Sunday (30/10) 19:00 BBC3 Coraline (2009)
Gothic, Tim Burton-esque adult stop-motion animation with elements of surrealism and psychological horror. A young girl yearns to live her own life free of her frustrating parents rule, before long, in the new family home, she finds a portal to a parallel world where her parents are exactly as she wanted, but be careful what you wish for. With an impressive voice cast including Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher and French and Saunders and directed by Henry Selick who also helmed animated classics A Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.
Monday (31/10) 12:25 Legend Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
James Whale takes us to a new world of gods and monsters with his legendary sequel to the iconic Frankenstein. Bride is considered by many as a significant improvement on the first, owing to (among other feats) increased depth by presenting Frankenstein's creation not as a monster, but a misunderstood soul who may prove to exhibit a complex, human personality who deserves a chance for happiness as much as anybody else. Boris Karloff returns alongside Elsa Lanchester, both in their iconic costumes. A wonderful scene of unveiling Homunculi, miniature humans in jars, is a personal all time great film moment.
Wednesday (2/11) 23:20 Film4 This Is England (2006)
Shane Meadows directs another exploration of working class England, this time Thatcher era North, which spawned a follow up tv series. Shaun is a lonely, bullied, troubled pre-teen being brought up by a single mother after the death of his father in the Falklands war, and finds an identity amongst a kindly group of skinheads, but becomes seduced by the fiercely white supremacist, fresh out of prison Combo, eventually forcing him to closely examine his true feelings about the world and people around him. With a wonderful Ludovico Einaudi score, it is close to perfectly acted by a terrifying Stephen Graham and extremely relatable Joe Gilgun and first time actor Thomas Turgoose.
Thursday (3/11) 23:15 Film4 Monster (2003)
True life story of prostitute turned serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002. Patty Jenkins' debut film portrays her life as a journey of horiffic abuse and violence, thus presents her actions as perhaps partly the defensive product of constanct pain more than evil, at least at first. We follow Aileen as she finds love with a young woman Selby (Christina Ricci) and fights to keep her happy. The highlight of an all round wonderful film has to be the unbelievably chameleonic performance from an Oscar winning Charlize Theron, she does more in one scene than many other entire performances.
For more info please visit FilmCheltenham
Comments