Special

By: Orlok666
Date: April 20, 2011

Night of Terror 2011 special

In the night of 16th and 17th of April 2011 The Netherlands most beautiful cinema was taken over by a peculiar bunch of people. Yes, The Night of Terror (NoT) has begun! Time for a midnight horror marathon of 4 movies, a Dutch short horror movie and a Scream Queen competition!

It all started out of The Weekend of Terror from which the now called Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival originated. But while it still is the spine of the festival the weekend got shortened to a night. On the menu for 2011 are the movies After Dark Originals: Husk, the short Polonaise, Insidious, Mother's Day and Hell Driver. And between the first and second movie a Scream Queen competition was held.

The gathering

Around 11.00 pm more and more people gathered in front of the Tuschinski theatre. And as the time crept towards 11.30 the visitors became more maniacal it seemed. The screaming and shouting got louder and louder. Pressed against the glass door like zombies trying to get a bite of human flesh. And then finally the doors opened and the hungry crowd entered the beautiful foyer of the theatre.

Before entering the screening room a few visitors of a chick flick had to leave the room first and they didn't know what came over them when the crowd started cheering "HOERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" at them -before you go to google translate: it means "whore" in Dutch. It has become one of the many traditions of the Night of Terror.

Bring on the movies!

When the screening room is finally cleared the crowd rushes in to take hold of the best seats. Organizer Jan Doense wants to give an opening speech before "Husk" starts but the crowd is going wild and toilet paper, "HOMOOOOOOOO" and popcorn are thrown at him. Nobody can understand what he's saying and nobody cares. Bring on the first movie!

Corny

"Husk" starts and the cheering continues. When a guy appears on the screen the crowd cheers "Homooooo" at him and when a girl appears you’re deafened by the word "HOERRRRRRRRRRR". Fluorescent lightsticks fly through the air alongside with rolls of toilet paper. First time visitors assuming of having a nice, scary night think they ended up in Gremlins while watching Snow White. Funny remarks concerning the movie (Watch out! Behind you!) are shouted in a steady stream and everybody seems tireless. Husk appears to be a real standard horror movie with some youngsters having a car accident and are stuck near a creepy farm with a giant cornfield. Creepy scarecrows inhabit the field and one by one the airheaded guys and girl seem to die. The longer the movie lasts the more the crowd grows weary of it starting to shout "What a corny movie!".

Insidious Scream Queens

After a short break it's time for a Scream Queen to be chosen and the girls (and one guy) that compete have to act scared, scream and then die. A jury of consisting of guests of the festival chose the winner and she goes home with a Scream Queen Survival Guide. When the producers / directors of the Dutch short Polonaise are called on stage for a mini Q & A all answers drown in the sound of the visitors and finally Polonaise starts. It's about a guy not having his day and being blamed of everything and slowly goes insane in the membrane James Wan's Insidious immediately follows afterwards. This ghost movie has a slow start (Fast forward! ) but then the movie picks up delivering more real shocks and horror.

Surprise! It's Mother's Day!

Mother's Day comes early this year and is next up. For many it proved to be the one of the best movie of the night alongside Hell Driver. When a cheery music plays in one of the first scenes the of the movie everybody happily claps along and when the inevitable police shows up the A-Team tune is sung. The movie is real gritty and rough and gives the viewers enough scenes to applaud when someone is brutally molested.

Hell Driving towards the end...

The later it becomes the more empty seats are visible in the theatre and with Japan's Hell Driver starting at 7 am only the diehard remain. Luckily Hell Driver is a fun, totally over the top zombie splatter topped with a lot of Japanese weirdness. Enough to keep all the leftovers awake and while a lot less than at the start of the night people still shout their observations into the theatre. When approximately 9.30 am the end titles roll on the silver screen the screening room slowly gets deserted but the confetti, spilled booze, beer, snacks and scent remains. The people who survived the Night of Terror 2011 do their zombiewalk towards the light of day.

Photos by: Martijn Kloosterman