the fog, whitley bay film festival

Okay, The Fog, John Carpenter’s horror classic starring Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Leigh-Curtis and Janet Leigh, where the threat comes out of …yup, the fog. So far, so expected.

Show that film in a lighthouse on an island and you have something a bit special. Welcome to the Whitley Bay Film Festival, a world where Jaws has previously been shown on the beach, The Fog is shown in a lighthouse, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is to be shown in a deserted former pleasure dome and fairground, and you have something a bit special. These are people who know their films, have a sense of place, and a wicked sense of humour.

 Back to The Fog – what’s not to like about:

• a trip to the cinema that involves walking across a causeway to an island
• use of old-style cinema advertisements from the 1970s as a prelude to the movie
• the unscheduled power-cut in the middle of the movie which left us in total darkness with only the sound of the sea and the pianist who stepped in with a little light theme music
• emerging out into the night into some thoughtfully provided fog

• having to wait for the tide to go out in order to start walking home
• being given a glowstick to help in the walk back across the causeway (everyone kept to the path given that there were some shadowy figures lurking just within view – I did say the organisers had a sense of humour)
• …oh, and there was a film. It was cool.

Check out Whitley Bay Film Festival: www.whitleybayfilmfestival.co.uk/

 

 

Tags: festivals, films

• August 27, 2011
• experience
• 4 comments