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.