Demonic Brilliance Film Festival returns for 5th year of scares

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

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

The festival will feature 23 films from across the globe.

Jared Carney, the founder of the festival, said the goal is to shine light on a genre he feels doesn't get the accolades it deserves.

"Even though a film might have just as good acting or directing as any other film, they're often overlooked or dismissed because of their content," Carney said.

"I really wanted to highlight and elevate the excellence that is being made in the horror genre."

Horror isn't 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 dabbled with critical acclaim — 1991's The Silence of the Lambs earned five Oscars — and the past decade has seen a number of examples of highly rated horror films. 

Robert Eggers's 2015 film The Witch, is a period piece in which members of a Puritan family in the 17th century are tormented by evil forces externally and their faith internally. 

Ari Aster's 2018 film Hereditary is a psychological horror film dealing with grief, family conflict and a demon-worshipping cult. Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out, is both a horror film and a commentary on racism and was nominated for three Academy awards.

While horror may not be for everyone, Carney said he's always been attracted to the genre.

"Horror is just so much fun," he said. "It's so versatile and diverse. It can go in so many directions."

Delightfully devilish

While past festivals have focused strictly on film, this year will see the addition of two other spooky events.

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

While drag performer Evelyn Nox, who will perform at the show, admits she does get a bit squeamish when it comes to horror, she is a fan of the genre and says it goes well with the art form of drag.

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

"There's a lot of queer people who find comfort in Halloween … Instead of being scared of the everyday fears of being a queer person I get to be scared of this big guy with a knife."

While "beauty" may not be the first word that comes to mind when people think of horror, Nox said there is a gorgeous dimension to gore.

"I kind of like the final girl aspect of it," Nox said, referring to a trope in horror films, especially slashers, where one character, most often the woman considered the most pure, survives to escape or defeat the bad guy.

"I like the gore, I like to find glamour in it. I think that's my approach to it … I'm excited to do something that's a little bit out of my comfort zone."

Un-dead directors

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

One is the short film The Scalpel by director Richard H. Lyford. 

Except for a few excerpts the film was thought lost until the whole thing was found earlier this year.

"This filmmaker and music composer named Ed Hartman has recently compiled this film together, scored it himself and he's sort of taking the horror film festival world by storm," said Carney.

The second is a local artist taking on one of the genre's most acclaimed silent films.

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

Aube said it isn't the first time he's been inspired by the film, so writing the score was a match made in heaven … or hell.

"I wanted to make a music video for one of my songs and I ended up using … Nosferatu," said Aube.

"I just remember thinking at the time … 'I'd be kind of cool to do a whole score for the movie as it is.' … I kind of always wanted to do that."

Aube, who would categorize the genre of the score as electronic goth, said it was a "different" experience mixing his art with art created over a century ago.

"Whereas it's a silent film, it isn't a typical score where you have dialogue or sound effects to play with," said Aube. "It's all relying on music for 90 minutes."

Other films of note include Chrissy, a film directed by Frederictonian Larry Collicott, Aliens vs Chainsaw Killer, a Norwegian film where a serial killer is abducted by aliens, and Welcome to Kittytown, the festival's closing feature from Saskatoon.

New digs 

Also new this year is the location for the festival.

After hopping around among bars, screenings this year will be held at Theatre New Brunswick's Open Space Theatre.

"We like the idea of having all the screenings in the same place and in sort of a more traditional theatre setup," said Carney.

Admission to the festival is by donation, with all the money going to a rotating cast of charities.

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

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

Film screenings are being held Thursday through Saturday at the Open Space Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m.

The Black Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at Maybee Brewing and Drag Me to Maybee will be held at 10:30 p.m.  on Saturday.