The American Horror Film Festival

Last night, back with The Hideout! Goodness, they are providing lots of fun these days - they invited us to the American Horror Film Festival, which turned out to be an evening of short horror films - in conjunction with Movie Roadhouse. I love short horror films! so even though, predictably, I wasn't familiar with any of them - well, I just couldn't resist. This was in the Close-Up Cinema - pity it's so close to home for me, as I was in the office again yesterday! It's just off Brick Lane, so I booked Cinnamon - another place I hadn't been in ages! They're now BYOB.. and give a 20% discount for booking.. 

Bringing a bottle wasn't a problem - I have wine left over from a studio evening with Ivan, who bailed early.. showing his age! and I don't really drink at home in London. Hell, I'm hardly ever AT home in London! So, finding a nice bottle of wine to bring with me was easy - carrying it around, not so much. I lugged it to the office, stored it in the fridge for the day - discreetly wrapped in an opaque plastic bag. And phew, remembered to bring it with me when I was leaving. Google Maps said I'd just missed my bus, and the next would be 15 minutes - nah, it beat them to it by 10 minutes!

Hoiking my rucksack down Brick Lane, I was still 10 minutes late for my booking - and I'm not sure they discounted my bill for booking, I didn't think to check. Anyway, the nice man asked whether I'd like a drink, and I informed him I had a bottle of wine with me. "White or red?", he asked. "White." Which meant he brought me an ice bucket - much appreciated! And someone else brought two glasses, although they knew my booking was for one person - he got an awful rollicking for that. I think they must be quite strict on the staff, here.

I ordered my usual - forgot about the naan, and when he asked, I decided against it - I can never do justice to all that food. It's been a while since I ate Indian though - and when I started to smell and taste it again, I rethought the naan - they do terrific peshawari naan here. But, after Wednesday's privations, I was so grateful to be fed! Poppadums, lamb samosas, butter chicken with onion rice - and the naan, of course. All delicious, although I'd like to try some of their many other rice flavours.. The wine, handily, went absolutely perfectly with it all.

Naturally, I didn't finish it all - and indeed, there was little enough chicken in the butter chicken. As to the wine, I was determined to finish that - having brought it, and not being keen on lugging the rest of it around with me for the rest of the evening! And so I did finish it - I don't typically have a whole bottle with dinner, but what the hey. So that was a lesser weight I had to carry as I left. After giving the waiter a five-star review - he was so insistent I fill one out. I bet they check that at work, too! So, I rated him excellent - even if he did spend the entire evening peering at my table to see whether I was finished with anything. I suppose he had to look busy..

A slightly shorter walk to the cinema - which seems to be one you can rent out. It looks more like a film library, with some fascinating books and dvds, a bar, and a screen in the back - I think it was Movie Roadhouse who were filming, from what Jonny said later. And most of us seem to have been co-opted for interviews! What the hey, I'm always happy to talk horror..

And in due course, off we traipsed to the screening. Despite it apparently being sold out, there were some free seats. Seating was unassigned, but it's a small area anyway, so anywhere was good. 

Six short horror films were shown, preceded by a music video:

• Craters - The Lycan Bite is a hard rock video with.. a lot of werewolves. And a GSOH.
• Confined has a kind of voodoo vibe, a young man living with his overbearing grandmother, desperate to leave but not really able. Personally, I didn't think this really told us anything new - although it did score well, with some of the audience loving it, and I think its Best Actor and Best Cinematography awards were well-deserved.
• Hazard Lights is a classic, lone car at night story. I wasn't overly impressed at first - until I saw how they used the hazard lights themselves! Very clever. Again, this was a real audience favourite, which someone astutely compared with the legendary Lights Out!
• And Yet They Speak was the longest (by far) - the story of a young girl who hears sounds that reflect that a death happened in the vicinity, and are louder if it was violent. Winner of the Best Director award, and my personal favourite - not an opinion shared by lots there, but well, that's quite standard for me!
• Behind is a really conceptual film, related to an apparently haunted painting - we don't get a coherent story, just a series of images and short clips. Tricky to edit, as someone pointed out - but not my taste, really.
• Werewolf Margarita was a close runner-up for me - with a werewolf on the loose, what young lady would dare risk a night on the town..? This young lady won the Best Actress award.. and (spoiler) Yay! Vampires beat werewolves.. again. Anyway, she drinks Margaritas - can't be all bad.
• Dark Mommy follows the story of a late-night 911 operator - alone at night in the office, you just know something is coming for him. Overall Best Short Film winner - not what I would have chosen, but certainly well-made.

Very high standard overall. Afterwards, we had a talk from Jonny, and from some guy apparently associated with the American Horror Film Festival - and to answer an unasked question, yes, it is generally held in America! This, apparently, was their first foray to London - and seems to have been in conjunction with The Hideout! Well now, kudos to them.. 

The awards were announced, and they had a cute little trophy - nobody there to receive it, unfortunately - of course, they're all over in America!

I chatted to some folks afterwards, and called it a night - and lo, although my bus was due imminently, I was catching it from its terminus. And as anyone with experience of doing that knows, TFL's idea of when the bus is due to leave rarely tallies with the driver's idea.. but I did get home eventually. Too tired to blog last night though - particularly as I knew it was going to take longer than I had before I needed to go to bed!

I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again - actually en route to the airport as I write. Tomorrow is National Cinema Day, with most cinema tickets €5.. and it's looking like Alien: Romulus at last! Probably in Ennis, which has the most convenient time. 

On Monday, back with The Hideout / Movie Roadhouse - well, I wasn't going to miss the second instalment of the original Star Wars trilogy! Jonny is starting to do these as double bills - you have a choice of two, on at the same time in the same place! This time, the place is the Prince Charles- the alternative is American Psycho. All meeting at Clubhouse 5. Tragically, my favourite restaurant is booked out for the evening, would you believe- instead, I'll be eating in the nearby Imperial. Another Greene King pub..

Tuesday, I'm going with the film list: very interested in seeing what's top of the list- Sing Sing, based on the true story of an inmate in the infamous prison, who got deeply involved with amateur dramatics. Showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury. 

On Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks for Ian Fleming, Winston Churchill, Isadora Duncan. Meeting in the Bag o' Nails pub beforehand- and wouldn't you know it, it's another Greene King! So I'm eating there beforehand. 

And on Thursday, we have a pre-trip Zoom meeting for our trip to Transylvania! Just finally got my holiday approved by work today - my boss was probably prompted by the head of HR, trying to chase everyone to book their holidays by year's end! Anyway, booked my local Côte for dinner that evening.