Friday Download The Movie/Up All Night

Hardly anyone over the age of twenty will have a clue what Friday Download was (seemingly a CBBC show for kids around their early teens, with video gameplay, pop music, etc). Their movie, the 92-minute UP ALL NIGHT, got an exclusive release at Vue cinemas in 2015 and then came out on DVD as FRIDAY DOWNLOAD THE MOVIE. I watched it yesterday and, despite not knowing who any of the ridiculously young pop stars were, loved it. But why mention it at the Marmalade website?

Because it's a haunted house horror film, that's why. And a damn good one in parts. The FD presenters finish recording a show and all go for a holiday break together (fantastic gag involving their Mystery Machine-esque transport). They wind up, however, at a spooky old mansion (where it is patently obvious what is going on, but maybe not if you're eight). One of their hosts is the son of Linzi Drew and Ben Dover, and had been a presenter on the series himself. Loads of spooky and weird supernatural activity ensues (some of it hackneyed but well-staged; some of it truly frightening). There's one bit where the main female presenter Shannon walks out of her bedroom door to discover... well, something genuinely unnerving. The kids are joined by a jovial junior ghost-hunter, and a property developer's scheming leads them all to stage a pop concert in the grounds (not since THE GHOST GOES GEAR...). Kevin Eldon does a really unsettling and creepy comic cameo near the start, there are some absolutely beautiful and eerie nighttime shots of the house and surrounding grounds, the whirl of ghostly activity is non-stop, and even the film's caterer was named Christopher Lee!