Day 17 - 26

Wow, so many days off. My brother has been visiting from out of town and much fun was had. Went to Napa Valley and drank our way through several wineries, ate lots of good food, walked the Golden Gate bridge, drank with Giant's fans at Peet's bar across from AT&T park and watched them clinch the Championship, partied with the animals at the San Diego zoo. It's been fun, but only saw one movie, Looper, which I had seen before. Time for some more nasty stuff.

I actually saw 4 films before I took my hiatus. I will catch up here quickly, otherwise I will never get caught up in writing.

DAY 17

Thale

The last film that I saw at Screamfest this year was Thale, a Norwegian horror film about a tailed creature known as a Huldra. Our two heroes find her in a basement they are hired to clean out. Overall, I found the film to be pretty mediocre. It's not that anything is wrong with it. The film just kinda exists. It's the kinda film that you may watch if you run across it on cable, but not something you should or would seek out to watch in a theater.

I think I missed the good ones at Screamfest this year. American Mary and The Factory were the two films I missed that had potential. I'll have to catch up with them upon release. I suspect American Mary would have been THAT Screamfest film. The film that stands out. Nothing I saw this year really stood out. Last year standouts were Innkeepers and Some Guy Who Kills People. The year before was Black Death. The year before that was Human Centipede and House of the Devil. This year....eh....


Driller Killer

I'd never seen this before, but have known about it for years. I like Abel Ferrara's other work, so it was nice to catch up with this. He directs and acts, in fact he's the lead character. He actually gives a really good performance. Love the band in the movie. This is a very New York, very punk/NewWave film, very 42nd street. The cast seem like authentic New Yorkers, even the homeless seem like authentic NY homeless.






DAY 18

Guilty of Romance

I loved Suicide Club, the first film I saw from Sion Sono. Since then I thought Hair Extension was just OK and Cold Fish and Guilty of Romance were not my cup of tea. Cold Fish I got frustrated with the main character and his spineless behavior. Guilty of Romance the lead character was also frustrating to watch as she continually gets in deeper with pimps and prostitutes. Don't listen to me though. People are crazy about his films.






Mardi Gras Massacre

I hate the term "So bad it's good". I hate it because if the movie is fun, then its good, right. Never, ever put yourself above the movie. I think a lot of people like to watch "bad" films so they can make fun of them and laugh at them. If a movie is bad I don't want to watch it. You can laugh at a film, but never put yourself above it.

Without a doubt I think people will generally consider this a bad film, but man is it interesting and charming in it's own neon blood-soaked way. It was made by Jack Weis who simply wanted to remake Blood Feast, the Hershal Gordon Lewis film. He gathered up a bunch of locals and set off to make the movie. The actors are all amateur but not without their own quirkiness. Some of the dialogue is pretty outrageous and yes, I did laugh at it. See this film, but ONLY SEE IT WITH A CROWD. It was a lot of fun.


DAY 19 -24
This was my hiatus.

DAY 25
Nightmares In A Damaged Brain

I had seen this before and it was the closest I have ever come to a grindhouse experience. It was on a triple bill with Pieces and Don't Go In The House. The theater was the theater on Vine in Hollywood. A run down 2nd run theater that occasionally would show something off the wall and out of the ordinary. It was dark, the seats were filthy, in fact later an acquaintance said they were there that night too and they had to move from their original seats because one of them was wet. It's the kinda place you might find a homeless person passing time watching movies. Anyway, the last film was Nightmares and mid-way into the film a guy in a leather gimp suit complete with mask sits down in front of us. He's all by himself. Nobody joins him. He doesn't take the mask off. He watches the rest of the movie mask on. When the film lets out at like 3 or so in the morning, my buddy and I nervously walk through Hollywood to our car. This was back when Hollywood was more run down and dirty than it is now, so we were a little uneasy.

That's the kinda film this is. Of course someone in a gimp mask who is a massocist would want to watch this film. Of course it would play in this shitty dirtbag theater. I actually like the film a lot. Maybe it's because of my first experience watching it.

DAY 26
Faces of Death

I avoided this film my whole life. Had no interest in seeing it. It's a documentary on death that uses real footage of death. Some are real and some are faked.  It was legendary amongst high school kids.  Kids sought it out knowing it was banned in 46 countries. It was taboo. It was like a badge of honor, "You saw faces of death!"

I have never been a fan of films that just want to show you disgusting images with nothing else behind them. I know...it's all a matter of opinion. I like Hostel which a lot of people accuse that film of being just that. This film however has no plot. It's just death after death. Meant to disturb you, disgust you, and freak you out. Well, if I was ever going to see this legendary cult film this was the venue to see it, so I went and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be.

One of the interesting draws for this screening was the director was there to introduce the film. John Swartz had long stringy hair and a stooped posture. He reminded me of a hippy stoner. He even spoke in that slow stoner tone like he wasn't necessarily rushed to get his sentences out. He even had a bizarre dark and dry sense of humor. He jokes, (paraphrased) "Famous Murderers wanted to meet me. Dahmer wanted to meet me and invited me to dinner, but I was nervous that I would be late and he would give me the cold shoulder." Ouch!

According to Swartz, The film was made on Japanese money. Some Japanese funders commissioned him to make a film about death. For Influence he drew upon the film Hellstrom Chronicle, a mockumentary film made in 1971. Up until this film he had worked as an editor on the series "In Search of..."

The most interesting question for him was, "What was real that everyone thought was fake and what was fake that everyone thought was real." The answer --- The monkey scene was faked and the morgue scenes were all real. They filmed 7 autopsies at once. He said "the place smelled like a bad deli."

He said he is still actually haunted by the images he put on the screen. Today he and his wife review films on their website twojewsonfilm.com. The tag line: Tearing Apart Their Marriage One Film At A Time.

Day 16: Resolution and The Toolbox Murders

Another Day of Screamfest and Cinefamily. I seriously see the same people every day. It's like we are this dysfunctional family. Again, sorry to be so brief, just need to catch up.

Resolution

A screamfest premiere. The filmmakers were there to introduce the film, though I didn't have time to stay for the post Q&A. They were incredibly energetic. They invited everyone over to the Figuerroa Hotel bar for drinks and more Q&A. Nice. Too bad I had to dash afterward to catch Toolbox Murders.

The film has a great premise. Two friends in a semi remote location on an Indian reservation. One is a crack addicted junkie who is squating in an abandoned house on the reservation. The other is his best friend and upstanding citizen who is going to hand cuff his buddy to the house pipes and force him to kick his habit. Well, some bad shit happens.

The premise is what sold me on attending. The performances proved to be good too. As I watched the film, I was absorbed and curious as to what was going to happen next. The guys keep finding old VHS tapes and old super 8 films around. Eventually they turn up on the films. Is someone taping them? What's going on....

I was glued throughout most of the film. By the end of it all, upon reflection I was a little disappointed, but the trip was a lot of fun. I don't want to spoil anything so I will keep it as that.

The Toolbox Murders

Brief....must be brief. The Toolbox Murders. Phil Blankenship, one of the Cinefamily bookers said it well, "If you like Violence, you are going to love the first 20 minutes of this film. If you like talking, you are going to love the next 60 minutes." Ha! OK, its not really that boring, I actually find all the middle stuff interesting. But yes, there is a lot of Violence to kick it off. Sorry...gotta be brief. I recommend The Toolbox Murders. You'll love Cameron Mitchell's performance.

Day 15: Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal, Excision, and Night of the Bloody Apes

Gotta keep things brief for a few days, otherwise I will never get anything written. My streak is about to come to an end as I head to San Francisco to spend time with family visitors. Life can't be all movies.  I am learning that it is difficult to write every day. I would like to get caught up before I head out of town. It's been pretty wild. I can't believe I have seen 29 films in the theater in the past 15 days. Ranging from the 1930's (Vampyr) to 2012 (The American Scream and all the Screamfest movies). Half over with. The second half will be liter as I will likely see few films the week of the 20th. Not sure if I will break the 50 count or not.

Day 15 --- 3 films. Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal and Excision at Screamfest and Night of the Bloody Apes at the Cinefamily.

Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal

A decent little comedy from North of the Border.  Sadly only about 30 or 40 people showed up, while The Collection amassed a sold-out crowd of over 300, even though Eddie was a much better film.  It's a comedy that executes the comedy in a serious manner. It's never tongue in cheek or full on goofy. It's just the situation that is funny.

Here is the situation --- Lars is an artist who has lost his inspiration and hasn't painted anything meaningful in over ten years. He's invited to guest teach at a university that is in desperate need of funding. The University is surviving on it's sole private donor who passed away and left the school to take care of the donor's mute son, Eddie.  It's in her contract agreement. Lars volunteers to watch Eddie as Eddie takes a liking to him. Eddie has a few quirk's, one of being he's a sleepwalking cannibal. Ouch! Lars gets a thrill out of all the murder and gets his inspiration back. Just a few more murders and he should be able to create his masterpiece!

Good performances. Dark humor. Good characters. Nothing overdone, just a solid little movie. Worth checking out when it gets an official release.

Excision

This film pulled out all the Indie Actor stops for casting. Traci Lords plays the religious overbearing mother. Malcolm McDowel plays a teacher. Ray Wise plays the principal and probably the most fun is John Waters as the priest. Throw in Roger Bart (Hostel 2) as the dad and AnnaLynne McCord (Haunting of Moly Hartly and Day of the Dead remake)  and you have one of the most Indie/Horror derivative casts that you could possibly have.

The film is based on the same short that played screamfest 2008. Its about a very disturbed high school girl who lives with her religious overbearing mother, distant father, and her sister who has Cystic Fibrosis. She has reoccurring bloody fantasies in her sleep. You just know it's a matter of time before she snaps.

The film has it's moments. The fantasy sequences are good. Traci Lords gives a great performance. AnnaLynne's performance seems a little forced, but I think that is more to do with the direction and script and makeup. She plays this ugly pimple faced girl with bad posture, but AnnaLynne in real life has the beauty of a model. The makeup seems forced. Pimples, clumpy hair, bushy eyebrows, intentionally bad posture. It just didn't work for me. They needed to cast someone who was more physically right for the part. You could see the real Anna behind the performance and the makeup. This was the major downfall of the film.

One of Pauline's many deranged dreams

The other issue that I had was that it didn't seem to move along at a good pace.  It felt like 2 hours and it was only 81 minutes. It was basically scene after scene of AnnaLynne's character, Pauline being unstable.  You get a scene showing her unstablity. Next scene you get another reason why Pauline is unstable. Next scene and next....so it felt a little long and felt like it would have been a better short. It may have been as I missed it when it played that year. Not a bad film, but could have been executed better. I am still interested in the directors next film. He definitely has a sense of style.

Night of the Bloody Apes

What does this film have. Well, it has Mexican Wrestling! It has women mexican wrestling! It has nudity. It has excessive gore. It has ACTUAL footage of open heart surgery and boy was that graphic. They actually remove a beating heart from the body. I felt a little feint. Most of the nudity, gore and the open heart surgery was added later once the american distributers picked up the movie.

The film was pretty bad, but the extra footage and the absurd situation made it bearable. This was part of the Video Nasties series at the Cinefamily. The series has definitely made a turn toward the depraved. It only gets more gritty from here.

Day 14: American Scream and The Possession

Today's double feature is the documentary American Scream and the Andrzej Zulawski's Possession. Not technically a double bill, but just the two films I saw that Sunday. I only wish that every Sunday could be so cool.

American Scream is by Michael Stephenson, the same director who brought you The Best Worst Movie, the documentary on the cult following of the film Troll 2. He has a way of treating subject matter with respect. He could have easily just poked fun at the subjects and the whole phenomena behind the cult following of the movie, but he doesn't. He has a way at presenting his subjects and making them endearing. Here his subject is 3 families that are obsessed with decorating for Halloween and holding their own homemade Haunted Houses. 

If you have ever been in a community play, or ever made your own homemade movie, or ever done anything like that, I think you will relate to this film. It will make you love Halloween. Hell, it's  one of the best explanations of why I like Halloween so much that I have seen. I was just never able to put it into words. This will make you yearn for it. After the film I immediately wanted to decorate for halloween. Problem this year is I am going to so many movies there just isn't enough time.

I highly recommend checking it out. I think anyone would love this film, not just horror fans, but anyone who doesn't hate Halloween.

Oh man, what can I say about Possession. I saw it for the first time about 8 months or so ago when they showed it before. My reaction when the credits rolled was, "Where have you been all my life." I fell in love with the movie. I fell in love with Isabelle Adjani's psychotic performance. I fell head over heels for Sam Neill's intense acting. I reeled over the stunning editing and direction. I think that the performances given are the bravest performances I have ever seen put to film. What an emotionally traumatic experience it must have been to have gone through this as an actor. It's not a film for everyone. It's a true art-house style movie. Your brain will hurt as you try to put all the pieces together, but perhaps, that's not the point.  The point is the feeling and emotions and impression you get from the movie. It's a movie about  divorce with some creatures that are personifications of the characters feelings. Yeah, so it's not your typical slasher or werewolf movie. How many horror films do you know about divorce! I walked away drained. Couldn't get the film out of my head. Revisiting it again months later just makes me want to see it again. Do yourself a favor and see this movie!

The relationship is not going so well.

Day 13: New Beverly All Night Horror Show

There is an art to programming 12 hour and 24 hour film events. There is an ebb and flow that needs to happen. It's like a narrative that requires peaks and valleys. You need to be taken from laughter, to thrills, to scares, and to go from drama to action, from cheesy to classy, and from low key to epic. Not only that, the path needs to be in the right order. I mean, the goal is to stay awake for the whole event. Program the wrong film at the wrong hour and you will lose your audience as they crash head on into a wall of deep slumber to never return to the land of the wake.

I'm more use to the 24 hour format. I started attending the 24 hour Columbus Ohio Science Fiction and Horror film marathons in 1992, my second year in college. Well, actually my first was a 12 hour Schlock Around The Clock event, but I quickly graduated to the 24 hour format. Anyway, I digress. While I can't brag as some that I last all 24 hours without sleeping, I usually manage to make it through only missing one film around the 4AM hour. When I tell people about these 24 hour marathons, most people look at me like I'm insane, like I just told them that I stood on one foot for 24 hours while holding a dead rat. I can see it on their faces, "Why the hell would you want to do that!" When I first heard about these events, I had quite a different reaction. My reaction was, "Oh my god, why doesn't this happen more often. A 24 hour film slumber party with a theater full of people, I'm in!" OK, slumber is the wrong word. The idea is not to sleep. You get the idea.

Columbus 24hr Shock Around The Clock Flyer

Most people envision film after film after film after film. Done right it's not like that. There's shorts, cartoons, trailers, intermission music, costume contests, scream contests, prize giveaways, special guests, Q&A's with directors and actors, premieres, film introductions, it goes much faster than you think. The 12 hour events are actually more difficult to program because they generally run from Sun Down to Sun Rise and typically don't have special guests. Also, the whole event is overnight making it harder to program slower paced material in the wee hours of the morning. In a 24 hour time frame you can play all the slower material during the day. The 24 hour events generally go from noon until noon. So you can play Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula in the afternoon and leave the Howling and Texas Chainsaw for late to keep your audience awake.

OK, I digress. I seem to be using that word a lot lately. The event at hand is the New Beverly All Night Horror Show. On Saturday from dusk to dawn the audience packed the house for an all night show of rare film treats. The purpose behind the line up of films was to schedule films that had not played in the Los Angeles area for a long time. Pumpkinhead, Hellraiser, Evildead, all have played a cagillion times. They wanted to show films which don't normally play. Films that you don't normally get to see and may not get to see again on the big screen. We're talking 35mm, not video. So who knows when these films will play again. A true rare treat indeed!

I got there about an hour in advance and there were already about 70 people in line. When I went across the street for some dinner, the cashier said that people were in line at 3pm, which was 4 1/2 hours before showtime. All in an effort to get a good seat I guess.

The event overall was a little off pace. The films didn't quite work well together as a group. Reflecting back, the lineup was full of films that were good or interesting, but flawed in someway and often slow paced. So as an overall event the films didn't play well together, but the individual films on their own were all worthy of seeing, save one, Neon Maniacs.  I know they were trying to avoid showing the more popular films, but that's what was missing. That film that is guaranteed to pick you up. I think it's needed. To book films based on the criteria of their rarity makes it hard to sit through for 12 hours straight. Having said that, I totally appreciated what they were doing and the fact that I had only seen 3 of the 6 films shown was nice. Anyway, on to the event.

This is different than a lot of the other all nighters or 24 hour events. There were no premieres, guests, or even contests. They did give away prizes and showed some trailers and shorts, but I missed the contests and other goodies between to help rejuvenate me. Nothing like a good scream contest at 2AM in the morning.

---- All times approximate ----

7:45PM Introductions

8:00PM Trailer Reel 1

* Slumber Party Massacre

* Sorority House Massacre

* House on Sorority Row

* Hell Night

* Fright Night

* Silent Scream

Love the themed trailers! It really reminds one of the grindhouse or b-movie experience. Where you would get a Sorority House Triple bill or you would go see 3 movies with "Night" in the title. Grindhouses generally ran 24/7 and the triple bills just played over and over. The trailers make me feel all warm and fuzzy for the grindhouse experience. Unfortunately I was too young and I lived in a small town, so I never truly got an authentic grindhouse movie experience.

8:15PM Strange Behavior

I actually forgot that I had seen this before. Its a good, but flawed film. The pacing is a little uneven and starts the event off on the wrong foot. The print was in solid condition. A little faded, but I think that was probably what the original film looked like. 80's film stocks were not that good.

The nearby university is conducting some rather unusual psychological experiments. Pete Brady, yes Peter Brady, volunteers because like all high school students, he needs the money. The studies conducted are on mind control. Hmmmm...could the murders in the town be connected. As the plot unfolds it all connects to Peter's past.

Good performance from the nurse played by Fiona Lewis (Fearless Vampire Killers, Dr. Phibes Rises Again).  I like Michael Murphy's (The Dad) odd low key acting in this, but at times it comes across as a little funny. Louis Fletcher (Nurse Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) also gives another good low key performance. Unfortunately, the lead boy played by Dan Shor is a little spotty.

10:15 Trailer Reel 2

* House on Haunted Hill

* 13 Ghosts

* The Haunting

* Legend of Hell House

* What's Up Tiger Lily

Wow! What's Up Tiger Lily. An odd choice to throw into the mix. I have never seen it, but now I certainly want to. The trailers for this reel all fit the spirit of the film to come, Night Monster (1942). You have to love the gimmick trailers and films of William Castle. 13 Ghosts with its ghost viewer - look through the viewer to see the ghosts on screen. Nice!

10:30PM Three Stooges Short, "If A Body Meets a Body"

This helped wake me up. Something about watching the Stooges late at night when you are feeling a little slap happy helps make them twice as funny.

10:45PM Night Monster

They always try and program an old classic 2nd. Last year they played Creature From The Black Lagoon. This year they wanted to program something that had not played in awhile to fit their theme. Night Monster with Bela Lugosi fits the bill. As far as they can tell, the last time this played in a theater in Los Angeles was 1949! The print they secured was a Universal archival print - the first print struck after the answer print. It was in absolute pristine condition. Like it had barely been ran through a projector! What a rare treat!

Unfortunately the film is shot like a play. Mostly in wide establishing shots with all the action choreographed within the frame. This makes for a very slow paced movie and started me on a downward sleepy spiral. It was great seeing Bela in a non-dracula role, but he was such a side character. I managed to stay awake, but this is where I had to start hitting the coffee. A little early for that. I usually like to wait until later for the caffein.

12:30 Trailer Reel 3

* Happy Birthday to Me

* Visiting Hours

* Funhouse

* Mothers Day

* Three On A Meathook

* Black Christmas

Oh man, I had never seen the Mother's Day trailer. That film is going on my wish list right away. Funny, Three On A Meathook just arrived from Netflix, so I'll get to catch up with that soon. It looks pretty ridiculous.

1:15PM Curtains

Another flawed, but interesting film. That seems to be the theme so far. This was the one film on the list which I hadn't even heard of. It's a very serious film about a very serious craft, Acting! Acting with a Capital "A". The plot is basically an over bearing, very serious, very snooty director invites a group of actresses to his mansion for a 2 day audition process. A masked killer begins eliminating the group one by one. Who is behind the mask?  

The beginning is great. Samantha Sherwood has stared in all the directors films. She will go through anything to get a part. For his newest film, to play the part of the mentally disturbed Audry, she plans to to commit herself to an asylum to study the role of the lead characrer.  Along with the directors help she feigns a moment of madness and has a nervous breakdown in front of some film executives. Part of their ploy is for her to feign madness and try to stab the director. The men in white show up to put her in a straight jacket and have her carried off to an asylum where she will research the part. Well, what she doesn't know is that the director plans to leave her there to rot away and plans to recast with some else. What an asshole! Regardless, she manages to escape the Asylum and find her way to the audition. She really wants that part!  Pretty cool start, but unfortunately, once we get to the mansion and the killing starts the film becomes a little less interesting.

Again the print was in really good shape. Thankfully all the films so far have been in good condition. 

3:00 Trailer Reel 4

* Hitcher

* Maniac

* Toolbox Murders

* Schizoid

* Meat Cleaver Massacre

Great titles. 

3:15PM Neon Maniacs

Oh my! This movie officially makes my worst movies of all time list. It is one of the most inept movies I have ever seen and I'm including Ed Wood films. There is no ending, no middle, no beginning, no reel plot. The characters are completely dull. The acting is awful. The script, if it even had one, is just random scribblings. The photography is bland. The effects and creatures are silly. Nothing and I mean nothing is good about this movie. 

Ah, but I know what you are thinking. Maybe it's one of those movies that are so bad it's good. Nope, get that thought out of your head. Some movies have that special something, like Hell of the Living Dead which I saw earlier this month. There are just some ridulous scenes in that movie that make your mind scramble "what were they thinking when they executed that scene?" The only thing my mind scrambled for during this film was, "Why in the hell did the make this movie?" There's no Tutu scene or no over the top gore or anything out of the ordinary to get your attention. The movie is just bad through and through. I will spare you the plot, what little there is of one.

The awesome makeup fx for Neon Maniacs...err maybe not.

5:00 Trailer Reel 5

* Eyeball

* Torso

* Cemetery Man

* ??? Missed title

* Zombie

* Bird With A Crystal Plumage

5:15Tell Tale Heart animated short

Cool little animated film. 

5:25 Psychic

OK, so far I have been awake for the whole thing. Neon Maniacs succeeded in frustrating me. I sat there begging for the film to end. This was the one unannounced title on the list. The Psychic is a good Italian giallo, but really slow paced with not a lot of violence or gore or much of anything to keep you awake. I made it to about 45 minutes into the film and then started to doze off. Not the best film to book at this hour. I appreciate the intent behind the film bookings, but they did not play well as an all night film line up. It needed a Pumpkinhead or Nightmare On Elm Street to kick me in the ass and wake me up.

7:00 Frankenhooker

I couldn't bounce back from the Psychic. I continued to be half awake for most of Frankenhooker. Fully awake for the first 20 and last 20 minutes, the middle 50 is a blur. Fortunately I have seen the film before. It's a great film and a perfect last film, but I was already gone by this point. Too bad, as I wanted to see this again having not seen it in about 20 years.

Overall, I am glad I got to see all these films and really appreciate what the New Beverly is doing, especially with this series.  However, the lineup was a hard one to get through for a 12 hour event. Next 12 hour film series is at the Aero Theater the last weekend in October. The films are not as rare, in fact, I have seen every one of them and even most on the big screen, but I think they will play well together. A friend of mine is attending along with me, so it will be a true test to see how it plays. Will we crash before the end or will we make it through the night.

Day 12: The Collection and Xtro

Friday October 12th was the opening night of Screamfest. I managed to miss Shriekfest again. Sigh…. I almost never seem to make any of the Shriekfest movies, but always go to at least a few of the Screamfest films. Honestly Shriek is a little  more "straight-to-video" style movies whereas Scream is more theatrical films mixed with straight-to-video fare, so I tend to go to Screamfest. Someday I'll make it to Shriek. Problem is that it is only for a few days while Scream is nearly 2 weeks long. Screamfest almost always seems to deliver. Not every film I see is good, but I usually at least see one or two films that I would go so far as to classify as great.

Anyway, I decided to go to the opening night film, The Collection, against my better judgement. The trailer looked pretty blah. It was a sequel to a film that was only pretty decent. Based on the trailer, it just looked to slick for its own good. I went hoping to have my expectation dashed. I did like the original, though it wasn't great. The film was written and directed by the original's writer/director, Marcus Dunstan (Feast), so that was a plus.  Also, it had a good word of mouth from Fantastic fest. So I gave it a shot. 

I was pleasantly….. disappointed. It was exactly as the trailer painted it out to be. Over produced, over lit, over done so much that it erased any horror, scares, or jumps that it could have had. You know those moments where something jumps out and goes boo and the soundtrack explodes to like 100 decibels. Even those moments were not effective because they happened at exactly the point you expected them to happen. The film had absolutely no sense of pacing.

The director summed it up in the Q&A pretty well. He said that it was influenced by Dario Argento's Inferno, in fact the hotel in the film where the characters are trapped is called Hotel Argento. He said it was like inferno but with more lights and more action. Yup, that's kinda accurate. I might say that it is inferno with no sense of pacing, or inferno without the sense of the nightmare flow and logic, or inferno without the sense of style. I could keep going, but I won't. Yes, like the director said, it is over lit. Every scene looks lit up like a Hollywood film which doesn't help the horror.  I wanted to like it. Marcus, the director, was bountifully energetic, full of positivity and obviously working in a genre he loves.  He sat in front of me during the screening. His hands clasped in front of him. When the audience reacted by cheering, he too cheered. He was like a kid. I just wish that translated to the big screen. The first Collector film was better than I expected and I like the Feast movies that he wrote. So I think he has talent. It just didn't translate onto the screen for this one.

The film starts off with these young sexy girls going to a club in a back alley with a secret password. Our killer has plans. He wants to kill everyone in the dance club. It's a massacre a'la the 13 Ghosts remake with a combine engine dropping from the ceiling and mowing everyone down. Meanwhile the main character from the last movie, Arkin manages to escape from the clutches of the killer during this massacre. The Collector always takes one trophy from his adventures, so he snatches up Elena whom we met at the start of the movie.  The rest is Arkin assisting some private investigation team to help find Elena. They track The Collector to the Hotel Argento. Once inside, this is where the rest of the movie takes place. Lots of traps and over the top action. Just no real sense of scares or pacing. 

After a disappointing opening night film, I made my way to the Cinefamily to check out there Halloween Blacklight poster exhibit. I think I got a contact high from just walking into the place. The auditorium was filled with fog presumedly from a fog machine. The projector beam cast patterns of light through the haze. It was dark. About 50 people sat upright in their seats staring at the screen like attentive prairie dogs. There were disembodied heads projected onto the screen - Flashes of blurring light - The faces tearing apart and blending back together. A droning from the walls. Why was everyone so silent. I swear they were sitting up so straight and stiff that it just seemed unnatural. I felt like I had walked off the streets into a hazy dream. Was I sleeping or awake.

I made my way upstairs to the backlight exhibit. Again, the room was filled with smoke.  It was a small space of about 12' x 20'.  A table in the middle with munchie treats. Everyone's teeth glowed purple. Shoe laces shined. Anything white pulsed with the purplish glow of the blacklight. Wearwolves with sickles, glowing red eyes, cats staring, psychedelic green collages. All was for sale. So this is the upstairs at the cinefamily.  I browsed through all the posters, but had to move on for food.

I went to Canter's Deli to tank up on some coffee so I would have enough gas to get through the midnight Video Nasty, Xtro. Had the usual - Matzah ball soup. Drank 2 cups of coffee. Checked the phone to see that the St. Louis Cardinals had come back to beat the Cincinnati Reds. So I was in a bit of a sour mood.

The crowd was packed for Xtro. The event sold out. Good thing I reserved my tickets in advanced. This is one of the films I have most been looking forward to seeing in the Video Nasties series. It's one of those films that I may or may not have seen as a kid. I remember images from the film, so I think I saw it, but then after watching it this time I'm not so sure. I mean, I would remember the midget clown killer wouldn't I. That's pretty freaking unforgettable. 

She's expecting any time now.

This is truly a Holy-Fucking-Shit film. A film you watch and just can't believe what you are seeing. Hadrian, the head programmer's theory was that at one point it may have been a somewhat straight forward coherent story. Then at some point they brought in a bunch of stoner writers who just came up with some bizarre shit so you get this movie that just goes off into some odd directions. I don't want to spoil anything, so see it for yourself. I absolutely drank it up and when I got to the bottom of the cup I wanted more. Its pretty unforgettable.  It's basically an alien abduction film. Child's father is abducted. The father returns years later, but is it the child's father…. The rest is just pure insanity. You must see this film if you ever get the opportunity.

Day 11: Vampyr with The Burning

I am falling behind.

Must write more…no time…must see more movies….

Need more coffee to go faster….

Well, I am now 4 days behind in my writing, so I made myself write today. My body clock is on a noon to 4 Am sleep schedule. I am going through body transformations. My brain has now split into two distinct hemispheres. Experiencing nausea.  I have extreme headaches. The xenon light from the projector cuts through the upper reaches of the auditorium and journeys  straight through the prism of my mind and onto the silver screen in full color. I feel like Eddie Jessup in Altered States. I wonder if in my sleep I revert into a primordial state and roam the streets at night eating carrion and trash. I am not the same. I am not the person whom you knew before. I am transcending this body, this flesh, this earth, these chains that bind me. I am becoming something else…..

On Thursday, October 11th I subjected myself to 2 screenings, Vampyr the 1932 silent masterpiece with a live score by Steve Sevrin (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and the Video Nasties series screening of The Burning. Both at the Cinefamily theater on Fairfax.

Vampyr is a genuinely creepy film. There are few films from the pre 60's era which still hold up as scary today. The fact there are movies from the 30's that still have impact to scare at all is quite remarkable. Check out the trailer and I think you will agree.

VAMPYR TRAILER WITH SEVRIN SCORE:

http://vimeo.com/50502023

Try to imagine seeing that in 1932! It must have given people heart attacks! Watching it is like walking through a misty nightmare dreamscape. This film is far scarier than the popular Universal films that followed, at least in this humble narrator's opinion. Not that I dislike those films, but they just don't have impact like this one.  The only other film in it's time that matches its level of fear and dread might be Nosferatu which came 10 years earlier. Hitchcock declared this as the only film worth seeing twice.

I am extremely fortunate to have watched this for the first time with Steve Sevrin's score. The music matches the tone of the film beat for beat. I can't picture any other music. It's like Sevrin collaborated with the director, Carl Theodore Dreyer and keyed into his idea perfectly. Watch the trailer above to get a feel for his score.

Directly following Vampyr was the Video Nasties screening of The Burning. Again, yet another film that doesn't feel like it should have been banned. Sure it would still get an R rating today, but banned. Really! The one scene that probably did it in was the infamous raft massacre, but even that is not that graphic, certainly no more graphic than Friday the 13th. OK, maybe slightly more graphic, but it's all done in quick cuts. What I am learning from this series is that basically the snooty old folks in Britain during the 80's were a bunch of weak wussies! To censor these films is absolutely ridiculous. I mean some of the later one's in the series like Cannibal Holocaust and Last House On The Left you can at least start to somewhat understand why they were banned, not that they should have been or that they had the right to, but you can see why. They are pretty brutal and graphic.

The Burning was a gorgeous 35mm print! The movie is like, half Meatballs and half Friday the 13th. I can guarantee some producer pitched this film in a pitch meeting, "OK, it's Meatballs meets Friday the 13th."  Here's the thing though, this film is BETTER than Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is exactly what its critics accuse it of being. That is a bunch of teenager stereotypes getting offed one by one. I liked the Friday the 13th films when I was a kid, but when I rewatched them as an adult they had lost their appeal to me. I still want to go back and revisit them again as it's been 15 years and even then I only watched part 1 and 2 as an adult and never watched the other sequels. 

The Burning characters are more real. They have personality and don't just seem like the generic "Jock" or "Geek" or "Virgin". It certainly helps that the cast of kids are all solid. Jason Alexander and Helen Hunt both in early roles here. Yes Jason Alexander has hair! The movie still plays with the genre staples of teen age kids having sex and getting killed, but at least you are a little more invested in these kids than the Friday the 13th bunch. Maybe I am being too harsh on the Friday movies. I should go back and revisit.

Jason Alexander with hair

If you like slasher films. If you like summer camp movies. If you ever wanted to see Jason Alexander with hair, then you should watch The Burning. The plot is pretty basic. Bunch of kids try to pull a practical joke on their mean alcoholic camp councilor but it goes drastically awry and ends up with the councilor burning nearly to death. He spends 5 years in the hospital, gets released, and goes to get revenge on camp kids. Pretty basic, but fun, has some good gore fx by Tom Savini, and has some solid performances. Check it out.

Day 10: Apocalypse Domani

What can I say about  Cannibal Apocolypse. Well, it has John Saxon (Black Christmas, Tenebrae, Nightmare on Elm Street) in it and if you watch Horror and Grindhouse films, then you are likely a fan of his work. OK, check. That's cool. 

John Saxon - Careful it may bite!

It's directed by Antonio Marheriti who Co-Directed Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. Wow, AW Frankenstein was good, so another check. Seems to be shaping up to be a good movie.

It's written by Dardano Sacchetti who wrote Demons, The Beyond, and Zombie…not really known for their excellent scripts, but all three good movies. OK, I'm interested. Tell me more. Tell me more.

Giovanni Lambardo Radice

It also has Giovanni Lambardo Radice who will appear in 2 more Video Nasties to come down the pike, House on the Edge of the Park, Cannibal Ferox.

It cross pollinates 2 popular genres of the time, the Vietnam Vet Picture with the Cannibal sub-genre. Sounds like that could be really nasty. The Vet pictures of the war veterans returning home to a life of shit mixed with a gritty, dirty, sleazy cannibal movie. Dude! Love the concept.

One of the few Italian exploitation films to shoot in the good ol' US of A. It was shot in Atlanta. 

It's got gore, disgusting images, decent characters, It's got some good scenes, It's got a great concept. So what went wrong.  It ultimately ends up being a very uneven film with some good pieces, but never works as a whole film. The possibilities of the concept were wasted and ultimately it ends up being what it is, an exploitation film to capture your money. Think about it. The horrors of war and all the psychological damage that war veterans experience and bring home with them is transfigured through the concept of cannibalism. In the hands of someone like Cronenberg this could have been brilliant.  Unfortunately I think the film even fails to be that entertaining. The pacing is off, the plot never really takes off like it should. I guess there are at least a couple of cool scenes and John Saxon is good. So its not a total waste of time, just not that good even by Exploitation standards. 

The print was a little faded, but color still remained.

Day 9: Return of the Living Dead with Funhouse

I learned something Tuesday. Greg Proops is funny! I live a sheltered life when it comes to TV. Hell how can I watch TV when I am practically living inside movie theaters.  My diet lately has been Milk Duds, Popcorn, and CocaCola.  When I am not inside the friendly confines of one of my local cinemas I am watching films at home. I don't even have cable. Hell, I don't even have a TV antennae! The only TV I watch is downloaded episodes of Breaking Bad or the occasional stream from Netflix. I almost never watch TV. Point is I never had the chance to be introduced to Greg Proops. The man is witty.

Greg Proops did a live podcast  at the Cinefamily Tuesday night before the screening of Return of the Living Dead. He does the podcast, then they screen the film, then he follows that up with live questions from the audience. Basically he's showing films he loves and then talks about them. No worries, he does I love that when it came up that he had not seen Saun of the Living Dead and the audience moaned, he proceeded to cut the audience down for a solid 4 minutes or so. Just cut into them with joke and jab after jab. It was amusing and very funny. So witty!

Return of the Living Dead is the punk rock comedy version of Night of the Living Dead. You got a new wave art school kid, an 80's leather and chain clad punk, a freaky new wave girl, a Rick James look-alike, and even a wholesome girl next door. Then there's Freddy who works at a local medical supply warehouse. I like to think of Freddy as a rock-a-billy kid although he doesn't really wear the attire because he's at work. He just feels like if he were in street clothes he would be 50's greaser sorta punk.  

The main course though is Burt (Clu Gulager) the owner of the warehouse, and Frank (James Karen) and Freddy (Thom Mathews) who work at Burt's warehouse. With a fun performance too from Don Calfa as a mortuary attendant. Dan Obannon (Dead and Buried) shows up again in the series, this time as the writer director. 

In a supporting role, Linnea Quigley would forever seal her label as scream queen with her performance as the punk rock new wave chick, Trash. She spends half the movie naked, not just topless, but fully nude. As she sheds her clothes in the graveyard, apparently turned on by death, one of the punk rock posse comments, "There she goes again!" Like I guess she routinely strips nude. She stands on a grave and dances. 

The thing that makes this zombie movie different than all the others before it, is the zombies in this film are smart. As Greg Proops points out, they even understand the concept of pulley and fulcrum! They understand the concept of surprise. Plus they can't be killed. You chop the head off and they keep coming. You know the world is doomed. How the hell can you beat that!

Next up was Tobe Hooper's funhouse. This is part of the Video Nasties series. Yes, Funhouse was banned in Brittain! A movie produced by Universal Pictures was found to be deplorable by England standards and banned. Again, it seems surprising that they would ban this. It is pretty sleazy, but enough to be banned from an entire country….

Believe it or not, I saw this when I was 10 years old in the theater. I went with my older cousins. I guess in the midwest in the 80's the theater chains really didn't police R rated films. If you had the money, the didn't care. Man! It has nudity, violence, gore, definitely not appropriate for a 10  year old. This made me think, how old was I when I first started watching horror films. It was long before this. I remember seeing Carrie on Showtime when I was a kid….so that must have been when I was around 8 or 9. I saw The Shining at the Drive-In when I was 9. My interest started with films like King Kong, Godzilla, Dracula, Wolfman, and TV shows of Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents when I was probably about 6 or 7. I guess I quickly graduated to full blown nudity and blood spilling by the time I was 8. No wonder I am so fucked up!

Anyway, Funhouse has a soft spot in my heart. I still think it stands as creepy even by today's standards. Tobe Hooper was the man in the late 70's and early 80's. Not sure what happened to him.