Credo leading lady, MyAnna Buring, was also in attendance and it was great to catch up with her. The occasion was tinged with sadness, however, as we were sorely missing the late Stephen Gately who plays Simon in Credo. The screening was dedicated to Stephen as it would also have been his cinema premiere.

US genre website QUIET EARTH was there and they have subsequently published a very favourable review of Credo. Thank you Quietearth.us! Here it is in full:

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Credo is a low-budget horror film directed by Toni Harman, written by Alex Wakeford and set in London. The film starts off with a group of Catholic students attempting to summon the devil himself. Of the five, Simon (the late Stephen Gately, who carries himself very well) is their leader, with his roots in Irish Catholicism; he’s seemingly obsessed with finding Satan, so as better to defeat him. Poor old Seth however, gets cold feet and runs away from the séance. Next morning, his four friends are all dead from suicide…

We then cut to another group of students, several years later, and they’ve just been evicted from their flat. Jock, a boisterous American… um… jock, has held one party too many and the landlord boots them onto the streets. Alice (MyAnna Burning) is a practical and dedicated psychology student who spends all her time in the college library studying for exams. Timmi is a shy brunette who has a secret crush, and Scott is a well intentioned nerd, who also has a secret crush. With their somewhat token and underwritten black friend Jasmine in tow, the five of them break into Eden Catholic Halls to spend a weekend of boozy fun and Ouija board tinkering.

In all – An effective and chilling horror film that uses inventive camera work, imaginative sound design and that overlooked little technique known as suspense and suggestion to create some real scares.

Credo was Stephen’s film debut and he approached his role with total humility and professionalism.

Our thoughts and condolences are with Andrew and all Stephen’s family and friends who will miss him dearly.

It has been a while since we reviewed a British film, so we were glad to receive Credo. There’s no doubt that I was a little sceptical when I saw that it starred Stephen Gately, but seeing as the lead was MyAnna Buring (Descent, Lesbian Vampire Killers) I put aside my hatred of cheap pop music and hit ‘play’.

A halls of residence at a Catholic university is chosen by Gately and his student friends as the perfect setting for an experiment. The object of which is – to discover whether the devil exists.
Armed with some candles and limited knowledge of demonology the group of 5 head up to a remote tower in the building to begin contact with the ‘other side’.
Early on in the proceedings, one of the gang goes chicken and walks out, leaving his friends unprotected (5 members are essential for this type of ritual) and as a result all but he are dead by morning, after supposedly committing suicide.

Some years later Alice (Buring) and her friends are students attending the same university. After losing their accommodation, they resort to staying in the spooky, abandoned halls of residence. Strangely they are also a group of 5, and predictably, familiar events start to unfold as the apparent evil forces reveal themselves.

Generally, the film is of a good standard. For an independent British film, it’s glossy, it’s professionally finished and it’s of a standard which you could easily mistake for being Channel 4 or BBC funded.

The cast are decent, each holding their own in this ‘bordering on the formulaic’ (for the most part) storyline. Gately as Simon is even pretty good, although fortunately he doesn’t feature much (I have nothing against his acting, I just can’t see beyond Boyzone!).
Myanna Buring is excellent, and really takes the film away from mediocracy. The script is a little odd at times, but she works around that and makes the role her own.
On the downside, I wasn’t too sure about the inclusion of an American character, Jock (that’s actually his name, not a reference to his high-school status). It seemed a bit unnecessary and as if it may have been a ploy to appeal to the American market. His stereotyped ‘whoop whoop! Paaartay on dudes’ behaviour was a little distracting. When the blood-letting began, I was eager for him to get ‘offed’ quickly.

The story itself is solid enough. Group of students, scary demons, a crazed stranger who could be a killer. And in the group, your typical teen horror movie characters: the cute lead, the brash jock, the withdrawn geek, the ethnic minority and the religious one.

And so I was lulled into a false sense of security, happily watching and correctly predicting events as the film bubbled on before me.
But just as the film approached the end, and I began to feel a tad unsatisfied, it took a big twist that I wasn’t expecting. A twist that actually made the film for me.

You know, one of those events that can keep you thinking for a while after the film, coming up with different explanations and serving as good conversation between you and your film buddies.

And there’s nothing more that I love, than a movie that does the unexpected.

Credo is a film that stands proud with the best of British horror. What it lacks in budget and finesse, it makes up for in grit and imagination. It’s solidly shot, constructed and communicated, and should serve as inspiration for any other British horror movie makers who aren’t pulling their weight at the moment.

For the elements of originality, gets a lot of kudos (or should that be credos) from me.

Check it out on DVD and Blu-Ray now. Quick! Before it gets exorcised back to the dark realm from whence it came!

Movie Rating: 

This is the extended version which includes the hitherto unseen prologue featuring Stephen Gately’s debut film role. Stephen has been talking about Credo on national television including ITV 1 shows This Morning and GMTV where he introduced clips from the film. There has also been a lot of exposure in the national press including The Daily Mail and The Telegraph.

So far Credo seems to be selling very well and the Credo Store is close to running out of its initial stock of DVDs! The official Credo poster is also selling very well and more designs are being printed up right now. Tee shirts are also in the works!

The DVD can be preordered from the Credo Store where posters, postcards and t-shirts can also be ordered. CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE STORE.

The UK DVD will also feature an exclusive interview with Stephen Gately called “Demons & Ghosts” where Stephen talks, amongst other things, about his beliefs and experiences with things that go bump in the night.

Tickets can be purchased via the festival’s booking page CLICK HERE

For more information on the festival, visit the official Festival Web Site

Already there has been quite a buzz online, not least this very first review. Go check it out!

http://www.bumscorner.com/bumnuke/index.php?module=ProdReviews&func=showcontent&id=1107