Horror Favourites – Laura Perrachon

Voted #1 in Time Out’s Best Cinema’s in London 2021, the Genesis Cinema screens everything from huge blockbusters to small indie films. Laura Perrachon is the cinema’s Alternative Programme Manager, and is currently focused on the cinema’s in-house film festival “Fragments Festival” running Sept 29 – Oct 2.

Fragments was intentionally conceived as a platform for underrepresented filmmakers to exhibit their work: a showcase of films with unique individuals and minority groups as their focus. A Fragments Festival highlight this year is the UK Premiere of To Kill The Beast, an enigmatic jungle-set mystery exploring gender and self-discovery. Directed by Agustina San Martín, To Kill The Beast follows Emilia, a teenage girl on the hunt for her long-missing brother. This leads her to a remote hostel owned by her aunt on the border of Argentina and Brazil, where local myths and legends abound.

A dangerous shape-shifting beast, believed to be the spirit of an evil man taking the form of different animals, seems to be roaming around. On a journey to sexual awakening, Emilia must confront her past in order to kill the beast. “Although it isn’t straight horror, To Kill The Beast has borrowed some elements of gothic horror and shares the enigmatic, mysterious feel of the genre,” Laura explains, “so it’s no surprise I was so infatuated with it.” 

But what is Laura’s horror favourite?

“After a (long) think debating what criteria I should base this choice on, it became clear that all led to Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. The gothic and eerie atmosphere, the gorgeous cinematography, and the spooky melody sung by young Miles: ‘We lay my love and I, beneath the weeping willow…’ have haunted me ever since I watched the film about 10 years ago for the first time. 

“My favourite type of horror is the one that creeps up on you, with you barely noticing, and gives you a sense of unexplained, enigmatic dread. The horror of The Innocents lies in its suggested meaning, in that space, those gaps that your imagination fills, beyond what’s in front of you. It’s a feeling that doesn’t leave you after the credits have ended, it lingers. Gothic ghost stories are timeless and undoubtedly the ones that fascinate and affect me most, and The Innocents is a classic of the genre.”

For more information about this year’s Fragments Festival visit www.fragmentsfest.com