I did go Friday night. Saturday, I fully planned on seeing Inferno and I actually made it to the theater. Beforehand I met up with a friend for drinks. We got to talking and I lost track of time. So by the time I made it to the theater it was about 10 minutes until showtime. There were a handful of people still outside the doors waiting to get in, but they announced that all seats were sold and that there was standing room only. I totally wussed out. I had to get up early for work the next day. I had already seen Inferno on film before, plus about 5 or 6 times on video. I really wanted to win the contest by seeing the most Video Nasties in the series, but I am out of town for a week in October, so I am pretty much out of the running anyway. Soooo, rather than stand or sit on the floor for 2 hours, I decided to bail and get rest before my shoot the next day. Please forgive me.
FRIDAY
So Friday I did see a movie, Evilspeak with Clint Howard, brother of Ron Howard. The print was in pretty solid condition. There were many more people there Friday. The theater was nearly full, so I should have known that the next day's film, Inferno would sell out. Oh well.
Evilspeak is by no means a serious film, but it's certainly not a comedy. You wouldn't know the audience was watching a horror film if you just heard the audience response. I mean, I sometimes laugh during some of these Video Nasties. Hell of the Living Dead was a hoot. Night Warning and The Witch both had some pretty outrageous moments that I couldn't help but laugh at. Evilspeak however was not really that funny so the crowd laughter was puzzling. I mean, there are a few moments that I can understand people laughing at, but laughing during a sequence of a character walking down a dark corridor, not sure what's funny about that. Maybe they thought the set was funny. Maybe they thought the way he was walking was funny. Maybe the music was funny. Not sure…..
Now, if you know me, you know that I am very sensitive about matters like this. I respect the filmmakers and always give the benefit of doubt to the film. I never make fun of a film MST3k style. I don't put myself above the film and I don't try to ruin other peoples experience. OK, maybe now and again I have leaned over and made a small comment to someone I am with. The crowd is pretty good at the Cinefamily. The normal Cinefamily crowd will usually "Shush" anyone who gets overly talkative. The laughter though is something you can't really "Shush". I mean people can't help if they laugh…but it always puzzles me what the audience laughs at.
OK, here is an example. The trailer of Inferno has a sequence where a posse of cats attack a women. It's pretty darn obvious that there are about 2 or 3 cat wranglers off screen just tossing cats at this women. I love the movie, but this scene is pretty ridiculous. I can totally see why someone would laugh during that. Rewind to moments earlier in the trailer to a shot when a pair of creature-like hands with long nails grab someones face and people also thought this was a hoot. Its not a bad effect in my opinion, but the audience laughed. Hell, they practically laughed through the whole trailer. I kept wondering what was so funny about that moment in the trailer. Why laugh there. I know it's not nervous laughter. Is it just that its a practical make up effect and people find it dated.
When you see a film, you need to give yourself over to the film. You need to give the film the benefit of the doubt. You often have to put yourself in the context of the film. I mean, do you laugh at the makeup fx in Frankenstein. No, you watch it with the realization that the film was made 81 years ago and adjust your expectations and mind-set. Part of me thinks that people mostly don't do that. Maybe they are watching films always from the perspective of now. So any make up or any fx or any style choice that seems different than current cinema is funny. Who knows….
SUNDAY
Finally convinced my buddy to check out one of the Nasties. I didn't recommend Evilspeak as its fun, but not a great movie. Inferno is great, but an odd film to introduce yourself to Argento's canon and my friend had never seen an Argento film before, so I recommended Dead and Buried. It's a solid film with some genuine creepy moments. It's nothing too gory like Hell of the Living Dead. It's not bizarre like The Witch. In fact, I'm not sure why the hell this film got banned. England censors are obviously pretty sensitive. It feels like it's inspired by Twighlight Zone. Written by the great, Dan O'bannon of Aliens fame with creature fx by Stan Winston and directed by Gary Sherman (Raw Meat, Poltergeist III).
The print was red. Very, very red. The most red of all the red films we have seen. Really, it couldn't be more red. It was like horror dipped in a marinara sauce. Sometimes time is not kind to film prints. This is one of those.
Whatever you do, don't watch the trailer for Dead and Buried. It shows the entire film only saving the last twist. Its one of those trailers.
The puppetry work by Stan Winston is absolutely incredible. There is a scene mid-point SPOILER SPOILER
There is a scene mid-point in the film where a man in a body cast lies helpless in bed as a nurse injects a needle into his eye. OUCH! Obviously the needle going into the eye is an effect, but what I didn't realize until listening to the DVD commentary was that the whole time the man in the bed is a puppet.It's the most lifelike eye puppetry I have ever seen. I seriously thought it was a person until the close up of the needle piercing the eye. Stan is the man!
Well that's it for now. Tonight I am seeing Visiting Hours. Just one film.
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