A FANTASIAN FILM: WEEKS 2 AND ONWARD

  We got another review from a member of the staff from Nightmare Revue, Michael Mitchell.  This review is being republished by permission from Jeremy Webster and Nightmare Revue.  Again, mucho kudos. 

Jo Satana comes back with reviews on The Revenant, Birdemic, A Serbian Film and more.  Hit the break for all the manic happenings.

by Jo Satana

Playing catch up here, and the line between sleep and slumber is getting thin indeed. Week three just kicked off and I’ll take this brief opportunity to catch up, recount, and mend my wounds. This is the week that was… 

 Vampire zombie (aka: the undead) buddy flick The Revenant, directed Kerry Prior, by was touted as being the sleeper hit of the summer. “Cheech and Chong with zombies!” some would say. “No dude, it’s like Re-Animator meets The Punisher!” others would answer. In either case, it’s more like Swingers meets Mall Rats as it passes through Day of the Dead. The relationship between two buddies is put to the test as one of them returns from a tour of duty in a casket. Obviously, the lives of everyone around the fallen soldier are forever changed and, as everybody knows, the dead only stay dead if they are not destined to be undead. Everyone always says they would like the chance to have just one last moment with someone before they pass, but it looks like these kids got more than they bargained for with the return of their fallen bro, who, incidentally, is otherwise perfectly normal aside from the fact that he only revives at night and needs to sup on human blood to avoid decaying. One can only imagine how this will affect the group’s social dynamics.A study in friendship and balance, I found the film to be more held back than the positive reactions from the audience suggested. As everyone in the crowd was slapping their foreheads silly at the gags and so on (at one point, the film turns vigilante: the buddies decide to hunt down the scum of society as a source of blood – two birds, one stone), I was intrigued by the inner message of conformism and segregation; one by one, the entourage is either killed off or turned into blood sucking fiends themselves, and I can’t help but ask myself: was this movie a subtext for America’s melting pot? Join us or bubble away? The last reel is revelatory, I’ll tell you that much. 

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This one will be fairly quick: witches, warlocks and demons… in the projects…and with drama! Interesting but flawed UK/Irish movie directed by Colm McCarthy, Outcast gives us a sneak peak into the inner turmoils of a society of magic makers who need to deal with a small situation; as it turns out, a quick tryst in the bushes resulted in the birth of a demonic spawn from hell who, 17 years later, starts to wreak havoc on a small project community. The mother of said spawn is trying her best to hide and protect her progeny. Her boy (who can shift between a monstrous demon and a monstrously horny teenager) is discovering the realities of his condition and, against his mother’s wishes, begins a relationship with a neighborhood hottie who is just as broken. If that’s not enough, the paternal half of said beast is on the hunt, and guess for who?   

Outcast sort of suffers from the same pitfalls as the great John Constantine of Hellblazer fame: too much going on. The audience is quickly jolted from right to left of what seems to be the conclusion of a story that we should have been introduced to earlier. Narrative issues and technical limitations prohibit us from truly getting to the crux of the matter, and basically what you end up with is a nice, vanilla monster movie. Well, one with natural vanilla extracts at least. *           *           *  

As I entered the Hall building for the Canadian premiere of A Serbian Film, I though only one thing: holy fuck is this crowd electric. Anticipation is the only thing written on the faces of everyone waiting to be herded into the cinema like cattle – anticipation to be subsequently slaughtered one by one by the slow, sawing motion of the serrated blade that is A Serbian Film. Since director Srdjan Spasojevic and producer Nikola Pantelic have decidedly not taken the subtle approach to convey their perception of the Serbian condition in this film, I will take the same road:FAMILY, PORNO, FUCKING, ANAL, ORAL, RAPING, MUTILATING, NECROPHILIA, INCEST, PEDOPHILIA, DESTRUCTIVE, DEVASTATING, DEMORALISING, ROCKING SOUNDTRACK, AND MULTIPLE CAMERAS.   

A retired porno actor takes a “gig he could not refuse,” but quickly learns he should have taken the high road and left the cash on the table. Things quickly turn to snuff… and I’m going to spare you the details. Yes, the notorious newborn scene is real, and yes, it is not near as effective as the last reel, which is, in my book, one of the bleakest things I’ve seen in a long time: a negativity orgasm of the blackest kind, everything is onscreen for you to ogle and chew on, no stones are unturned, there is no room for inference here. 

As the lights went on after the screening, the crowd’s faces spoke for itself. A quick smile followed by a nervous frown. Not feeling too good now are we people? A brief and insightful Q& A with the crew followed and – not that I demanded an explanation from anyone – it was still comforting to have them graze academics about their film with us. I felt… better somehow. Must-see viewing for those willing to take the red pill and kick things up a notch. Amazed. 

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This one needs NO explanation here. One of my favourite elements of the FanTasia fest is the focus on midnight screenings, and the fact that they keep doing them year after year. If you haven’t been to one, you aren’t getting it are you? In the middle of the long tradition of midnight movies lies Re-Animator, which is celebrating a well-deserved 25th anniversary. As such, audiences were treated to a 35mm projection of this classic with Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs in tow. Every gorehound and splatterfiend in the audience cuddled closely together with one another to what can only be described as the flickering light equivalent of comforting hot chocolate. Wish you could have been there. *           *           * 

Keeping with the Jeffrey Combs theme, his one man manifesto paying tribute to the late Edgar Allen Poe (he’s not dead!), Nevermore, was booked for two nights at Montreal’s Mile End theatre house, the Rialto.   

This crowd was a bit of a departure from what we are used to with FanTasia: gone were the rockin’ and rollickin’ crowds to be replaced with hushed tones, veils, and hand-held fans. Given the swanky’ness of the setting, I should have at least brought my dinner jacket.Jeffrey Combs man…. what the fuck? There has been much speculation as to why Combs has not risen to the character actor elite of Hollywood and Nevermore is a brutal reminder of this: this man was Poe personified. A spellbinding 90 minute monologue with the audience in which Combs potrayed Poe with such clarity that the softly candlelit stage was as bright as can be. Bleeding atmosphere, this loving tribute brought us from the plague, through the alcoholism, to the despair… all intertwined with live readings of Poe’s work. Those familiar with Combs’s previous portrayal of Poe during the shortly-lived Master’s of Horror series will find familiar ground here: a rapping, a tapping… and much, much more.  

This one was not only special from a film festival perspective; it was special from a performing arts perspective. If this show is booked in your town (I have no info with respect to a touring schedule) go and see it. It’s as simple as that.   

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Complete utter buffoonery. Another midnight screening, and I have the impression we all had our leg pulled a little bit. The story behind Birdemic: Shock and Terror is fascinating in that the movie has been propelled forward from festival booking to festival booking for one sole reason: to share how bad it really is with everyone. A festival….. books a film… to show how bad it is. What the hell.   

Contrary to Troll 2, which is an honest film and the definitive worst movie ever, Birdemic is clouded in doubt with respect to its sincerity. Is it intentionally this bad? Or was it an honest attempt to make something meaningful, overshadowed by crazy editing mistakes, dubbing problems, tracking problems, painful acting, terrible effects, insulting narrative inconsistencies, nonexistent pacing and so on?   

Yes, this film is a BLAST with a midnight crowd and god bless the FanTasia audience for adopting this bastard of a movie and making it their own: clapping, cheering, laughing, chanting – there were even coat hangers given away at the beginning that were shaken at the screen everytime the titular birds shook a nasty wing at us.   

Specifics for the story are useless here: a community is suddenly attacked (and by suddenly, I mean, 1 hour into the film) by mutant birds who are seeking revenge on humans for global warming. These birds can explode and are apparently so organised that they repeat the same kill and fly patterns in every scene.   

An interview with the director, James Nguyen, really muddles things further as he refers to himself as a famous Hollywood star and as to his film as a successful romantic thriller. Is he that in the dark, is he sick in the head, or is he pulling our legs? I dunno man, this is a mystery I’m eager for someone to solve, but don’t count on me to waste any more energy with it.   

See for yourself, as some mad sadist will surely book a screening in a town near you.   

So see you next week!   

Annnnd I’m not even caught up with that. You want blood? don’t waste my time. You want guts? Go rent a Fulci flick. You want to get your mind so completely fucked that you’ll be crying on the bathroom floor, pissing yourself? You aroused yet? Then stay tuned my perverse pretties for another week of horror and terror, brought to you live from the FanTasia film festival, 2010.   

So long sunshine,   

I’m out!   

– Jo Satana