This year was a tough one, so I decided to reward myself and reinvigorate my love for cinema, especially horror, by attending Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival this summer. On Monday, the festival program came out with an attached DVD full of trailers...my bible as I made my detailed schedule for the fest. Tuesday, I stood in line for 4 HOURS to get tickets to everything I wanted to see during this festival, and amazingly, it was worth it. So here's a rundown of the goodies I'm seeing, and what I'll be writing about in the next few weeks.
Animosity--Brendan Steere (2013)
I gravitate toward supernatural horror and films that focus on female experience. This film appears to be utilizing both of these things. Steere also won me over with this statement: "I love movies with gobs of gore and blood, but this is just not that
movie. I was thinking a lot about Ti West's films while making it.
Argento's earlier giallo work. Alien and Rosemary's Baby – movies that
creep and build. There's a palpable mystery and build that really I'm
very happy with. I think we've really made something special, and I
really hope the horror community responds to it." I like his references. Granted, the film premiered a year ago at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, but why turn down a chance to see it on the big screen. Here's the trailer:
I Origins--Mike Cahill (2014)
The dynamic duo of Mike Cahill and Britt Marling are back again after their stunning debut film Another Earth (2011)--you can read my review from July 2012 on this site. That film was both low-key and gorgeous, so I'd be on board for anything they might do. Their latest is another sci-fi mind bender about love, death, and the utterly unique eye retina (no two are the same--ever). I've also become a huge fan of Michael Pitt after his genius work on Hannibal. This film will play on demand and in some art-house theaters, but I'd like to see it first. Here's the trailer:
Suburban Gothic--Richard Bates Jr. (2014)
I'm not much for mixing comedy with my horror, even though some films do hold a special place in my heart (Evil Dead 2, Undead (2003), Sightseers). Anything that might be considered "zany" or has boob humor tends to just put my to sleep. I like my humor dark and twisted, and perhaps not that funny. Excision (2012) was pretty damn twisted, so I figured I'd give Bates' next feature a try. Fantasia tends to show its humorous horror at the last screening of the night, in the giant Concordia Hall Theatre to a group of very vocal filmgoers. I think it might be pretty fun. Ray Wise from Twin Peaks plays Raymond's Dad, and John Waters has a killer cameo. Here's the redband trailer:
Jellyfish Eyes--Takashi Murakami (2013)
I have been so excited to see this film ever since the NYTimes featured it in its style section, and I watched the incredible trailer. I like Murakami's Japanese pop Otaku style, and this film just looks like a pure delight. Here's an interview with the director and the trailer. Check it out:
White Bird in a Blizzard--Gregg Araki (2014)
I have seen every film that Gregg Araki has ever made, and I have loved every one of them. His dark, irreverent humor, endearing characters, and incredible visual flair touch every film he makes. I don't know why he decided to use that annoying "but I'm not a feminist" Shailene Woodley as his lead, but at least Eva Green is in it...although the fact that she's playing this girl's mother is just crazy. Oh, and NO ONE has better soundtracks for his films. NO ONE. Araki's keeping a love for the Cocteau Twins alive! Here's the trailer:
The Harvest--John McNaughton (2013)
The film's stars, Michael Shannon and Samantha Morton, are known for some really dark material; Likewise, director McNaughton, who made Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and the utterly gonzo Wild Things (1998), crafts a tale here that involves some "child harm," which gets a ton of people really riled. Hailing from Chicago, McNaughton screened the film at the Chicago Intl. Film Festival, and one reviewer called it "absolutely despicable." Sign me up. I'm hoping it's not just another "Munchausen by Proxy" narrative. Here's where you can see the trailer.
Honeymoon--Leigh Janiak (2014)
Why a couple would take their Honeymoon in the middle of some scary woods is beyond me, but it's nice to see Rose Leslie in any role, even if she's bloody and creepy. I'm hoping the film is not solely from the male lead's POV , and as the director is a woman, its probably going to be far more complex than some marriage cautionary tale. Twitch really liked it. The trailer has a nice aura of menace in Janiak's directorial debut, which premiered recently at SXSW.
I really like the poster too. Creepy!
Predestination--The Spierig Brothers (2014)
After really enjoying the Spierig Brothers' previous efforts Undead (2003), and Daybreakers (2009), I was definitely excited about their third feature, even though it involves that well-worn plot device--time travel. I haven't seen a trailer, but here's an interview with the directors about their new film, which received raves at SXSW.
Han Gong-Ju--Su-Jin Lee (2013)
I have seen so many incredible Korean films, with 2010's Poetry immediately springing to mind. Han Gong-Ju has been called "devastating" and a "hidden gem," so I was suitably intrigued by this film that delves into the title character's dark past. The trailer conveys the film's mysterious melancholy.
The Midnight Swim--Sarah Adina Smith
A film about women, written and directed by a woman, with strong supernatural elements and a creepy atmosphere of dread! I am so excited for this film's world premiere at Fantasia, and hope this debut turns into a major calling card for this director. The trailer is awesome.
The Man in the Orange Jacket--Aik Karapetian 2014
I was on the fence about seeing this film, but it's the international premiere of a Latvian horror film all about class warfare. Some of the images in the trailer are quite stunning, so I was persuaded.
The clincher is that this film is screening with Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Seventh Code (2013), which I really want to see, so I figured that I'd mix in some Latvian horror as well.
The Creeping Garden--Tim Grabham and Jason Sharp (2013)
If someone had told me that I would be buying a ticket to a documentary on slime mold at Fantasia, I probably would have laughed in their face. Here's the convincing blurb from the Fantasia program:
"The true stars of the doc, though, are the slime molds themselves, their
uncanny activities vividly captured through a combination of
microscopic photography and time-lapse techniques. Enriching the
otherworldly atmosphere conjured up through Grabham and Sharp’s imagery
is an appropriately subtle yet unsettling score by post-rock icon Jim
O’Rourke (Tortoise, Sonic Youth, GRIZZLY MAN, UNITED RED ARMY). Among the strangest and most thought-provoking entries at Fantasia this year, THE CREEPING GARDEN
opens a window on a wondrous new realm of discovery, reminding us that
the world we think we’ve mastered still holds amazing secrets to unlock."
Sounds cool, right? The trailer's just as cool, and the soundtrack is simply amazing. Here's the film's official site.
Guardian--Helfi C.H. Kardit (2014)
I teach a course that explores women in action films, and to be utterly cliched, this film looks like a "non-stop" thrill ride. Women with guns, car chases, rocket launchers. Indonesia has gained some attention with action films like The Raid--this film looks like uber-violent kinetic entertainment at its best, and with women as the focus. Here's the trailer:
At the Devil's Door/Home--Nicholas McCarthy (2014)
I truly loved McCarthy's first feature film The Pact (2012). That film combined all the things I love about horror: a woman protagonist torn between possible supernatural forces and her own incipient madness. As soon as I heard about At the Devil's Door, I was monitoring its release. I am so delighted that the film is screening at Fantasia...I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it. This director is a master at creating haunted, dread-filled spaces. It will be on demand in a couple weeks, but I cannot wait. Check it out.
The One I Love--Charlie McDowell (2014)
Ever since I was mesmerized by Jane Campion's Top of the Lake, and Elizabeth Moss's marvelous performance, I have been eager to see her in almost anything else (despite the fact that she's a Scientologist). To some extent, here's another "marriage in trouble...let's go into the woods to fix it" drama, but one never knows what's lurking in the woods. Hopefully some scary or at least weird sh**. When a blurb or description of a film hints at a "twist" but will not give anything away, I'm intrigued. The film premiered at Sundance. Fun fact: Charlie is the son of Malcolm McDowell. You can see the trailer here.
The House at the End of Time--Alejandro Hidalgo (2013)
Touted as the first Venezuelan supernatural thriller, this film rides that delicious line between madness and hauntings, with a woman at its center, unraveling a house's mystery. The poster's pretty cool, and spells out what's to be expected.
While the trailer provides many horror tropes, the Fantasia programmers insist that it's not your average haunted house movie. The film has to be better than The Conjuring.
Dys--Maude Michaud (2014)
Love the catchphrase for this movie. Is it a zombie apocalypse film? A dysfunctional relationship turned violent film? A serial killer film? A cannibalism film? Let's hope all of the above in Maude Michaud's feature directorial debut. While the film is showing in the smallest theater, Michaud hails from Canada, so the film will likely be sold out. When I picked up my tickets, already half of them were gone. Lots of estranged couples with dark secrets in the line-up this year (or at least my chosen line-up). Here's the trailer.
The Drownsman--Chad Archibald (2014)
A woman's truly crappy friends decide to cure her phobia of water (stimulated by her near death), by "drowning" her in a tub. Bad idea, girlfriends. I know, the premise in and of itself is problematic, but ever since I got a peek at this film and trailer, I was excited to see it. The only justice is for the creepy "Drownsman" to kill all of Madison's crappy friends. Heh. The film is having its World Premiere (whoo!) at Fantasia. The trailer has some really vivid imagery.
Real--Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kurosawa's Pulse (2001) is one of my absolute favorite J-Horror films--truly a stunning visual and narrative achievement (yes, it was remade in the U.S. with Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) which is unfortunate). On that film alone, I am partial to Kurosawa's films, and Real dedicates itself to questioning that word and its meanings (like Inception, The Matrix, etc.) The trailer is so cheesy though, I hope I haven't made a mistake. Sigh.
Housebound--Gerard Johnstone (2014)
My second foray into the horror comedy genre is New Zealand's Housebound, which master of the genre Peter Jackson describes as "brilliant." The premise is that our heroine is stuck under "house arrest" in a haunted house. Fantasia describes the film as non-stop hilarious, so I'll give it a chance. Interesting how both the "horror-comedies" that I'm seeing are about adult children forced to go back and live with their parents. Yeah, that sounds pretty horrifying--for the parents.
Frank--Lenny Abrahamson (2014)
I have a Michael Fassbender problem. No matter what role he plays, I inevitably think he's hot, even if he's playing a troubling role. In Fish Tank, where he plays a borderline rapist pedophile--HOT. In X-Man: Origins where he plays the evil Magneto (before he's quite so evil)--HOT. In Shame, he's a sex addict who seems to have an unseemly attraction to his sister--HOT! I haven't seen 12 Years a Slave because...well you know why. So, a film where he is always hidden behind a giant creepy mask? Yeah, I'll still think he's hot. I'm all over that. (Oh, and if you want to see prime young MF, you should watch the BBC's Hex).
Closer to God--Billy Senese (2014)
Cloning has really taken off in popular culture lately, especially with television shows such as Orphan Black (if you haven't seen it yet, what ARE you waiting for??) Shows such as Extant and The Lottery also explore contemporary reproductive technologies.Yet humans meddling with science is a well-worn theme in horror, with many variations on the Frankenstein mythos. One of my recent favorites was Vincenzo Natali's Splice (2009). These stories of arrogance and misplaced hubris always slip wildly out of control. This film will be no different. Yay!
When Animals Dream--Jonas Alexander Arnby (2014)
This highly anticipated Danish film received widespread positive reviews at Cannes, and its narrative hints at the coming of age/burgeoning sexuality/werewolf narrative that made a film like Canada's own Gingersnaps (2000) so powerful. The film is also being compared to the Swedish Let the Right One In (2008), which doesn't hurt. The trailer is absolutely incredible.
Ju-on: The Beginning of the End--Masayuki Ochiai (2014)
I love the Ju-on series, so I didn't have to really read about this seventh edition to want to see it. I'll never forget seeing Takashi Shimizu's first Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) in a theater in Los Angeles, and being utterly freaked out and scared out of my mind. The remake wasn't bad, but it just wasn't the same; I had similar issues with Nakata's Ringu. The cultural specificity of these Japanese films inflects their atmospheric fear and dread, and I prefer the originals over their U.S. remakes. So I'm excited to see my favorite creepy long-haired woman and little boy ghosts running around, wreaking havoc on everyone who encounters them. One doesn't even need subtitles to get the gist from this trailer.
The Five--Jung Yeon-Sik (2013)
Korean filmmakers have mastered the art of revenge, as Chan-wook Park's Vengeance trilogy so ably demonstrates. The Five has that dark, twisted aura, where an elaborate scheme perpetrated by five misfits will see justice served very, very cold. Twitch mildly complains that the film is a "showcase of style over substance," but that take makes it even more appealing to me. I'm seeing this film on the last day of the festival, and hopefully I will not be too burned out by then. More to come!
