The screening of UNWELCOME at the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival was… fantastic. It was amazing to see the film we’d poured blood, sweat and tears into on a massive screen in front of a packed cinema, 1500 people so they told me.
Hand on heart I was nervous how the audience would react. This was our very first public screening — because of Covid restrictions, we hadn’t gone through the usual round of test screenings like you typically do on a movie (why they don’t do this for television, I’ll never understand — it’s an incredibly useful process).
When the first goblin appeared… There was a big cheer from the audience. After that the cheers and clapping came thick and fast. This was an audience of creature feature fans who got the references, who enjoyed how we were tinkering with genre expectations. Without giving too much away, there is a dramatic scene involving a shotgun near the end, the climax before the ultimate climax… and the cheers and applause were huge. I always knew that was a crowd pleasing moment, but it was great to be in a roomful of strangers and feel it, hear it. I get goose bumps thinking back to it.
Luckily Zsófia Tálas, our quick thinking editor, recorded it on her iPhone. So here it is. Not exactly high fidelity… but it paints a picture.
