Canadian Cult Thriller, Death Weekend, Receives Rare Uncut Screening at Cine Excess

CINE EXCESS IX - SNAPSHOTS OF DISSENT: THE HISTORICAL TRAUMAS CULT FILM SEASON

Thursday 12th November - Saturday 14th November venue: University of Brighton, Grand Parade Building

DEATH WEEKEND, the influential Canadian home invasion revenge thriller from 1976, and starring Brenda Vaccaro, receives a rare uncut cinema screening on Thursday 12th November at the start of this year’s Cine Excess cult film conference and festival, which is being held at University of Brighton. Director William Fruet will also be providing a live skype introduction.

The film forms part of the screening strand ‘Snapshots of Dissent: The Historical Traumas Cult Film Season’, which compliments the main conference theme that regularly attracts academics from around the world. The series of exclusive screenings and UK theatrical premieres help explore the wider social ramifications of the cult film canon.

Other Canadian films include the UK theatrical premiere of Max Perrier’s new movie FEED THE DEVIL (2014), a terrifying backwoods tale where Deliverance meets Cannibal Holocaust. Members of the cast are expected to attend. The film is a UK-Canadian co-production, and updates some of the iconic features of the 1970s cannibal film cycle for contemporary film audiences.

Russian zombies on vacation are the subject of the recently made SHOPPING TOUR (2012), which also receives an exclusive screening on Friday 13th November. The film uses the current vogue for handy-cam horror techniques to explore the uneasy relationship between differing nation states in contemporary Europe. Current film trends in South America are represented by the recently released Peruvian Paranormal Activity flick THE ENTITY (aka La Entidad, 2015).

The 9th annual Cine Excess international festival turns its attention to the ways in which cult movies function as an uncomfortable mirror to wider social tensions and historical turmoil. This year’s Cine-Excess conference component includes talks and panel discussions from a range of international scholars and critics discussing the role of cult movies during key periods of social crisis.

In addition to the screenings, there are a number of related events. For the first time at Cine Excess, the world of graphic novels comes under the spotlight with a special panel discussion on violence in comics featuring Professor Martin Barker, comic book writer and editor Pat Mills (Judge Dredd, Charley’s War) and 2000AD artist Jim McCarthy. The event takes place on Saturday 14th November at 12pm in the University of Brighton Grand Parade Building, where Pat Mills will also be presented with a Cine Excess Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other highlights include a special industry panel on Co-Production funding for cult film releases, which takes place on Friday 13th November at 4.30pm and features input from a range of film and media creatives, including conference call participation from the prolific Canadian producer Andre Link (Death Weekend, Shivers, Rabid, My Blood Valentine and Happy Birthday to Me).

Cine Excess 2015 runs 12th – 14th November. 

Ticket Prices
Delegate passes for the full event cost £100/£60 (concessions)
Delegate and public screening ticket prices priced £10/£5 (concessions) 
All available from Cine Excess website

CINE EXCESS PUBLIC SCREENINGS & EVENTS PROGRAMME

Thursday 12th November
6.30pm - Death Weekend (1976, Canada) Dir: William Fruet (+ live skype intro)
8.30pm - Face Of The Devil (2014, Peru) Dir: Frank Perez-Garland

Friday 13th November
4.30pm - Cult film funding production panel discussion, including Cronenberg’s producer Andre Link
6.30pm - Feed The Devil (2014, UK/Canada) Dir. Max Perrier. Cast in attendance.
8.30pm - Shopping Tour (2012, Russia) Dir. Mikhail Brashinskiy

Saturday 14th November
12.00pm - Violence in Comics debate with Prof. Martin Barker, writer Pat Mills, and illustrator Jim McCarthy.
4.30pm - The Entity (2015, Peru) Dir. Eduardo Schuldt

About Cine-Excess
Cine-Excess is an annual international film festival and conference, which is attracts global filmmakers, scholars, distributors and exhibitors to an event which features filmmaker discussions, a themed three day conference and theatrical premieres/exclusive screenings. Cine-Excess is open to the public, who can book can either book screening delegate passes for individual films, or full delegate passes for the conference, lunches and all Cine-Excess screenings.

About Xavier Mendik, Drector of Cine Excess
Xavier Mendik is director of the Cine-Excess Film Festival and Associate Professor of film at Birmingham City University. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of several significant volumes on cult film, including Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress: The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985, 100 Cult Movies, The Cult Film Reader, Alternative Europe, Shocking Cinema of the Seventies, Underground USA, and Unruly Pleasures. He has also produced documentaries on Suspiria and Cannibal Holocaust, and is currently completing a feature length documentary on Italian cult film and 1970s terrorist fears.