Second Forbidden Worlds film festival focuses on pioneering creature creators

Forbidden Worlds, Bristol’s newest film festival and the first devoted to repertory genre cinema, returns to the city’s former IMAX cinema this May for its second annual celebration of fantasy, action, science fiction and horror films from around the world – and the people who made them.

The forbidden Worlds 2023 poster by Jim’ll Paint It

The 2023 festival marks the 90th anniversary of the release of the original King Kong with a focus on those who gave us some of the great original scary creatures, through puppetry and stop-motion animation – notably Willis O’Brien and the great Ray Harryhausen.

Both the 1933 King Kong and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (celebrating its 65th anniversary) will be screened. Each will be introduced by Ray Harryhausen’s daughter Vanessa and Connor Heaney, Collections Manager for The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

Other special effects legends honoured at Forbidden Worlds include Stan Winston, with a special screening of James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984), for which he created the titular killing machine; Rick Baker, who won the first ever Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on the 1981 horror comedy film An American Werewolf in London, and is represented at the festival by Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990); and stop-motion legend Phil Tippett, who combined practical effects with CG on Paul Verhoeven’s brilliantly satirical Starship Troopers (1997), which receives a special screening.

The festival also boasts the UK premiere of the new 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon’s pre-Chucky 1987 killer doll horror Dolls (1987), whose effects were created by Claymation pioneer Will Vinton, and stop-motion legend David W. Allen.

“With movies able to create anything in the computer these days, we wanted to celebrate the filmmakers that created some of cinema’s most iconic creatures (don’t call them monsters!) through painstaking stop-motion and model work,” says festival director Timon Singh. “Growing up watching Ray Harryhausen movies made me fall in love with the work of special effects artists like Stan Winston and Phil Tippett, so it’s great to be able to celebrate their work while watching some of their creations on the biggest screen in the city.”

Following Michelle Yeoh’s well-deserved, history-making Oscar win for her performance in Everything, Everywhere All at Once, Forbidden Worlds is also taking the opportunity to celebrate her early career with screenings of three Hong Kong action flicks: Royal Warriors (1986), The Heroic Trio (1993), and Police Story 3: Supercop (1992). “Michelle Yeoh is one of the most brilliant, multi-faceted actors of all time, and I am so excited to be able to spend much of the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival in May celebrating her work,” says lead programmer Tessa Williams. “Yeoh once said, ‘They won’t take you seriously because you are a girl. These guys had to understand that you are just as tough as them, and you have to take them on.’ This shines through in all of her performances. She is an absolute icon of the silver screen and it’s going to be a very special few days seeing her up on the former Bristol IMAX screen.”

Once again, legendary Bristol video shop 20th Century Flicks is raiding its archives for genre classics. This year, they’re presenting UK premieres of 4K restorations of Invaders From Mars (1953), John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and The Way of the Dragon (1972) – the only martial arts epic that Bruce Lee ever directed. Other gems disinterred from the Flicks vaults this year include cult horror Pumpkinhead (1988), Stallone action flick Cliffhanger (1993), Brit sci-fi horror Prey (1977) and splendid arthouse crossover slasher Amsterdamned (1988).

Says 20th Century Flicks’ proprietor Dave Taylor, “One of the main reasons for the first Forbidden Worlds Film Festival was to celebrate 20th Century Flicks turning 40 – and what better way to mark that occasion than by showing a host of 1982 video favourites on a gigantic screen? It was such a thrill to share that with our audiences, films that people like me had only seen on video on a small TV, so we naturally want to continue that tradition. Many of our attendees will never have had the chance to experience John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 or Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon in such a setting, and they’re in for a real treat.”

Boozers will be overjoyed to learn that Forbidden Worlds Festival Beer will be returning this year, courtesy of New Bristol Brewery, and there will be plenty of vendors and traders hawking their wares over the course of the weekend.

Last year’s inaugural festival was a huge success, pulling more than 1,100 punters. Forbidden Worlds 2023 runs from May 18-21 at the former Bristol IMAX cinema. Full festival (Thurs-Sun), weekend (Fri-Sun) and day passes are now on sale. Go here to snare yours. Individual screening tickets will be available in a few weeks.

Main image from Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Warner Brothers Pictures