FrightFest Reviews Of I KNOW HOW MANY RUNS YOU SCORED LAST SUMMER And TOKYO GORE POLICE!

Beaks here... We've had a wide variety of reactions from this year's FrightFest (including some terrific write-ups courtesy of "Major Calm"), but it appears that a couple of potentially worthwhile films fell through the cracks. So to complete our coverage, here's Rambozo with his take on I KNOW HOW MANY RUNS YOU SCORED LAST SUMMER (probably the first ever cricket-related slasher flick) and TOKYO GORE POLICE (a great title, if nothing else). Read on...

As a regular AICN reader and Frightfest attendee, I read with interest Major Calm’s recent reviews of all 5 days – top writing, the man’s harsh but fair! Major Calm had missed out on a few films though – so in an effort to cover the fest completely, I thought I’d chime in with some quick notes on a couple of films that haven’t been covered. I KNOW HOW MANY RUNS YOU SCORED LAST SUMMER With a title like that, you know what it’s going to try to deliver, and for the most part this micro budget effort from Australia did deliver. A crazed moustachioed cricketing psycho seeks bloody revenge after the torment he endured two decades earlier at the hands of his bullying team mates. From their intro and post-film Q&A it’s obvious that the husband and wife filmmakers of IKHMRYSLS don’t take themselves too seriously, and neither, fortunately, does their film. The low budget gore effects and final fight scene were great fun and elicited a good response from the audience. As with all 80s-styled slashers, the plot is secondary to the inventive deaths (the protector with nails pointing inwards was my girlfriend’s favourite) and obligatory gratuitous shower scene - starring Miss Nude Australia, no less. The negatives for me were the distorted sound on the night and the slow pacing during the second act, which had me waiting for the next death scene. My fellow Frightfesters were divided, some loved it, some hated… either way, the filmmakers will probably find it an easy sell with next year’s Ashes tournament approaching (for the non-Colonies, that’s a cricket game between England and Australia). TOKYO GORE POLICE I’m not sure if it was the large amount of beer I had consumed during the day or the sleep depravation (this was my 6th film in a row), but I felt like I was tripping for the majority of this colourful and messy film. A bio-mechanical virus infects the citizens of Tokyo , who develop the ability to manufacture weapons out of flesh wounds. My head was spinning as hands transformed into fleshy chainsaws, eyes morphed into guns and snapping vaginas threatened to castrate. Great fun, if maybe 20 minutes too long - the spurting blood started to clot, maybe. Too much of a good thing is still too much. When you mix body horror with hot bloodied Japanese women you tend to divide your audience. Fortunately, the Frightfest crowd seem to lap this up – suffice to say, if you liked MACHINE GIRL, you’ll love this. ----- Just a final note on some overheard gossip - the organisers are thinking about transforming the festival into a film market. Great news for those US (and micro budget) films looking to sell into the EU territories.