BONFIRE NIGHT MOVIES

Here in the UK it's Bonfire Night.

Every 5th of November to mark the occasion of Guy Fawkes's failure to blow up the Houses of Parliament, people in England build bonfires and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes (along with any old junk that's lying around). They also set off fireworks (or at least go to organised firework displays).

It's always been a big deal in this country and has only been eclipsed by Halloween in the past couple of decades. Nowadays, its become sort of like the final surge of the Halloween season - its New Year's Eve to Halloween's Christmas. Its still a good fit for "spooky season" - Bonfires where a traditional part of the original Samhain festival in centuries gone by. Also consider the implications of a night where effigies of a known terrorist are burnt on a fire for the entertainment of children and you can see that Bonfire Night is every bit as dark and disturbing as it's orange and black clad cousin.

With that in mind here's my recommendations for some films to watch over this weekend to celebrate Bonfire Night. They're not necessarily all set on the big night itself (some aren't even set in Autumn) but they all have the theme of fire somewhere within them and all capture that Bonfire Night ambience perfectly.

WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968)

Director Michael Reeve's story of the real life witch hunts that took place during the English Civil War is a powerful and disturbing movie. Vincent Price plays the titular Witchfinder General - Matthew Hopkins. A vain, corrupt and evil man who tortures and murders innocent men and women accused of being witches for his own financial gain. It's probably Price's best performance.

Ian Ogilvy plays the young soldier who swears revenge on Hopkins after he rapes his fiance and kills her father. In many ways the film plays out like an English western with it's tale of vengence set against the backdrop of a largely lawless wilderness.

There are witch burnings aplenty and Price does somewhat resemble Guy Fawkes. Perfect Bonfire Night entertainment.

THE WICKER MAN (1973)

Edward Woodward stars in this folk horror classic. It tells the tale of an uptight christian police officer going to a remote island community in search of a young girl who has gone missing. As the film progresses Officer Howie uncovers a conspiracy that involves every single inhabitant of the island and finds himself drawn into a deadly trap.

Christopher Lee also appears as Lord Summerisle - the leader of the community and the main "villain" of the piece. It's one of his best performances too and the film ends with one big bonfire as Officer Howie is burnt alive as a human sacrifice to ensure a better harvest for the coming season.

There's also a remake which came out in 2006, but that's only worth seeing to watch Nicolas Cage spaz out in spectacular style. Stick with the original.

TWINS OF EVIL (1971)

Peter Cushing stars as a Matthew Hopkins style witchhunter who ends up fighting vampires in this Hammer horror classic.

As with Witchfinder General theres lots of scenes of nubile young women being burnt at the stake (it's all a lot campier here and much less disturbing), along with some classic vampire staking and neck biting action. Highly recommended.

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011)

Alien invaders attack an inner city London council estate on Bonfire Night and come up against the local youth gang who defend thier turf in this sci-fi horror action comedy. It stars future Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker and future rebel Stormtrooper John Boyega.

It's probably THE perfect film to watch on November the 5th and has become a bit of a tradition round my place. It's got the cold, foggy November night accompanied by the assorted bangs and booms of Fireworks atmosphere down to a T. The local teen gang also use fireworks as weapons to fight the alien monsters. That's another Bonfire Night tradition in the UK - dumb teenagers wandering around with pockets full of enough explosives to take somebody's hand off. Who says British culture is calm and reserved ?...

FIRESTARTER (1984)

A very young Drew Barrymore stars in Stephen King's tale of a girl with pyrokinetic abilities going on the run from a shadowy government agency who are looking to weaponise her.

It's a bit slow if I'm being honest and its by no means either King's best novel or screen adaptation. But if you're looking for some explosive pyrotechnics for your Bonfire Night viewing then it's worth sticking in the old DVD player.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION (1990)

More pyrokinetic action this time starring the excellent Brad Dourif. It's pretty much a rip off of Firestarter, only instead of a little girl the pyrokinetic is a young man.

This isn't a great film and is pretty dull in places but its worth watching if only for Brad Dourif's absolutely balls out insane performance. He spends the entire movie like a tightly coiled spring, getting increasingly more crazed and angry. Until the point that he blows with literally EXPLOSIVE results. It's massively OTT and saves the entire movie.

V FOR VENDETTA (2005)

The story of a mysterious and enigmatic freedom fighter who models himself on Guy Fawkes to take down a fascist government in a near future dystopia. This film just had to be included on this list because of the way it mines the imagery and history associated with Bonfire Night.

It was based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore who famously hated the film version and wanted his name took off it. Moore does this with pretty much every adaptation of his work (sometimes with good reason) but here I think they did a good job of capturing the anarchic tone and feel of the original. Its grim and thrilling and the main protaganist even manages to succeed in doing what Guy Fawkes failed to do all those centuries before - he blows up Parliament in spectacular style.

PUBLIC INFORMATION FILMS 

No Bonfire Night viewing marathon is complete without sticking on a few of these little two minute fixes of nightmare fuel. 

Originally put out in the 70's and 80's these government commissioned short films where usually seen during commercial breaks on TV. They where designed to warn the public about the dangers involved in various activities - driving, going to work, changing an electric plug, running with scissors etc. Of course Bonfire Night and its endless potential for being hideously maimed by cheap explosives was a perfect fit for a whole slew of public information films.

Bear in mind these films where mainly aimed at kids. We get to see some truly horrific stuff. Kids getting burned, losing limbs, eyes and assorted other body parts usually to a cheap firework thrown by some little scrote with a 70's bowl haircut. These films mentally scarred a generation and are an essential part of any Bonfire Night celebration. Enjoy...but don't have nightmares.

FIREWORK ARTWORK -

And finally here's a selection of vintage firework ads. I just like the style of them really, so I might as well fit them in here. As you can see, many of them use classic horror movie imagery to sell thier products. This definitely confirms to me that Halloween and Bonfire Night share more similarities than differences...