New Nic Cage, classic Peter Jackson at Terror-Fi

New Zealand’s annual celebration of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and cult cinema is back. The Terror-Fi Film Festival kicks off in Wellington tonight with the New Zealand premiere of a new creature feature, Antlers, and continues until Sunday. Stuff to Watch has had the opportunity to preview six of the around a dozen eclectic titles Festival Director James Partridge has gathered together.

Alien on Stage

First-time directors Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey helm this wild documentary which follows a group of bus drivers from Dorset, England whose amateur dramatics society decide to forego their usual pantomime for a rather different theatrical production.

With the help of the filmmakers, the eclectic cast and crew somehow transport their serious – and seriously lowbudget – stage adaptation of Sir Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi movie from a season in their village hall to one-night in London’s West End.

The Frighteners

Screening to celebrate its 25th anniversary, what’s striking now about Sir Peter Jackson’s horror comedy is how well the effects and his tension-building have held up, how beautiful the Canterbury’s Lyttelton looks and just how muddled and confusing the final act of an otherwise entertaining rollercoaster really is.

Marking the transition between the Kiwi film-maker’s low-budget indie sensibilities and the blockbusting fantasies that were to come, it features Michael J Fox and Weta Digital flexing its muscles for the first time.

Gaia

South African director Jaco Bouwer’s tale combines eco and body horror in a heady, nightmarish combination that offers plenty of visceral thrills and imagery that is not easily forgotten.

Monique Rockman plays Gabi, a forest ranger who is rescued by a pair of survivalists after she is injured by one of their traps.

As she gradually heals, she discovers the disturbing secret at the heart of the jungle that surrounds them.

New York Ninja

Thirty-seven years after it was originally filmed and abandoned mid-production, martial arts legend John Liu’s only American movie has been lovingly and cleverly restored and completed.

It’s the story of a sound technician who vows revenge on the men who brutally murdered his pregnant wife after she witnessed the abduction of a young woman. As he cleans up the city, he becomes a folk hero, uncovers a sinister crime ring and attracts the attention of the sinister Plutonium Killer.

Poltergeist

Eventually spawning two sequels and a middling remake, this haunting 1982 fright-fest was the result of an unlikely partnership between Steven Spielberg and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Tobe Hooper. With the former unable to direct his story due to his obligations on E.T., the latter reigned in his more gruesome tendencies to craft a more than satisfying masterclass in building tension and unleashing jump-scares.

Nominated for three Academy Awards.

Prisoners of the Ghostland

If you thought Mandy, Color Out of Space, Willy’s Wonderland or Pig offered Nicolas Cage at maximum unhingedness, wait until you get a load of Sion Sono’s ‘‘delirious mash-up of Western, samurai movie and post-apocalyptic thriller’’. Our boy Nic plays a ruthless bank robber who is sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord keen to use the prisoner’s special set of skills to help track down his missing adopted granddaughter.

Containing more than a dash of extreme violence and gore, the movie feels like a throwback to the post-apocalyptic tales of the 1970s and ’80s.