Massawyrm Looks At FANTASTIC FEST 2006 Titles: INSIDE, WILDERNESS, SHINOBI, PUZZLEHEAD, BLOOD TRAILS, FIREFLY, STARFISH HOTEL

Hey folks, Harry here - Today is the beginning of Fantastic Fest 2006 - over 58 features in the genres that we programmers felt were 'fantastic'. There's scheduled surprises and surprises that nobody knows they'll be getting yet. If everything is on a schedule - you'd know what to expect. We've been working to make sure that there's stuff that none of you are suspecting... Hopefully - those of you attending will find out - figure it out and listen up. At some point this weekend at FANTASTIC FEST - there's an amazing chance I'm gonna pull one of those... HOLY FUCK, I CAN'T BELIEVE HARRY GOT THAT - moments. SO be alert - check in with information desk for schedule changes and opportunities. There's fantastic things on the way!

Hola all. Massawyrm here. Well, I’m fully caffeinated, primed and ready to go for Fantasticfest. Eight non-stop days of genre goodness. After last year’s effort – seeing 19 of the 20 premieres – I’ve set out to see virtually every film this year. Sadly, there are just too many. Of course Harry spent a few days mocking my disappointment before dumping a stack of screeners on me to help out in my endeavor. So for me, Fantasticfest started this weekend, and god damn is it kicking some serious ass already. Now, what I love most about film fests is that while there are always a number of prestige films, the films you brag to your work buddies about, it’s the smaller films that you’ve never heard of that really make the festival. Those are the films you write your geek pals about. While I had a blast with several of last years big films (Zathura, Feast, Hostel, Wild Blue Yonder) it was films like The Dark Hours, Night of the Living Dorks and G.O.R.A. that had me talking for days. So it’s with that spirit in mind that I set out to give those of you attending a chance to pencil in some holes in your schedule with some of the unheard of cinema coming your way this weekend. Here’s some of the joy I’ve been able to get my hands on. WILDERNESS Now this is a survival horror film! A small British film from the director of the criminally underrated supernatural WWI film, Deathwatch, this is a raw, seething, abrasive character piece hell-bent on giving us tense character interaction over blood, gore and scares. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of that to be found as well. When the cellmate of several juvenile delinquents is driven to kill himself by his psychotic bunk buddies, they are sentenced to a hell week of team building on an uninhabited government-controlled island. Sent with only the barest of essentials, the group has to survive in the harsh environ and hopefully find some sort of rehabilitation. To complicate matters further, one of the sentenced boys has just transferred into the cell and is coming into direct conflict with the alpha-dog structure of the group. And, oh yeah, there’s a crazed madman in the woods hunting them down one by one with woodsman trapping gear and a pack of trained, killer German Shepards. The cast here is a top notch assembly of young Brit actors who each turn in some great, textured performances. As much as this is a classic survival horror film, complete with all the staples you’d expect from the genre, the focus here is really on the dysfunctional group of misfits forced to work together to survive. These guys aren’t friends. They’re not innocent. They’re rapists, murderers, thugs and drug dealers all trying to fall properly into the social dynamic – because if the mad woodsman doesn’t get them, their companions might. The result is a bloody, tense, thriller chock full of gruesome kills, great character interaction and a whole hell of a lot of fun. Highly recommended for ANYONE who enjoys survival horror. Wilderness has two midnight screenings – just as it should – on Tuesday and Wednesday Sept. 26th and 27th. Click here to check out the trailer and add Wilderness to your schedule. SHINOBI: HEART UNDER BLADE Now this is Shakespeare the way Shakespeare was meant to be seen. With mother fucking ninjas. Essentially the story of Romeo and Juliet set in feudal Japan, it’s the tale of two secret lovers each from separate ninja clans that have a tentative, but festering peace. But when Hatori Hanzo grows nervous about the two clans existence, he orders them each to choose five warriors to go to war against one another – and wouldn’t you know it, our star-crossed lovers (no really, the Romeo & Juliet star-crossed lover thing is mentioned a handful of times) get chosen to lead the troupe for their respective clan. But while this may initially draw comparisons to such films as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers, it is more akin in flavor and style to Azumi. This isn’t a deep, brooding, quiet film about epic love. This is a live action version of the classic anime Ninja Scroll, in which each individual character has their own magnificent set of mystical powers. From breathing poison clouds, killing with a single look, summoning killer butterflies all the way on down to slowing down the ebb and flow of time itself, these characters pull some pretty amazing, and amazing looking, shit. Bad ass fights, heartbreaking romance and plenty of fantastic elements to keep even those who don’t like subtitled films from becoming bored. An absolute MUST for anyone who is a fan of Wuxia, fantasy or anime, this comes Highly Recommended. Shinobi screens Saturday the 23rd at 6:50pm and Tuesday Afternoon the 26th at 4:10pm. Click here to check out the trailer and add Shinobi: Heart Under Blade to your schedule. PUZZLEHEAD Okay, so ninjas and teens getting killed in the woods may not be your particular brand of vodka. So how about some deep, low budget, concept driven science fiction. In the tradition of Isaac Asimov and Phillip K. Dick comes Puzzlehead, the story of an android created in the image of his maker, complete with the uploading of the map of his neural pathways. Set in something of a post-apocalyptic world, what begins as the gentle story of a creator (Walter) bringing up his childlike robot (Puzzlehead) soon turns into a Frankenstein story as the psychological flaws of the inventor appear to have been passed on to his creation. When Puzzlehead forges a relationship and begins to fall in love with the object of Walter’s obsession (a reclusive, shy shop owner), Walter tries to take Puzzlehead’s place. And then it goes terribly wrong. The escalating battle of wills begins to enter dark territory, perfectly accomplishing everything that Artificial Intelligence stories have always been about: what it is that ultimately makes us human. Bitter, nihilistic and sad, Puzzlehead is exactly the type of film Sci-fi fans love to sink their teeth into. With fantastic acting by Stephen Galaida, who plays both the part of Walter and that of his creation, and excellent direction by first time director James Bai, it is hard as hell to even believe that this one man is doing almost all of the acting in the film – especially when both characters are present in scenes together. Sure, Hollywood has been doing this for years – but for a low budget film like this to pull of such an illusion is one hell of an achievement. It’s executed in such a perfect, non-gimmicky way, that it sells its ideas without trying to force them down your throat. Subtle, rather than flashy, this is EXACTLY the type of film indie sci-fi makers need to look to when considering how to make their own films. A lesson in cleverness of style mixed with idea and concept over special effects, this film is Recommended for anyone who likes intelligent, well crafted film and Highly Recommended for any died in wool sci-fi fans attending this week. Puzzlehead plays Wednesday the 27th at 3:15pm and Thursday the 28th at 6:50pm.Click here to add Puzzlehead to your schedule. BLOOD TRAILS Blood Trails isn’t the smartest, most cutting edge, nuanced film you’re gonna see at Fantastic Fest, but it certainly is a fun, bloody ride. This is everything you expect from survival horror, including all of the conventions and clichés you’ve come to expect from the genre. From blood spurting wounds and a slow moving, methodical killer to cars that won’t start until the killer is 10 feet away and prey that couldn’t make a smart decision if her life depended on it - this is beer drinking, gory entertainment for those of you coming to see as many bodies drop as you can in the span of 8 days. When a woman who has cheated on her boyfriend decides to spend the weekend reconnecting with the love her life in a cabin, wouldn’t you know it – the jilted paramour follows them to teach the woman that he’s not the one who gets left in the morning. The bodies begin to drop from there. Recommended for survival horror fans and gore hounds. Blood Trails plays the midnight showing Saturday night (probably the best time for a film like this) the 23rd and in the 9 o’ Clock slot Wednesday the 27th. Click here to check out the trailer and add Blood Trails to your schedule. STARFISH HOTEL For those sick to death of the tired conventions of J-Horror comes Starfish Hotel, a sexy, disturbing, mindbender more akin to the work of Cronenberg than what we’re accustomed to coming out of Japan. This is a heady effort of dark fantasy for those who love finely crafted think pieces. Written and directed by Englishman John Williams (Firefly Dreams, Midnight Spin) Starfish Hotel is the story of a mystery novel obsessed businessman whose wife simply disappears one morning. What follows is a series of strange events and hallucinations in which the businessman tries to discover the fate of his wife while simultaneously wrestling with whether or not he’s simply a character in a work of fiction written by his favorite author. And as his past begins to be unraveled before us and the importance of the Starfish Hotel is explained, the appearances of a man in a Donnie Darko Frank-esque demonic bunnysuit becomes more and more sinister. A film that wants you to continuing putting it all together even after the credits roll, this is a film lovers film. Beautifully shot, erotic ass all hell, and entirely thought provoking, the less written about this the better. Let me say this: just see it. Highly Recommended for anyone attending or anyone out there who loves classic Cronenberg. Starfish Hotel screens Sunday the 24th at 6:15 and Thursday the 28th at 4:20. Click here to add Starfish Hotel to your schedule. FIREFLY Now this is a film that blindsided me and pulled one hell of a 180. When I sat down to watch this, I’d seen the trailer, which frankly just didn’t blow my skirt up. Then, as it unfolded, I still wasn’t drawn in. It played out like your standard, by the numbers indie fare about four loosely connected people in a small town and I began to wonder if it was going anywhere at all. There just seemed to be too much superfluous information and not enough meat and intrigue. Then about half an hour in I began to get into it. We’re introduced to something of a superhero that proves to be exceedingly original and well conceived. But then I began to wonder why the film wasn’t just about him. Was this four short stories that the creators had woven together into a single film in order to achieve feature length status? No. No it wasn’t. Because what began as seemingly mediocre fare becomes so unbelievably good in the third act that I was stunned. The last half hour is a tense, perfectly constructed finale that ties in every character, every superfluous detail and every idea that seemed to be going nowhere into a jaw dropping, “holy shit” conclusion that convinced me that this was the single best thing I’d watched thus far. Something bad happened Halloween night to four different people, and none of them can remember any of it. How does their memory loss and their daily routines after the fact tie into one another? How does each one’s life intersect with the other three? That’s the crux of the film. Everything that seems mundane turns out to be extraordinary, and Firefly, despite its appearance, is a fantastic work of indie sci-fi brilliance. Clever, inventive and well worth watching to the very end, I’m calling Firefly my indie pick of the festival. I’ve ended up with a single hole in my schedule in which all three films playing are ones I’ll already have seen. Firefly is the film I’ll be watching for a second time, just so I can revel in watching how every small detail comes together in that awesome ending. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Firefly plays Tuesday the 26th at 6:30pm and Wednesday the 27th at 3:30. Click here to check out the trailer and add Firefly to your schedule. And I mean it. Don’t miss this one. INSIDE Another film with a deceptive trailer is the indie Inside. Watching it one gets the impression that this is about a cracked stalker, slowly going over the edge with his fascination with a family who discovers him spying on them. And yet, that’s not at ALL what this film is about. This is Kafka by way of Stephen King – a disturbing, arresting film about people whose emotional scars haven’t fully healed and their attempts to find solace in one another turning into dangerous obsession. Well-acted roles played by seasoned television actors renders each character both very real and very unnerving. What’s most surprising about Inside is how first time writer/director Jeff Mahler generates such a disconcerting mood without a single hint of violence or sexual content. It’s the characters themselves and their motivations that are frightening. This is another film that I dare not spoil too much – but it is certainly well worth the look. A perfect indie for those looking for something more mood driven than body count. Recommended. Inside plays Friday at 4pm and again Sunday at 6:30. Click here to check out the trailer and add Inside to your schedule. So there you have it – an advanced look at seven of the worthwhile films showing this week at Fantasticfest. Just as last year, I’ll be reviewing every film they’ll let me into, and no doubt by next week I’ll be another body slumped on the floor or mindlessly walking around mumbling incoherently. And I’m looking forward to every last minute of it. A word to first timers: don’t try to fly by the seat of your pants. Make a schedule. Try to stick to it. With three different films playing at every showtime, it can be really tempting just to walk in to whatever’s playing. But that’s a great way to miss some of the really great films – or end up with a time in which you’ve seen all three movies playing. If I had a nickel for everyone who said “Oh I’ll see this movie at the next showing so I can see the first showing of this one” – only to realize they had to make a Sophie’s Choice between that and the only showing of another film, well, I probably could have paid for my badge this year in nickles. The Fantasticfest site has a great, very easy to use schedule maker. Learn to love it. If there’s anyone out there that wants to knock back an ice cold Dr. Pepper with the Wyrm over some cool cinema, just wants to stalk me long enough to find the perfect moment to shank me in a dark theatre, or wants to see what I’ve got scheduled to help make their own decisions you can find my own schedule here. And if you’re a film maker who’s film doesn’t appear on that list, but would like it to be, or you’d like me to review your film before it screens to hopefully help get more asses in seats, drop me a line or hook up with me there so we can work something out. I desperately want to see everything playing at least once. And if your film isn’t on this list, know that I want it to be, one way or another. Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will. Hope to see ya at the fest, Massawyrm Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.