Some thoughts on the 2014 event:
My favorite was documentary
Lost Souls - The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. After Dust Devil leaves him penniless, Stanley sets up a Dr. Moreau remake at New Line Cinema (Moreau apparently based on his great-grand father) and the budget spirals as names such as Bruce Willis and James Woods come and go. But it's Val Kilmer who ultimately seals Stanley's fate by simply being a complete dick.
Marlon Brando is also hired, by which point Stanley finds himself replaced by Roman Polanski as director. In desperation, Stanley secures a meeting with Brando and convinces him to have him back as director - while a Warlock performs a ceremony on London to aide Stanley in his quest!
Said Warlock then becomes ill as filming begins, and, as Stanley puts it, "all his spells begun to unravel..."... and Stanley barely lasts one shooting day before a storm comes and wipes out the set.
By the time shooting recommences Stanley is out and John Frankenheimer
is in. This section of the documentary is frankly hilarious, as Brando turns up and imposes his insane ideas on the production.
And yes, Stanley get himself back on the set, disguised as a dog-man!
Lost Soul should be out on DVD next year.
The Babadook from Australia arrived on a wave of hype it didn't quite live up to, but is still well worth checking out this Halloween - it's a mixture of childhood fears and the effects of stress and sleep deprivation.
The Mirror UK found-footage movie about three 20-somethings determined to film the haunted mirror they've purchased to claim James Randi's prize money. It's loosely based on a recent story which made the news when the owners put the mirror on ebay.
Here's an interview the director of The Mirror made with the real owners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzfdN9CdVL4
The film was pretty good if you can handle found-footage, and is out on dvd next month.
Lemon Tree Passage is a stretch of road in Australia where a ghost light appears if you drive at a certain speed. We have a thread for it here:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42619
Unfortunately the film became a messy kids-lost-in-the-woods bore.
Shockwave Darkside 3D was not only bad, the 3D actively tried to rip my eyes out. No doubt this will end up as some peoples "worst movie ever" if these reviews are anything to go by:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42619
Xmoor - two Americans head to Exmoor to secure Alien Big Cat footage, but soon find themselves stalked by something more human. Like Lemon Tree, this too became a lot of running about in the dark.
Exists Blair Witch director Edaurdo Sanchez does a found-footage bigfoot movie with good results, but last years Willow Creek was better