Some son-of-a-nutcracker had to go to some stag do somewhere, meaning they took time off work, making me the only FTW Specialist available at work.

Normally this is no big deal, but this time it co-incided with this particular film festival. In a nutshell I missed out on some good stuff because of this, but at least I had the weekend.

As the weekend arrived, be it my luck that I had a mighty headache on Saturday evening. I went to this all-nighter expecting to probably walk out after the 1st film (which happened to be Alien). From prior experience of these all-nighters, they aren't always in the order advertised & I really did want to see Alien so that was plain lucky. With some more such luck I actually managed three out of the four films.

This is the order they played in, the films need no real introductions but I'll say a couple of cents on each:

Alien (1979) - The last time I saw this I was about 9 or 10, I used to keep an eye open in the free Herald & Post newspaper that we got through the door each week for films that were on Saturday nights. I had just worked out how to use the timer record function on the VCR and knew that I could watch the Saturday film on a Sunday afternoon. The teddy bear scene as I like to call it, freaked me out, I actually didn't eat for a whole day, because if I ate, I knew what happened next. I felt it was about time I seeked closure about that one. I finally did & it was hilarious. I have washed away my fears. I can finally open the Quadrilogy box set now & watch the rest (which I've never seen) and enjoy it. -- True Story

Pitch Black (2000) - I saw this at the cinema when it came out, bought it on DVD when it came out. It is 'the' film where Vin Diesel was cool. That other riduculous film was not Riddick. This one is the awesomeness that got him noticed & with good reason. What the hell happened to him anyway?

Solaris (2002) - Had never seen it, expected a suckfest that put me asleep if not a coma. (It began at 04:30) .. was pleasantly surprised. No clasic by any measure, but not as terrible as I'd heard it was.

The Thing (1982) - Like a sucker, I have never seen this, the reason I walked out is because I thought at 7am (when this was starting), I may not be able to give it the attention it deserves. I don't even have it on my DVD shelf sticking out - that will have to be rectified in the near future.

As with the Anime All Nighter last year, the atmosphere was worth the admission price alone, the ample supply of Red Bull, Ice-Cream & Tea/Coffee .. just another bonus, even the goodie bag had DVD's in it ... If you're a geek & you know it, this is the film festival you shouldn't miss. Everyone geeks out & feels at home about it. The whole experience is akin to a warm hug. (& no they aren't paying me to say that, I'm just bitter I missed so much of it).