The Demonic Brilliance Film Festival returns for its fifth year of horror

It’s only the beginning of October, but fans of the spooky side of life don’t have to wait until Halloween to indulge.

The Demonic Brilliance Film Festival is hosting its fifth annual festival in Fredericton starting Thursday.

23 films from all over the world will be shown at the festival.

Jared Carney, the festival’s founder, said the goal is to shed light on a genre that he believes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

“Even if a film has as good acting or direction as any other film, they are often overlooked or dismissed because of their content,” Carney said.

“I really wanted to highlight and highlight the excellence that is being created in the horror genre.”

Horror isn’t just limited to vampires and other ghouls. And several actors have also become new staples of the genre, including Mia Goth, Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Moss.

The genre has always enjoyed great popularity among critics – in the 1991s The Silence of the Lambs received five Oscars – and the last decade has seen a number of highly rated horror films.

The 2015 film by Robert Eggers The witchis a historical piece in which members of a Puritan family in the 17th century are tormented externally by evil forces and internally by their faith.

Ari Aster’s 2018 film Hereditary is a psychological horror film about grief, family conflicts and a demon cult. Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Exitis both a horror film and a commentary on racism and was nominated for three Oscars.

While horror isn’t for everyone, Carney said he’s always been fascinated by the genre.

“Horror is just so much fun,” he said. “It is so diverse and varied. It can go in so many directions.”

Delightfully devilish

While previous festivals focused solely on film, this year two more spooky events are being added.

The first is Black Market – think a more morbid craft Christmas market – and the second is Drag Me to Maybee – think Ru Paul but with blood.

While drag performer Evelyn Nox, who will be appearing on the show, admits she gets a little squeamish when it comes to horror, she is a fan of the genre and says it fits well with the art form of drag.

Channeling her inner Freddy Krueger, Evelyn Nox will perform at the festival’s drag show. (Evelyn Nox)

“I know a lot of drag queens are born on Halloween,” Nox said.

“There are a lot of queer people who find solace on Halloween…Instead of being afraid of the everyday fears of being a queer person, I’m afraid of this big guy with a knife.”

While “beauty” may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of horror, Nox said gore has a beautiful dimension.

“I kind of like the final girl aspect of it,” Nox said, referring to a motif in horror films, particularly slashers, in which a character, usually the woman, considered the purest, survives to escape the villain or him to defeat.

“I like the blood, I like finding glamor in it. I think that’s my approach… I’m excited to do something that’s a little bit outside of my comfort zone.”

Undead directors

Even with the additional events, the film is still the heart of “Demonic Brilliance,” including two collaborations each nearly a century in the making.

One of them is the short film The scalpel by director Richard H. Lyford.

Except for a few excerpts, the film was considered lost until the whole thing was found at the beginning of the year.

FW Murnau’s 1922 vampire film Nosferatu is shown with new music. (Jofa Studio Berlin-Johannisthal)

“This filmmaker and music composer named Ed Hartman recently put this film together, scored it himself, and is kind of taking the horror film festival world by storm,” Carney said.

The second is a local artist who tackles one of the most famous silent films in the genre.

Guillaume Aube, who composes music under the name Mombius Hibachi, has written a new score for FW Murnau’s 1922 vampire film Nosferatu.

Aube said it wasn’t the first time he’d been inspired by the film, so writing the score was a make-or-break decision.

“I wanted to do a music video for one of my songs and I ended up choosing…Nosferatu,” Aube said.

Guillaume Aube, who composes music under the name Mombius Hibachi, says the score can best be described as electronic gothic music. (Jordan Gill/CBC)

“I just remember thinking at the time… ‘It would be kind of cool to do a whole score for the movie as is.’ … I’ve always wanted to do this.”

Aube, who classifies the score’s genre as electronic gothic, said it was a “different” experience mixing his art with art created over a century ago.

“Even though it’s a silent film, it’s not a typical film score where you can play with dialogue or sound effects,” Aube said.

“It all depends on the music for 90 minutes.”

Other notable films include: Chrissya film by Frederictonian Larry Collicott, Aliens versus chainsaw assassinsa Norwegian film in which a serial killer is abducted by aliens, and Welcome to Kittytownthe closing film of the festival from Saskatoon.

New excavations

The venue for the festival is also new this year.

After a stroll through the bars, this year’s performances will take place in the Open Space Theater at Theater New Brunswick.

“We like the idea of ​​having all the performances in the same location and in a more traditional theater setup,” Carney said.

Entry to the festival is by donation, with all money going to a variety of charities.

“Horror is just so much fun,” says Jared Carney, the festival’s founder. (Jordan Gill/CBC NB)

This year the festival is supporting the Youth Imprint Association, a 2SLGBTQ+ charity based in Fredericton, and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

“The tools we have to do good.” [are] of this festival and the money we raise,” Carney said.

The film screenings take place from Thursday to Saturday from 7:30 p.m. in the Open Space Theater

The Black Market runs from 12pm to 4pm at Maybee Brewing and Drag Me to Maybee takes place on Saturday at 10:30pm.