Fantastic Fest Day 8 (Final Day)

What a final day to wrap up the festival. I saw two of the best movies of the festival this day. Both have some intense subject matter but couldnt be more different than each other.

Princess

Where do I even start to describe this movie. Its an animated story which is ultimately about the effects of pornography on family members of the porn industry. I really liked the trailer but I didnt expect it to blow me away like it did. (pun intended) The animation style while simple was dynamic and gorgeous when it had to be. It had great 3D animation thrown in a few scenes and during flashback scenes it was actually live actors that were shown. All 3 of the styles blended seamlessly to form an artistically beautiful movie.

Heres the synopsis straight from Twichfilm.net

Princess is the story of August - a missionary priest who has given up his vocation - and Mia, his five year old niece, who August has taken custody of following the death of his sister of unspecified causes. August’s sister Christina is better known as The Princess, a porn starlet whose only surviving friends are prostitutes who were raising Mia in the back room of their brothel until August came to claim her. Mia herself is bruised all over her body, old beyond her years, and shows all the signs of having been sexually abused. Plagued with guilt at not having taken Mia away from the pornographers and prostitutes who ruined his sister’s life years before - not to mention the guilt at his own possible complicity in Christina’s having turned to pornography in the first place - and not wanting Mia to ever have to see her mother in that context ever again, August sets out on a mission to have all pornographic materials featuring his sister destroyed, by whatever means necessary which ultimately leads him on a bloody, violent rampage.

Despite the subject matter the movie was tasteful and not nearly as offensive as it sounds like it should be. Even when the little girl was crowbaring a guy in the nuts it had some type of noble sensibility to it. To be honest I only like a hand few of animated movies so I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I dont want to give too much away cuz this is one of the movies the less you know the better it is. Its a simple straight forward tale just told in a new and exciting way. Im keeping my eye out for the director for his future projects, thats for sure. Highly recommended.

Inside aka A L'Interieur
Wow this movie kicks ass! Easily the goriest movie Ive ever seen that wasnt cartoony violence like in Peter Jacksons Dead Alive or Evil Dead. Probably a lot of the intensity has to do with the fact that the main lead of the movie is a 9 month pregnant lady. There are some awesome kills and some sick shit that goes on in the movie that a lot of people wouldnt be able to handle. This movie is probably best left for gore hounds or those with a strong stomach.

The movie starts off with a car wreck and a pregnant lady covered in blood and her husband dead beside her. Flash forward 4 months and its Christmas eve and the pregnant lady is going to have labor induced on Christmas day. She still depressed about the death of her husband and continues to have flashbacks on when he was alive. She tells her mother and a friend that she wants to spend the night alone. While shes home alone a female stranger knocks on the door and asks for her help. The stranger knows her name and tells her she knows her husband is dead! The lady panicks and calls the cops. After the cops leave the stranger breaks in the house and is dead set on stealing the baby for herself. The rest of the movie kicks into high gear and all mayhem breaks loose as one by one the mother, friend and cops come back by and gets picked off one by one until the crazy insane finale. The cinematography was great, the acting perfect, great intense soundtrack and awesome gore effects. The pacing is fantastic and I was never bored at all. The story is simple and the big reveal about the identity of the evil woman was cliche but it still didnt negatively impact the movie in my eyes. The movie is sick, intense and I loved every second of it. Definitely check this out when its released later on dvd. It was picked up by the Weinsteins so if it does go to theater im sure it will be all chopped up. Just wait for the unrated dvd.