Fantasia Film Festival 2013: A Tender Rump for a Firm Opening (Day 1)

Jo Satana brings you day to day coverage of the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival. Be sure to come back each day for all of his musings & insight on the films throughout the festival.

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Children of night, do you hunger? Does your stomach rumble? Have you been the ones keeping me up, fearful that something wicked is coming this way? Or, on those rare moments where my eyes have indeed found repose, have you been waking me, causing that slick, panicked sweat to ooze down my back? And what of this iron taste in my throat? Have you been violating my mouth with a ghastly, veiny, bloody stump of an appendage, such that I am suffocated to the point of sputtering out my last breath?

Anyways, FanTasia (or Fantasia) has once again risen from the darkest depths to bring you tasty morsels of filmy flesh and as always, I will be giving you the play by play, one course at a time. It is essential that I also mention that this year marks the return of the festival to the Imperial Theatre here in Montreal, a homecoming that I’m sure will bring joyous tears of blood to even the most hardened of scaly cinephiles.

Jack Attack

(Short, USA, 2013)

Often overlooked are the short films that precede most features at Fantasia. Expertly curated, they usually follow the same theme as the the full length attached to it, or at least complement it. I find that these shorts never really get the respect they deserve, which is why I feel compelled to have you seek out Jack Attack if you are in need of some pre-Hallows Eve fun.

Antonio Padovan and Bryan Norton’s short, Jack Attack, played right before The Conjuring on Fantasia’s opening night. The team behind the short, introduced onstage by Tony Timpone, were polite, unassuming and  looked completely shell shocked to be in front of the energetic Fantasia audience. However, don’t let their unassuming character misrepresent the punchy and strangely whimsical Jack Attack: a pleasant tale that makes you feel all warm and gooey  inside, or, more accurately, on the outside…splattered all over the kitchen floor.

It’s Halloween, and little “Jack” is walking home with his babysitter (Helen Rogers, look out for her, seriously) to carve the pumpkin they just purchased together. Things are getting festive and outside, the costumed little ones have started their yearly pilgrimage for sugary loot.  However, before heading out, “Jack” needs to help finish the pumpkin and lets just say that things don’t really pan out as planned. What starts out innocently as some cheeky Jack-O-Lantern fun, turns into something a little hard to digest.  Competent, over the top gore gags accent this endearing little tale of Halloween misfortune.

The Conjuring

(USA, Australia, Netherlands, 2013)

On a hot summer night, nothing cools off  better than a chilling ghost story and James Wan returns to the formula that made Dead Silence jealous that it wasn’t Insidious : Boooooooooos!

Loosely based on the legend of Ed and Lorrain Warren (demonologist and clairvoyant extraordinaire, played by the always effective Patrick Wilson and already devilish Vera Farmiga), The Conjuring is exploitative in that it uses the notoriety of the power duo to strap viewers into a fantastical narrative carnival ride filled with demonic possessions and otherworldly manifestations. These types of stories are timeless and director James Wan seems to have learned from the mistakes and success of  Dead Silence and Insidious, respectively, by evoking the styles of Polanski, through the awareness of Carpenter and Craven, with swooping shots and first person trickery. Think Richard Matheson’s Hell House by way of Poltergeist.

All of which is familiar Fantasia territory. The audience is sophisticated and very well versed in the trappings normally associated with such  “based on a true story” storytelling. As it is often the case, the house itself is just as much a character as the poor souls that moved into it, and  viewers were literally gripping  their seats, gasping for breath as they checked for the emergency exits. This is due to the clever interplay between character design and “editorial style” pacing, which builds this intensity out of nowhere (a simple game of hide and go seek); just as soon as it arrives, it boils them over with  a sharp whistle, much like a pressure cooker seeking relief. These magical moments are peppered throughout and it’s exactly what you are expecting from such  familiar territory. Props go out to the great sound design that helps translate the films emotions,  as Joseph Bishara’s effectively evokes your favorite ghastly tales from childhood (The Changeling baby!).

The Conjuring works like any haunted house story should. You care about the characters, and the violation and desecration of these people’s household hits a chord with anyone who isn’t a psychopath.  I am always of the belief that a familiar setting is the best way to get a viewer of it’s guard and The Conjuring succeeds in making a simple clap something that I will need therapy for years to come.

So to you, the damaged youth of time wasted, I say stay tuned for further coverage of the ocular atrocities that will be spurted all over my face as I ignore my bodily urges and civic duties to bring you Fantasia 2013.

So long sunshine, I’m out!
Jo Satana (Have Film, will Follow)