concerned at first you’d recognised me,” Anthony began as he rolled off the bed, lazily replacing his boxers and jeans. “I followed you the entire week, always buzzing close by…”

All James could do was watch as Anthony lifted the hem of the striped pullover to reveal a huge criss-cross shaped scar.

“You tried to swat me, you prick…threw me in the trash…one less asset for the company…”

James began to choke, his eyes wide with horror.

It couldn’t be…

His captor moved towards a large bookcase, fingers dancing across the many volumes. Finally, they settled upon a leatherbound copy of The Island of Dr Moreau, pushing hard upon the spine. With a ‘whir’ and a ‘click’, the bookcase swung away to reveal a darkened corridor beyond.

James found himself being dragged through the darkness and into the light. The harsh blinding light of LED panels and surgical lamps. From his place in a heap upon the floor he could see little, but he didn’t need to, he knew the contents of the room well.

There were shelves lined with surgical instruments, their edges glinting in the bright light. On the worktops, discarded lumps of flesh - simply too good to throw away - floated sickeningly in specimen jars. Then there was the operating table, still bloody from the day’s work. Finally, there were the cages. Rows and rows of darkened cages, filled with the things.

Anthony had found his home office.

“No, not there, please not there!” James tried to beg as he was hauled towards the cages, but the words wouldn’t form.

The things howled and chattered with excitement. Anthony approached each enclosure in turn, warmly greeting the strange misshapen occupant within like an old friend. He put out his hand to shake claws, paws, trotters and even the odd tentacle.

“You’re back! You always sssaid you’d come back!” A voice hissed.

The snake boy was James’s proudest achievement. He’d handpicked the young man from the Zertuche apprenticeship programme and over several painful weeks - for the apprentice anyway - spliced him with a king cobra. The board of Zertuche had been most pleased with the results.

As they had been with the crab kid, a Tasmanian Giant crab and a 20-something twink he’d met in New York who just wouldn’t shut up. James had ensured he removed the vocal cords as part of the operation. Then there was the dog-man and the cat-creature, a pair of Zertuche middlemanagers who’d got too big for their boots. And how could James forget the bear? He’d been… well…a bear. James had picked him up from The Phoenix, not one of his most imaginative moments, admittedly.

All these and more greeted Anthony as their saviour.

Oh how, how had James not recognised him? No, he couldn’t blame himself for that oversight - he was meant to be dead and gone, one of a thousand failed experiments. From Hong Kong to Paris, Cairo to London - James had travelled the world on Zertuche’s payroll, leaving a myriad of missing persons in his wake. How could he be expected to remember one specimen?

“No…Don’t open the cages-” James desperately tried to cry out.

“Whoops!”

With a click the cage doors swung slowly open, their menagerie of grinning occupants moving out of the darkness and towards the paralysed form upon the floor. A small groan escaped James’s lips as tentacles and talons reached towards him, hoisting him upon the bloody operating table.

“Don’t worry dear,” Anthony whispered in his ear “the paralysis only affects movement, you’ll feel everything.”

Callum story

A spider creature, who’d once been on the board of directors, scuttled over to where the live animal specimens were kept. He grabbed one of the smaller cages and held it down so James could see the furry, squealing creatures within.

“Oh god no, not them! Anything but them!” James’s heart pounded in his chest.

“Of course I’m not as talented as you…” Anthony began; “but I think I’m familiar enough with the procedure…”

He smiled as he selected a particularly long and sharp instrument…

But he remembered him now.

Anthony had been a fresh faced graduate, eager and keen to break into the field. James had developed a skill of dealing with potential competition before they became a threat and Zertuche was always happy to provide him with new material…

After all, they called it the rat race for a reason.

“Now where is it…”

Anthony examined a small control panel. James felt his skin become clammy as he watched the lithe fingers brush over the various buttons and switches. Finally he seemed to find what he was looking for…

“Time to join the rat race for real James”.

And finally James found himself able to screamthe first of many that evening.

Bee Boy and all characters and concepts created within are the property of the author. Full copyright remains with the author and no section may be reproduced without their express permission. Want to get in touch? Contact the author at calcarcosa@gmail.com.

GIANT RABBITS, BIG ASS SPIDERS, MUTANT JELLYFISH, RADIOACTIVE ANTS, THE LOCH NESS MONSTER AND A LUSTFUL QUEEN WASP…YOU’RE GOING TO NEED NOT A BIGGER BOAT BUT…

THE ABERTOIR SURVIVAL GUIDE

TO… WHEN ANIMALS RUN AMOK & NATURE GETS NASTY!

COMPILED BY TRISTAN THOMPSON

AThe Atomic Age of the 50s – In a post-war world, the discovery of atomic power brought on an era of unease, underpinned by a growing anxiety of Cold War paranoia, communism and flying saucers. Everything was scary, scientific advances, space exploration, world politics. The discovery of the atom bomb was to bring Armageddon upon us and with this…Hollywood’s creature-feature had arrived.

The iconic horror figures of the 30s and 40s with all their gothic splendour made way for a new cinematic science-fiction sensation…radioactive fuelled mutants and atomic powered monsters where gigantic animals and insects attacked cinema screens.

Warner Brothers Studios unleashed giant radioactive ants in Them! in 1954, the same year that Toho set their Godzilla, King of the Monsters upon the world.

Elsewhere, the American Air Force are called in to napalm a giant spider in Tarantula (1955), a giant six-tentacled octopus (animated by the great Ray Harryhausen) rose from the depths to attack San Francisco in It Came from Beneath the Sea…There were monstrous crustaceans in Roger Corman’s Attack the Crab Monsters, flesh-eating grasshoppers in The Beginning of the End, The Deadly Mantis, Attack of the Giants Leeches…a prehistoric seasnail was The Monster that Challenged the World. An experimental pesticide is the reason people got smaller in The Incredible Shrinking Man, exposure to a plutonium bomb was why people got bigger in The Amazing Colossal Man

Science fiction was once about square-jawed heroic men bravely exploring and conquering while smoking a cigarette and shooting anything that looked different… in 1950s science-fiction horror cinema…everything turned against us…nature got big, nature mutated…nature got nasty!

BB movies featuring Killer Bees: Maybe with the exception of the pulpy Invasion of the Bee Girls in 1973 (which had radioactive

bee serum used to create an army of beautiful women who seduce men to death), it’s arguable as to whether the humble bumblebee ever made an effective transition as a nature-takes-revenge horror film monster.

One of the first was The Deadly Bees in 1966. Robert Bloch’s loose adaptation of a 1943 ‘Mr Mycroft’ mystery novel, A Taste of Honey by Henry F Heard, and directed by the ever-reliable Freddie Francis for Amicus. Suzanna Leigh plays pop singer Vicki Robbins, recuperating from exhaustion with a holiday on Seagull Island. She finds herself between two rival beekeepers while investigating a series of deadly bee attacks, and whether the swarms of horrible hornets are being deliberately coordinated via ‘the smell of fear’ pheromone.

Heard’s novel has previously been filmed by ABC Television in 1955 which starred Boris Karloff as a retired ‘mystery-detective’. Obviously, Bloch’s adaptation replaced a retired sleuth with a shapely female pop singer to appeal to the youth market but, as a horror film, The Deady Bees is a fairly lethargic sit-through and just doesn’t manage to rev up enough suspense to sustain the expected running time.

But even before eco-horror epics

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

like The Swarm and The Bees hit cinema screens in 1978, the killer bee had already swarmed the airwaves of television horror. The Killer Bees, directed by Curtis Harrington in 1974 for the ABC network, has Gloria Swanson supernaturally commanding swarms of bees to do her devilish bidding while NBC’s The Savage Bees, premiered in November 1976.

Maybe 2023’s Zombeez is an indication that the buzz is back…!

CThe Corpse Grinders –domesticated cats with a newfound taste for human flesh are on the loose in this 1971 low budget trash-classic from Ted V Mikels, director of other grindhouse wackiness such as The Astro Zombies (1971) and Blood Orgy of the She Devils (1973).

An outrageously macabre concept has unscrupulous owners of the local Lotus Cat Food Company taken to using the local graverobber (every community has one!) to acquire corpses to mush-up through their industrial grinder to make their special brand of cat food (promoted as ‘the food that cats crave’). Subsequently, the local moggies have been driven wild for the taste of human flesh and are now attacking their

owners.

Based upon a 1969 script by Arch Hall Sr., which was at one time tentatively titled The Cat and the Canary, The Corpse Grinders cost around $50,000 and went onto spectacular box-office business, raking in $190,000 in one week in Los Angeles alone!

Ted V Mikels, forever the entrepreneurial showman, devised promotional gory gimmicks that promised patrons would ‘see human bodies ground up before their very eyes’. Mikels arranged mock-up ambulances to be parked outside theatres, nurses in attendance to check racing heartrates…some cinema foyers even had cardboard grinding machines on display. Legendary exploitation hucksterism!

After the BBFC had shorn off around 10 minutes of footage, The Corpse Grinders was released on the backend of a double-bill with Anthony Balch’s Horror Hospital (1973). In the US, The Corpse Grinders remained in constant circulation on the grindhouse and drive-in circuit in double and treble bills for the rest of the 70s.

“WANTED: People with GUTS who dare see HUMAN BODIES ground before your very eyes by THE CORPSE GRINDING machine!” Press-book shout-line for The Corpse Grinders, 1971

DDeadly Dachshunds – James Herbert’s seminal 1974 British horror novel The Rats was the subject of a Canadian film adaptation in 1982. Produced by Golden Harvest Pictures and directed by martial arts action director Robert Clouse (having directed Bruce Lee in the Game of Death and Jim Kelly in Black Belt Jones). An outbreak of huge rats, fed up on corn-grain contaminated with illegal steroids embark upon the city of Toronto to feast upon anything and anyone they come across. Released as Deadly Eyes in October 1982

and later retitled as The Rats for the UK video release (a title that would have been more familiar to British horror fans!). Teacher Paul Harris (Sam Groom) and local health inspector Kelly Leonard (Sarah Botsford) have a blossoming romance while trying to convince the local authorities of the impending outbreak and trying to track the rats’ lair. Why ‘deadly dachshunds’? Well…due to a heavy pre-publicity campaign Deady Eyes became known as the film that dressed dachshunds up in rat costumes to play the titular monsters (similar to how they garbed coonhounds up in furs and fake snouts in The Killer Shrews in 1959). Deadly Eyes utilises impressive puppetry work for close-ups of the snarling vermin and does have some pretty gory moments.

Alas, James Herbert’s grisly horror novel is distinctly British, a gloomy reflection of London in the grim 70s, chockful of social commentary and was nasty enough to cause critical outrage while being influential enough to irretrievably change contemporary British horror literature. Robert Clouse’s Deadly Eyes hits all those wonderful exploitation markers that made 80s horror so irresistibly enjoyable…but it really is a B movie adaptation of a very important piece of literature.

EEmpire of the Ants (1977)There was a surge of ecological horror films in the 70s that brought about the resurrection of the giant monster movies from the 50s. Following on from the previous year’s Food of the Gods, Bert I Gordon and American International Pictures pillaged the work of H G Wells further and brought us

The Killer Bees (1974)

The Corpse Grinders (1971)

The Rats / Deadly Eyes (1982)

The Empire of the Ants (based upon Wells’s 1905 short story). This time Joan Collins and Robert Lansing fight off giant radioactive ants on some remote marshland in the Florida Everglades. In a clever twist, the queen ant is able to control humans by pheromones. Again, like Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants makes great use of large props and puppetry for the interactive close-ups and creatively combines split-screen techniques with stop-motion. AIP’s marketing department had great fun in releasing stills of a swankydressed Joan Collins fighting off a giant rubber ant’s head. Her performance was convincing enough to be nominated as ‘Best Lead Actress’ for the annual Saturn Awards.

The original UK theatrical release eventually came in 1979 and was cleverly edited to dilute the scarier scenes so that an ‘A’ (PG rating) certificate could be granted for kids.

FFlesh-Eating Fish - Produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and released in the summer of 1978, Joe Dante’s wonderful Piranha is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable lowbudget ‘nature attacks’ movies released on the back-tail (fin?) of Jaws. Like Dante’s later The Howling (1981), Piranha is a carefully crafted blend of clever satire, black humour and beloved horror movie goodness, a monster-movie-masterpiece! Bequeathed the sequel rights by Corman, original producers Jeff Schechtman and Chako van Leuwen hightailed it off to make the infamous Piranha 2: The Spawning (though I prefer the

Flying Killers title!) with Egyptian producer Ovidio G. Assonitis’s Saturn Films in 1982 (the film famously disowned by James Cameron…seriously, how can one disavow themselves from an 80s gore film with special effects by Giannetto De Rossi, the artist who brought to life Lucio Fulci’s queasiest moments in Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Beyond? Really…James Cameron’s Titanic, Terminator and Avatar blockbusters should be marketed with the shout-line “FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PIRANHA 2: THE FLYING KILLERS” splashed across their Leicester Square cinema marquees…!).

Alas, I digress, the fishy saga continued in the 90s when Roger Corman had Piranha remade in 1995 for the Showtime TV Network and then there was Alexandre Aja’s quasi-sequel, decadently drenched in threedimensional gore and gratuitous nudity, Piranha 3D in 2010 and of course, the 2012 David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff starring sequel Piranha 3DD…oh, please, that’s enough now…!

“People eat fish, Grogan. Fish don’t eat people!” Mr Dumont (played by Paul Bartel), Piranha, 1978

GThe Giant Spider Invasion (1975) - B movie supremo Bill Rebane, director of Monster A Go-Go and Rana The Creature from Shadow Lake, here delivers a nature monster movie of epic proportions. The hillbilly community of Wisconsin’s Gleason County are under attack

from giant spiders from another dimension who emerge from a miniature black hole that suddenly appeared on some back-water farm (a cosmologic conundrum that would make Neil deGrasse Tyson’s head spin!). Luckily NASA scientist Dr Vance (Steve Brodie) and astronomer Dr Jenny Langer (Barbara Hale) are at hand and are ready to drop a neutron bomb on the giant spider (that makes Jaws “look like a goldfish!”).

Forever celebrated as the movie that managed to pull off creating its titular monster from mocking up a VW Beetle car as a giant spider with (barely) mechanical legs that didn’t even reach the ground (thus giving the effect that when scuttling across a field, it was actually gliding along on its belly!).

Better than the back projection techniques of Tarantula (1955)… nah! Want more, check out 2013’s Big Ass Spider…title sez it all…!

HThe Hephaestus Plague – 1973 debut novel of author Thomas Page (who went onto write the Canadian sasquatch horror novel The Spirit), filmed in 1975 as Bug. Produced by the legendary B movie schlockmeister William Castle and starring Bradford Dillman, Bug sees a species of an unknown insect unleashed from the cracked earth of a small rural Californian town during an earthquake. Although predominantly inactive due to air pressure, these subterranean cockroaches can create fire by rubbing their antennae together and creating local havoc. Believing that these bugs may be the oldest species on earth, university

Empire of the Ants (1977)

The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)

Big Ass Spider (2013)

professor James Parmiter (Dillman) decides to mate them with the local cockroaches…thus creating a particularly hostile and intelligent (even demonic looking) new breed of bug (they can spell by aligning themselves together to form words…“we live”!)…and they eat raw meat!

Classic B movie kookiness for sure, alas Bug does gain advantage by taking both concept and narrative seriously as the film explores Parmiter’s gradual deterioration following the tragic loss of his wife to the fire-sprouting ticks.

The screenplay was penned by both Castle and the author Page himself and, mindful that the name Hephaestus is for the Greek God of Fire, the film is ingrained with a ‘fire & brimstone’ religious subtext.

Director Jeannot Szwarc went on to direct Jaws 2 three years later. William Castle, sadly Bug being his last film, had hatched another ‘gimmick’ idea to match his infamous ‘Emergo’ skeleton from The House on Haunted Hill (1959) and the buzzer-jolt of The Tingler (1959) - for Bug Hill’s concept was to install brushes under theatre seats to brush against the back legs of patrons to create the sensation of scuttling insects…the idea was sadly rejected.

IIsland Claws – Filmed under the title of Giant Claws and apparently costing around $3.5 million dollars, of which $500,000 was used to construct a huge 9,000 pound (almost inanimate) crab monster, 1980’s Island Claws, having

missed that brief resurgence of nature-runs-amok eco-horror movies in the 70s (Kingdom of the Spiders, Frogs, Night of the Lepus), failed to find a theatrical release and eventually made an uneventful debut on network television in 1984 as Night of the Claw

The story was hatched by director / producers Colby and Hernan Cardenas and the screenplay was fleshed out by Hollywood’s premier underwater & diving specialist Ricou Browning (he played the Gill-Man for the underwater scenes in The Creature of the Black Lagoon) and his writing partner Jack Cowden. Island Claws has a Florida seaside resort (with a local beachside restaurant named ‘The Half-Shell’) menaced by a giant mutant crab. Lots of mindless episodic subplots with generic characters plodding along at a lethargic pace while we wait for the final scenes that eventually reveal the titular monster-with-giant-claws in all its unspectacular glory.

Despite no credit awarded, beloved British pulp horror novelist Guy N. Smith often claimed Island Claws was based upon his first ‘Crabs’ sequel Killer Crabs in 1979. There are similarities…such as a tropical setting and a giant crab… but…sadly… there’s certainly none of Smith’s trademark softcore sex and outrageous crustacean clawgouging mutilation.

For those of us (and there are plenty of us) who just find vintage monster movies irresistible, Island Claws will give us a smile of affection and still be embraced, others who may still be yearning some full-on crab-monster action… will have to make do with a Guy N. Smith novel or rewatch Roger Corman’s Attack of the Crab Monsters for the zillionth time.

JJaw Man - A bewildering ‘Jekyll, Hyde and shark’ concept from John Brosnan, film-commentary writer and pulp horror novelist who occasionally wrote under the pseudonyms Harry Adam Knight and Simon Ian Childer, author of Fungus, Slimer and Carnosaur (his 1984 novel about geneticallyengineered dinosaurs that predated Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park by six years and was filmed in 1993 by Roger Corman’s New Horizon Studios).

Jaw Man was conceived as a spoof in 1977, about a scientist who injects himself with shark DNA and morphs into ‘man-shark’ It nearly happened. Michael Deely at British Lion expressed an interest and commissioned Brosnan to flesh-out a screenplay upon a caveat that John Cleese would agree to play ‘shark man’ Predictably that wasn’t going to happen, so when that fell through, British exploitation producer Norman Priggin briefly flirted with Brosnan before the script made its way onto the executives at the Rank Organisation and EMI and eventually found the much sought after green-light at American International Pictures.

With studio space booked, location scouting underway and explorations on how to film a huge aquarium that would serve as the mad scientist’s laboratory…then word leaked that the upcoming James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, had a similar setting with Richard Kiel playing a supervillain named ‘Jaws’. The project sank and Jaw Man was never to be.

KThe Killer Shrews – This cracking little independent movie from 1959 was shot in 6 days on a shoestring budget of around $120,000 and sees a research team stranded on an island inhabited by enlarged mutant shrews. Director Ray Kellog, having established a

Bug (1975)

Island Claws (1980)

prestigious Hollywood career in visual and special effects, made his directing debut with The Killer Shrews and helped bring the beastly flesh-ripping critters alive with close-up puppetry and dressing coonhounds in grubby furs and snout-attachments.

As with many monster B movies of this era, The Killer Shrews carries that reputation, affectionate it may be, as a ‘bad movie’ (not helped by the copyright lapsing and The Killer Shrews becoming readily available on countless smudgy public-domain video releases and super-cheap DVD box-sets), but Kellog’s direction is sufficiently competent, suspense scenes are well constructed as the survivors blockade themselves into the island’s only refuge, a wooden panelled research hub (actually not too dissimilar to the setting the protagonists find themselves in in 1968’s Night of the Living Dead).

Yes, giant shrews may look like dogs wrapped in fur but then Vic Savage’s monster in The Creeping Terror from 1964, which was unbelievably cheaper, looked like a walking rolled-up carpet… And it was... These were the monster movies of their time.

Filmed back-to-back with The Giant Gila Monster, and released the same year on a double-bill that promised ‘super-sonic hell

creatures that no weapon could destroy!’

LLocusts - Television fright films were having great fun with the ‘nature-goes-berserk’ horror formula in the 70s, there was Curtis Harrington’s The Killer Bees in 1974, The Savage Bees in 1976, Ants (It Happened at Lakewood Manor), Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (both from 1977) and in 1974 we had Locusts. Premiering on the ABC network on 9th October 1974, and starring a very young Ron Howard, Locusts has swarms of predatory grasshoppers threaten the residents and crops of some rural midwestern farming community.

Despite initial prime-time advertising of the film as a slice of TV horror, expectant viewers were left wanting as Locusts is essentially a mundane family drama exploring redemption within a father and son relationship with the swarming locusts as a metaphor to reflect overcoming adversity.

In the realms of celebrated TV horror films, Locusts is pretty much forgotten and often absent from specialist horror movie guides because, despite the network’s pre-premiere fanfare, it’s not a horror film. Some later international videotape and DVD releases similarly dressed the film up as an all-out horror. Now, if they adapted Guy N. Smith’s 1979 novel of the same name…that really would have been something!

MMr B.I.G – the Wisconsin-born Bert Ira Gordon, the legendary director, producer, screenwriter and occasional special effects technician, affectionally nicknamed Mr BIG by Famous Monsters of Filmland and SF editor Forrest J Ackerman in tribute of Gordon’s enduring Hollywood career in bringing giant-monsters to the

silver screen.

As a child, Gordon would make 16mm home-movies featuring monsters, with his directing debut coming in 1955 with King Dinosaur. In 1957 he directed The Beginning of the End (giant grasshoppers) and The Cyclops, featuring a gigantic mutated man with a singular eye, a concept he would revisit the same year with the iconic The Amazing Colossal Man and the 1958 sequel War of the Colossal Beast. It was a giant arachnid in Earth vs The Spider, a deranged doll designer who shrinks people in Attack of the Puppet People and Village of the Giants came in 1965. And in the 70s he gave us Joan Collins in Empire of the Ants and giant chickens, giant mosquitos, giant maggots and giant rodents in Food of the Gods (1976).

Gordon was in the throes of raising finances for Devil Fish in 1977 which was scuppered once Star Wars was released and changed the cinematic landscape. He was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Festival International Du Paris Fantastique in 1977 and in 2012, at the age of 90, he made himself available to introduce a special screening of The Amazing Colossal Man at Pittsburgh’s Monster Bash Festival.

Whether with either cynicism or with affection, much of Bert I Gordon’s work would come to be regularly lampooned in Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and their Rifftrax platform, but for generations of monster-movie kids who caught his back-projection wonders in cinemas or drive-ins, or even later on syndicated creaturefeature TV schedules, Mr BIG’s movies had colossal impact. He lived to reach 100 years old.

The Killer Shrews (1959)

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

The Beginning of the End (1957)

NNessie, the Monster Movie That Never Was - The following year after the box-office juggernaut that was Jaws, an alluring alliance was formed between Hammer producer Michael Carreras and Japan’s Toho Studios (home of the mighty Godzilla) to launch Nessie, an epic monster movie featuring a radioactive-charged mutant Loch Ness Monster breaking free of the confines of the famous freshwater lake of the Scottish Highlands, and wreaking havoc on a global scale. Bringing a certain prestige to the project was political satirist David Frost, onboard with his Paradine Productions outfit, who were planning to develop their own Loch Ness Monster movie, tentatively titled Carnivore. And of course… with the industry savvy of Carreras hand-in-hand with the artistry of Toho’s Effects Director Teruyoshi Nakano, a script by Christopher Wicking, the promise of investment from Columbia Film Studios and even Roger Moore’s name potentially attached…what could go wrong?

There was a swanky press conference on the Thames aboard the historical Hispaniola (a schooner originally built in 1887 that famously featured in Walt Disney’s Treasure Island in 1950) where Carreras excitedly proclaimed a half-million-dollar quarter-scale animatronic model of the monster was under construction. Slated director Bryan Forbes famously stated that “our film will make Jaws look like a toothpaste commercial”. All an extravagant hyperbole of nothingness….money never arrived, money was lost, costs spiralled, Toho balked at the ever-changing storyboards which didn’t even closely resemble the ever-changing scripts…and the Hammer Horror epic with a Tohodesigned monster sadly never happened…

But we do have The Loch Ness Horror from the legendary sci-fi and exploitation filmmaker Larry Buchanan from 1982 and another Loch Ness Horror from 2023 from

Dark Abyss Productions, directed by CGI monster-movie specialist Tyler-James.

“Don’t come looking for Nessie… unless you want to die!”

Trailer from The Loch Ness Horror, directed by Larry Buchanan, 1982

OOctaman (1971) – Exploring the local legend of a ‘man-fish’ that supposedly roams the lakesides of a rural Mexican fishing community. A group of marine biologists, with the funding of an unscrupulous carnival owner looking for a far-out sideshow exhibit, find themselves stalked by a walking tentacled radioactive humanoid octopus with bulbous red eyes.

Funky fun to be had with this lowbudget regional monster horror that showcases an ambitiously outrageous full-sized ‘octaman’ suit designed by future multiple Academy Award Winner Effects & Makeup Artist Rick Baker.

Written and directed by Hollywood screenwriting veteran Harry Essex, with Octaman it appears Essex dusted off his writing contributions to Universal’s The Creature from

the Black Lagoon (1954) and reinterpreted the story here… obviously without the beautifully menacing underwater sequences (undoubtedly stuntman Read Morgan would have sunk faster than a granite rock wrapped up in this cumbersome octaman suit).

Similar to 1967’s Night Fright, Octaman was just too cheap to even break onto the drive-in circuit and went straight to regional television…and then resurrected onto video (hooray!). Octaman the ‘horror heap from the nuclear trash!’

PProphecy (1979) – Big budget eco-horror movie directed by John Frankenheimer for Paramount Studios and starring Robert Foxworth and Talia Shire. Prophecy did decent box-office upon release in Summer 1979 but rarely receives glowing reviews (though both Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino have expressed an enduring fondness).

Written by David Seltzer (author of the original The Omen), Prophecy, set in the forests of Maine, charts the devastating impact of a local industrial papermill dumping mercury-based chemicals into the rivers. The land is under dispute between Native Americans and the industrialists causing violent outbreaks between militant leaders and obnoxious lumberjacks. The Indigenous people (dubbed ‘Opies’ for ‘original people’) are dependent upon the riverways to survive and are being demonised by local communities. They stand accused of a spate of mysterious disappearances

The Loch Ness Horror (1982)

Octaman (1971)

Prophecy (1979)

and mutilated mill-workers, which they attribute to the legend of Katahdin, a vengeful Indian spirit of the forest. In the meantime, Environmental Investigator Robert Vane discovers giant tadpoles and giant salmon, while a giant mutant bear stalks the forests… Further, his wife Maggie (Shire) is pregnant and would have undoubtedly been drinking the mercury-tinged water.

Prophecy, beautifully filmed with very strong performances, while partly striving to explore deeprooted and expansive issues that explore the plight of Native American communities at the behest of industrial commerce, eventually just crumbles under the weight of such a clunky and uneven narrative. Prophecy almost seems to cast aside the social and environmental subtexts to climax as an expensive B horror movie (which, considering Paramount prominently promoted it as Prophecy: The Monster Movie, I guess it was). It is almost as if Frankenheimer’s film was in the throes of an identity crisis, partly with desires to be a provocatively socially-conscious eco-thriller but contractually obligated to deliver a standardised monster movie. Bizarrely, Prophecy is a movie I regularly yearn to revisit even knowing that when the monster-action kicks off I’ll be counting out the time.

QQueen of the Gorillas –

Sensationalistic 1958 exploitation quickie from poverty row studios

Allied Artists Pictures, produced and directed by Adrian Weiss from a script, titled Queen of the Gorillas, by the infamous Edward D Wood JR. Released as The Bride and the Beast in early

January 1958 on a double-bill with The Beast of Budapest

Big game hunter Dan Fuller (Lance Fuller) is mildly concerned when his newly wedded wife Laura (Charlotte Austin) appears to be attracted to Spanky, his caged gorilla. Revealed through hypnotism that Laura used to be Queen of the Gorillas in a previous life you’d think that Dan would cancel their African Safari honeymoon – but of course he doesn’t – and after a brief spell of the usual jungle frolics and adventures, Laura is willingly carried off into the bush by a huge male gorilla, never to be seen again.

The running time of just 77 minutes is excruciatingly padded out with stock footage and by 1958 this familiar threadbare gorilla outfit had begun looking worse for wear. Fun to be had if one can look past the long-outdated behaviours, attitudes and stereotyping that were once commonplace.

With gorillas being a longtime staple of exploitation cinema, one-time cowboy star Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan had become Poverty Row’s ‘go-to’ guy to play apes and gorillas (I counted over 15 movies on IMDB), The Bride and the Beast would be the last time he’d wear that wretched outfit. Adrian Weiss never took up the directing reigns again and Ed Wood would drift on into the 60s penning cheap pornographic paperbacks for underground publishers.

The shout-line cried “A Human Mate for Jungle Brutes!”

RRevenge of Billy The Kid (1991) – Excruciatingly crass, crude and offbeat British horror comedy that, considering its hugely problematic three-year production history, emerges as equally ambitious as it is grotesque. Filmed in and around Mousehole Harbour in Penzance, Cornwall, veteran British character actor Michael Balfour takes the lead as bumpkin farmer Gyles

MacDonald who humps a goat, then raises the icky mutant offspring, named Billy, alongside his two sons (both named Ronald MacDonald…hmmmm!). Quickly Billy the Goat-Boy grows into a Billy the rampaging-rubber-goat monster and takes revenge on the MacDonald clan.

Written and directed by Jim Groom, and initially financed from the proceeds of a house sale, The Revenge of Billy The Kid began filming in around 1988 and subsequently ran out of money. Further investment was eventually secured, though many scenes had to be reshot for actors who had since became unavailable, and armed with a pre-release blurb from John Waters (quite appropriate) and touted as Britain’s answer to The Evil Dead, The Revenge of Billy The Kid made its eventual premiere at the Black Sunday Film Festival in December 1991.

Groom’s resourcefulness and perseverance in bringing his film to completion, especially during a pre-internet age and within a near-stagnant British horror film industry, is unquestionably admirable and no small feat. Alas, The Revenge of Billy the Kid just wasn’t the hyperactive gorefest that was Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste (1987), nor did it have that quirky cult vibe of other Brit horror oddities like I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990) or even the spoof sensibilities of Unmasked Part 25: Jackson’s Back (1989). As a lowbrow comedy brimming with revolting sex gags, body functions and other juvenile yuckiness, The Revenge of Billy The Kid may (at one time) have had the potential to be a minor hit with schoolkids, but with a

Queen of the Gorillas (1958)

The Revenge of Billy The Kid (1991)

limited 1992 video release and no international distribution, The Revenge of Billy The Kid, even within cult film fandom, just sadly never found its mark.

SSquirm (1976) – debut film from genre auteur Jeff Leiberman, a sludgy horror movie about flesh-eating worms had no problems attracting investment from Broadway producers Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh and distribution from Samual Z Arkoff’s American International Pictures. Apparently 250,000 rubber worms were used to bring this Southern sweat-soaked squishy classic alive.

The backwater town of Fly Creek in the suburbs of Georgia suffers an electrical storm that knocks power and telephone lines out. With a downed pylon plummeting millions of volts into the earth, the screeching worms go wild and descend upon Fly Creek to feast upon the local yokels.

Squirm is quirky, inventive and has all the devilry and dark humour of an EC horror comic book. Some show-stopping grossout effects from Rick Baker have worms burying themselves into faces, worms dangling over naked women from showerheads and if you ever wanted to visualise what an ocean of worms covering an entire room looks like…look no further! Simply put, Leiberman and Baker innovatively deliver the squishy goods in Squirm

TTintorera (1977) – Based upon an original 1975 novel by oceanographer Ramon Bravo, Tintorera was structured into a Jaws dupe and released in 1977. A Mexican-British co-production, filmed on and around the beautiful Isla Mujeres and directed by Rene Cardona Jr.

The over long running time (the full cut being over 2 hours) pads out some sleazy convoluted playboy-lifestyle narrative about a rich businessman (Hugo Stiglitz), a randy holidaymaker (Susan George) and a womanising swimming instructor (Andrea Garcia) who all seem to enjoy shark-hunting and sex (I think!). Anyway, the hedonistic trio float around the islands sightseeing and engaging in noncommittal sex (a conditional agreement between them that no one falls in love!), which gifts the viewer with this bizarre travelogue montage of their sightseeing to a rendition of the Christmas hymn Oh Come, All Ye Faithful to the twangs of a Mexican guitar. Occasionally someone gets eaten by a Tiger Shark and Hugo Stiglitz takes to the sea to take revenge.

Tintorera had a huge international release (often with the tag-on title of Bloody Waters or Killer Shark) and was released in two versions to appease the sensibilities of the Mexican censorship system, a standard 85-minute cut with clothed scenes and an excruciating 126-minute cut with someone shredding their beachwear every other scene. There’s sun, sea, sex, smut, Susan George…not much shark!

UUp From The Depths (1979)You know you’re onto a winning monster movie when someone screams “oh my god…it’s a monster fish!” Yes, 1979’s Up from the Depths is a very fishy frightener from veteran exploitation horror screenwriter

and director Charles B Griffith. A luxurious paradise resort on the island of Maui being threatened by a huge prehistoric fish recently awakened by a nearby underwater earthquake and the usual characters play out the usual scenarios (the hero, a sun-scorched romance, foolhardy fishermen, vacationers being chomped up into a paella of mush and guts). Starring Sam Bottoms (undoubtedly at the bottom of his career), shot in the Philippines, produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and showcasing a huge inanimate bugeyed rubber fish with fearsome teeth that somehow makes a distorted elephant roar (even when underwater).

Up from the Depths has an incredibly offbeat vibe. Griffith actually shot the film as an all-out comedy, and the characters were that usual assortment of generic broad comedic caricatures, however Roger Corman’s editors snipped the film up in an attempt to structure the finished edit as a standardised horror film…with much of the visual gags gone and dialogue trimmed of punchlines the characters are even more generically flat…the results… something of a quirky, albeit enjoyable, mess!

However, the 80s was around the corner, Up from the Depths would find an appreciative shelf in video rental shops across the world.

“Beneath these waves lies a horror beyond imagining…hungry for human flesh and its coming…Up from the Depths!”

VVenom (1981) – Suspense thriller based upon the 1977

Squirm (1976)

Up from the Depths (1979)

novel by South African writer Alan Scholefield. Starring Klaus Kinski and Susan George as career criminals who plan to kidnap the grandson of a wealthy game hunter with the help of the family’s sleazy chauffeur Olivier Reed. All principal characters find themselves under police siege in a dark house while being stalked by a deadly Black Mamba snake lurking within the labyrinthic ventilation system.

Shot on the hoof by Piers Haggard (Blood on Satan’s Claw) who took over the troublesome production after Tobe Hooper departed. Managing to maintain an increasingly tight shooting schedule while juggling the eruptive ego of Klaus Kinski and the mischievousness of Oliver Reed led Haggard to slyly comment the production was “a nest of vipers, not just one Black Mamba.”

Such on-set tensions have undoubtedly made a contribution to the finished film’s tight narrative and character interaction while Haggard ramps up the intensity by making good use of the close and claustrophobic setting.

Venom closes with a credit of recognition to reptile zoologist David Ball (portrayed in the film by Michael Gough), thanking him for his ‘skill and courage in the handling of the deadly Black Mamba’

WThe Wasp Woman (1959) –Directed by Roger Corman for his newly-founded Film-Group production and distribution outfit and released as the back-end movie of a double-bill (‘the double

horror sensation of the year!’) with Beast from Haunted Cave, The Wasp Woman has beauty cosmetics company owner Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) team up with an eccentric bee-keeper/ experimenter Dr Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) to acquire experimental royal jelly from honeybees that acts as an antiaging serum to boost ailing sales.

Predictably, after a short period of success, Starlin suddenly morphs into the titular wasp woman, though certainly not in the form of the gigantic horrific femalefaced hornet illustrated on the iconic poster-artwork (undoubtedly inspired by the previous year’s shock-ending of The Fly). Actually, topped with a funky mask of fuzzy black hair, dangling antennae and big bulbous eyes, Wasp Woman doesn’t even resemble a wasp… and despite the absence of wings, Starlin’s Wasp Woman emits that mean-sounding continuous buzz of an angry wasp just to remind us she’s supposed to be a wasp. Of course, just why this honeybee royal jelly causes Starlin to mutate into a wasp is all very vague and woolly but one of the original working titles was The Bee Girl and I guess The Wasp Woman has that more exploitable ‘monster movie’ sounding title.

While Leo Gordon’s screenplay does centre Susan Cabot as a strong female business owner who oversees a lethargic management board, her mutation into monster is spurred by that cosmetic obsessiveness to reverse the appearance of aging and, interestingly, there were reports circulating in the late 50s that the secretions of honeybees and their royal jelly contained exfoliation qualities.

For television syndication, Jack Hill directed an additional 11 minutes with a new prologue to pad out the running time. The Wasp Woman, an unspectacular, yet always enjoyable, kooky monster melodrama that Corman would later revisit under his Concorde Productions company for a television remake in 1995.

But…if you REALLY want to see a giant wasp in all-out monsteraction, check out 1957’s Monster from Green Hell

The advertising fanfare for The Wasp Woman screamed “a beautiful woman by day…a lusting queen wasp by night!”

XX Certificate Jellyfish - Awarded the dreaded Certificate X by the BBFC upon release in June 1968, William Grefe’s Sting of Death (1966) probably holds the distinction of being the only movie in horror film history to feature a morphing jellyfish-manmonster (were-jellyfish?)! Shot in the Everglades at the Rainbow Springs State Park (the same shooting location for 1954’s The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Sting of Death has pool-party teenagers gyrating to rock ‘n’ roll surf sounds while menaced by a walking jellyfish monster with protruding tendrils that leave a deathly sting!

Low budget kitsch classic from Florida-based exploitation entrepreneur William Grefe (who went onto to direct The Death Curse of Tartu and Mako: The Jaws of Death). Good honest creature-feature fun with a monster outfit that reportedly cost around £300 and looks like a guy in a slime-green painted wetsuit, smothered in drooping tendrils and an inflated carrier-bag over his head…which is exactly what it was…and all part of the charming creativeness.

Producer Richard S Flink met crooner Neil Sedaka at a nightclub gig in Miami and talked him into

Venom (1981)

The Wasp Woman (1959)

providing the signature rock ‘n’ roll theme song ‘Do the Jellyfish’ with the prominent poster credit of ‘Special Singing Guest Star’…I guess talking Sedaka into actually appearing in the movie may have been a sting too far (boom, boom!)!

“Well-a, I’m saying fella – forget your Cinderella – and do the jella –the jilla-jella – it’s really swella – do the jellyfish”

Profound lyrics from ‘Do the Jellyfish’, written & performed by Neil Sedaka

YYear of the Angry Rabbit –Renowned Australian writer Russell Braddon made his publication debut with The Naked Island in 1952, a disturbing memoir of his experience as a prisoner-of-war in Singapore during WWII. InYear of the Rabbit, published in 1964, Braddon used a deliberately comedic pulp science-fiction premise of giant rabbits overrunning Australia to create stinging subtexts about nationalism, capitalism and platform his anti-war stance. Of course, these central connotations of Braddon’s novel were quickly discarded when MGM adapted the film as Night of the Lepus in 1972 (Lepus being Latin for hare)…they certainly kept the giant rabbits and shifted the narrative to Arizona. Released the same year as Ben and Frogs, Night of the Lepus was directed by William F Claxton (who was predominantly more well known for western movies and episodic television work) and starred Stuart Witman and Janet Leigh and has a rabbit, injected with an experimental hormonal serum, escape into the wilds to thump and hump with other rabbits…and soon there’s an

outbreak of giant monster rabbits hopping all over the local town.

Night of the Lepus is a fine example of an early 70s preJaws ‘animals attack’ movie (which more often than not can be a simplistic dust-down of 50s atomic monster cinema). However, the famous flaw, just how scary can a fluffy docile-looking bunny rabbit be…even when shot in ‘thump, thump, thump’ slow-motion through miniature sets of towns and farmlands…you still kind of just want to reach out and cuddle them! Not without charm, Night of the Lepus did decent box-office and probably scared a few children who later caught it on afternoon matinees or the occasional television screening.

MGM’s marketing department were

having a good day when promoting the original cinema release in July 1972, they painted rabbit footprints over the sidewalk leading people to the cinema marquee…

“Attention, attention, ladies and gentlemen attention, there’s a herd of killer rabbits heading this way and we desperately need your help!”

A panicked police-officer desperately addresses the audience at a rural drive-in cinema, Night of the Lepus, 1972.

Z

ZOMBEAVERS (2014) - In a world of contemporary low-rent ‘nature gone nasty’ titles such as Shark Exorcist (‘Satan has jaws!’) and Beaster Bunny (‘you haven’t a hop in hell!’)…why not zombie beavers?

So, radioactive undead beavers

pretty much spoil a weekend away to a picturesque lakeside cottage for a group of self-obsessed teenage dudes and dudettes… who are more traumatised that they can’t access their social media outlets due to no mobile phone signal (of course) than they are of flesh-gnawing semiaquatic rodents turning up in the shower and chomping off a foot or two. Zombeavers is a schlocky fastpaced 75-minute gag-reel of cartoon gore effects filled with adolescent ‘yuck-yuck’ humour. Lurid and lewd, and bound to evoke a guilty chuckle here and there, but not made without skill, especially the animatronic models and clever puppetry that bring the buck-toothed beasties alive.

Oh, I suppose there’ll be a smutty ‘beaver’ joke or two…but there’s fun to had…just tut-tut in the right places and just don’t let anyone know how much you enjoyed it…!

UK

cult & exploitation film writer, researcher & scholar and has written for many websites, periodicals and magazines including Infinity, The Darkside and We Belong Dead. His long-running A-Z movie guides have featured in the Abertoir Program since 2009.

Research acknowledgements & thanks: Charlie Thompson, Lee Gamblin, Christopher Wayne Curry, John Lemay.

Tristan Thompson is a

horror,

Sting of Death (1966)

Zombeavers (2014)

Night of the Lepus (1972)

JAMES HERBERT: 50 YEARS OF THE RATS ESSAY BY TRISTAN THOMPSON

“And I could see there were thousands of rats… with their eyes blazing red, like his only smaller. And he held up his hand… and they all stopped. And I thought he seemed to be saying ‘rats, rats, rats… thousands, millions of them, all these, red blood, all these will I give you…if you will obey me!’”

Dwight Frye as Renfield in Dracula (directed by Todd Browning, 1931)

It was Dwight Frye’s exquisite performance as the gibbering Renfield, enslaved to Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, and his chilling description of overwhelming hordes of rats that resurrected a dark and distant childhood memory for James Herbert.

It was a late Friday night in 1972. Settling into a television screening of Todd Browning’s 1931 Dracula, 29-yearold advertising executive James Herbert began recalling memories of his London Eastend post-war childhood in a creaky terraced family house on a cobbled street behind Whitechapel’s Petticoat Lane. He shared it with his markettrader parents and two older brothers, within a suburb of demolished houses and rubble-strewn bomb sites that served as playgrounds for the local children.

And rats…

There was an alleyway adjacent to the back of the Herbert’s household on Tyne Street. The adjoining stables were infested with rats and by night, under the dull glare of the gas-fuelled street lamps, the 7-year-old James Herbert would quietly watch from his bedroom window the rodents gathering below in the backyard and silently scuttering along alleyways.

“I was scared of giant rats. There were gutted houses all around us, full of them.”

James Herbert in James Herbert, Devil in the Dark, Craig Cabell, 2004

From bombed-out factories to abandoned houses, from crowded street markets to desolate docks and churchyards, rats were an everyday sighting in immediate post-war London.

For a young boy, with a fervent imagination, watching the nocturnal scavengers emerge from their small dark dwellings to converge and scurry around the backyard and the coal-shed so close to the kitchen door aroused a macabre fascination mixed with skin-crawling revulsion.

Now, fast approaching his 30th year, married with a young family, financially secure with a fast-paced prolific career as an Associate Director for the prestigious Charles Barker Advertising Agency, James Herbert was enjoying a comfortable life. The war-ravaged London of his childhood, a London that was hard-lived, depressed and desolate, were distant memories. But that night in 1972, James Herbert watching Dracula, the images of rats ingrained into his childhood consciousness were evoked by the lunatic ramblings of Dwight Frye’s portrayal of Renfield…

James Herbert decided to write a story…a story about rats…

For the next 10 months Herbert spent his evening and weekend hours writing a gruesome 169-page story of enlarged mutant rats sieging contemporary London. It was written in longhand and typed up by his wife, Eileen.

His manuscript was sent out to six different publishers. Five rejected. But New English Library accepted with an offer of a contract that stipulated a continuing 5% royalty rate and a £150 advance.

The Rats was published the following year in January 1974 and following a very limited hardback edition (selling for £1.95), predominantly provided for libraries, the initial

100,000 paperback run went to retail in the November and sold out within 3 weeks (at 40p a copy).

The contemporary horror literature market was predominantly entrenched in gothic fiction, supernatural twists and macabre ghost stories. The long-running Pan Book of Horror Stories anthology series (which began in 1959) showcased authors who were quietly pressing boundaries while endlessly regurgitating the classic works of Edgar Allan Poe, H P Lovecraft, M R James and Algernon Blackwood.

With The Rats, James Herbert delivered an unrestrained novel of visceral shock and a vivid ‘contemporary’ horror. On the surface, The Rats was enjoyed as a short, schlocky and outrageous horror novel but Herbert’s grim story is deeply ingrained in a pessimistic social commentary of a depressed, post-war, suburban 1970s London.

Gone was the bourgeoisie prose of Dennis Wheatley’s conservatism, the crafted storystructures of Richard Matheson or the ghostly writings of Susan Hill, The Rats was raw, a story about working class people being eaten alive by mutant rodents in a decaying city of grime and dirt.

“Rats! His mind screamed the words. Rats eating me alive! God, God help me. Flesh was ripped away from the back of his neck. He couldn’t rise now for the sheer weight of writhing, furry vermin feeding from his body, drinking his blood!”

The critical establishment were repulsed and recoiled at the undiluted graphic rawness of The Rats. Herbert’s writing was condemned and dismissed as offensive, cheap, illiterate trash. The Observer’s literary critic Martin Amis (writing under his pseudonym Henry Tilney) famously wrote ‘enough to make a rodent retch, undeniably and enough to make any human pitch the book aside.’

James Herbert’s The Rats went on to sell millions of copies and helped spearhead that unique 70s pulp paperback phenomenon that subversively skewered British publishing. Along with The Rats, tattered paperbacks of Sven Hassel’s controversial war novels and Richard Allen’s Skinhead books eagerly exchanged hands in playgrounds across the country and were kept hidden from sight from teachers and parents.

“My readers range from 10-year-olds to 82-year-old grannies…perverted grannies!”

James Herbert from The Life and Happy Times Healey the Writer, Adam Trimingham, Brighton Evening Argus, 1989

The Rats would also irretrievably change the landscape of British horror fiction. Bookshops and paperback-stands in newsagents and station kiosks would become crammed with slimline novels of animal-attacks nastiness. Guy N. Smith brought crabs to our Welsh coastline (Night of the Crabs, 1976), Richard Lewis had spiders on the march across the Kentish countryside en route to London (Spiders, 1978), the army were called in to fight off killer felines in The Cats (Nick Shaman, 1979). The critical establishment, looking for a more contemporary term than ‘penny dreadfuls’, coined the term ‘nasties’ to describe them.

“If the Sex Pistols created punk rock at a stroke with Never Mind the Bollocks, then I think it could be argued that James Herbert created the entire splatter-punk genre at a stroke with The Rats.”

Stephen King, By Horror Haunted, edited by Stephen Jones, 1992

For James Herbert, reluctant as he was to give up his prestigious career in advertising, he finally relented and began to write full-time and would become the UK’s highest-selling horror novelist. He was appointed OBE in 2010, and after 23 best-selling novels, died in March 2013.

November 2024 marks 50 years since the paperback release of The Rats and Abertoir pays tribute to James Herbert and celebrates the cascade of glorious gory paperback ‘nasties’ he reluctantly inspired.

“I was very lucky. I came along just at the right time…like The Beatles. It isn’t anything you can study or plan for. It just happens!”

James Herbert from Animal Calm, Today (1st June 1986), Nick Gaiman.

With thanks to Stephen Jones, Simon Brown & Russ Hunter

A WILD WEST WALES FIELD GUIDE TO… A BERYSTWYTH

This year, part of our festival takes place down town at the Commodore Cinema. With our usual venue selling out in just 10 minutes of passes being put on sale, some quick thinking led us to alternative venues that would give more people the opportunity to be part of the Abertoir family.

This venue change meant flexing around existing schedules at our new venues (showing something arguably even more horrific than our own fare, Paddington 3) – but it also affords you some time to explore Aberystwyth.

Abertoir regulars will know that an ambitious programme usually leads to a relentless schedule, but this year we find ourselves in the rather unusual position of giving you a break. That leaves you with two-and-a-half hours – 2pm-4.30pm on Saturday – to explore the town.

Whether you’re from Aber or elsewhere, we present you with our field guide to Abertoir’s home town. Be sure to check out special offers from Little Devils and Angola Art Cafe overleaf too...

TIME TO KILL?

Constitution Hill

‘Consti’ is the hill that overlooks Aberystwyth. Really stretch your legs by taking a walk to the top, or take it easy with a ride on the Cliff Railway.

Places to shop, eat or drink:

Y Consti Cafe sits atop the hill with great views (open 10am-5pm daily, last orders 4.15pm)

Horror moments to re-enact: If you’ve made it all the way to the top, imagine yourself as DJ Stevie Wayne, looking out over a foggy Antonio Bay...

...or Gaz realising he needs to cancel 2016’s offsite screening of The Fog when he sees gale-force wind carry a picnic table past the cafe window.

Aberystwyth Pier

Built in 1864, just a few years before the university, the pier has played host to a variety of uses over the years (we still miss the video shop). The possibility of installing a zip-wire between Constitution Hill and the pier was abandoned in 2014. Those who joined last year will have memories of experiencing Blade in Pier Pressure nightclub.

Places to shop, eat or drink: Opposite the bandstand you’ll find Baravin serving pizza and pasta from midday, or head for an early tipple at The Libertine Cocktail Bar (also open from midday). Other options include Ultracomida, Fusion King and Aberdyfi Ice Cream.

Horror moments to re-enact: As you look out to sea from the Pier, it’s hard not to be reminded of wind-swept favourites such as Carnival of Souls or The Witch Who Came From The Sea.

Castle Ruins

Started in 1277, Aberystwyth Castle was a response to war and frequently changed hands between the English and Welsh.

Places to shop, eat or drink: Stop in at the Ship and Castle for a drink, or a late lunch at Art Cafe Angola which offers 10% off cakes and drinks for Abertoir passholders!

Horror moments to re-enact: The perfect place to salute the old ones, the druidic circle (erected in 1914 for the National Eisteddfod) is a good spot to recreate your folk horror favourites.

Vale of Rheidol Station

Though likely closed during your visit, you’ll find a narrow gauge steam railway which runs to Devil’s Bridge throught the summer. The rail shed was also site of our 2014 off-site screening of Horror Express

Places to shop, eat or drink:

A couple of minutes walk from the station, Little Devil’s Cafe has lots to offer including lots of vegan and gluten free options. Show your pass for 5% off.

Horror moments to re-enact:

We salute anyone who comes along here and belts out a rendition of Joe Turano’s Everybody But You, in the spirit of ghosts of Bad Film Clubs past.

The harbour & South Beach

Popular with surfers, dolphins and porpoises, the pebbled South Beach runs along to the town harbour. In the 19th century the harbour was used for fishing and shipbuilding, but is now mainly a base for lobster fishing vessels.

Horror moments to re-enact:

It might be too risky a day for a regatta in mid-November, but why not imagine yourself in Piranha...or Tentacles...heck, or even Jaws.

LOCALS GUIDE

Don’t fancy a walk? Just want to find somewhere for a leisurely lunch? Check out our Local’s Guide...

Tips for Twitchers

Beyond the occasional squirrel, we’re mostly a town of birds here in Aberystwyth, and below, our resident birdwatcher Nia has listed a few common ones to look out for while you’re stretching your legs.

Herring Gulls

Aberystwyth’s most ubiquitous bird (along with our lovely pigeons) often get a bad rep, but did you know Herring Gulls are actually red listed in the UK? So we’ll take no gull slander here, thank you!

Be mindful of the ones back up campus, though – they can regularly be found dive-bombing unsuspecting students for their lunch!

Turnstones

Stand by the prom railings nearest the Pier and look down onto the beach – can you spot movement along the shoreline, flowing with the waves? Good chance you’re seeing little turnstones, living up to their name, looking for food.

They’re unsuspecting little friends, but also known for eating almost anything, including carrion, and have even been recorded eating a human corpse in 1966…

Rooks

There are all sorts of Corvids in Aberystwyth, but some of its rooks are the most impressive. You’ll often see them in flocks along the prom, or further into town.

You’ll also see plenty of crows and jackdaws, and we all know the spooky reputation Corvids have. Have you ever heard a raven speak, for example? Look it up…no wonder Poe said ‘nevermore’!

Cormorants

If you made it all the way to the jetty at the end of South Beach, keep an eye out for an imposing cormorant stretching their wings out to dry…or otherwise speedily flying along the horizon.

With their impressive size, cormorants have been described as ‘pre-historic’ looking. The closest we’ll get to Godzilla in town, it seems!

Pied Wagtails

Time it right and you’ll see dozens of these adorable –but noisy – little birds coming together to roost for the evening in the centre of town. Look closely though and you might even spot a grey wagtail too.

Bird names in Welsh are famously vivid, and the wagtail is no exception, being “sigl-di-gwt”…roughly translating to “swinging rump”! Watch them a while and you’ll see exactly why!