A key part of analyzing Paco Limón’s Doctor Infierno is understanding how the film was made. Limón came up with the idea for Doctor Infierno in 1996. He made a twenty-minute short film based on this idea in 2000. In 2003, the short became the first twenty-minutes of a full-length feature. Over the next few years, Limón shot film on weekends with limited cast and crew. Once the production was finished, various people, none of whom the director met until recently, contributed music, computer modeling, and other elements based on their enthusiasm for the original short. The result of these efforts is a black-and-white do-it-yourself (D.I.Y.) sci-fi/horror epic that is a testament to cleverness and persistence in the face of limited means.
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Quick, when the mainstream media opts to cover a comic book convention, who are the attendees they swarm to? You know the answer to this – they go after the most obvious, geekiest fans; the guys who are often in homemade costumes. Such is the way of Larry Charles’ (“Borat”) new documentary/comedy, “Religulous”. To be fair, “Religulous”, by all accounts, actually belongs to its star and writer, Bill Maher. Over the years, Maher has built a name for himself first as comedian (a very good one), then as a political commentator of sorts (an often controversial one). This film follows the ever-skeptical Maher on a global trek with the mission of taking on various religions of the world. “Religulous” (an aside – could they get a worse title?!? This one is not just hard to pronounce, it’s hard to type.) is both funny and thought-proving as it stirs its pot of absurdity. The movie is never dull, and that’s saying something, considering that world religions can be some of the driest material one can deal with. But perhaps that’s the problem with “Religulous” – in the filmmakers’ attempts to simultaneously entertain and provoke, they’ve reduced a very serious and personal topic to a series of punch lines and quirky exchanges.
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Daisuke Goto’s A Lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn aka Cowshed of Immorality (2003) is a pink film about a senile man who mistakes his daughter-in-law for a cow. The description and title alone are enough to grab some immediate sales, but the film offers a bit more than subversive thrills.
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At the end of the festival my tally stands at:
26 feature films
2 barbecue runs
1 shotgun range
1 opening night party
1 party at Bill Pullman’s suite
1 100 best kills party
1 Fantastic Feud/Karaoke Party
1 Fantastic Debates
9 very late nights
Unknown numbers of beers consumed
It seemed fitting that my last night at Fantastic Fest was spent enjoying the fine work of our Aussie brethren. I caught the much lauded Ozploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood and then one of the fine examples from the era of filmmaking, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Turkey Shoot, at the Ritz at midnight. Bango Kablooie! I got my fill of booze, blood and boobs in only a couple hours. Something I’d never thought possible.
What we witness is a young generation’s response to a cultural absence. Up until the 70s Australia did not have their own film commission. When they did get started they certainly weren’t going to fund films with naked women, excessive violence and all sorts of promiscuity. Still, there was a void to fill and as soon as the first R-Certificate in the world was issued many young upstart filmmakers like Brian Trenchard-Smith and producers like Antony Ginnane began banging out every type of genre film, answering the call to fill this void of genre cinema. Their films spanned the spectrum: booze, blood and boobs. They were low budget but the body and booty counts were high. They laughed in the face of their well-mannered contemporaries then shoved their faces into the ‘chunder’ [vomit].
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Shuji Kataoka’s S&M Hunter (1986) was one of two films supplied by Pink Eiga for the Behind The Pink Curtain retrospective at Fantastic Fest. The screening of the company’s newly subtitled digibeta source proved to be one of the highlights of the festival. S&M Hunter’s casual parade of vulgar humor and taboo imagery might be as extreme as pinku eiga gets.
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While it seems that the bulk of the world is content to dish out boring and typical slasher and psycho killer horror films the French scene continues to push the envelope both in terms of graphic violence but also deep and meaningful content. This is the type of film that director and writer Pascal Laugier has given to us.
Martyrs opens to a young girl, Lucie, running through an industrial complex. She has been stripped to her underwear and she is bruised, bloodied and broken. She is escaping from something or someone. Film footage then unveils an investigation into her ordeal. A single chair sits in a room with a hole in the seat so she can relief herself into a bucket. A soiled mattress sits in the corner. Chains run from the walls. Clearly this little girl has been held for some time, we learn it has been one year. She is taken to a hospital where she is studied and cared for. Another young girl, Anna, befriends Lucie and the two form an impenetrable bond. When they are older Anna joins Lucie on her quest to find those responsible for her ordeal.
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As with Blue Film Woman, Stance’s new 35mm English subtitled print Masao Adachi’s Gushing Prayer premiered at Fantastic Fest 2008. Unlike Blue Film Woman, Masao Adachi’s film is best summed up in one word: obtuse. Gushing Prayer’s indirect approach never really allows for the development of an emotional connection but the film nevertheless remains compelling.
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Twitch first posted a trailer (below the break) for this Brit horror from director Steven Sheil back in July, and since then it seems to have gathered momentum; well received at Frightfest in August and now slated for a 26th December Boxing Day release in the UK.
Mum and Dad comes across as a hybrid of TV’s The Royale Family and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is no bad thing – I never quite warmed to the comedy of Ricky Tomlinson and his offspring, so it’s great to see it subverted like this. Particularly with Shane Meadows favourite, Perry Benson, involved as a psychotic Dad.
Revolver Entertainment have taken a novel step in releasing the film day-on-date across multiple platforms; DVD, cinema, video-on-demand, electronic sell through and rental. It’s the first time a strategy like this has been employed in the UK, and a similar one is planned for the US in time for Mother’s Day 2009. Produced 100% digitally, Revolver are aiming to give audiences complete control over how they view the film on its release. With cinema attendances still strong despite the media frenzy over ‘credit crunch’ gloom, this will be an interesting one to watch when the opening weekend figures roll in.
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Decades after its initial release in Japan, Kan Mukai’s Blue Film Woman (1969) made its U.S. debut at Fantastic Fest as part of the Behind the Pink Curtain retrospective. Mukai’s film is one of the few pinku eiga from the 1960s to exist in 35mm, and Stance has graciously struck a new 35mm print with English subtitles for this retrospective. Although not as salacious or extreme as later pinku fare, Blue Film Woman has everything one would want from a 60’s era pinku : it’s kind of psychedelic, it’s kind of sexy and it’s kind of sick.
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New Hammer horror film, The Wake Wood, started shooting on Monday in County Donegal, Ireland. Marking the first horror feature from Hammer since 1976’s To The Devil A Daughter, this should be a fascinating project that (fingers crossed) may see Hammer rise to prominence once more with its distinctive, imaginative and thoroughly British creations. Directed by Irish-born David Keating and featuring a cast including The Wire’s Aidan Gillen and the magnificent Timothy Spall, the hairs should be tingling on the back of your neck already.
Hammer is something of a British institution; one that had fallen into decline over the past few decades, but is still remembered with a fondness similar to that felt for bank holiday favourites, the Carry On films. Except rather than chuckling cockney Barbara ‘Babs’ Windsor you get the debonair Christopher Lee in a slew of camp and gory horror flicks through the 50s and 60s. Amongst Hammer’s biggest hits were Dracula, The Quartermass Xperiment and The Curse of Frankenstein. At first glance, the anti-Carry On films, these actually shared a great deal in common with Sid James and his mates, portraying an unashamedly theatrical brand of Britishness, drawing criticism and affection in equal measure.
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Jason Eisener’s short film Hobo With a Shotgun won the South by Southwest (SXSW) Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse Trailer Competition back in 2007. As a result, the film was transferred to 35mm and attached to Canadian prints of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s film. When the trailer hit the Internet, people all over the world were talking about the note-perfect homage to the grimmiest exploitation films. Eisener’s latest short Treevenge premiered at the 2008 Fantasia Film Festival where it won both the audience award and best short film. Treevenge is now playing at Fantastic Fest as part of the shorts program. People who cannot attend the screenings still have time to check out the film at Fantastic Fest Online. Eisener answered some questions about Treevenge as well as the full-length version of Hobo, which now has a producer. The full interview is beneath the fold.
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Pinku eiga (pink films) have existed for decades but the films are still discussed outside of Japan as if they were transmissions from a real-life videodrome. This is due, at least in part, to a paucity of serious English-language resources to help audiences sort through the myths. Jasper Sharp’s book Behind the Pink Curtain provides some much needed perspective on a world of cinema that uses eroticism to bridge multiple genres in unique but explainable ways.
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While scurrying up Bay Street in Toronto I was hailed by Bruce Fletcher to come join him and friends at an outdoor table to lift “twobeer”; a welcome invitation on a humid afternoon. Bruce introduced me to “Ant” Timpson, Executive Producer of Head Strong, a feature film development company out of New Zealand; Ian Rattray, the Co-Director of London’s Film4 Frightfest; and James Faust, Senior Programmer for the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. After achieving a perfect buzz, we stumbled into a press screening of Sauna, but not before Bruce gave me the heads-up on the line-up for San Francisco’s upcoming Dead Channels: Festival of Fantastic Film to be held October 3rd-9th, 2008 at San Francisco’s Roxie Film Center and on October 9th at Oakland’s Parkway Speakeasy. This year’s Festival will showcase 20 feature films and 20 short films from 10 countries and it includes exclusive world premieres, cutting edge women directors, classic repertory picks, amazing animation and much more, guaranteed to blow your mind!
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The ironically titled Eden Lake is anything but ironic in its execution. A horror genre hybrid, that seamlessly mixes elements of backwoods horror (Deliverance, Southern Comfort, Calvaire), slasher (Friday 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and yuppie-in-peril movies (Pacific Heights, Single White Female) it would be easy for such a film to be smothered under the weight of its influences. But James Watkins’ (writer of 2002’s My Little Eye and 2007’s Gone) directorial debut anchors it all to a very topical, very British threat and tabloid favourite, the ‘hoodie’ – a clothing based moniker beloved of the British media to represent all that is 21st century yob culture. Watkins transports these typically urban pests to the countryside, and in doing so relieves them of their hoods but none of their menace.
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Oh you lucky, lucky people. The first wave of titles for this year’s edition of the Toronto After Dark Festival was announced today and you are in for a treat this year! Festival director Adam Lopez and his team, including our lord and master Todd, have put together another fine selection of films for your viewing pleasure and horror and wonder. These titles will already be familiar to Twitch viewers and if you haven’t had the chance to catch yet you can do so in October.
In its first wave of film titles revealed for 2008, Toronto After Dark Film Festival is proud to announce a selection of eight outstanding new horror, sci-fi, action and cult feature films that will have their Toronto Theatrical Premieres at the festival this October 17-24. The initial lineup includes a number of critically acclaimed and award-winning films from around the world including the much-anticipated new sci-fi horror musical REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, Sundance selection revenge thriller RED based on Jack Ketchum’s novel, cult horror action movie TOKYO GORE POLICE, celebrated vampire feature LET THE RIGHT ONE IN which won Best Picture at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton’s dark and twisted modern fairytale, IDIOTS & ANGELS.
For more information on the complete lineup of films at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival, to watch trailers, or to buy advance festival passes which are now on sale, visit the festival website.
All eight title descriptions after the jump. We’ll see you in the dark!
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