Fantastic Fest Day 6

Fantastic Fest Day 6

At this point I was fully rested and ready to heavy metal. On my slate were 4 more movies.  Starting off with British horror movie Salvage, Breathless, Ninja Assassin, and ending with the insane Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl.

Salvage

Damn I was pretty disappointed with this movie. British horror movies lately have been kicking my ass in a good way so I was pumped to start the day with this. Hell even the poster is kick ass. Instead what I got was a very boring average horror flick at best. The movie started off pretty solid with news report of a mysterious tanker crate that was found on the beach and empty. The story follows a teenage girl with her divorced Dad thats on his way to drop her off at her mom's house for Christmas. When the girl arrives she finds her mom fucking some dude she had just hooked up with. The girl goes across the street to stay at her friends and then the rest of the movie focuses on her mom and this married dude she fucking and doesnt even know his name. Pretty soon after that this paramilitary group comes in shooting and telling the citizens to stay locked in their house. The movie trys to be mysterious not revealing whether the military guys are there to protect or whether they have an ulterior motive. Basically its a monster/infected movie focusing on this white trash mom and her f buddy as they survive the day. Not really anything scary happens and the characters themselves are pretty bland. I really wish they would have stayed with the teenage girl instead. Not really much to say about this movie but its very forgettable. I think its filmed pretty well and I liked some of the perfomances but not enough to really recommend it. Final Rating: 6/10

Breathless

This ended up being one of the highest rated films of the festival so I was pretty pumped to see it. Not to mention im a huge fan of Korean cinema in general and this was suppose to be a great self financed directorial debut from an up and coming director. I can say I really liked it but it fell short of loving it. The movie is about this debt collector that lives his life not giving a shit about anyone and doing anything he fucking likes. Did i mention yet this movie has probably more cussing than any other movie ive ever seen? Not only that everyone in the movie fucking hits or slaps everyone else. So the movie focuses on the debt collector and this high school chick that he meets one day. Not really much goes except just showing there normal daily lives. Not sure if the movie suppose to have some time of deep message about violence or Korean culture. I enjoyed a majority of it but thought the ending was a little predictable and cliche. If you are into Korean dramas then this movie will satifsy. Final Rating: 7/10

Ninja Assassin

I grew up on Ninja movies. Both Revenge of the Ninja and Shogun's Ninja are still some of my favorite movies. I remember owning nunchuckas, flying stars, throwing knives and other ninja shit. There hasnt been a big budget American ninja movie in some time so I was also looking forward to this especially since its theatrical release is not until November 25th. This movie I think accomplishes what it set out to do. Just be a fun popcorn kick ass action flick. The strong points are the pacing, the blood, the performances and the blood. Yes there is a shit load of gore and blood even if it is all cgi. I was shocked when Mctiegue admitted that the MPAA passed it as R without any cuts at all. There are still a few problems I had with it. The biggest complaint I have along with other people ive read and talked to was that a lot of action scenes and fighting was done in the dark so it was hard to see a lot that was going on. There were also a little too many flashback training scenes. But the movie was paced pretty well and wasnt overlong. I was also happy the movie was pretty brutal. Even though the blood was all cgi it was still some of the best cgi blood to date. Only a few blood scenes I had a problem with. The acting was solid even though the dialogue and story wasnt the most original. Rain did an awesome job as the Ninja Assassin and his English was pretty damn good. In conclusion I think a majority of action fans are going to dig this movie. It did have a slight throw back action feel to it I really dug. Final Rating: 7.5/10

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

Yep you read the movie title right. This movie is as silly and goofy as it sounds. This is the newest film from the director of last years Tokyo Gore Police. I love this new wave of Japanese blood spray action movies such as Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, Robo Geisha, and Hard Revenge Milly. The movie is about this smokin hot Japanese chick thats the new girl at school and falls for this dude pretty hard. This dude is kind of dating this other smoking hot chick who's Dad is a teacher and one of the head people at the high school. You quickly find out that the new girl is really a vampire and is killing the people in town. Also the nurse and teacher are mad scientists and making people into frankensteins. So basically they confront each other and have a huge final battle. This movie is extremely goofy in parts. There are several high school cliques that are ridiculous, like the wrist cutter girls and this group of girls that all want to be black. The movie flows very well though and will have you laughing the whole time. Not for everyone but if you dig this style then you will love this movie.
Final Rating: 7/10