Hellfire Video Club: Avon Moot
Hellfire video club are back with another trio of film recommendations - this month picked to compliment the upcoming Noods "AVON MOOT" folklore event. Three cursed films buried deep in the earth. Also, look out for more cult film screenings coming to The Cube this year - as HFVC are back, baby! Keep Friday 12th May clear in your diaries.....
Be Glad For This Song Has No Ending
Incredible String Band, 1970
Cult first-wave acid-folk groop 'Incredible String Band' are the subjects of this documentary - first half is some beautiful concert footage and interviews, worth seeing of course, but the second half is what floats our boat: The band filmed and starred-in a short fable entitled "The Pirate and the Crystal Ball". A naughty pirate falls foul of some forest Gods. Handheld filming at a Welsh Neolithic site, wonky and mad costumes, and a slow collapse into all manner of psychedelic film effects give this the feeling of a transmission from another realm and time... as transportative and whimsical as the best of their albums.
VIY
Konstantin Yershov, 1967
The first soviet horror film. Based on a 19th century novel, it follows a recalcitrant monk who unwittingly murders a witch and is ordered to stand vigil with her body for 3 nights. Increasingly demonic and terrifying things occur whilst he is locked in the chapel with the witch. Packed full of fantastic practical FX and sets this film builds to a dizzying, frenzied finale that needs to be seen to be believed. Yershov managed to get around the harsh Soviet censors by releasing this as a "folk tale". Seek it out!
Let's Scare Jessica To Death
John Hanock, 1971
This quietly creepy, highly atmospheric rural chiller follows a mentally-fragile young woman - recently released from an psychiatric hospital - who befriends and mysterious drifter, then becomes increasingly convinced this person might be a supernatural force. Is she relapsing, paranoid, or are vampires real?? The film offers no easy answers, and can be seen as a comment on the death of the counterculture movement of the late'60's. Beautifully filmed, and featuring some haunted early electronics on the soundtrack, it's a beguiling watch. Coming soon to an arthouse cinema in Bristol??
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