Fantastic Fest Day 8

Fantastic Fest Day 8

Its the final day of the festival and Im happy for the experience but also elated that its over. It was fucking rough working, watching 25 movies and dealing with allergies. This day I rewatched Merantau and The Reventant. Also watched a pretty interesting quirky action drama called The Dirty Mind.

Merantau

Easily the biggest surprise of the festival and tied with my favorite movie of the festival along with Rec 2. Must see for any action or martial arts fans.

Dirty Mind

This movie style is pretty hard to describe. Its like a quirky drama with action and comedy elements in it. The movie is about this dude thats injured doing a movie stunt and it changes his personality. He transforms from a shy nice guy into a rambuncious, funny, ego maniac thats awesome at performing movie stunts. He has some brain damage and the doctors want to do an exeperimental surgery that will return him to normal and also help others that have this condition that are far worse off then him. He relishes his new self and doesnt want to do the experiment and his doctor thats treating him for his condition falls for him. He eventually ruins his relationship with his brother that started the whole stunt crew and his parents. The movie also had a pretty predictable ending but If you are into foreign dramas then I definitely recommend it. Final Rating: 7/10

The Revenant

Finshed the festival by watching one of the better movies again. I think it has some mass appeal if marketed right. Solid horror comedy.
That was the end of the festival for me. I tried to get into Daybreakers but didnt make the standby cut. Glad this is over but already pumped for next year.

Fantastic Fest Day 7

Fantastic Fest Day 7
I fell asleep during first movie K-20. Saw the wrong movie when I picked The Bare Breasted Countess over Private Eye. Rewatched the awesome Doghouse and ended the night with the fucked up The Human Centipede. 

K-20: The Fiend with 20 Faces

I fell asleep about 20 minutes in so I won't give it a score rating. From what I saw thought it was a kiddy action adventure movie that I didnt dig at all. Unfortunately I woke up for the last 30 minutes and saw the predictable ending. Nothing left to say. It was well done but cheesy.

The Bare Breasted Countess

I picked this movie instead of watching Private Eye which was picked by several people as the best movie of the festival. I only picked this because Jess Franco was there in attendance and the movie is not available on dvd. To be honest the movie basically is a soft core porn movie. There is very little dialogue and a paper thin plot. There was more bush in this movie than at George W's family reuninon. The main vampire chick Lina Romay (and now Jess Franco's wife) was fucking smoking hot in the movie. This was not a movie to be watching in a packed theater but better suited for the privacy of your own home with towel in reach. It was very artsy and well filmed but not really much more to it. Movie is about this vampire chick that seduces men and women, goes down on them and then eventually sucks the blood out of them while giving them oral. Thats all there is to it. While not really a great movie Im still glad I saw it and it was cool to see the Q and A session given by Frank and Lina at the end. She had a lot of classic funny lines. Final Rating: 5.5/10

Doghouse

Rewatched this movie and loved it even more the second time. Awesome horror comedy.

The Human Centipede

Holy shit what a fucked up movie. I had pretty high expectations for it since it won the award there for the best horror movie. While it was nowhere that good I still enjoyed the whacky premise. The movie is about this dude that captures people and sews them together in fucked up experiments. I dont want to give away the "money" scene of the movie but its pretty shocking when it happens. While watching the movie I thought there was a lot of unintentional laughs but after the Q and A session with the funny ass director Tom Six, Im not so sure anymore. The craziest Q and A session Ive ever been a part of. To say much more about it would be spoiling the movie. Not for everyone but if you are into fucked up horror then this may be up your alley. Also a terrific performance by Dieter Laser as the main doctor. Very good movie but just dont let the hype overwhelm you. Final Rating: 7.25/10

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

Fantastic Fest Day 4 & 5

Fantastic Fest Day 4 & 5
I was so tired and burnt out I primarily rested these two days and took care of some personal stuff. The only movie I saw was Uwe Boll's Rampage and I walked out of Morphine cuz I was bored to death.
Rampage Movie Review
People have called me a Uwe Boll apologist and I dont deny it. Yeah his early movies are terrible to average at best but I think he has turned a corner recently with his recent output. Tunnel Rats is still one of my favorite movies of the year and Stoic is very very solid. While Rampage is not one of his best it still is a pretty good movie. The story is ultra simple. A dude that lives with his parents gets fed up with life and buys a kevlar suit of armor and goes down the street killing people and robbing a bank. The movie is filmed with handheld on a lot of shots and shows a lot of close up interview style with the main guy kind of explaining his motivations. Half the movie is set up and then he finally goes on his rampage. Those scene were cool and eerily realistic looking. There is a fantastic scene where he goes into a bingo hall unnoticed. It was very different than what you probably would expect. Its definitely more of a drama with some action bits thrown in. I really liked the look and feel of it but something was missing to put it over the top. I cant really put my finger on it but I thought it was well done but just average. I can see how people would either like it or hate it though. I do give Uwe credit for his awesome Q & A session afterwards. People were grilling him left and right and he handled it all very well. One dude said "my friend told me to ask you to please stop making movies!" He was also asked where does he fit in the heirarchy of directors and basically answered that he dont care he's just doing what he likes. He did mention Tunnel Rats and Stoic a lot so I think even he realizes that this is probably a new era for the director which im looking forward to. Final Rating: 6/10

Fantastic Fest Day One
Wow what a fucking day one. I was ecstatic to find out I was able to pick all 4 movies I wanted to see. I was pretty skeptical of the new ticket system but everything seems to be good so far. Without further ado here are my reviews.

First Squad
I cant believe I started off the day with this piece of shit. I was hoping this wasnt a sign for how the rest of the day was going to be and luckily it wasnt. This was an anime that was a co production between a Russian and Japanese company. The movie is a supernatural World War 2 story that is based around some actual historical facts. Its basically about this psychic girl thats part of a secret Russisan paranormal team called the First Squad. She is the only remaining survivor and she has to help thwart a German plot to raise some medieval General and super soldier from the dead to destroy the Russian front. Sounds interesting but its handled piss poor. Their is very little action and what little bit it shows is very uninspired. The animation was average at best. The only cool things about the movie was it had actual interviews with real people throughout the movie trying to give it a different feel but the problem is that it had way too many snippets of that. Also the soundtrack by DJ Krush was pretty cool. Overall it was a snoozefest. Final Rating 3/10

Merantau
Holy shit where the fuck did this movie come from? Oh yeah Indonesia. This movie kicked me square. Im just now taking the ice pack off my junk. Not even sure where to start with this movie. The best single description I can think of is the movie is like if Tony Jaa actually starred in a professionally made movie. Ive watched hundreds of martial arts movies in my life and I can attest that this is some of the best martial arts cinematography that ive ever seen. It has the perfect balance of far away shots and the more modern western technique of handheld "shaky" cam. Also he does a sweeping and low shots that all work to perfection. The story is nothing unique but it doesnt really have to be. Its basically about this dude named Yuda that goes to the big city to find his place in life. When he arrives he helps an innocent lady and gets tangled up with some bad guys. The main "baddie" is a stereotypical crime boss white guy. But the movie is filmed so professionally and well acted you can help but to go with the flow. It comes close to being too melodramatic but never really crossed the line for me. The martial arts itself is an Indonesian style called Silat that works well on camera. While Tony Jaa may be the current king of screen martial arts this dude Iko Uwais is not far behind. He may even have a leg up in the acting department. When they introduced the movie they said that he was just a truck driver and this was his first acting role of any kind. Im looking forward to more from this dude for sure. Also the musical score and soundtrack kicked ass. The only minor complaint I had was with some of the wirework in a few scenes didnt work. Still I highly recommend this movie and look forward to more work from Iko and director Gareth Evans who also did an awesome job. Final rating: 9/10

Macabre
I was intrigued by the concept of this movie. An Indonesian slasher/torture horror movie by two guys that call themselves the Mo Brothers. I know American torture horror is played out for the most part but I still enjoy watching foreign takes on the genre. The movie is pretty simple. A group of 6 friends pick up a stranded girl and take her home to her house out in the countryside. When they arrive her mother convinces them to stay and eat a gratitude meal she's prepared for them with her two twisted sons. Pretty soon after the meal the bloodshed begins. And I mean blood....more blood...and even more blood. The first 2/3rds of the movie was average but the blood hits the fan in the last act. There are a few torture moments that really worked but there was also a lot of slasher elements with chases in the woods and around a dark house. There is also a slight supernatural element that really worked for me.Overall I had a fun time. It you enjoy something different but still familiar such as Frontieres then you would probaly dig this movie. Final Rating: 7/10

Rec 2
I absolutely loved the first Rec. Its easily in my top 10 horror movies this decade. Even though the same directors were back I was worried that it would feel rushed or just thrown together. I can say it was pretty much what I was hoping it would be. The movie takes place immediately after the events of the first movie. There is a group of soldiers along with a Dr. that go to the building to check it out. Its really hard to talk about the movie without spoiling some of the twists. Lets just say there is more to the Dr. than what he says there is and there is another element added to the mix that at least made it interesting. Im not sure if I totally buy into it but I commend them for doing something different. What it still succeeds at doing is conveying the claustraphobic feeling with this crazy people. There are now little kids and other infected people that are still fast and brutal as ever. Also some of the kills are crazy fun. To sum it up its not quite as good as the first but still a solid sequel. Final Rating: 8/10

Fantastic Fest Q&A
Fantastic Fest wrapped up last week and im still pissed I didnt get to go. It sounded like it was a lot better festival than the past few years. Heres a final Q and A wrap up from my buddy Jeremy at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/
Q: I see you rated Martyrs, Let The Right One In, Not Quite Hollywood and Ex Drummer a 9 out of 10. Putting you on the spot which one of those would you say was your favorite movie of the festival?
a: Tough, but I'd have to say Martyrs, because it's the only one that is a pure, balls-to-the-wall horror film.

Q: Is there any movie at the Fest, you thought could be commercially successful if marketed right?
a: Other than JCVD, which I didn't see, the only film I think could possibly have commercial success is Martyrs, and that is if it starts generating an Exorcist-type buzz, where the media is talking about the controversial aspects of the film and people getting sick in the movie theaters.

Q: There is already an American remake of Let The Right One In being greenlit. Is there any other movie that you saw there that you thought could be good or even better with a remake?
a: The Chaser could be that film. I can definitely see a Ridley Scott or a David Fincher-type production set in a unique American city.

Q: I noticed you rated The Burrowers 5/10, which is quite lower than a lot of the reviews Ive seen. What was it about that movie that didnt click with you?
a: Well, I think the good reviews came from those who accepted it as a slow, serious, and thoughtful film, where they felt good about getting that the white settlers were the monsters. But, if a movie has long, drawn-out scenes in the third act that have no tension, I start thinking the movie is seriously flawed. But I also didn't like the monsters or lead actor much.

Q: From what you remember which movies had some great scores?
a: Ex-Drummer had an all-around good soundtrack with a alot of variety. Most of the films I rated high were effective because the score was unobtrusive, perfectly complimenting the movies. I geuss there were no John Williams, Philip Glass, or Dark Knight type scores.

Q: Were you able to meet or see any famous actors or directors?
I'm pretty chicken-shit (or respectful), but not really. I got to ask a question to Brian Tranchard-Smith who's made like 40 movies, and also I met some people that work in or around the industry.

Q: What movie do you wish you would have seen but didnt get a chance to?
a: Easy, according to what I read and heard, that's JCVD, Just Another Love Story, and Cargo 200. Maybe next year I'll have to consider going for 8 straight days, but damn, four full days of 18 movies was challenging. I'm not eating at Alamo for a couple of months.

Fantastic Fest Reviews
Within the week Ill have my reviews of The Chaser, Jack Brooks Monster Slayer, Cargo 200, Dark Floors, Fighter and Muay Thai Chaiya. Im bummed I didnt get a pass for this year's festival but I am fortunate enough to be able to see 11 of the features that were there. I wanted so bad to be able to see Martyrs and Let the Right One In.

Some more reviews courtesy of Jeremy at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/
I actually saw four movies on the last day of Fantastic Fest, but can’t recommend Gachi Boy: Wrestling with a Memory or The Wild Man of the Navidad. I also showed up hours early, hoping to get into the secret screenings of RocknRolla and City of Embers, but there were guys who actually spent the night outside on the sidewalk and were unable to get in. Now for the two worth talking about:
Martyrs - The French’s latest and greatest sick-out. This incredibly is better and gorier than last year’s Inside. The word intense cannot begin to describe this movie. At one point in the second half, “wtf?”s were jumping from the mouths from the audience around me. And then we got the answer to our question — in what is perhaps the most high-concept moment I can remember in any horror film. This left me utterly numb. Warning, be careful you can handle this movie before going. Rating: 9/10
Not Quite Hollywood - This film rocked!! Unless you’re Quentin Tarantino you probably don’t know about the Australian genre films of the seventies and early eighties except for Mad Max maybe. This documentary chronicles twenty to thirty of those movies that were truly fantastic. You get to see most of the cool parts of the movies, while hearing some hilarious stories by the people who were involved with them. It’s like a film festival in two hours with Quentin Tarantino hosting. Certainly the most fun I had at Fantastic Fest, and I’ll be seeking some of these gems out when I get the chance. Rating: 9/10
Hope you enjoyed the reviews! I’ll continue to unearth the films you should know about.

Fantastic Fest Reviews
Heres some more reviews from Jeremy at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/
I personally cant wait to see Let The Right One In

Vampires, aliens, monsters, and RPGs on Day three of Fantastic Fest. The earlier secret screening was Appaloosa, and I swear I’m going two hours early tomorrow to try to get into the last two secret screenings. So my fave of the day:
Let The Right One In - If Gus Van Sant at his best made a touching and sweet vampire movie in Sweden that was almost three hours long, then you would be close to imagining what this film is like. The more I think about this coming-of-age story, the more I like it. It just captures the innocence of youth in such a unique way that you can hardly believe it is also masquerading as a horror film. Initally I thought it was too slow, but, yeah, I really want to see some of this again. Rating: 9/10

Alien Raiders - Here’s a workmanlike alien action movie set in a supermarket that gets great performances from the actors and stays entertaining throughout. Unfortunately, people with flashlights searching dark corridors got old on the umpteenth time, and there’s really no need for it here. The ending is predictable too, but it’s clever enough to be the only real solution. Recommended. Rating: 7.5/10

Astropia - This Iceland film about the ‘geek’ community may not be as cool as the picture above suggests (girl with the swords), but it is certainly a crowd pleaser. Pretty incredible that it was number one at Iceland’s box office, because it seems VERY low-budget. The lead actress, Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir (yep, shown above), has star potential, and carries this production on her back to the promised land. Or is it the Enchanted Swamp?. Rating: 6/10

The Burrowers - For every interesting development in this movie, there is something equally banal. You have to applaud its ambitious cross of the horror and western genres. But then, I’m not sure the monsters are all that scary in this, maybe gross, but scary? I can see this one improving if they somehow found a way to improve the pacing of the movie in the second half. It just dies in parts it should be cookin’. Also, it makes you wonder who the real monsters are/were. Rating: 5/10

Fantastic Fest Reviews
Some more reviews from Jeremy at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/
Day 2 for me at Fantastic Fest and I’m wiped-out again, so please excuse if my writing is wonky here in the wee hours of the morning. I was unable to get into the secret screening of The Brothers Bloom, but heard mixed reactions about it. I’ll start with my faves and work down:
The Good The Bad and The Weird
THE Asian action-comedy-western to see this year, this ballet of bullets and laughs is the perfect movie to show at Alamo Drafthouse. Ji-woon Kim directs this masterfully, and proves that his A Tale of Two Sisters (a film I adore) was no fluke. Song Kang Ho, also in The Host, has the charm of John Wayne, and is becoming a great comedic actor. Good. times. Rating: 8.5/10

Estomago: A Gastronomic Story
This is the gorgonzola of culinary movies, being too adventurous and risque to win over mainstream audiences like Eat Drink Man Woman or Like Water for Chocolate did. But if you like dark-humor off the beaten path, and especially if you like to cook, then keep an eye out for this. It certainly captures the flavors of Brazil, some which most wouldn’t care to taste. Audience members ordering the set menu were treated to fried ants and pork butt if that gives you any idea. Rating: 7.5/10

The Chaser
This movie is sure to ignite discussion that could genereate hype akin to Oldboy. It is essentially a crime/serial killer movie, but very unconventional. Without giving away any spoilers, the tension really gets to excruciating levels towards the end of this movie, mainly because EVERYBODY is seemingly inept at their task. I really wanted to strangle some of these characters. And as the movie reaches for its conclusion, I was ready to throw my seat at anybody associated with it. But you’ll have to watch it for yourself to see if I got the chance. Rating: 7/10

Left Bank
Very S-L-O-W. Nothing much happens in this movie until almost an hour and a half into it. The story recalls aspects of The Wicker Man and Rosemary’s Baby. Yes, the cinematography IS beautiful, and sporadic nudity keeps me awake, but get to it already! Once it ‘got there’, it was really interesting, even unpredictable. Wait for the DVD, so you can manually ‘get there’ faster, perhaps slowing down for the love scenes. Rating: 5/10

Fantastic Fest Reviews
Courtesy from my buddy Jeremy at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/
14 straight hours at the Alamo Drafthouse after my first day, and I’m back to spread the word. I’ll start with my favorites and work down.

Ex-Drummer - If this movie was in English, and had all the X-rated parts cut out, it would be a sensation on par with Memento or Trainspotting. It’s a primal thrash of a movie that takes the punk aesthetic to new levels, while remaining as complex as a Bergman film. The director Mortier looks like he could be the next cinematic visionary from Europe. Sordid characters: check. Offensive in every way possible: check. Excellent soundtrack: check. Can’t wait to see it again: checkmate. Rating: 9/10

The Substitute - Elementary school-age kids in Denmark suspect their new teacher is an alien. Here’s the entertaining little Danish brother of The Faculty, but with a flawless presentation, and a hell of a lot funnier. Ending had potential to be much better, so Goonies is safe for now. Rating: 8/10

Deadgirl - I’m not sure how this picked up a most-likely to-get-distribution award when it is about zombiephilia, which is essentially necrophilia. Well, maybe because it very a well-done and clever movie, with a great cast and soundtrack. Shiloh Fernandez in the lead role looks like a cross between Brando and Depp, and has the chemistry to go with it. A daring, lurid movie that feminists could sink their teeth into. Rating: 7/10

Sauna - Heres a Finnish horror movie with plenty of atmospherics and great photography that is edited in a very challenging manner. It is difficult enough to quickly apprehend the complex political and religious history of Finland that the movie revolves around. There are some great scenes here, but they are surrounded by either plot holes or moments lost in translation. Rating: 6/10

Fantastic Fest Online Movie Reviews
I was able to get in 4 of the 5 full length movies they had streaming that are now playing at this years festival. Here they are from worst to best.
South Of Heaven
This is definitely a case of style over substance. The cinematography was good, the set designs awesome and it had a cool weird feel, but too bad it had a one note plot that wore thin fast. If you like quirky characters that torture people by cutting off fingers, burning their face, rape, and other beatings then this may be for you. For the average person I do not recommend.

Rule of Three
This was a decent little indie drama that kept my interest throughout. Its a story about two different sets of characters that are tied together by an event. The final reveal of the movie was kinda cool and overall made it worth it. Worth checking out.

I Think We're Alone Now
Wow what a cool documentary. Its about two separate stories of stalker fans of the 80's pop star Tiffany. I mean these folks are straight up nutcases. One of the stalkers is this loser in his 50's that has Asperger's Syndrome and the other one is a hermaphrodite-in-transition. Very interesting and entertaining. Its amazing how out of touch to reality some people are. Very bizarre but very good. Definitely check it out when released later on dvd.

Dr. Infierno
Holy shit I havent had this much fun watching a whacked out movie in awhile. I dont want to give away too much but this movie has giant robots, a dude that goes from normal to giant at a blink of an eye, a person that is woman on top and the body of a man on bottom, and people that have super human strength and ability from a secret serum that brings them back from the dead. Its about a crazy scientist thats intent on ruling the world while finding a cure for cancer and creating other freak shows from his experiments. Whacky dialogue, crazy fight designs and just fucking fun. Please Lord let there be a sequel! Highly recommended!

Fantastic Fest Online
Only a few more days to watch 5 full lenth and 5 short films streamed online for the Fantastic Fest in Austin. I havent watched any yet so I'll be busy with that in the next few days. All you have to do is sign up and then you can watch them in any order you like. Heres the place to sign up at. http://2008.fantasticfest.com/sites/fantasticfest/online/ I didnt get a pass to this years Fantastic Fest but I am going to be able to watch 5 of the movies. So look for reviews for those, and also my buddy Jeremy over at http://feedbackloop.wordpress.com/ does have a pass and he will have reviews set up over at his site.

Fantastic Fest Wrap Up
Now the festival is over and ive had a quite enjoyable time watching the movies but the festival is far from perfect. There are still way too many imminent releases on dvd within the next few months for several of the movies. The secret screenings for the most part were not very good especially when compared to last year when they had Mel Gibson and Apocalypto and Del Toro and Pans Labyrinth. I do also regret not being able to see Time Crimes, Kiltro and Mirage Man. Instead of rating each one Ill put the movies into a few different categories.

Great (Definitely check these out asap)
Inside
Son Of Rambow
Princess
Spiral

Very Good (Recommended but lacked something to put it over the top)
Taxidermia
Flight of the Living Dead
The Last Winter
Cold Hour
Exte

Ok (Worth watching if you are a fan of the genre)
Flash Point
Hells Ground
Wrong Turn 2
The Ferryman
End Of The Line
Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door

Horrible (Stay away at all costs)
The Beautiful Beast
Hells Fever
The Entrance

Favorite Movie
Spiral (Something about this movie I really enjoyed)
Any of the other 3 Great movies I could have easily picked to be the favorite. Its to each his own taste at this point.


Worst Movie
The Beautiful Beast
In a landslide this was easily the worst movie ive seen in years.


Favorite Actor
Joel David Moore (Spiral) tie
Ron Perlman (The Last Winter) tie
Daniel Manche (Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door) 2nd

Favorite Kill
The mother stabbed in neck with pencil (Inside)

Most unique movie (Luckily in a good way)
Taxidermia 1st
The Last Winter 2nd
Princess 3rd


Hottest Chick
Kristen Kerr (Flight of the Living Dead)

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.

Fantastic Fest Day 7
Once again I was disappointed that one of my most anticipated movies to watch at the festival Wolfhound was once again canceled. But alas one of the highest praised movies I heard by word of mouth was playing today: The Beautiful Beast. 110 minutes later I was in awe and shock by what I just saw.
The Beautiful Beast aka La Belle Bete
Have you ever thought that you would rather get kicked in the balls or be subjected to eating your own creampie before watching a particular movie again? Well thats exactly how i felt after watching this piece of shit! How do i even start to rip this a new one? Do i start at the stupid boring plot that makes no sense at all? How about the boring cinematography and slow pacing. How about the nonsensical actions all the characters took throughout the whole movie. How about even if all that did make sense the movie was so damn boring and the characters so retarded you wouldn't give a damn anyways!
As best as I could make out the movie is about a dysfunctional family where the son is a social defunct misfit who cant do anything without being around his mother. The daughter is a conniving little weirdo who giggles and smiles all day for no damn reason. The mother is a widow that needs to be around her son to comfort him and to comfort herself.
The worst thing about this movie is all the questions that are unanswered. Is the mother and son screwing? If they are is every just once in a while or every night? Is the daughter jealous of her brothers attention? Does the daughter even miss the dead father? Does the boy have some kind of mental problem? What makes the daughter finally flip out on several occasions? How come 10 years pass by and the kids dont look any different than the beginning of the movie? Dont get me wrong im not all for dumbing down a moving and explaining everything single thing to the viewer. Im not like that at all but you do have to at least infer what happened or have your characters do realistic type behavior instead of "hey lets do the weirdest thing possible and the audience will buy into it"! I know this is based on a book so I dont know if its crappy writing in the book or the director totally changed the tone of it, I just know its boring as hell even if it all did make sense. There are no interesting shots, no fun or entertaining dialogue, theres not even any female nudity!
Im still pissed off just writing this review. Just heed my warning and stay as far away from this turd as possible. I would have walked out this movie half way through if i wasnt compelled to stay because I thought there would be no way the movie could suck this way all the way through. There has to be a killer ending or something to redeem it. But nope the 3rd act is just as bad as the first two. The only positive I can even think of in the movie is the soundtrack. Thats it, even giving that credit this has to rank up there with being in the top 2 or 3 worst movie theater experiences in my life.

Your time would be much better spent looking at this for 110 min instead

Fantastic Fest Day 6
On day 6 I didnt really have much of a choice on what to watch. Ive already seen The Last Winter, Hell's Fever, The Girl Next Door, Flash Point, Spiral, The Cold Hour and Exte. So my only choice was the crazy Pakistani horror movie called Hell's Ground.

Hell's Ground aka Zibahkhana
Now this is the type of movie I was looking for more of a Fantastic Fest. A low budget fun movie that I might never get a chance to see again in a theater setting. Most of these will be out on dvd shortly which im sure its perfectly fine to see i there but this is a kind of movie that performs better with a crowd.
Now ill be honest this movie is not good in a traditional sense. The plot is convoluted, the third act drags a little and the acting is not very good. But the movie is so different and crazy it makes up for anything it lacks. Ive never seen any type of Pakistan or Indian movie for that instance so it was interesting to see some of the different cultural type of things and the different locations. Im sure that most Paki's (is that derogatory?) would say these kids arent the typical kids in Pakistan but I didnt care. It was nice to see some f*&kup's from other countries besides just Americans and British. The plot is basically about a group of 5 kids with different backgrounds and religions for that matter that get lie to their parents, get in a van and make a road trip to see a rock concert. They never played the music of the band they were going to see cuz it would have been interesting to see what they consider rock. Anyways there are a couple of stoner kids, a rebel, a Catholic girl, and a quiet "good" boy. One thing that was very strange is the movie was half English half Punjabi ?. The kids went back and forth from each language which made for a few times of unintentional laughs. One kid in particular only talked English except for one sentence in the whole movie. Getting back to the plot, the movie starts with news reports about this village that has diseased water that is making the people sick. So the second crazy encounter the kids come up on is a group of villagers (midget included) who are sick and zombie like that come and attack the van. There is a funny scene of the zombie midget who climbs in then gets tossed out the door by one of the kids. After the first 30 minutes of the movie the zombie plot gets thrown out the window and the rest of the movie becomes a survival horror slasher pic. Its like they knew the budget was limited and decided to go a different route with the movie. Most movies this would have been a death sentence but for some odd reason it fit perfect with the tone of the movie.
The rest of the movie is pretty much an homage to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They pick up a crazy hitchhiker then later they run out in the woods to a house where there is a burka wearing crazy killer that chases them with a huge ball and chain mace! One of the girls even pull a Haute Tension and use a barbed wire stick to attack the killer.
Overall the movie was a blast to watch and it worked because it was so odd. It wasn't close to being my favorite yet but I did have a good time watching it. If you are tired of the same ol crap and want to see something different then i recommend checking this out when its released later from Mondo Macabro.

Fantastic Fest Day 5
Nope sorry I didnt get to go watch any movies today. It was all about work, Monday Night Football then the release of Halo 3. I loved watching my Titans spank the Saints on Monday night. Ill be honest though the Titans are a good team and much improved from last year but this was more about how bad the Saints were. They look horrific on both sides of the ball. They have to be the worst team ive witnessed so far this year. They have too much talent to stay down but its not looking good for their playoff chances. Its only 3 games in so im not taking too much stock into whats happened so far in the Nfl. I was laughing when I saw all the people lined up around the block to play Halo 3. Some of them probably waited for hours. I walked in at midnight at Walmart, waited 15 minutes, picked up the game, then went home. I only played about an hour through the campaign and about 2 hours of multiplayer but the game is friggin amazing. Check out this video review for yourself.

Need a good reason to start playing Halo?

Fantastic Fest Day 4
Another day and another movie down for the festival. There were two secret screenings I couldn't get into and two more movies I'm glad I didn't get picked to see. Today is about one movie and only one movie I had to see. The Son of Rambow. The buzz on the movie was pretty positive so i was pretty stoked to see it. It not only lived up to my expectations but it exceeded them.
This is a quirky children's comedy thats hard to describe. My best description would be like if you threw in Napoleon Dynamite mixed with some Nacho Libre and a dash of the commercial appeal of a School of Rock and add some British kids then this is what you would get. I was so tired of supernatural horror movies so far I was looking for something different. This movie had it in spades.
The movie in a nutshell is about two kids that make a bond by making a home movie. One juvenile delinquent kid who starts off annoying but quickly grows on you befriends a do gooder homely kid that is part of an Amish/strict Pentecostal type of religion called the Brethren. The boy is not allowed to watch any tv even for educational purposes in school. One day the bad kid (sorry i cant remember ether's names) takes advantage of the good kid and takes him home to hang out. Once hes there the good kid watches Rambo: First Blood which in turn changes his life. The boy starts daydreaming about being the Son of Rambow and has a cool little fantasy about fighting a scarecrow in a field in order to save his dad, Rambo. This was a creative little montage that had the audience cheering when it was over. The boy pitches his idea to the bad kid and they decide to make a movie about it. The rest of the movie is about the boys making their Son of Rambow movie and dealing with their parents and the relationships they are forming with each other. There is also a flying dog that's used as a prop in a hilarious scene of the movie. While this is going on there are some French foreign exchange students that come to the school and a group of kids start to follow one cool French kid. All the girls swoon over him and he takes turns kissing them in another one of the cool scenes of the movie. The movie is hard to describe but definitely worth checking out. It does slack a little bit during the third act but the finale ties it up nicely.
It is a quirky cool little children's comedy which I was greatly looking forward to. If marketed right I believe this movie can make a little cash when its released sometime in '08. This is one of those movies that might not get much attention in the short run but will probably stand the test of time and be known as a children's classic. I definitely recommend checking it out when it comes out sometime next year. I still prefer Spiral so far but its probably my second favorite movie of the festival so far. Surprise surprise its probably the only movie at the festival that's also kid friendly.

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.

Fantastic Fest Day 2

Today I only had a chance to see two movies since ive already seen and reviewed both Flight of the Living Dead and Wrong Turn 2. Well i saw my favorite movie so far and my least favorite of the fest also.

The Entrance
The full name of the movie should have been The Entrance to Boredom. This movie just plain sucked. It was suppose to be a cool movie about a demon who possess people and plays games with them but it ended up being about some random people you dont give a damn about walking from room to room without really doing anything. Ive seen at least 10 straight to dvd horror movies this year that ive liked better. Very disappointing.


Spiral
I would looking forward to this but had some reservations on how it would turn out. This was co-directed by Adam Green (Hatchet) and by Joel David Moore who also stars in the leading role. I knew it wasnt a straight up horror movie but it was described as more of a thriller. I would describe it as a romance/drama/black thriller. The movie is very slow paced but it also flowed perfectly.
The story is basically about a weird loner painter who works at an insurance company in the day and at night has delusions and panic attacks about a women he once was in love with? The only friend he has is his womanizing playa boss at work that has been a long time friend since at least school days. That is until he meets the new girl at work played by Amber Tamblyn. Their friendship turns eventually into a relationship once she starts to break away his barriers as he opens up to her. The movie does a great job of revealing some of Joel's past and his issues with his father without ever coming out and saying it. Things start to go awry once Amber finds sketch books of other past women that Joel has sketched with the same exact poses as she does for him. The cinemotography was excellent and the jazz soundtrack fit perfectly within the mood and tone of the movie. I dont want to give anything away but there is an excellent double twist ending that had me smiling. Before the second twist I was about ready to say the movie was a failure because it first led you believe it was an ending done a million times already but once the final reveal was shown it totally redeemed itself. I really liked the movie even though i dont think it will appeal to that big of an audience. Adam and Joel did an interesting Q and A session afterwards that help explain a little bit more about the movie. I really liked this movie and it is so far my favorite. Definitely check this out whenever you get a chance.

Look closely at this pic of Amber for a pointy surprise