Fantastic Fest Day 3
Overall this is the best day of the festival so far. At first I was pissed that I didnt get to attend the Secret Screening because I was too far in back of the line but once I found out that it was only Southland Tales then i was relieved that I didnt get to see it. Ive heard nothing but mainly negative things about it even from most other badge holders I talked to afterwards.

The Cold Hour
This is a Spanish sci fi horror film that was highly praised by the promotors beforehand so I was fairly pumped to see it. It was a solid film I enjoyed but it lacked something to put it over the top. Its basically about a group of 7 adults and two children that are locked in an underground bunker and never leave to go outside. You find out fairly soon that there must have been WW3 or something worse since they are not allowed to go outside. There are basically two sides of the bunker. One section is for them to live in and the other section is inhabited by infected humans referred to as the Strangers. If a stranger touches your skin then you immediately turn into a zombie like creature and your skin slowly starts to melt off. Also there are times at night called The Cold Hour where these glowing creatures walk the hallways looking for prey to feed on. The people lock themselves in their rooms and cover up with blankets until the creatures pass on by.
There is a cool twist to the end once everything is revealed. The main problem I had with it were the actions scenes. The acting and dialogue was all top notch but there never really was a sense of fright or real tension built up. The movie was told from the point of view of a 10 yr old kid that walks around the bunker with his video camera filming everyone. I really enjoyed all the characters and story I just wished the action fit the high level bar the rest of the movie had. Overall I really enjoyed it and recommend it to seek out someday.


Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
This was another movie I was hoping to see that ended up solid but still lacking something to make it great. Without giving away too much the movie is told from the point of view of a boy named David back in 1958. His neighbors which were 3 boys and their single mother get custody of two female cousins once their parents die in a car wreck. David and all the neighborhood boys hang out at the house since the mother Ruth allows them to curse and drink beer. Finally the boys start to torture one of the girls in a serious way. They are commanded by their mother to rape them and tie her up and torture her in all kinds of sick ways. At one point the police are notified but cant find any hard evidence to anything. The second half of the movie was nothing but torture and kind of left any character development behind. By the end of the movie it was too much torture and not enough character interaction to build a stronger bond with the characters of the movie. It is based on a true story which makes it even more powerful but I was hoping it would have resonated with me more. Not for the weak of heart or people that is sick of torture films but still recommended once its out on dvd.


Exte
This was probably so far the most fun Ive had at a movie so far at the festival. Im sick of J Horror just as much as the next person but at least this was done with a black comedy twist. I would even go as far as saying its probably more comedy than horror. The movie is an insane story about a dead woman that continues to grow hair after shes dead. This man steals her body from the morgue and takes her home for a sick love affair with her hair. He cuts her hair and sells it to a beauty shop for hair extensions. Once the people attach it to themselves the hair goes crazy and starts to come out of everywhere. There are some sick shots of the hair growing from a tongue, eyeballs and just about any place you can think of. The movie has a great quirky sense of humor even all the way to the crazy finale. Not really too much to say about it but I had a great time watching it and definitely recommend seeing it for fans of black comedies that are looking for something offbeat and different.