Fantasia ’10: OPENING WEEKEND

Editor’s Note:  The following is being republished by permission from Jo Satana and Jeremy Webster from Nightmare Revue.  I thank them for allowing me to republish this.

Greetings from Montreal`s underground, this is Joey Jo Jo Satana.

On Thursday, July 8^th 2010, the 14^th edition of Montreal’s premiere international genre film festival opened its mighty jaws to welcome cinephiles and critics alike into its cavernous belly, in which we will all be swimming for the next 3 weeks. I’ve decided to skip the requisite, excitable introductory preamble (see insert above) for a more….straight to the point approach: you need to be here, now. Opening weekend saw the premiere of Disney’s SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, H.G. Lewis documentary THE GODFATHER OF GORE, French film RUBBER, a rare screening of a 35mm print of BLOOD FEAST, the premiere of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE(!!!), Serbian film LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG, and much more. So, in no particular order, other than chronological, I’ll deftly skip THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE to bring you the following…

Friday night was the premiere of Henenlotter/Malson’s H.G Lewis Documentary THE GODFATHER OF GORE (All of which were in attendance!) and at this point, a documentary on the contributions of H.G. Lewis is like a documentary on the advantages of brushing your teeth: we all know the basics, but there’s always something new to learn. H.G. Lewis himself was in attendance to take in the final product of what seemed like years pure fun to make. A natural A+B=C narrative took viewers from Lewis and Co`s early years of producing smut to Lewis’ golden years of directing more smut, but this time with gore in it.

As cynical as this may seem, everyone who knows H.G Lewis knows the importance of his output: limited and relative, he would even tell you himself! But you can’t deny that each of his films, no matter how bad, are endearing and an absolute RIOT to sit through. What you gotta love is that everyone involved with him embody, to this day, a “Carny” etiquette, a marketing flair if you will, that is sorely, SORELY lacking in creative personalities today. It’s one thing to peddle in shit; it’s another to convince you to use it as manure. Great, interesting doc and a fun insight into the mind and machinations of one of America’s great last great hustlers. A special PLUS was a 35mm midnight screening of Blood Feast that was held right after the Q&A with Lewis and the gang.

Also that night was RUBBER, France’s answer to that ever introspective question we all ask ourselves when taking in a genre piece: Why? The Answer: It doesn’t matter. Directed by Quentin Dupieux, RUBBER signalled the first entry into a new category of films presented at FanTasia this year: Camera Lucida. While the flick clocks in at about 15 minutes too long in my book, the beautifully shot “story within a story” embodied the soul of American trash with the aesthetic of French “auteurism”…

Viewers are quickly introduced to two parallel narratives in which spectators are watching a “movie” unfold before their very eyes about a sentient rubber tire with telekinetic powers that falls for a local scream queen. The third and fourth wall is broken to the point of porous as the story within a story gimmick allows for an academic approach to genre conventions to take hold and guide you throughout.  A soundtrack by Mr. Oizo doesn’t hurt, but multiple headshot explosions sealed the deal for me. Hopefully, you will have time to “spare” for this fascinating film. This was, for me, the type of screening FanTasia is all about.

Now, allow me this brief monologue to address something directly with the Festival’s programmers: What’s the deal with scheduling BLOOD FEAST and RUBBER at the same time man? Was that some cruel joke to have me dash across the street from screening to screening in a mad attempt to catch both projections AT THE SAME TIME? C’mon man, next time, please avoid putting me through a game of Frogger, geez!

Weaving in and out here, Saturday was also a first entry in a series focusing on Serbia’s genre output: LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG. While some may not qualify this film as horror per se, it takes place in pre-and-post-revolution Serbia, and anything going on in Serbia during that period is pretty much horrific…so I win. Unsurprisingly pertinent (given the canvas it had to paint over) story of a young filmmaker trying to break his tooth in subversive performance theatre by taking is ensemble cast of addicts, failed actresses, and porn stars on the road through rural Serbia to bring the countryside Serbia’s very first travelling sex act. Naturally, things turn a bit bleak, as things often do under the grey skies of former Yugoslavia.

Maybe this film deserves a more formal review, and maybe we will provide it for you guys in the near future (wink wink), but LIFE AND DEATH screams restraint even though it presents itself in the most graphic fashion. A great entry into a furiously fertile yet underexploited region of cinema.

Finally, Sunday gave us the international premiere of the much anticipated (?) remake of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE entitled I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Allow me once again this brief interlude as I make explicit my LOVE for the title if this film; it could not be any more descriptive, exploitative, and sensibly poetic (or even curiously erotic). Love it.

Directed by Steven R. Monroe, this remake is essentially a distilled, filtered, polished version of the Original, but just as pertinent… and I chose my words fairly wisely. An independent woman-type heads off to a cabin in the woods to start writing a novel. Naturally, her being the lucky type, she bumps into a few of the locals who are hospitable enough to “assault her” in the most graphic of ways, and leave her for dead. Revenge story ensues.

Notable is the fact that no matter how brutal and gory the revenge sequences get (award for most innovative revenge sequence in recent memory), it still is not as effective or as disturbing (for me anyway) as the before-mentioned rape scene, especially since the lead actress was in attendance with us at the time… eerie feeling watching someone get defiled like that on screen while she’s sitting prim and pretty right next to you. Also, my conversations with others confirmed that it’s really hard to say you actually liked a “Rape film.” Ultimately, in order for you to get around this taboo “faux pas,” you are better off defining the flick as a feminist revenge thriller and raise less eyebrows that way.

Brutal, beautifully shot, grizzly, heinous, delirious, uncompromising, bold, and UNRATED are all words I’d gladly associate with ISOYG redux. The film also relies heavily on certain “suspension of disbelief” moments, but, being genre enthusiasts, these conventions are warm and welcoming in a film that is bleak and ultimately soul crushing (as opposed to others, I do not see revenge as being a positive, constructive answer).

Four days in and my eyes are already bloodshot, I gots the shakes and my ass in chronic pain. It’s going to be a fun three weeks people….at least my brain’s getting the food it’s sorely been missing. More to come.

So long sunshine, I’m out!

-Jo Satana