It’s the Twitch Grindhouse double bill action! First up is this exclusive interview with Death Proof star Sydney Tamiia Poitier aka Jungle Julia. Followed up by Ardvark’s review of the mega spectacular Japanese DVD boxset (read here).
Now-a-days you can find Mrs. Poitier on the new Knight Rider TV show as Carrie. Previous to this she became an instant cult icon in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof where she played the kickass and most badass of recent movie characters - Jungle Julia! Mrs. Poitier is a sparkling actress of the Classic Hollywood mold with the badass chops of a Linda Hamilton. She inhabits roles with a deeply immersive acting style that she parlays into smooth performances marked by her hard to miss ever present charm.
Read on for the Twitch Jungle Julia Interview...Miike’s Django, Death Proof, Alamo Drafthouse stories, exclusive Twitch image gallery and more after the link jump!
Continue Reading "THE TWITCH INTERVIEW - JUNGLE JULIA"...
Many of Enzo G. Castellari’s classic movies were made over thirty years ago and I’ve seen them over and over again, with each passing viewing feeling just as fresh and powerful. Mr. Castellari exploded the Italian crime film movement in the early 70’s with High Crime and knocked out a film cannon that is still dazzling and exciting audiences to this day. From Keoma to The Big Racket to Street Law and on, his movies keep enduring and gaining new fans. The power of great cinema is that it works regardless of the person, time or place. Like the best of Sam Peckinpah or Don Siegel (which were huge influences on him), he found a great cinematic voice for men overcoming huge obstacles and journeys through hell and back.
If the rising tide of popularity in 70’s crime cinema has gotten you to see many of these films, yet have never seen High Crime I whole heartedly suggest seeing this film as soon as possible. It’s the one that exploded it all. Seeing it would be like seeing every Spaghetti Western, but not seeing Fistful of Dollars and that just isn’t right. The jury is still out if and when Blue Underground will ever release it on DVD or Blu-ray.
Onto the Interview...
Continue Reading "A BRIEF INTERVIEW WITH A LEGEND OF CINEMA – ENZO G. CASTELLARI"...
We here at Twitch have been unanimously supportive of Inside since many of us have seen it at numerous festival screenings in 2007. My only wish was that everyone would get to see this tour de force in the cinema instead of their homes. Mind you, after you see this film you may want to run right outside, do a quick spin around the house and make sure no one is trying to break in.
The uncut release will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with a French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. English subtitles will also be provided, along with an English 5.1 dub. The only extra material will be a making of featurette which gets a ‘boo-urns’ from me since the guys who directed Inside were fun to talk to and have a lot to say. Myself, I’m mixed about the cover. It gets the point across, sure, and I guess when you have a brand like Dimension Extreme it makes sense on their end to make ALL their covers look the same, so that the uninitiated buyer can identify a product line instead of an individual property and it’s own merits. Can’t say I am a fan of the tag ‘UNRATED’ either. Ooh, that means it is extra, extra special.
Sleep with the lights on; Inside is coming on April 15th!
On October 26, 2001, Chante Jawan Mallard who was intoxicated behind the wheel of her car hit a homeless man, Gregory Biggs. Instead of getting Mr. Biggs help, she panicked and drove home with him stuck in her windshield. Two days pass and Mr. Biggs has still been left in her garage, still stuck in her car. Miss Mallard then seeks the help of male friend, Clete Jackson, who disposes of Mr. Biggs at a park. Four months pass with the coast clear for Miss Mallard. At this point for reasons unknown, she mentions this episode at a party to Maranda Daniel. Not only does she tell Maranada about the episode she also says she plans to destroy the car and make an insurance claim. Maranda immediately tells the Fort Worth Police, who put together enough evidence and testimony that results in Miss Mallard being busted for 50 years in prison for killing Gregory Biggs.
The case drew national headlines, not only because of the audacity of Miss Mallard to leave a dying man she hit stuck in her windshield, but also because of the fact she was a nurses aide at a retirement home. Perhaps she wanted to be promoted or pretend it didn’t happen. Regardless, it was a modern day horror story come to life, that shook the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
The tale of Mr. Biggs, however, does not end there. Veteran filmmaker Stuart Gordon and screenwriter John Strysik have brought his tale to the big screen with the 2007 film, Stuck. Gordon and Strysik flesh out the characters and their motivations in a very stark world where individuals are clawing their way to stay afloat with their careers.
AFTER THE LINK BUMP, AN INTERVIEW WITH STUART GORDON, MENA SUVARI AND JOHN STRYSIK ON STUCK
Continue Reading "STUCK—Interview With Stuart Gordon, Mena Suvari and John Strysik"...
From Sam Raimi, F.W. Murnau, Sergio Martino, Clive Barker, John Carpenter, George A. Romero and on, filmmakers have long been exploring and giving audiences a taste and glimpses of hell. With only their debut feature directing team Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have opened up the gates of horror cinema to new deeply dark and bloody realms of hell and pulsating terror. Rarely in film has maternal hell and girl on girl fighting been shown this brutal, this primal and unrelenting.
Inside will be released on French DVD on February 28, 2008. A soundtrack CD with composers François-Eudes Chanfrault (more info) work should accompany this release (source: Aphanisis). The US release of the film should be arrive in the form of a DVD release sometime in 2008 via the Weinstein Company.
At the recent 40th Sitges Film Festival I had the chance to sit down and chat with this debut directing team on Inside. Now onto the interview… >
Continue Reading "40th Sitges - A Blood Soaked Interview with the Inside (À l’intérieur) Directors"...
Having now sold complete worldwide distribution, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s [REC] should start winning and pumping fear into the hearts of horror fans in 2008. Up first we have two clips from the film (one more spoiler-ish) to give a small taste of what the movie has to offer. For my own tastes I loved Inside and [REC], but give [REC] the advantage as being the scariest film of 2007 (and please note none of the best scares are in either clips shown here). As a bonus I’ve posted a higher res image of the English version of the poster from Spain (view here).
Onto the clips after the link bump...
Continue Reading "[REC] Two Clips - Time to Scream!"...
[REC] lives up to the hype and then some. I went into the film highly skeptical and came away a believer. The co-directors of the film mix horror, zombie and sci-fi themes and devices much the same as the band Arcade Fire mix various expansive types of music and instruments into something fresh and new that isn’t afraid to kick down conventional doors and walls. While I would consider Hot Fuzz the funnest film I’ve seen this year, [REC] isn’t too far behind. This movie is so much fun - I can hardly wait to see it again for a 3rd time. Full review coming soon. Until then I can breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn’t busted on that audience trailer jumping and screaming!
The film has some beautiful tempestuous twists and the absolute best scares in horror cinema you will this year (well if your lucky enough to catch it).
View the Twitch exclusive 20 picture image gallery of [REC] cast and crew at the 40th Sitges Film Festival
So the question begs just how many times has everyone seen Hot Fuzz this year? How many times in theaters and how many times on video? Could this be the most watched and re-watched movie that will come out this year? I found it interesting while in Spain during the 40th Sitges Film Festival to see audiences there go absolutely crazy for the film (despite the fact the English subtitles couldn’t even keep up with its joke-a-millisecond). Some press for the UK shrugged and wondered even more what all the hoopla for the movie was they found it to be more akin to television situation comedy stretched out into a feature film and that Mr. Wright’s best work remained to be Spaced. Edgar Wright’s work has never struck me as that. I find it while highly referential and nostalgic to be very much densely made with a really fresh cinematic voice. His riffs on classic cinema style and structure alone hit my funny bone pretty hard (even David Bordwell has a piece about this here). Regardless of where one stands Mr. Wright has pulled off the very tough task of being one of the few filmmakers that can cause the young macho male population to cry in movies, albeit tears of comedy joy!
VIEW THE EDGAR WRIGHT SITGES PHOTO SHOOT
SEE EDGAR WRIGHT WALK WITH A GLOW, POSE LIKE LEE MARVIN AND MORE!!!
Unknown to most but well known to others is the fact that filmmaker Edgar Wright is a highly successful male fashion model in between making movies. Rumors are his electric photo shoots do very well in monetarily helping fund his subsequent film projects and land him quite a large sum of work appearing on the cover of magazines such as the Italian Vogue and GQ. At the recent 40th Sitges Film Festival Mr. Wright was on hand to demonstrate first hand his male fashion model skills and I happened to be on hand to snap a few pictures. And of course I’m joking about this but I did take pictures of him while at Sitges despite him being in town less than a minute.
NEWS FLASH - PARK CHAN-WOOK DIDN’T STOP MAKING MOVIES TO BE AN ASTRONAUT.
Now that we have that cleared up…
THE TWO QUESTION PARK CHAN-WOOK INTERVIEW
BLAKE: What can you tell us about your next film Bakjwi?
PARK CHAN-WOOK: Bakjwi is the Korean word for “bat.” It will be a very very sad and tragic melodrama about a vampire who has fallen madly in love with a married woman. It will not be like a Batman type movie or a vampire horror film.
Right now there are two English titles for the film. One is just “Bat” and the other is “Evil Live.” I think “Evil Live” makes it sound too much like a horror film or something along the lines of “Batman-ish” type science fiction, so I will be coming out with a new English title, which I haven’t decided on just yet.
BLAKE: Any updates on the project your producing for Bong Joon-ho for the French sci-fi graphic novel Le Transperceneige?
PARK CHAN-WOOK: Yes we now have an English title for the film, which is ”The Snow Piercer.” It’s going to have international casting and probably be the biggest Korean film production ever. Our current plan is to start shooting it in 2010.
Currently we are at the beginning stages of working on the adaptation of the graphic novel into a film script. One of the most famous Korean sci-fi novelists is currently handling this for us.
***
* Thanks to PiFan programmer Jin Hyung Park for stepping in to translate during this interview.
Notes on this interview and an 18 image wallpaper gallery of photographs (view here) I took of Park Chan-wook follow after the link bump.
Continue Reading "40th Sitges – Park Chan-wook Speaks on Bakjwi and The Snow Piercer (& 18 wallpaper images of him)"...
The winners for this years 40th Sitges Film Festival have just been announced. The best picture of the festival is The Fall. Rec the brand new zombie film that seriously delivers picked up awards for Best Director, Best Actress, Special Mention, for making possible our fantasy, by letting us watch dying live an upsetting TV presenter, Audience Award El Periódico de Catalunya - Best Motion Picture and the Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award. Inside (À l’intérieur) also had a nice showing picking up awards for Best Make Up FX, Best Motion Picture FANTÀSTIC, Silver Méliès for Best European Motion Picture and the Citizen Kane Award to an up-and-coming director. In the animated film section Aachi & Ssipak won for best animated feature. Japanese fantasy film Dororo won for best picture in the Orient Express section.
Huge congratulations to the Inside directing team who rushed back to France yesterday to get back to work on their next feature. Can’t wait to see what these guys whip out of their horror umbilical cord next. Rec which had a huge buzz here should see a healthy dose of film festival screenings in 2008 and I can’t imagine it will be long before it gets picked up for US distribution (or at least someone wanting to do a Hollywood remake).
Sad to see Timecrimes not pick up any awards here but I should definitely note its jury screening was done in the worst theater here at the Sala. This theater resembles the set up I watched movies on in my elementary school auditorium and its sound system nearly completely lost several layers of sound I think were crucial to fully experiencing the film. Just not overall the best way to try and judge a movie. For general screenings of films I think the set up works fine.
Continue Reading "40th Sitges Film Festival Winners Announced - The Fall, Inside and Rec are the big winners"...
At the 40th Sitges Film Festival I sat down this week with Xavier Gens and lead actress Karina Testa. An interview with both follows on Frontier(s) and I also have a 20 image wallpaper gallery showcasing them out here (view here). I finally got to see Frontier(s) for the first time this week and being a fan of survivalist horror films I thought it was much more exceptional than routine. I do realize its a movie that people will either love or hate. I fall on the side that loves it. In particular I love the entire third act and the gripping and electric performance Karina Testa turns in.
As for the Hitman controversy (Fox responds on Hitman) while at Sitges a source very close to the situation confirmed the previous rumors about this. Based on that I didn’t get the impression it was just a disagreement on what violence to keep in or out but that Fox had taken it away from Xavier to do their own cut.
Now onto the interview with Xavier Gens and lead actress Karina Testa on Frontier(s).
Continue Reading "40th Sitges - Interview with Frontier(s) director Xavier Gens and lead actress Karina Testa"...
So you want some more details on the “Hellraiser” project from the ”Inside” (”À l’intérieur”) directors? I sat down with them this week at the 40th Sitges Film Festival and got some additional details. A full interview with them on ”Inside” will be posted from me next week.
BLAKE: So your doing “Hellraiser” next?
JULIEN MAURY: Maybe.
ALEXANDRE BUSTILLO: We are actually writing the script right now and we don’t want to remake exactly the Cliver Barker movie. We have met Clive and told him what we want to do with “Hellraiser” and he said, “It’s f**king good do it!” We are happy to have his benediction. It will not be a remake. It will still be called “Hellraiser” and it will have a new Pinhead.
JULIEN MAURY: It’s more of an adaptation.
ALEXANDRE BUSTILLO: With our vision we want to be very fair to the cinephile fans of “Hellraiser.” We want to make something very different and something new with it.
JULIEN MAURY: Clive is 100% behind us and that makes us really assured.
ALEXANDRE BUSTILLO: It will be very different. It won’t be like the original “Hellraiser” or that series of movies. We are big fans of the original but we don’t want to do it as a remake since that would be complete nonsense to do [or approach] it that way. Our story is very very different I promise! It will be cool!
(Julien momentarily pretends to be Pinhead)
